Women at the Early Modern Swedish Court

Fabian Persson is a Lecturer in History at Linnaeus University in Sweden and currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford. He is a specialist on the history of the early modern court and also writes on patronage, corruption, élites, aristocratic marriage and duelling.

• List of Illustrations, List of tables and genealogical charts, Acknowledgements, Note on Names, Dramatis Personae, Genealogical Charts, WOMEN LIVING WITH POWER: Introduction, Opportunities, Growing interest, Sources and the challenge of invisibility, OUTSIDERS, 1 Rituals of royal compassion, Who and when, Institutionalisation, The quality of compassion, 2 Why be at court? The example of the Königsmarcks, INSIDERS, 3 All the queen's women, The creation of the Swedish court in the sixteenth century, The women in service, The recruitment process, Pay and perquisites, Marriage, The appeal of the court, 4 Noblewomen crossing borders, Change over time, Princely women visiting and residing in Sweden, Swedish noblewomen in service abroad, Clean break or gradual erosion?, From melting pot to enclave, 5 Servants of power, Everyday power-and more, Maids of honour as power brokers, Everyday power-and high politics, Power struggles on several levels, Emerentia Düben, Juliana Schierberg, Anna Catharina Bärfelt, Measures of success, 6 Left behind, Reputational damage, Beata Sophia Horn, trapped at court, Ageing and unmarried, 7 Dirt among the apples: Hierarchy and gender at court, A Swedish Table of Ranks, Formal hierarchies, Royal decisiveness, Increasing formality, Marks of status, Negotiating the hierarchy, 8 A small circle with wide horizons, Living under surveillance, Socialised into a group, Widening interests and attitudes, Changes in appearance, The best school in the world, 9 Fumbling for power: Being a royal mistress, A golden age of adultery, A passing fancy, An emotional anchor, A lesser sort of marriage, The extraordinary success of Karin Månsdotter, Pimped to a King, The role of a royal mistress, , ROYALS, 10 The performance of a lifetime: Being queen consort, Being foreign, Being sociable, Being self-assured, Being a success, 11 The winding road: Royal marriage negotiations, A queen's worth, How to pick a marriage partner, Successful failures, 12 The broken mirror: Gender differences in the system of royal apartments, Mirroring apartments, Royal apartments outside Stockholm, Renovations, A mirror cracked, In-built gender, 13 Death and beyond, A Swedish Artemisia manquée, Commemorating a dynasty, Dynastic memory, 14 The court as substitute family, The Princess, her sister, and the need for trust, A court of her own, Court rather than family, A long-lost sister, The entertaining princess, 15 Epilogue, Glossary, Court positions, Abbreviations, Coinage, The calendar, Bibliography, Manuscript sources, Published sources, Secondary publications, Index.