Although political theorists have traditionally defined political power as male, a series of dynastic "accidents" in 16th century Europe resulted in the reality of women acting as regents for their sons or ruling as queens. In "The Monstrous Regiment of Women" Sharon L. Jansen creates a series of portraits of these remarkable women. Jansen explores the case for and against female rule by examining the arguments made by theorists from Sir John Fortescue (1461) through Bishop Bossuet (1680) and interweaving their arguments ...
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Although political theorists have traditionally defined political power as male, a series of dynastic "accidents" in 16th century Europe resulted in the reality of women acting as regents for their sons or ruling as queens. In "The Monstrous Regiment of Women" Sharon L. Jansen creates a series of portraits of these remarkable women. Jansen explores the case for and against female rule by examining the arguments made by theorists from Sir John Fortescue (1461) through Bishop Bossuet (1680) and interweaving their arguments with references to the most well known early modern queens, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor, and Mary Stuart. Jansen reads the past in new ways by constructing a counter narrative, focusing on the stories of women. The "story" of early modern European political history looks very different if we look at it from an alternative perspective if, instead of focusing on kings and their sons, we look at queens and their mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, granddaughters, and grandnieces. If we redraw traditional royal genealogies, we see successive generations of powerful women, and we see the shifting political alliances of the period from a very different, and revealing, perspective.
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