Abstract
This chapter builds on the theme of dynastic conflict introduced in the opening chapter, drawing together a group of consorts whose lives and tenures were deeply connected to the Hundred Years’ War: Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, Isabella of Valois, Joan of Navarre, and Katherine of Valois. This chapter draws together the tenures of these six consorts, noting connections between them as well as the impact of “interreginal” periods—when there was no serving consort—and periods of overlap between consort and dowager queens. A brief chronological overview of the tenures of these six queens both introduces the chapters to follow and demonstrates how these women transgressed and fulfilled expectations of medieval queens as beloved wives, mothers, and/or intercessors. In addition, given that the majority of the queens in this section were widowed, it highlights the difficulties of dowagers after their tenure as consort was complete.
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Notes
- 1.
Lisa Benz St John, “In the Best Interest of the Queen: Isabella of France, Edward II and the Image of a Functional Relationship,” in Fourteenth Century England VIII, ed. J.S. Hamilton (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2014), 21–42.
- 2.
For an overview of the French situation that Isabella would have been familiar with, see: Andre Poulet, “Capetian Women and the Regency: The Genesis of a Vocation,” in Medieval Queenship ed. John Carmi Parsons (Stroud: Sutton, 1993), 93–116. For a wider view of royal minorities in England, see: Charles Beem, ed., The Royal Minorities of Medieval and Early Modern England (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). For a European survey, see: Emily Joan Ward, “Child Kings and Guardianship in North-Western Europe, c.1050–c.1250,” in The Routledge History of Monarchy, ed. Elena Woodacre, Lucinda H.S. Dean, Chris Jones, Russell E. Martin, and Zita Eva Rohr (London: Routledge, 2019), 551–565.
- 3.
Anthony Musson, “Queenship, Lordship and Petitioning in Late Medieval England,” in Medieval Petitions: Grace and Grievance, ed. W. Mark Ormrod, Gwilym Dodd, and Anthony Musson (Woodbridge: York Medieval Press, 2009), 156–172, esp. 160.
- 4.
Laura Tompkins, “Edward III’s Gold Digging Mistress: Alice Perrers, Gender and Financial Power at the English Royal Court, 1360–1377,” in Women and Economic Power in Premodern Royal Courts, ed. Cathleen Sarti (Bradford: Arc Humanities Press, 2020), 59–72.
- 5.
For more on Joan of Kent, see: Anthony Goodman, Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent and her World (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2017).
- 6.
See also Geaman’s wider consideration of childless queens with Theresa Earenfight: Kristen L. Geaman and Theresa Earenfight, “Neither Heir nor Spare: Childless Queens and the Practice of Monarchy in Pre-modern Europe,” in The Routledge History of Monarchy, ed. Elena Woodacre, Lucinda H.S. Dean, Chris Jones, Russell Martin and Zita Eva Rohr (London: Routledge, 2019), 518–533.
- 7.
While Joan was the only English queen to be detained in potential connection to witchcraft, other contemporary royal women in this period were accused or associated with occult practices. See: Gemma Hollman, Royal Witches: From Joan of Navarre to Elizabeth Woodville (Cheltenham: The History Press, 2019).
- 8.
See Katia Wright’s work with Michele Seah on this topic: Michele Seah and Katia Wright, “The Medieval English Queen as Landholder: Some Reflections on Sources and Methodology,” in Women and Economic Power in Premodern Royal Courts, ed. Cathleen Sarti (Bradford: Arc Humanities Press, 2020), 9–34. For wider considerations, see: Attila Barany, “Medieval Queens and Queenship: the Present Status of Research in Income and Power,” Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU 19 (2013): 149–199; and Amalie Fößel, “The Queen’s Wealth in the Middle Ages,” Majestas 13 (2005): 23–45.
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Woodacre, E. (2023). The Consorts of the Hundred Years’ War. In: Norrie, A., Harris, C., Laynesmith, J., Messer, D.R., Woodacre, E. (eds) Later Plantagenet and the Wars of the Roses Consorts. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94886-3_2
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