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Medieval queenship, an institutionally and socially important condition marked by ambiguity and contradiction, is the subject of a growing body of research, to which this study's holistic approach seeks to make a valuable contribution by focusing on two queens consort of England between 1464 and 1503: Elizabeth Woodville and her daughter Elizabeth of York. The contemporary theory of queenship is elusive, combining the queen's subjection to her husband, and dissociation from the political sphere, with a marked legal independence and a versatile, powerful model in Marian symbolism, which stressed intercession as a priority for queens. This apparently incoherent conception is not easily understood through histories relying on narrative sources, whose evidence is scanty and vague. As a result, portrayals of both Elizabeth Woodville (negative) and Elizabeth of York (positive) have been determined by narrative attitudes toward gender and social status, which have accrued over generations of historical writing. The ceremonies of queenship (coronation, churching, royal entry, funerals), as prescribed for and enacted by both Queens Elizabeth, broadcast their role to the court and realm and to the queens themselves. They clearly established the queen's status as not equal to the king's, but also confirmed her autonomous authority (suggested by a general ceremonial separateness) and recognized her importance to the nation. That autonomy was made possible in a practical sense through the queen's landed estate and household, which enabled both queens to act as landed magnates and as patrons to different degrees; Elizabeth Woodville's greater resources allowed her to be the more active of the two. Moreover, the institutions of queenship enabled both queens to act as intermediaries between court and realm. Queens were very close to the centre of cultural and political life in fifteenth-century England, and are therefore significant figures requiring more sensitive, detailed studies. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Queen Anne Boleyn (~1507-1536) failed to meet social norms during her time as Queen Consort to Henry VIII (1491-1548). By tracing concepts of queenship through the works of Chrétien de Troyes, Andreas Capellanus, Thomas Malory, and Juan Luis Vives this thesis demonstrates how Anne united the office of queen and mistress to bring her downfall and introduce a new construct of queenship.

As historicist as it is materialist, my dissertation both reads the fictional queens portrayed in romance against the fraught positioning of historical queens such as Isabella of France, Anne of Bohemia and Margaret of Anjou, and traces the ambivalent function in late medieval English society of objects including the sacring-bell, the Lollard bible and the royal sword. Merging the traditionally historicist field queenship studies with typically postmodern fields like thing theory and sound theory, I investigate how queens in late medieval romances coopt, queer and reconfigure material objects of masculine power. Each chapter examines a literary queen typically dismissed by subject-oriented ontologies as insubstantial. Analyzing romances that include Richard Coer de Lyon, Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale, Malory's Morte D'Arthur and the Marian romance of "The Child Slain by Jews" from the Vernon Manuscript, I argue for the overlooked significance of literary queens as figures whose circulation illuminates the construction of medieval masculinities. Through contact with charged material objects that are pivotal to romance plots, queens query patriarchal materials, exposing their underlying "thingness" and malleability. Whether tracking the disturbing afterlife of a church bell used to exorcise the hero's queen mother in Richard Coer de Lyon, or analyzing links between the "Britoun book" that rescues Chaucer's Custance and Anne of Bohemia's vernacular books, my chapters tell a new story about the foreign queens of late medieval English romances by showing how they blur boundaries between male and female, subject and object, West and East, priest and parish, Christian and Jew, orthodox and heterodox, mother and child.

The aim of the present dissertation is to investigate and discuss the political debate on female monarchs during the early modern era (principally circa 1600 to 1720), while specifically pro- blematizing the relationship between rhetoric and practice. The study consists of three sections. The first comprises a study of regulations concerning female succession in the era, highlighting the relationship between the principles of gender and consanguinuity. The second section studies the debate both for and against female monarchs in general, analyzing the arguments presented by Swedish and English debatteurs and European legislators. The third section discusses the perception of female monarchs in practice. Here the focus is on Queens Christina (1632-54) and Ulrika Eleonora (1719-1720), who are both compa­red with each another and other reigning monarchs, primarily the English Queens Elizabeth I (1558-1603), Mary II (1689-94) and Anna Stuart (1702-14). This section is divided into four the­matic subsections: female monarchs in relation to ascension to the throne; education; war; and marriage. Furthermore, the opinions of Christina and Ulrika Eleonora themselves on female monarchs and female succession are discussed. This study has attempted to show that the question of the gender of the monarch has had significance for both the rhetoric and practice of female monarchy. It has been shown that the arguments used against female rulers have mainly concentrated on the principle of gender by labelling "female/feminine" as the negative polar opposite of "male/masculine". In contrast, the arguments used in favour of female monarchs have attempted to tone down the signficance of the fact that the monarch was a woman. Instead, the matter of the monarch's gender was discu­ssed in relation to other, more overriding principles for the monarchy as an institution, inclu­ding birth, dynastic continuity, royal distinctiveness, education, the preservation of order and legitimate succession to the throne. At the same time, this study has shown that traditionally female characteristics could also have a positive effect. One particular problem, both in rhetoric and practice, seems however to have been how and indeed if a female monarch could coordinate her role as sovreign with that of traditionally subordinate wife. / digitalisering@umu

