A life of Matilda-empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle AgesMatilda was a daughter, wife, and mother. But she was also empress, heir to the English ...crown-the first woman ever to hold the position-and an able military general.This new biography explores Matilda's achievements as military and political leader, and sets her life and career in full context. Catherine Hanley provides fresh insight into Matilda's campaign to claim the title of queen, her approach to allied kingdoms and rival rulers, and her role in the succession crisis. Hanley highlights how Matilda fought for the throne, and argues that although she never sat on it herself her reward was to see her son become king. Extraordinarily, her line has continued through every single monarch of England or Britain from that time to the present day.
In this lively and pathbreaking book, William Monter sketches Europe's increasing acceptance of autonomous female rulers between the late Middle Ages and the French Revolution. Monter surveys the ...governmental records of Europe's thirty women monarchs—the famous (Mary Stuart, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great) as well as the obscure (Charlotte of Cyprus, Isabel Clara Eugenia of the Netherlands)—describing how each of them achieved sovereign authority, wielded it, and (more often than men) abandoned it. Monter argues that Europe's female kings, who ruled by divine right, experienced no significant political opposition despite their gender.
This book is about the Christ Pantokrator, an imposing monumental complex serving monastic, dynastic, medical and social purposes in Constantinople, founded by Emperor John II Komnenos and Empress ...Piroska-Eirene in 1118. Now called Zeyrek Mosque, the second largest Byzantine religious edifice after Hagia Sophia still standing in Istanbul represents the most remarkable architectural and the most ambitious social project of the Komnenian dynasty. This volume approaches the Pantokrator from a special vantage point focusing on its co-founder, Empress Piroska-Eirene, the daughter of the Hungarian king Ladislaus I. This particular perspective enables its authors to explore not only the architecture, the monastic and medical functions of the complex, but also Hungarian-Byzantine relations, the cultural and religious history of early medieval Hungary, imperial representation, personal faith and dynastic holiness. Piroska’s wedding with John Komnenos came to be perceived as a union of East and West. The life of the Empress, a "sainted ruler," and her memory in early Árpádian Hungary and Komnenian Byzantium are discussed in the context of women and power, monastic foundations, architectural innovations, and spiritual models.
Zhao Feiyan (45-1 BCE), the second empress appointed by Emperor
Cheng of the Han dynasty (207 BCE-220 CE), was born in slavery and
trained in the performing arts, a background that made her
...appointment as empress highly controversial. Subsequent persecution
by her political enemies eventually led to her being forced to
commit suicide. After her death, her reputation was marred by
accusations of vicious scheming, murder of other consorts and their
offspring, and relentless promiscuity, punctuated by bouts of
extravagant shopping.
This first book-length study of Zhao Feiyan and her literary
legacy includes a complete translation of The Scandalous Tale
of Zhao Feiyan (Zhao Feiyan waizhuan), a Tang dynasty (618-907
CE) erotic novella that describes in great detail the decadent
lifestyle enjoyed by imperial favorites in the harem of Emperor
Cheng. This landmark text was crucial for establishing writings
about palace women as the accepted forum for discussing sexual
matters, including fetishism, obsession, jealousy, incompatibility
in marriage, and so on. Using historical documentation, Olivia
Milburn reconstructs the evolution of Zhao Feiyan's story and
illuminates the broader context of palace life for women and the
novella's social influence.
Mujeres imperiales, mujeres reales reúne diversas contribuciones que estudian, desde una perspectiva pluridisciplinar (con enfoques que van de lo literario a lo antropológico, pasando por lo ...histórico-arqueológico), la evolución del poder femenino y su expresión pública desde la tardoantigüedad hasta el período bizantino tardío.
Los trabajos aquí reunidos consideran tanto la evidencia literaria como la material (pintura y escultura, numismática, epigrafía monumental). Por su carácter interdisciplinar, esta obra permite observar desde diversos ángulos las estrategias que facultaron a estas mujeres para ejercer el poder. Con su liderazgo en las cortes imperiales y reales, las mujeres que transitan por estas páginas consiguieron trascender el papel de meras madres de emperadores y reyes para convertirse en auténticas protagonistas de la política contemporánea.
Diliana Angelova argues that from the time of Augustus through early Byzantium, a discourse of "sacred founders"-articulated in artwork, literature, imperial honors, and the built environment-helped ...legitimize the authority of the emperor and his family. The discourse coalesced around the central idea, bound to a myth of origins, that imperial men and women were sacred founders of the land, mirror images of the empire's divine founders. When Constantine and his formidable mother Helena established a new capital for the Roman Empire, they initiated the Christian transformation of this discourse by brilliantly reformulating the founding myth. Over time, this transformation empowered imperial women, strengthened the cult of the Virgin Mary, fueled contests between church and state, and provoked an arresting synthesis of imperial and Christian art.Sacred Founderspresents a bold interpretive framework that unearths deep continuities between the ancient and medieval worlds, recovers a forgotten transformation in female imperial power, and offers a striking reinterpretation of early Christian art.
The marriage between Marie-Louise, House of Habsburg-Lorraine (1791–1847), and the divorced Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) presented several iconographical challenges to contemporaneous artists. They ...needed to convey Marie-Louise's fundamental importance to the imperial regime without marginalizing Napoleon's positions as monarch and founder of a new dynasty. The resulting artistic innovations portrayed a culturally engaged queenship, one that emphasized Marie-Louise's abilities to paint and draw while underscoring her potential power of dynastic creation, thanks to her rich Habsburg bloodlines. Through an analysis of paintings created during the first year of the imperial marriage, this study provides insight into the life of Marie-Louise and other aristocratic women who navigated essential, if sometimes invisible, roles in the political sphere.
In Spain, the share of ladies in deciding the political destinies of the country from the throne has been more conspicuous than in other European monarchies. The oriental traditions dominant in Spain ...for centuries tended to make wives the humble satellites rather than the equal companions of their husbands. But whilst these traditions limited the power of Spanish women generally, they were insufficient to counteract the extraordinary political influence of a series of remarkable feminine personalities who have on occasion during the course of four centuries practically wielded the sceptres of Spain.
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