Medieval queenship
By: edited by John Carmi Parsons.
Contributors: Parsons, John Carmi, 1947-
Publisher: St. Martins Press; Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 1993
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 264
Subjects: Monarchy -- Europe -- History -- To 1500.; Queens -- Europe -- History -- To 1500.
Description: "Despite today's highly developed interest in women's history, the queens of medieval Europe are still often treated as figures of romance and legend, as mere pendants to their husbands' reigns, or as victims of a system that used its women as diplomatic pawns but denied them real power. As these essays show, however, these women did not lack opportunities for power; kings, queens, and observers alike understood medieval queenship as a vital and dynamic force in the life of any kingdom." "A wide-ranging analysis of medieval queenship is provided in these ten essays, written by North American and European historians who have mined a rich variety of diplomatic, literary, and archaeological sources. Far more than simple biographical sketches, the essays in this volume examine queenship across a broad geographical and chronological spectrum. Medieval Queenship is a probing investigation of the foundations of queens' power and the means by which they exploited it."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-252) and index.
Table of contents: title: Family, sex, and power : the rhythms of medieval queenship / John Carmi Parsons; title: Roles and functions of queens in Arpádian and Angevin Hungary (1000-1386 A.D.) / János M. Bak; title: Queenship in medieval Denmark / Inge Skovgaard-Peterson (with Nanna Damsholt); title: Women at the court of Charlemagne : a case of monstrous regiment? / Janet L. Nelson; title: Mothers, daughters, and power : some Plantagenet evidence, 1150-1500 / John Carmi Parsons; title: Queens dowager and queens regent in tenth-century Léon and Navarre / Roger Collins; title: Capetian women and the regency / André Poulet; title: The king's mother and royal prerogative in early sixteenth-century France / Elizabeth McCartney; title: The portrayal of royal women in England, mid-tenth to mid-twelfth centuries / Pauline Stafford; title: Reigning queens in medieval Europe : when, where, and why / Armin Wolf; title: Female succession and the language of power in the writings of twelfth-century churchmen / Lois L. Huneycutt.