Performance, perception, identity: the public image of queens consort, 1500-1550

Abstract

Scholars have long argued that early modern queens consort were essential in legitimising kingship and contributing to the public image of their kingly spouses. While broadly concurring with that argument, this thesis examines the public image of queens consort as distinct from the king’s royal image. In crafting a strong image for themselves, queens consort, like their husbands, publicly reinforced their own authority and legitimacy, shaped public opinion and deterred criticism, and, in many cases, forged a connection with their subjects as distinct and influential individuals. To this end, this thesis analyses how performances of queenship crafted a public persona for an individual queen and explores how these performances were received and remembered. Four key practices of early modern queenship are examined to understand how a queen consort’s public image was constructed within the traditional framework of queenship: the construction and distribution of the queen’s image; representations of the queen as a mother; the queen’s image as an intercessor; and the use of gift exchange as a medium for image creation. The thesis also compares the public image of queens consort across three courts — England, Scotland, and France. In order to make such comparisons, a sample of eleven queens consort have been chosen for detailed study: Anne de Bretagne (1477-1514), Margaret Tudor (1489-1541), Katherine of Aragon (1485-1536), Mary Tudor (1496-1533), Claude de France (1499-1524), Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558), Anne Boleyn (c.1501-1536), Jane Seymour (c.1508/9-1537), Madeleine de Valois (1520-1537), Marie de Guise (1515-1560), and Kateryn Parr (1512-1548). This large sample of queens consort allows us to argue that there was no single uniform image of queenship in the early sixteenth century, but rather a multiplicity of public images that were fashioned for and by queens consort within the traditional framework of queenship. A queen consort’s image was ultimately shaped by individuality, circumstance, and by who mediated and controlled their image.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Charlotte Kelly Rebecca Samways: orcid.org/0000-0001-5551-412X

ORCID for Maria Hayward: orcid.org/0000-0002-3299-4383

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