This collection expands previous regional and individual studies of queenship and female political agency in order to engage in a comparative study of premodern female rule on a global scale. While the field of queenship studies and examinations of gender and power have been flourishing, the literature has tended to be dominated by studies of European royalty. This volume aims toembrace and develop the trend towards an increasingly global outlook for the field of queenship studies. Case studies of women from different periods, places, and religions are deliberately mixed to compare and contrast the realities of queenship in varied settings. Lesser studied examples of queens are provided alongside fresh perspectives on more familiar figures and regions. The authors increase our understanding of understudied individuals and groups of queens, and they encourage the comparison of the practice of queenship in the premodern era. This authoritative and comprehensive Companion will be required readingfor all scholars and students of premodern gender and political studies.
- Cover
- Contents
- Untitled
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- 1. Introduction
- 2. When the Emperor Is a Woman
- 3. Tamar of Georgia (1184–1213) and the Language of Female Power
- 4. Regnant Queenship and Royal Marriage between the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Nobility of Western Europe
- 5. Queenship and Female Authority in the Sultanate of Delhi (1206–1526)
- 6. Anna Jagiellon
- 7. Female Rule in Imperial Russia
- 8. The Transformation of an Island Queen
- 9. Female Rangatira in Aotearoa New Zealand
- 10. The Social–Political Roles of the Princess in Kyivan Rus’, ca. 945–1240
- 11. Impressions of Welsh Queenship in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
- 12. Queen Zaynab al-Nafzawiyya and the Building of a Mediterranean Empire in the Eleventh-Century Maghreb
- 13. Al-Dalfa’ and the Political Role of the umm al-walad in the Late Umayyad Caliphate of al-Andalus
- 14. The Khitan Empress Dowagers Yingtian and Chengtian in Liao China, 907–1125
- 15. Dowager Queens and Royal Succession in Premodern Korea
- 16. The Ambiguities of Female Rule in Nayaka South India, Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries
- 17. Helena’s Heirs
- 18. The Hohenstaufen Women and the Differences between Aragonese and Greek Queenship Models
- 19. The “Honourable Ladies” of Nasrid Granada
- 20. Comparing the French Queen Regent and the Ottoman Validé Sultan during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
- 21. Queens and Courtesans in Japan and Early Modern France
- 22. The Figure of the Queen Mother in the European and African Monarchies, 1400–1800
- Index