This dissertation is a comparative study of children who succeeded as kings of England, Scotland, France, and Germany as boys under the age of fifteen in the central Middle Ages. Children are often disregarded in the historical record, even those divinely-ordained as king. The research undertaken in this thesis aims to uncover a more human aspect to medieval kingship by combining social aspects of childhood and gender studies with a political and legal approach to the study of the nature of rulership and royal administrative practices. Part I provides vital context of how royal fathers prepared their underage sons for kingship. I argue for the importance of maternal involvement in association, demonstrate the significant benefits a comparative approach brings to our understanding of anticipatory actions, and reveal the impact which changes in the circumstances and documentation of royal death had on preparations for child kingship. In Part II, I focus on vice-regal guardianship to expose how structural legal, social, political, and cultural changes affected the provisions for a child king. The symbolic meaning of knighthood, which had been a clear rite of passage to adulthood in the eleventh century, later became a precursor to kingship. The child’s progression to maturity was increasingly directed by legalistic ideas. These developments meant that, by the first half of the thirteenth century, queen mothers faced greater challenges to their involvement in royal governance alongside their sons. Part III presents a challenge to the idea that periods of child kingship were necessarily more violent than when an adult came to the throne through an analysis of instances of child kidnap, maternal exclusion from guardianship and departure from the kingdom, dynastic challenge, and opportunistic violence. Children often appear as passive actors controlled by the adults around them but accepting this unquestioningly is too simplistic. Child kings could make an impact on the political landscape even if they could not do so alone. Through an innovative comparative analysis of a child’s preparation for rulership, the care of king and kingdom, and the vulnerabilities and challenges of child kingship, I demonstrate far greater political continuity across medieval monarchies than is usually appreciated. This constitutes a fresh and original contribution towards the study of medieval rulership in northwestern Europe.

This thesis investigates the role of queens in ninth and tenth century Italy. During the Carolingian period the Italian kingdom saw significant involvement of royal women in political affairs. This trend continued after the Carolingian empire collapsed in 888, as Italy became the theatre of struggles for the royal and imperial title, which resulted in a quick succession of local rulers. By investigating Italian queens, my work aims at reassessing some aspects of Italian royal politics. Furthermore, it contributes to the study of medieval queenship, exploring a context which has been overlooked with regard to female authority. The work which has been done on queens over the last decades has attempted to build a coherent model of early medieval queenship; scholars have often privileged the analysis of continuities and similarities in the study of queens' prerogatives and resources. This thesis challenges this model and underlines the peculiarities of individual queens. My analysis demonstrates that, by deconstructing the coherent model established by historiography, it is possible to underline the individual experiences, resources and strengths of each royal woman, and therefore create a new way to look at the history of queens and queenship. The thesis is divided into four main thematic sections. After having introduced the subject and the relevant historiography on the topic in the introduction, in Chapter 2 I consider ideas about queenship as expressed by narrative and normative sources. Chapter 3 deals with royal diplomas, which are a valuable resource for the understanding of queens' reigns. Chapter 4 analyses queens' dowers and monastic patronage. Chapter 5 examines the experience of Italian royal widows. Finally, the conclusive chapter outlines the significance of this thesis for the broader understanding of medieval queenship.

