The image, status and function of queens and empresses, regnant and
consort, in kingdoms stretching from England to Jerusalem in the
European middle ages.
Did queens exercise real or counterfeit power? Did the promotion of the
cult of the Virgin enhance or restrict their sphere of action? Is it
time to revise the early feminist view of women as victims? Important
papers on Emma of England, Margaret of Scotland, coronation and burial
ritual, Byzantine empresses and Scandinavian queens, among others,
clearly indicate that a reassessment of the role of women in the world
of medieval dynastic politics is under way.
Contributors: JANOS BAK, GEORGE CONKLIN, PAUL CROSSLEY, VOLKER HONEMANN,
STEINAR IMSEN, LIZ JAMES, KURT-ULRICH JASCHKE, SARAH LAMBERT, JANET L.
NELSON, JOHN C. PARSONS, KAREN PRATT, DION SMYTHE, PAULINE STAFFORD,
MARY STROLL, VALERIE WALL, ELIZABETH WARD, DIANA WEBB.