| Contents |
Queens and dynasties in the ninth and tenth centuries -- English queens and native queens in post-Carolingian Francia and Saxony, 917-39 -- An Ottonian queen at the West Frankish court, 939-54 -- The three families of Queen Gerberga, 950-65 -- Writing Ottonian queenship I: Adelheid and the conquest of Italy, 951-73 -- Writing Ottonian queenship II: Liudprand of Cremona and Hrotsvitha of Gendersheim -- Theophanu and the 'Dominae imperiales', 972-91 -- Inauguration and office in the reign of Cunigunde, 1002-24 -- The end of Ottonian queenship? |
| Summary |
This is the first major study in English of the queens of the Ottonian dynasty (919-1024). The Ottonians were a family from Saxony who are often regarded as the founders of the medieval German kingdom. They were the most successful of all the dynasties to emerge from the wreckage of the pan-European Carolingian Empire after it disintegrated in 888, ruling as kings and emperors in Germany and Italy and exerting indirect hegemony in France and in Eastern Europe. It has long been noted by historians that Ottonian queens were peculiarly powerful - indeed, among the most powerful of the entire Middle Ages. Their reputations, particularly those of the empresses Theophanu (d.991) and Adelheid (d.999) have been commemorated for a thousand years in art, literature, and opera. But while the exceptional status of the Ottonian queens is well appreciated, it has not been fully explained. 'Ottonian queenship' offers an original interpretation of Ottonian queenship through a study of the sources for the dynasty's six queens, and seeks to explain it as a phenomenon with a beginning, middle, and end. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-241) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2016951873 |
| ISBN | 9780198800101 (hardback) |
| ISBN | 019880010X (hardback) |
