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2. How did royal women exercise power and influence between 1485-1547?

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the extent to which royal women were able to exercise political power and influence in the period 1485-1547, focusing in particular on: (i) the importance of royal women in international diplomacy, both in terms of marriage alliances and in more formal diplomatic roles, e.g. Catherine of Aragon’s role as ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England; (ii) the importance of royal women in producing heirs to the throne; (iii) the independent wealth and influence of royal woman; (iv) the importance of royal women’s religious beliefs, especially following the Reformation; (v) the ability of royal women to persuade the king to adopt or pursue a particular policy – and the limits of this ability; and (iv) the ability of the queen consort to act as regent in the king’s absence.

Course

In this course, we think about the importance of women in politics in the Tudor period (1485-1603). In the first module, we think about how women were viewed in the Tudor period, including both the religious and medical ‘explanations’ for their inferiority to men, and the importance of texts such as Juan Luis Vives’ ‘The Education of a Christian Woman’ in dictating how women should behave. After that, in the second module, we think about the extent to which royal women were able to exercise political power and influence in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, before turning in the third module to consider the impact of the monarch’s (female) gender in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. In the fourth module, we explore the various ways that noblewomen could exercise political influence at the court, before turning in the fifth to think about the extent that women were involved in the Reformation. Finally, in the sixth module, we consider the role that women played in protests and rebellions, including the Pilgrimage of Grace and the Rising of the North, as well as in smaller-scale acts of dissent.

Lecturer

Dr Nicola Clark is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Chichester. Her research focuses primarily on women’s dynastic and political roles across the late medieval and early modern period. Her first book, Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558 was published by Oxford University Press in August 2018.