Virtuous or Villainess? The Image of the Royal Mother from the Early Medieval to the Early Modern Era

Carey Fleiner is Senior Lecturer in Classical and Medieval History, University of Winchester, UK.Elena (Ellie) Woodacre is a specialist in medieval and Early Modern queenship and a Lecturer in Early Modern European History at the University of Winchester, UK.

• .Introduction Carey Fleiner.- .Part One: Fashioning the image of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ royal mother.- .Empress Theodora: A Holy Mother Kriszta Kotsis.- .“Mother of heroes, most beautiful of mothers”: Mathilda of Flanders and royal motherhood in the eleventh century Laura L. Gathagan.- .A mother and her illustrious off-spring: The role of Philippa of Lancaster, queen of Portugal, in her children’s education (1387-1415) Manuela Santos Silva.- .“Greatest in her offspring”: Motherhood and the Empress Matilda Charles Beem.- .Maternal Abandonment and Surrogate Caregivers: Isabella of Angoulême and her Children by King John Louise J. Wilkinson.- .The Perils of Promotion: Maternal Ambition and Sacrifice in the life of Joan of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany and Queen of England Elena Woodacre.- .Part Two: The legacy and reputation of royal mothers-from their contemporaries to the present day.- .“Margaret R”: Lady Margaret Beaufort’s self-fashioning and female ambition Sally Fisher.- .Playing the Catalan: The Rise of the Chess-Queen; Queenship and Political Motherhood in Late Medieval Aragon and France Zita Rohr.- .Outlander, Baby Killer, Poisoner? Rethinking Bona Sforza’s Black Legend Katarzyna Kosior.- .The Empress Matilda and Motherhood in Popular Fiction, 1970’s to the Present Katherine Weikert.-