Obviously it’s much easier to see regnant and regent queens exercising power and authority, by ruling in their own right, ruling on behalf of an underage child or an absentee king, or standing in for a king who is incapacitated (as in the cases of Margaret of Anjou and Isabeau of Bavaria, queen consorts of Henry VI of England and Charles VI of France respectively). Equally, sometimes it’s not recorded because – especially in the Middle Ages – monastic chroniclers perhaps didn’t want to overplay the power of women, or maybe weren’t as aware of the power of women in those more intimate settings. That type of influence, particularly when exerted over queens’ husbands, may have taken place in private and not necessarily been noted down. One of the big debates in this area of research is whether we should use the terms ‘power’ or ‘agency’ when referring to medieval queens – agency is being able to decide something for yourself and not have someone tell you what to do, whereas power is more about telling someone else what to do.Īgency is often used in relation to medieval queens, but there is an argument that this might underplay the power of queens, because the so-called ‘soft power’ is harder to see. Q: How much power did medieval queens actually have? Were queens always blamed for the absence of an heir?.How much influence did mothers-in-law have other medieval queens?.How did the role of medieval queens mix with their roles as mothers?.
Were foreign queens in England expected to be able to speak English?.Were queens from royal backgrounds able to wield more power than so-called ‘commoner’ queens?.Who were the most powerful queens of the Middle Ages.What makes a perfect queen? The four 'goods' and the three 'Ps'.
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