Queenship in Medieval Europe

Theresa Earenfight’s Queenship in Medieval Europe documents the lives and works of queens and empresses across Europe, Byzantium, and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. Introducing pivotal research and sources in queenship studies, Earenfight highlights four crucial moments across the full span of the Middle Ages—ca. 300, 700, 1100, and 1350—when Christianity, education, lineage, and marriage law fundamentally altered the practice of queenship. The book makes the compelling argument that queens, linked to kings by marriage, family, and property, were vital to the institution of monarchy. This 2nd edition foregrounds that medieval queens led richly complex lives and were highly visible women active in a man's world. It also continues to examine the theories and practices of queenship in the context of wider issues of gender, authority, and power. Using an enhanced and entirely reformulated chapter structure, this new edition includes for the first time:· Material on sources, methods and theories that considers recent work on feminist and gender theories· A framing of the historical study of queens in the wider history of the Middle Ages· Stronger coverage of: gender, dynasty, and legitimacy; the royal mistress; the dynamics of the royal household; the operations of the court; the history of emotions; landholding and lordship; and material culture· Clearer connections between the history of queens and queenship and the history of women overall· Analysis of the movement of women across geographical boundaries, including Hungarian, Byzantine, Scandinavian, and Islamic realms· Numerous genealogy charts, end-of-chapter source documents, 30 images and several maps· Historiographical updates throughout