This book examines the power held by the French medieval queens during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and their larger roles within the kingdom at a time when women were excluded from succession to the throne. Well before Catherine and Marie de¿ Medici, the last medieval French queens played an essential role in the monarchy, not only because they bore the weight of their dynasty¿s destiny but also because they embodied royal majesty alongside their husbands. Since women were excluded from the French crown in 1316, they were only deemed as ¿queen consorts.¿ Far from being confined solely to the private sphere, however, these queens participated in the communication of power and contributed to the proper functioning of ¿court society.¿ From Isabeau of Bavaria and her political influence during her husband¿s intermittent absences to Anne of Brittany¿s reign, this book sheds light on the meaning and complexity of the office of queen and ultimately the female history of power.

CONTENTS

The Queens of France (Fourteenth-Fifteenth Centuries)

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I

ACCEDING TO ROYAL DIGNITY

Chapter 1

MARRYING THE KING

Matrimonial Strategies

Royal Weddings

Love and Separation: The Royal Couple

Chapter 2

MARRYING THE MONARCHY: THE QUEEN'S CORONATION

The Body in All Its Majesty: The Coronation of Joan of Bourbon

'God Save the Queen': The Symbolism of the Queen's Coronation

The Forgotten Coronation?: Queens of the Fifteenth Century

Chapter 3

BEARING THE BLOOD OF FRANCE

The Indispensability of Motherhood

The Purified Woman: Lying-In and Child Rearing

The Mother as Educator

Part II

A WOMAN IN POLITICS:

THE POWER OF THE QUEEN <

Chapter 4

THE 'PROFESSION' OF QUEEN

Capetian Queens and Salic Law

Transformations in Reginal Power: Acting in Politics

Heiress Queens and Dowager Queens: The Territorial Inscription of Reginal Power

Chapter 5

THE 'GOVERNMENT OF WOMEN':

DELEGATING POWER AND REGENCY

Regency 'Orders': Female Power?

Female Regency in Action: Seats of Power and Governance of the Kingdom

The Historiographical Posterity of Women in Power: 'Bad' Queens

Chapter 6

THE 'QUEEN OF CEREMONIES'

The Queen's Public Body: The Role of Representation

The Queen's Allegorical Body: Entry Ceremonies

The Queen's Final Triumph: Death and Funerals

Part III

THE SYMBOLIC GOVERNMENT

Chapter 7

COURTLY SOCIETY: THE QUEEN IN HER HÔTEL

The Queen's Apartments

The 'Court of Ladies': The Queen's Hôtel

Courtly Life

Chapter 8

THE ROAD TO ETERNITY: DEVOTIONS AND THE DIVINE

The Mirror of Christian Perfection

The Queen as 'Mother of the Poor'

Religious and Sacred Foundations

Chapter 9

THE QUEEN'S TREASURY: ART, LITERATURE AND POWER

Art and Politics: The Queen's Treasury

Books and Culture: The Queen's Library

Queens as Cultural Advocates and Patronesses

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Murielle Gaude-Ferragu is University Professor of History at the Université Paris-13, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, France.

 

Angela Krieger, PhD, is a translator and editor based in Paris, France.