Abstract
The fire of the gynecocracy debate, ignited by the events of the late 1550s, continued to burn unabated even after the execution of Mary Stuart in 1587, the death of Catherine de’Medici in 1589, and the succession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603. By the time Marie de’ Medici became regent of France in 1610, the development of patriarchal political theory had changed the terms of the debate, equating a king’s rule with God’s rule and kingship with fatherhood. In such an equation, there was no place for women to exercise sovereignty.
The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth, for kine are not only God’s licmeaams upon earth and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called Gods, …and so their power after a certain relation compared to the divine power. Kings are also compared to fathers of families, for a king is truly parens patriae, the politique father of his people.
—King James I of England, “A Speech to the Lord and Commons of the Parliament,” 16091
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Notes
Jacques Bossuet, Politique tirée des propres paroles de l’Écriture-Sainte (Paris, 1706), but probably written about 1680.
Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English (Oxford, 1991), 1.
Magdalena S. Sanchez, The Empress, the Queen, and the Nun: Women and Power at the Court of Philip III of Spain ( Baltimore, Maryland, 1998 ), 130–36
Donald Kagan, et al., The Western Heritage, 7th ed. (New York, 2000)
Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization: A Brief History to 1715, 2nd ed. (New York, 2002 ).
Roland H. Bainton, Women of the Reformation from Spain to Scandinavia ( Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977 ), 226.
Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Hcido A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy, eds., Handbook of European History, 1400–1600 vol. 1: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation: Structures and Assertions (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1994), xix. See also Morris, 5–6)
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© 2002 Sharon L. Jansen
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Jansen, S.L. (2002). The End of an Era. In: The Monstrous Regiment of Women. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230602113_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230602113_7
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