By Amy Saunders Stirling Castle, Scotland’s best rated castle on TripAdvisor, attracted over 600,000 visitors in 2018-2019 and has, over time, housed and hosted numerous Scottish monarchs including James V (1512-1542), Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587), and James VI (1566-1625).[1] However, through marriage it is also a site influenced and shaped by the lives andContinue reading “Foreign Queens in Scottish Heritage Sites“
Tag Archives: history
Illegitimate daughters exercising power in the twelfth century: The case of Urraca the Asturian
By Lucía Gomez In the medieval era, the twelfth century appears as one of special importance for the analysis of female power. In Castile, the effective exercise of power by women of the royal family was facilitated, strengthening their position as queens, consorts, sisters, daughters, mediators, advisors, and even intercessors before the king. This isContinue reading “Illegitimate daughters exercising power in the twelfth century: The case of Urraca the Asturian“
Film Review: Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
By Louise Gay Amid a resurgence of interest for peplum and the rise of medieval fantasy movies in the early 2000s, the director Ridley Scott, after having conquered the world with Gladiator, returned to the historical drama genre with Kingdom of Heaven in 2005. Set in the late twelfth century, the film proposed a veryContinue reading “Film Review: Kingdom of Heaven (2005)”
Book Review: Edouard III, le viol de la comtesse de Salisbury et la fondation de l’ordre de la Jarretière by Jean-Marie Moeglin
By Louise Gay After analysing the episode of the Burghers of Calais twenty years ago, Jean-Marie Moeglin returns in his latest study to another narrative composed in the first century of the Hundred Years War: the much less famous story of the rape of the countess of Salisbury by Edward III of England (r. 1327-1377).
Queen Mary I’s Accession
By Valerie Schutte On 19 July 1553, Mary I became England’s first queen regnant. Yet, it was not an easy road for her to get there. She was the only living heir of her parents, King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon, at the time of her birth on 18 February 1516. ButContinue reading “Queen Mary I’s Accession”
Gold and Diamond: A Brief Look at the Jubilees of Queen Victoria
By Amy-Jane Humphries On 2nd June 2022, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth marked the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. It is the first time that a British monarch has reached this milestone. Elizabeth II has the distinction of being both the longest reigning monarch in British history and the longest reigning queenContinue reading “Gold and Diamond: A Brief Look at the Jubilees of Queen Victoria”
The Queen of Canada: Dominating the Dominion or a Dated Role?
By Jessica Storoschuk With Victoria Day (celebrated in Canada on the Monday closest to May 24, the anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth) and a royal visit for the Platinum Jubilee wrapped up, the question of the monarchy in Canada is becoming increasingly prominent. Canada, with Victoria and Elizabeth II, has had a queen as sovereignContinue reading “The Queen of Canada: Dominating the Dominion or a Dated Role?”
Le sacre des reines/The sacrament of queens
By Louise Gay Sacrare: to dedicate to a deity; to dedicate, as a curse, to a divinity. The Latin verb derives from sacer (-cra, -crum), formerly sacros, which designates what belongs to the world of the divine, opposed to what is specific to everyday human life (the profanum). The transition from one to the otherContinue reading “Le sacre des reines/The sacrament of queens”
Mary II and Asian luxury goods
By Amy Lim For a few short years in the 1690s, Mary II’s Water Gallery at Hampton Court was the most sophisticated and influential interior in England. Created from a Tudor water gate on the banks of the river Thames, the queen used it as a retreat from the dust and noise of Sir ChristopherContinue reading “Mary II and Asian luxury goods”
Book Review: Æthelflaed, The Lady of the Mercians by Tim Clarkson
By Catherine Capel The ever-growing field of queenship has brought to light many queens and noblewomen who have been largely ignored in historical scholarship or have been misunderstood, with their narratives shrouded in stereotypes of cruelty, disillusions of power, and sexual scandal. One such royal woman who has been garnering renewed attention is Æthelflaed, daughterContinue reading “Book Review: Æthelflaed, The Lady of the Mercians by Tim Clarkson”
Team Queens 