Anna of Denmark: Expressions of Autonomy and Agency As a Royal Wife and Mother
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PDXScholar Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Summer 1-1-2012 Anna of Denmark: Expressions of Autonomy and Agency as a Royal Wife and Mother Anastasia Christine Baker Portland State University Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, and the Medieval History Commons Recommended Citation Baker, Anastasia Christine, "Anna of Denmark: Expressions of Autonomy and Agency as a Royal Wife and Mother" (2012). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 713. 10.15760/etd.713 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Anna of Denmark: Expressions of Autonomy and Agency as a Royal Wife and Mother by Anastasia Christine Baker A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Thesis Committee: Caroline Litzenberger, Chair John Ott David Johnson Amy Greenstadt Portland State University ©2012 i Abstract Anna of Denmark (12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619), the wife of King James VI/I of Scotland, England, and Ireland, was an intelligent and interesting woman who has, up until recently, been largely ignored by history. It has only been within the past two decades that any in-depth analysis of Anna has been done, and most of that analysis has focused on Anna’s work with the Stuart court masque. The intent of this thesis has been to expand upon current scholarship regarding Anna, as well as to synthesize the various facets of Anna’s life in order to put together a more comprehensive understanding of who Anna was and the various ways in which she expressed personal agency and autonomy as a queen consort as opposed to a queen regnant, and how she used the roles of royal wife and mother to further her own goals and interests. The work is divided into an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction offers a brief analysis of the primary and secondary sources, and details how these sources were used within the broader scope of the paper. This introductory section also examines Anna’s early life in Denmark, her wedding, and her initial journey to Scotland. The second chapter focuses on Anna’s relationships with her husband and children, and particularly how Anna established a niche for herself within first the Scottish, and later the English courts. By studying these relationships it is possible to study the ways in which Anna, as a queen consort, was able to create a court presence for herself. Chapter three analyzes Anna’s relationships with other courtiers and, more specifically, what these relationships tell modern scholars about how Anna was able to exercise political influence and power both directly and indirectly. Anna’s interactions with her courtiers illustrate how well she understood not only human nature, but the ii nature of court culture and politics. The fourth chapter presents an in-depth study of Anna’s masquing career, and looks at how Anna used the court masque to not only establish a female presence on the stage, but also to fashion a public image for herself. Anna used the Stuart court masque in a way that no one had previously: she used it to express her social and political opinions, and through the court masque Anna was able to portray both who she was and how she wanted to be perceived. The final chapter covers Anna’s final days and her lasting impact on English history. Anna of Denmark deserves to be brought out of the shadows of history, and this thesis has attempted to do just that. She was a bright, engaging young woman who, unfortunately, has largely been overshadowed by her husband and children. By studying Anna’s various roles as wife, mother, friend, benefactor, and patron, it has been possible to bring forth a much more complete understanding of who this queen consort was and why she is important to a broader understanding of early modern English history. iii Dedication To Dallin, Alice, and Hellen. Thanks for everything. iv Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people. The author wishes to express her gratitude to her advisor, Dr. Caroline Litzenberger, who was very helpful and offered assistance, support and guidance. Deepest gratitude is also due to the members of her thesis committee, Dr. David Johnson, Dr. John Ott, and Dr. Amy Greenstadt, without whose knowledge and assistance this thesis would not have been successful. Special thanks are also due to the author’s friends in the Portland State University history department, especially Anna Wilson, William Thompson, James Louderman, Daniel Pearson, Meghan Connolly, and Joshua Bryan. Without their support, guidance, humor, and friendship this thesis would not have been possible. Also, the author wishes to thank Dr. Dustin Walcher of Southern Oregon University, whose advice and encouragement was invaluable during the graduate school process. The author wishes to express her love and gratitude to her family, especially Dallin Baker, Sandi and Allen Hart, Claire Glasgow, Michelle Bailey Baker, Vicki Osaki, and Linda Williams, for their understanding, patience, and love through the duration of her studies. v Table of Contents Abstract...........................................................................................................................i Dedication.....................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments.........................................................................................................iv Chapter One Introduction....................................................................................................................1 Chapter Two Anna as a Royal Wife and Mother...............................................................................28 Chapter Three Anna as an Independent Political Entity......................................................................67 Chapter Four Anna’s Masquing Career and the Development of a Female Identity on the Court Stage......................................................................................................107 Chapter Five Conclusion..................................................................................................................138 Sources Consulted......................................................................................................146 1 Chapter One: Introduction In the scope of Early Modern English history, the reign of King James VI/I of Scotland and England has often been eclipsed by the splendor of his relative and predecessor, Queen Elizabeth I, and by the negative legacy of his son and successor, the ill-fated Charles I. James himself is remembered as a king who was an intellectual man whose great ambition was to unify the great Christian kingdoms of Europe. His wife, Anna of Denmark, has received considerably less attention. Anna was, however, a bright and engaging young woman and queen consort who was often involved in politics, took an active interest in the care and upbringing of her children, was an ardent patron of the arts at court, and was a keen judge of character. By examining these different facets of Anna’s life, an interesting and complex portrait emerges, one that paints Anna as a capable and intelligent woman in a time and place that was still not fully ready to accept one, even after the mostly successful reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the intellectual achievements of Henry VIII’s final queen consort, Katherine Parr. Anna was complicated, and consequently any thorough examination of her is going to require that historians look at her through a variety of lenses and via multiple aspects of her life and career. In the past twenty years there has been an increase in the amount of scholarship that has been produced about Anna and her time as queen. While there is still very little known about her childhood, historians have been slowly piecing together a narrative of her time as queen consort in both Scotland and England. Unfortunately, as of yet there have only been two biographies written about Anna: Anne of Denmark: Wife of James VI of Scotland, James I of England by Ethel Carleton Williams, which was published in 2 1970, and Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography by Leeds J. Barroll, which was published in 2001. 1 The work by Williams was remarkable at the time because of the sheer lack of available material about Anna and her life. By using a wide variety of primary sources and by piecing together evidence from secondary sources that focused on Anna’s husband or children, Williams was able to prepare a monograph that established a basic narrative of Anna’s life. This work was also important because it was one of the earliest to identify Anna as an historical figure with any sort of personal agency or importance to the greater world of Early Modern English history. The great weakness of Williams’ work is that her analysis is sometimes undermined by assertions that are based on anachronistic understandings of Anna’s situation and the world around her. While Williams effectively establishes a reasonable outline