Queens and Courtiers

This chapter examines the role and experience of women who had the privilege and ­challenge of living in the royal court in the early-modern period. While the atmosphere of the court could be constraining, competitive and even dangerous, these elite and royal women also had unparalleled opportunities to exercise authority and influence at the political and cultural epicentres of their realm. Despite the fact that these women are some of the most visible and consequently well-known figures both in their own time and the present, Theresa Earenfight reminds us that the reality of queens’ lives can be obscured in the historical record or distorted through scandal or political machinations. ¹ In consequence, historians must work harder and dig deeper in order to gain a more accurate understanding of their world and the women themselves. In England alone, the controversial careers of queens Mary Tudor and Henrietta Maria, as well as the courtiers Nell Gwyn and Sarah Churchill, offer testimony to the need for the re-examination of well-known women whose reputations have gained them notoriety but may have prevented a balanced appraisal of their lives. ² Collective biographies of ‘women worthies’ and modern media have exploited and embellished the lives of queens and courtiers, keeping them ‘visible’, but creating a warped lens through which to see the early-modern royal court, and fostering misunderstandings of the roles and realities of the women who inhabited it. ³