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- Bagerius, Henric, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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For Better or For Worse : Royal Marital Sexuality as Political Critique in Late Medieval Europe
- 2019
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Ingår i: The Routledge History of Monarchy. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 9781138703322 ; , s. 636-654
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter discusses how sexuality was used in political critique in late medieval Europe. In the Middle Ages the union of the king and the queen symbolized the social contract, and the royal marriage represented the bond between the king and his subjects. Negative descriptions of a royal marriage could therefore be used to signal discontent with a king’s reign. The chapter analyses a number of late medieval texts in order to expose reoccurring critical discourses that built on perceptions of gender and sexuality. We argue that sexual matters were used deliberately to highlight fundamental shortcomings in how a country was governed. A king’s inability to be sexually active indicated a lack of masculine authority. Kingly masculinity and dominance were closely linked and an effeminate king was an unthinkable proposition. In addition, since the king and queen were regarded as a unit, his behaviour impacted how she was judged. If the king was believed to lack masculine dominance and to be unable to control his wife, this could unleash the dangerous power that lay within queenship itself. The queen could be become unruly and adulterous. The incapable king and his unruly queen represented a dysfunctional rulership and failed regency.
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| 2. |
- Bagerius, Henric, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Kings and favourites : politics and sexuality in late medieval Europe
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Medieval History. - : Routledge. - 0304-4181 .- 1873-1279. ; 43:3, s. 298-319
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines the use of discursive sodomy' in political critique against five late medieval monarchs and their favourites. Sources from Castile, England and Sweden reveal common themes that recur. Contemporary sources frequently stated that the king's love for his favourite was excessive and beyond measure; that the favourite was always by the king's side and thereby hindered others from approaching him. Critics further claimed that the king showed no moderation in his generosity toward the favourite and that the difference in rank between the two men made their relationship suspicious. This paper argues that all four themes included allusions to same-sex desire with the purpose of implying that the natural order and hierarchies were put in jeopardy. The main issue at hand was that the king had been seduced or even bewitched and therefore was no longer in control. He had let another man dominate him.
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| 3. |
- Bagerius, Henric, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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The Unruly Queen : Blanche of Namur and Dysfunctional Rulership in Medieval Sweden
- 2016
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Ingår i: Queenship, Gender, and Reputation in the Medieval and Early Modern West, 1060-1600. - New York : Springer. - 9783319312828 - 9783319312835 ; , s. 99-118
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- King Magnus Eriksson of Sweden has had the reputation of being a sodomite since his reign, when St. Bridget of Sweden called for rebellion against him in a manifesto claiming he was unfit to rule because he had had sexual intercourse with men. His queen, Blanche of Namur, was also depicted negatively in contemporary and later propaganda, with attempts to take action on her own described as “improper and suspicious.” These two elements were clearly linked to each other in propaganda: if sexual intercourse was supposed to symbolize the proper gender order of the Middle Ages, with the man active and in charge, Magnus’s stubborn refusal to have sex with Blanche is to blame for her becoming independent and unruly. This chapter explores the role and rhetoric of sexuality in late medieval propaganda directed at queens consort.
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