Power and Queens in Medieval Times

Contributors: Agnes S. Arnórsdóttir, Marie Bønløkke Missuno, Else Roesdahl, Lone Liljefalk, Stefan Pajung, Kasper H. Andersen, Jens E. Olesen, Steinar Imsen, Erik Opsahl, Carsten Jahnke, Jeppe Büchert Netterstrøm, Mikkel Leth Jespersen, Lars Bisgaard and Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen.

Power and greatness in the Middle Ages were not only reserved for kings. The medieval queens were also powerful and vigorous. The queen often exerted her power behind the scenes, through private conversations with the king and secret contacts. But some queens also acted as guardians of underaged kings, substitue for an absent king - and even as the ruler of the reign.

In Dronningemagt i middelalderen (Power and Queens in Medieval Times) researches shed light on the medieval queens in the Nordic countries and discuss their significance, life and work. The queen had to be pious, faithful and motherly, she had to deliver an heir to the throne and quarantee alliances between kingdoms. It wasn't an easy task and researchers haven't always provided the queens with justice. This book presents a varied picture of the famous medieval queens such as Princess Ingeborg, who was marrried to Philip August II of France, the politically skilled Agnes of Brandenburg and the powerful Margrethe I. But it also presents some of the belittled and ignored queens such as Elisabeth of Austria and Lutgard of Stade. The book shows how the power of medieval queens was much larger and more complex than otherwise thought.

Facts

Dronningemagt i middelalderen (Power and Queens in Medieval Times)

Edited by Kasper H. Andersen and Jeppe Büchert Netterstrøm

Aarhus University Press, 2018

294 p., ill.
ISBN 978-87-7124-884-5