Chapter 32 - Emily Joan Ward

Child kings and guardianship in North-Western Europe, c. 1050-1250

Despite the inherent political contradictions of a child king, pre-adolescent boys regularly succeeded to the thrones of European kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages. Between 1050 and 1250, it was queen mothers, or leading ecclesiastical or secular magnates, who most often assumed responsibility for the guardianship of king and kingdom. Comparing the roles and responsibilities of the men and women governing the kingdom during a royal minority provides important insights into the relationship between gender, rulership, and legitimacy. Viceregal guardians needed support for their appointment and were targeted by those who doubted their suitability, regardless of whether it was the queen mother or a male magnate in this position. Yet, gender shaped the way in which a guardian was chosen, and gender influenced contemporary perceptions of their participation in rule. Queen mothers were particularly vulnerable to gendered tropes targeting their legitimacy to act for their son, sometimes through negative remarks regarding their foreign origins or slurs of sexual transgressions. Although some queens unequivocally involved themselves in royal justice, military leadership, and networks of lordship, fundamental developments in lordship and kingship in north-western Europe by the mid-thirteenth century presented greater challenges to a woman ruling for her underage son.

By Emily Joan Ward

Emily Joan Ward

Emily Joan Ward studied for her PhD in medieval history at the University of Cambridge (Emmanuel College). She held a Scouloudi Doctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research in London in 2016/17 and is currently a Moses and Mary Finley Research Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge. She is interested in child kingship, boyhood and male adolescence, and comparative European history more generally. She has published articles in Historical Research (2016) and Anglo-Norman Studies (forthcoming, 2018).

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Annotated Bibliography

Bertelli, S. (2001) The King's Body: The Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

A general study exploring the idea of the king’s body and its importance for sacred rituals and political power. It offers a good start for discussions of the importance of symbolism and rituals in the practice of kingship.

Robinson, I. S. (trans.) (2015), The Annals of Lampert of Hersfeld, Manchester: Manchester University Press

A translation of one of the key contemporary sources for the minority of the Salian king Henry IV. Provides the fullest account of Henry’s kidnap in 1062 by the archbishop of Cologne.

Bryant, N. (trans.) (2016), The History of William Marshal, Martlesham: The Boydell Press

New translation of the biography of William Marshal, the man who was guardian of King Henry III and the English kingdom between October 1216 and his death in May 1219. This is a major primary source for events in England at the time of King John‘s death and Henry III’s succession as a nine-year-old boy.

Smith, C. (trans.) Chronicles of the Crusades: Joinville and Villehardouin, London: Penguin, 2008

Jean de Joinville served Louis IX of France and accompanied him on the Seventh Crusade. From the 1270s, he wrote the History of Saint Louis, one of the most informative texts for reconstructing the narrative of Louis’s reign. Written in the vernacular French (rather than Latin), Joinville’s work provides a unique perspective of the king from a layman who knew him well. This modern translation is an accessible version of Joinville’s chronicle and additionally contains biographical information on the author.

Beem, C. (ed.) (2008), The Royal Minorities of Medieval and Early Modern England, New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Delving into several cases in which underage male kings have sat on the throne of England between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, this collection of essays assesses the impact minorities can have on political and constitutional development. Christian Hillen’s article on Henry III is particularly useful in placing the English king into his contemporary European context.

Bennett, J. M.; Karras, R. M. (eds.) (2013), The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press

This wide-ranging collection of essays covers a variety of topics concerning gender, including religion, law, domestic life, and sexualities, as well as considering issues of continuity and change over the Middle Ages. The essays look at women across a broad social spectrum. Select articles on female rulership, and women and family, provide an excellent introduction to some of the representations and responsibilities of royal and aristocratic women.

Wilkinson, L. J. (2014) A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in the Middle Ages, paperback edn, London: Bloomsbury Academic

An ideal starting place for scholars interested in finding out more about medieval childhood more generally. Although this volume of essays does not specifically deal with the concept of a child king, it expands on topics such as childhood education, the life cycle, family, and material culture.

LoPrete, K. A. (2007) ‘Women, gender and lordship in France, c.1050-1250’, History Compass 5/6, 1921-41

Excellent article which argues strongly for continuity between the powers of non-royal women in the early and central Middle Ages, showing how the acceptance of female lords was routine in France across the period.

