Abstract
In the early modern fairy tale canon, an unusual trope begins many tales: the queen’s deathbed wish. Before she dies, the ailing queen asks that if the king marries again, it must be to someone whose finger perfectly fits her wedding ring, or else someone who resembles her. This curious request sets the king on a quest to replicate his queen, but the only woman who satisfies the queen’s mandate is their daughter. This essay argues that the fictional deathbed wish should be viewed not as an incest tale but as a manifestation of the queen’s concern over dynasty. Through her deathbed wish, the queen proposes her daughter as a surrogate queen, thus keeping a place for her in the succession.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
In his anthology of European fairy tales, Jack Zipes categorizes these as tales of “Incestuous Fathers”. Zipes traces the incest theme back to “Byzantine and Greek tales and Medieval legends”. But Zipes also acknowledges that in most of these tales, the primary plot revolves not around the father but around the female protagonist’s “fall from and return to royalty … Depending on the attitude of the writer, the incestuous father is punished or forgiven. Sometimes he is just forgotten”. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: from Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 26–27.
- 2.
Although the phrase “rags-to-riches” is commonly used to describe the trajectory of suffering that ends in rewards in the fairy tale genre, Ruth Bottigheimer offers a more precise distinction between “restoration and rise” tales. In restoration tales, protagonists begin in a state of privilege, fall into suffering, and are eventually restored to their initial status; in rise tales, protagonists begin in a lower estate but ultimately achieve upward mobility—these are the tales more accurately described as “rags-to-riches”. Fairy Godfather: Straparola, Venice, and the Fairy Tale Tradition (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 4–15.
- 3.
For a more extended discussion of the intersection between the representation of early modern queens in fact and fiction, see Jo Eldridge Carney, Fairy Tale Queens: Representation of Early Modern Queenship (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), 2012.
- 4.
Giovanni Straparola, The Pleasant Nights, ed. and trans. Suzanne Magnanini (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2015), 74–81.
- 5.
Magnanini, 77.
- 6.
Magnanini, 79.
- 7.
Zipes, 33.
- 8.
Zipes, 34.
- 9.
Zipes, 39.
- 10.
Zipes, 47.
- 11.
Henry’s comment was reported by the Venetian ambassador, Sebastiano Giustiniani. Calendar of State Papers Venice II (1509–1519), 691. The “both chivalrous and loyal” characterization is from David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), 158, and the “optimistic” characterization is from Jasper Ridley, Henry VIII: The Politics of Tyranny (New York: Viking Penguin, 1985), 91.
- 12.
Reported by Spanish ambassador Chapuys to the Emperor. Letters and Papers, Vol. 5, 21 March 1535, Item 429.
- 13.
Katherine oversaw the resounding defeat of James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden and proudly sent Henry James’s bloodstained coat as proof of her military success.
- 14.
Judith Richards, “Mary Tudor: Renaissance Queen of England”, in High and Mighty Queens of Early Modern England: Realities and Representations, eds. Carole Levin, Debra Barrett-Graves, and Jo Eldridge Carney (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 27–44; 27.
- 15.
Starkey and Ridley both discuss Katherine’s displeasure at Fitzroy’s elevation. See also Garrett Mattingly, Katherine of Aragon (New York: Vintage, 1941), 219–20 and Giles Tremlett, Katherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen (London: Faber and Faber, 2010), 249–52.
- 16.
Starkey, 199.
- 17.
On Katherine’s interest in and influence on her daughter’s education, see Timothy G. Elston, “Transformation or Continuity? Sixteenth-Century Education and the Legacy of Katherine of Aragon, Mary I, and Juan Luis Vives”, in High and Mighty Queens, eds. Levin et al., 11–26.
- 18.
Tremlett, 267.
- 19.
Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, 17 October 1528, Item 4858.
- 20.
Tremlett, 297.
- 21.
Tremlett, 354.
- 22.
Starkey refers to this letter as part of the “recusant tradition” (550); Giles Tremlett also says the letter is probably “fictitious” but not inconsistent with Katherine’s feelings about Mary (422).
- 23.
Letters and Papers Spanish, Vol. 6, 10 September 1533, Item 1124.
- 24.
Letters and Papers Spanish, Vol. 6, 17 September 1533, Item 1127.
- 25.
Retha Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 172.
- 26.
Letters and Papers Spanish, Vol. 6, 16 December 1533, Item 1528.
- 27.
Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2nd. ed. (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 364. Retha Warnicke also discusses the significance of this episode, arguing that in the aftermath of her last failed pregnancy, Anne would have wanted to remind Henry that she could produce healthy, well-formed children (202).
- 28.
Ives, 272 and 312.
- 29.
J. Bruce, ed. Correspondence of Matthew Parker (London: The Parker Society, 1853), 96.
- 30.
Edward Hall, Henry VIII, ed. C. Whibley. 2 vols. (London: 1904), 268–69.
- 31.
Letters and Papers, Vol. 10, 19 May 1536, Item 908.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Carney, J.E. (2018). The Queen’s Deathbed Wish in Early Modern Fairy Tales: Securing the Dynasty. In: Bertolet, A. (eds) Queens Matter in Early Modern Studies. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64048-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64048-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64047-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64048-8
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)