Britain & Ireland
Queenship: Politics and Gender in Tudor England
By , Arizona State University (January 2006)
Sections: Britain & Ireland
Subjects: History, Political History, Women's History.
Places: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Europe.
Periods: 1000 - 1999, 1500-1599, 1600-1699.
Abstract
In the Tudor century both queens consort and queens regnant presided at court. The role of consorts reflected that of noblewomen, who were expected to produce a male heir to continue their husband's line, to oversee some household functions, to supervise their female attendants, and to support religious enterprises deemed appropriate to women. In addition, their royal status offered consorts opportunities to engage in court politics and to influence patronage. Because giving birth to a male heir defined the success of their reign, their inability to reproduce or to protect their honor sometimes endangered their position as consort, as Henry VIII's wives discovered. By contrast, in addition to marrying and securing the succession, Mary and Elizabeth Tudor were expected to rule as monarchs. The perceived inability of women to govern led to demands that they heed their male councilors’ advice. Concerns about whether her husband would dominate royal decision-making raised questions about Philip II's role in Mary's reign. Elizabeth compensated for her singleness by devising strategies for dealing with her male councilors and through representations of her public persona as male.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2006.00312.x
This article abstract has been viewed 4297 times.
Top 5 related articles
-
Print and Public Politics in Seventeenth-Century England
By , University College London
(Vol. 4, November 2006)
History Compass -
Scotland, Europe and the English ‘Missing Link’
By , University of St Andrews
(Vol. 5, April 2007)
History Compass -
Scotland and the Rise of Civic Culture, 1550–1650
By , California State University, Sacramento
(Vol. 3, November 2005)
History Compass -
Aristocratic and Gentry Women, 1460–1640
By , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(Vol. 4, May 2006)
History Compass -
Rediscovering Difference?: Nations, Peoples and Politics in the British Civil Wars
By , Cardiff University
(Vol. 4, September 2006)
History Compass
Top 5 Related Blackwell Reference Chapters
Gender and Sexuality
A civic fountain was a major landmark in a thirteenth‐century Italian commune: an essential source of ...
By John Arnold
Sexuality and revolution
While there is a proliferation of research on the gender politics of revolution, less systematic attention ...
By Carrie Hamilton
From The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest
Gender and Sexuality
The terms “gender” and “sexuality” are relatively new. As recently as the 1960s, “gender” was most commonly ...
By Jane H. Hunter
Gender and Sexuality
At the heart of the study of gender lies “social construction” – the idea that the capacities, expectations, ...
By Alastair J. L. Blanshard
Finding Roman Women
In 1965 Moses Finley published an article, “The silent women of ancient Rome” (unchanged in 1968 and ...
By Beryl Rawson