Hay, D. J. (2008), The Military Leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115, Manchester: Manchester University Press

Detailed re-analysis of the figure of Matilda of Tuscany/Canossa with extensive historiographical discussion of the role of women in medieval rulership and military leadership.

Links

Epistolae: Medieval Women’s Latin Letters

Indispensable collection of Latin letters to and from women between the fourth and thirteenth centuries. Includes transcriptions and English translations of the letters, as well as helpful biographical notes and historical context on many of the women mentioned.

The National Archives

Discovery, the National Archive’s online catalogue, holds millions of descriptions of records held at the archives and across the UK. It is particularly useful for royal records of English and Scottish kings. As well as access to primary source information, the website has a blog, videos, and audio on many subjects related to medieval English monarchs and royal records.

Gallica

This digital library for the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is a fantastic free resource for French history. It contains thousands of printed works (many of them out-of-print), manuscripts, graphic materials, and sound recordings. The materials online are royalty-free and available free of charge when used strictly for private purpose. Some charters and royal documents from the Archives Nationales in Paris are also available through this site.

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

This index, compiled by librarians and scholars, is a useful place to find journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. It covers the period 450-1500, includes interdisciplinary works, and works in several European languages besides English. The site additionally highlights specific articles, translations, and images concerning gender, and provides a range of other valuable resources.

Henry III Fine Rolls Project

This AHRC-funded project finished in 2011, but the website remains an invaluable home to primary sources, as well as secondary material, for the reign of Henry III of England. Contains full translations of all the Fine Rolls 1–57 Henry III (1216–1272), with high quality images of the original documents. Helpful introductions to Henry III’s reign, and the Fine Rolls themselves, can be found under the ‘commentary’ section. There are also various blog posts and ‘Fine of the Month’ entries by historians and archivists covering a wide range of topics.

Keywords

Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen; Adam of Bremen; Agnes of Poitou, empress; André Poulet; Anne of Kiev, queen of France; Anno, archbishop of Cologne; Anonymous of Béthune; Baldwin V, count of Flanders; Bamberg; Beauvais, bishop of; Blanche, countess of Champagne; Blanche of Castile, queen of France; Blanche of Navarre; Chartres, bishop of; Eïchstatt; England; Ferdinand, count of Flanders; Flanders; France; Geoffrey of Beaulieu; Germany; Goslar; Gregory VII, pope; Guala Bicchieri, papal legate; Henry I, king of France; Henry III, emperor; Henry III, king of England; Henry IV, king of Germany; Henry, bishop of Augsburg; Herrand, bishop of Strasburg; Honorius III, pope; Hugh of la Ferté; Hungary; Innocent III, pope; Isabella of Angoulême, queen of England; John, king of England; Kaiserswerth; Lambert Cadurc; Lambeth; Lampert of Hersfeld; Lincoln; Lindy Grant; Louis VIII, king of France; Louis IX, king of France; Matilda of Boulogne; Matilda of Tuscany; Matthew Paris; Matthew Strickland; Meinhard, magister scholarum at Bamberg; Ménestrel of Reims; Pandulph, papal legate; Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester; Philip I, king of France; Philip II ‘Augustus’, king of France; Ranulf (III), earl of Chester; Reims; Richard, son of King John; Romanus Frangipani, papal legate; Rome; Saint-Bertin, abbot of; Saint-Germain-des-Prés, monastery; Saint-Thierry, monastery; Spain; Theobald, count of Champagne; Victor II, pope; Walter Cornut, archbishop of Sens; William Marshal, earl of Pembroke

Childhood; Gender; Regency

Related Chapters

Catriona Murray: Raising Royal Bodies: Stuart Authority and the Monumental Image (See Chapter 21)

Theresa Earenfight & Kristen Geaman: Neither Heir nor Spare: Childless Queens and the Practice of Monarchy in Pre-Modern Europe (See Chapter 30)

Beverly Stoeltje: Creating chiefs and queen mothers in Ghana: obstacles and opportunities (See Chapter 33)

Joanne Paul with Valerie Schutte: The Tudor Monarchy of Counsel and the Growth of Reason of State (See Chapter 39)

The Routledge History of

Monarchy