Anne d’Autriche occupe une place importante, longtemps négligée, dans le développement de l’iconographie royale en France au XVIIe siècle. Ecartée du pouvoir sous le règne de son mari Louis XIII, elle est pourtant le sujet de très nombreuses représentations. Sa présence dans le champ des images connaît un net développement lorsqu’elle accède aux responsabilités du gouvernement à la mort du roi, en 1643, en devenant régente au nom de son fils mineur, Louis XIV. Au-delà de sa majorité en 1651, elle conserve un rôle éminent, jusqu’à la mort de Mazarin en 1661. Ces deux décennies sont marquées par une profonde crise politique qui culmine dans l’épisode de la Fronde. Dans ce contexte, l’image d’Anne d’Autriche devient le support d’un discours sur l’autorité monarchique et sur la défense du pouvoir royal. A partir d’un corpus constitué des représentations de la régente, et en les croisant avec des sources textuelles, cette thèse analyse la construction visuelle de ce discours, et ses effets sur l’évolution de l’image de la royauté en France après le règne de Louis XIII. La « majesté », qui constitue dans le corpus des textes, juridiques, politiques et symboliques, la qualité essentielle du souverain et la marque de son identité, doit ainsi être traduite visuellement dans une incarnation féminine, dans un pays où les lois fondamentales, notamment la loi salique, écartent pourtant les femmes du pouvoir. La richesse du corpus rassemblé pour cette thèse, près de cinq cent images, offre une source essentielle pour comprendre de quelle manière la reine a su dépasser cette contrainte et contribuer, en renouvelant ses modèles, à la représentation de l’autorité monarchique. Cette étude permet ainsi de reconsidérer le rapport des femmes au pouvoir. Pour analyser ces différentes questions, la thèse s’organise en quatre parties. La première partie s’attache à comprendre l’image de la reine régnante, en analysant dans un premier chapitre la définition juridique de la reine, pour montrer de quelle manière l’ordre juridique détermine l’ordre symbolique. On peut ainsi expliquer en quoi le mariage de la reine en 1615 et son introduction à la cour constitue une « naissance iconographique ». Le second chapitre explore les différents aspects de ce portrait de la reine en montrant qu’il relève à la fois de caractères propres et de réactions à la situation – politique et civile – de la reine. La deuxième partie soulève la question des moyens mis en œuvre pour opérer la transformation de cette image, qui permet à la reine d’apparaître en régente du royaume. Le troisième chapitre analyse plus particulièrement les étapes chronologiques de cette transformation, tandis que le quatrième chapitre étudie, sur un plan pratique, la « fabrication » de cette image. La troisième partie envisage ensuite le contenu des images, en dressant une analyse en trois temps de son iconographie. Le cinquième chapitre aborde ainsi le corps de la reine comme support des dimensions morales de son portrait. Le sixième chapitre approfondit cette question dans la perspective religieuse, en étudiant de quelle manière la régente parvient à produire l’image d’une reine « très chrétienne ». Le septième chapitre conclut cette analyse iconographique sur la dimension politique de l’image d’Anne d’Autriche. La quatrième et dernière partie est enfin l’occasion d’analyser le « fonctionnement » de ces images. Le huitième chapitre montre combien la situation des représentations de la reine dans les décors est déterminante pour leur interprétation, en envisageant les cas des résidences royales puis des intérieurs privés. Enfin, le neuvième chapitre propose une étude de la performance des images, en étendant l’analyse aux usages publics des représentations de la reine, dans les monuments ou au cours des cérémonies. / Anne of Austria offers an important part, yet neglected, in the the development of royal iconography in seventeenth century France. Devoided from management of power under the reign of her husband Louis XIII, she is however the subject of many representations. The number of her images increases when she accedes to the responsibilities of the government at the death of the king, in 1643, becoming regent in the name of her minor son, Louis XIV. Beyond its majority in 1651, she maintains herself at a prominent place, until the death of Mazarin in 1661. During these two decades, a deep political crisis in France culminates in the so-called Fronde. In this context, the image of Anne of Austria becomes the instrument of a visual narrative on monarchical authority and for the defense of the royal power. Crossing a large corpus of representations of the regent with textual sources, this thesis analyzes the visual construction of this narrative, and its effects on the evolution of the image of power in France after the reign of Louis XIII. In contemporary legal and symbolic literature, "majesty" is presented as he essential quality of the sovereign and the mark of his identity. It must then be visually translated in a female incarnation, despite the fundamental laws, in particular the Salic law, which however exclude women from power. The abundance of the images collected for this thesis, nearly five hundred items, offers an essential source to understand how the queen was able to overcome this constraint and contribute, by renewing its models, to the representation of the monarchical authority. This thesis allows us to reconsider the relationship between women and power. To analyze these different issues, the thesis is organized in four parts. The first part attempts to understand the image of the reigning queen, analyzing in a first chapter the legal definition of the queen, to show how the legal order determines the symbolic one. One can thus understand how the marriage of the queen in 1615 and her arrival at the court can be apprehended as an "iconographic birth". The second chapter explores the different features of this portrait of the queen, showing that it is at the same time a revelation of personal characteristics of the queen and a reaction to the queen's political and civil situation. The second part raises the question of the means implemented to operate the transformation of this image, which allows the queen to appear as regent of the kingdom. The third chapter analyzes in particular the chronological stages of this transformation, while the fourth chapter studies, from a practical point of view, the "fabrication" of this image. The third part then considers the content of the images, drawing up a three-step analysis of its iconography. The fifth chapter addresses the body of the queen as a support for the moral dimensions of her portrait. The sixth chapter deepens this question in the religious perspective, studying how the regent manages to produce the image of a queen "très chrétienne". The seventh chapter concludes this iconographic analysis by studying the political dimension of Anne of Austria's image. The fourth and last part gives finally an analysis of the way these images "operate". The eighth chapter shows how the situation of the queen's representations in decor is decisive for their interpretation, considering the cases of the royal residences and the private interiors. Finally, the ninth chapter proposes a study of the performance of images, extending the analysis to the public uses of representations of the queen, in monuments or during ceremonies.