Royal Women and Dynastic Loyalty

Queenship and Power

by Caroline Dunn (Editor), Elizabeth Carney (Editor)

Royal women did much more to wield power besides marrying the king and producing the heir. Subverting the dichotomies of public/private and formal/informal that gender public authority as male and informal authority as female, this book examines royal women as agents of influence. With an expansive chronological and geographic scope—from ancient to early modern and covering Egypt, Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Asia Minor—these essays trace patterns of influence often disguised by narrower studies of government studies and officials. Contributors highlight the theme of dynastic loyalty by focusing on the roles and actions of individual royal women, examining patterns within dynasties, and considering what factors generated loyalty and disloyalty to a dynasty or individual ruler. Contributors show that whether serving as the font of dynastic authority or playing informal roles of child-bearer, patron, or religious promoter, royal women have been central to the issue of dynastic loyalty throughout the ancient, medieval, and modern eras.

Genres: Nonfiction

199 pages, Hardcover

Published June 4, 2018

Reviews

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of chapters about royal women and their contributions to their dynasties of birth and marriage from classical times to the 19th century. While there are familiar figures examined in this volume, such as Mary, Queen of Scots and her son James I's queen, Anna of Denmark, most of the contributors examine comparatively overlooked figures such as Empress Elizabeth Christine (the mother of Empress Maria Theresa and the grandmother of Marie Antoinette) or the little known royal women of the 17th century Ottoman Empire who served as stabilizing figures during an uncertain time for their ruling house.

The authors draw conclusions that continue to be relevant to the history of monarchical government, women and power and royal court culture. For example, in her chapter on Queenship and the Currency of Arts Patronage as Propaganda at the Early Stuart Court, Wendy Hitchmough observes that royal palaces continue to be sites of national identity and memory, as demonstrated by the recent Remembrance Day poppies installation at the Tower of London and the role of Kensington Palace as a site for mourning Diana, Princess of Wales.

Since the book is based on a series of conference presentations, the chapters are short and sometimes end abruptly, especially the opening chapter about King’s Daughters, Sisters, and Wives: Fonts and Conduits of Power and Legitimacy by Waldemar Heckel. I hope that the contributors will expand their research into longer articles and books as the chapters in this volume examine important and often overlooked historical figures and their contributions to dynastic legitimacy.