Queenship and Power Series Editors Charles Beem University of North Carolina, Pembroke Pembroke , NC, USA Carole Levin University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln , NE, USA This series focuses on works specializing in gender analysis, women’s studies, literary interpretation, and cultural, political, constitutional, and diplomatic history. It aims to broaden our understanding of the strategies that queens— both consorts and regnants, as well as female regents—pursued in order to wield political power within the structures of male-dominant societies. The works describe queenship in Europe as well as many other parts of the world, including East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Islamic civilization. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14523 Zita Eva Rohr • Lisa Benz Editors Queenship, Gender, and Reputation in the Medieval and Early Modern West, 1060–1600 Editors Zita Eva Rohr Lisa Benz Sydney , New South Wales Salem , Massachusetts Australia USA Queenship and Power ISBN 978-3-319-31282-8 ISBN 978-3-319-31283-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31283-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016951453 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: Anne de France, dame de Beaujeu, duchesse de Bourbon, (1462–1522), presented by Saint John the Evangelist, c.1492–1493. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland For our families and friends ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This volume of collected essays was the brainchild of Rachel C. Gibbons, who sought to mark the passing of two decades since the infl uential and durable publication of John Carmi Parsons’ Medieval Queenship . Her aim was to highlight the contributions since made by early and mid-career researchers as well as doctoral students to suggest a “New Generation” of queenship studies that both builds upon and departs from the consider- able scholarship of previous decades. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, Rachel was unable to bring her project “to market.” In an effort to continue and build upon Rachel’s initial vision, we assumed the editorial role. We have made considerable changes to the way in which the collection was fi rst framed and conceived, and trust that the reader will fi nd the collection a worthwhile point of departure for further refl ections on the nature of queenship and power as viewed through the lenses of gender and reputation. We would like to acknowledge and thank the series editors, Carole Levin and Charles Beem, for their support and unwavering encourage- ment. Kristin Purdy (History Editor at Palgrave Macmillan) has been enthusiastic, constructive, and kind throughout the process of bringing this collection to press. Engaged, caring, and effi cient, Chelsea Morgan (Production Manager) and Michelle Smith (Editorial Assistant) have been of invaluable assistance. We acknowledge the scholarly dedication and hard work of our contributors who accepted our sometimes exacting editorship in good humor, wholeheartedly embracing our joint vision for their collection. vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to thank and acknowledge our families: Zita’s sons, Lucas, Christian, Declan, and Flynn, her husband, Mark, and Lisa’s parents for their love and support in bringing this collection to press. We would also like to recognize our mentors, friends, and colleagues, Andrew Fitzmaurice, Theresa Earenfi ght, Núria Silleras-Fernández, Mark Ormrod, Barbara Gribling, Christina Figueredo, Bronach Kane, and Simon Sandall for their invaluable encouragement, for their advice, and for acting as our respective sounding boards. Zita Eva Rohr and Lisa Benz (Sydney, Australia, and Salem, MA) CONTENTS Part I Biography, Gossip, and History 1 Lifestyles of the Rich and (In?)Animate: Object Biography and the Reliquary Cross of Queen Adelaide of Hungary 3 Christopher Mielke Gender, Reputation, and Female Rule in the World of Brantôme 29 Tracy Adams True Lies and Strange Mirrors: The Uses and Abuses of Rumor, Propaganda, and Innuendo During the Closing Stages of the Hundred Years War 51 Zita Eva Rohr Etienne Pasquier on French History and Female Strategies of Power 77 James H. Dahlinger ix x CONTENTS Part II Politics, Ambition, and Scandal 97 The Unruly Queen: Blanche of Namur and Dysfunctional Rulership in Medieval Sweden 99 Henric Bagerius and Christine Ekholst Conspiracy and Alienation: Queen Margaret of France and Piers Gaveston, the King’s Favorite 119 Lisa Benz Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France: Queenship and Political Authority as “Lieutenante-Général” of the Realm 143 Rachel C. Gibbons Leonor of Navarre: The Price of Ambition 161 Elena Woodacre Bibliography 183 Index 207 CONTRIBUTORS EDITORS Zita Eva Rohr Zita Rohr is a researcher and tutor attached to the Department of History at the University of Sydney, Australia. She holds a PhD from the University of New England, Armidale, for her thesis on the queenship, power, and family politics of Yolande of Aragon, and has published a consid- erable number of papers from her ongoing research. Her interests include power and authority; conjugal collaboration in government; pre-humanist education and endeavor; the spirituality and formative infl uences of royal and aristocratic women; female book ownership and epistolary; piety, patronage, and politics. As well as numerous contributions to edited collec- tions since the award of her doctorate, published by Palgrave Macmillan, Irish Academic Press, Cambridge Scholars, Brill and Brepols, she has recently published a monograph with Palgrave Macmillan, Yolande of Aragon (1381- 1442) Power and Family: The Reverse of the Tapestry . In 2004, Rohr was admitted to the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Chevalier) for her contribu- tion to French education and culture, and she is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Lisa Benz Lisa Benz holds a PhD in history from the University of York, UK, and published her fi rst monograph on late English medieval queen- ship, Three Medieval Queens: Queenship and the Crown in Fourteenth- Century England , with Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. She is also the author of “In the Queen’s Best Interest: Isabella, Edward II and the xi xii CONTRIBUTORS Image of a Functional Relationship,” in Fourteenth-Century England VIII (ed. Jeffrey S. Hamilton, 2014). Her interests lie in political cul- ture, royal and legal institutions, and women’s and gender history. She has taught at the University of York, Rutgers University, and was the 2011–2012 Medieval Fellow at Fordham University. She is now an independent scholar. OTHER CONTRIBUTORS Tracy Adams Tracy Adams is Associate Professor in French at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She holds a PhD in French from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, and has also taught at the University of Maryland, the University of Miami, and the University of Lyon III. She was a Eurias Senior Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies, 2011–2012, and an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions Distinguished International Visiting Fellow in 2014. She is the author of Violent Passions: Managing Love in the Old French Verse Romance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria (2010), and Christine de Pizan and the Fight for France (2014). Henric Bagerius Henric (Henry) Bagerius holds a PhD in history from Gothenburg University and is now an assistant professor at Örebro University, Sweden. His doctoral research explored the importance of sexuality for the identity formation of the Icelandic late medieval aris- tocracy. He has published extensively in the fi eld of gender and sexuality, covering the medieval period and more modern times. His latest book is an edited anthology examining Swedish royal marriages from the Middle Ages up until today. Together Ekholst and Bagerius work on a compara- tive project that focuses on how sexuality was used in propaganda in late medieval Europe. Their project is funded by the Swedish Research Council and placed at Örebro University, Sweden. James H. Dahlinger James H. Dahlinger is a Jesuit and a specialist in French literature of the medieval and early modern periods. He holds a PhD from New York University. He is Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and English at Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York. He is the author of Etienne Pasquier on Ethics and History (2007) and Saving France in the 1580s—Writings of Etienne Pasquier (2014). CONTRIBUTORS xiii Christine Ekholst Christine Ekholst holds a PhD in history from Stockholm University. She has been a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech (US) and McGill University (Canada) and is now a visiting assistant professor at the University of Guelph (Canada). Her research focuses on legal history, vio- lence, gender, and sexuality. Her doctoral research is published in the book For Each Criminal a Punishment. Gender and Crime in Swedish Medieval Law (2014).