Paper Title
Start Date
12-6-2011 9:30 AM
End Date
12-6-2011 12:00 PM
Subject Areas
medieval, marriage, reproduction
Abstract
In hereditary monarchies, queens customarily had one duty that outweighed all others in importance: the birth of an heir. Naturally, this failure affected queens’ positions, generally negatively, because fertility empowered queens. In addition, childless queens also affected kings, whose virility might be called into question.
Anne of Bohemia (1366-1394), queen of Richard II (reigned 1377-1399) failed to provide an heir. After her death, Richard launched an understated campaign to recast his union with Anne as a chaste marriage. This was designed to reinforce Richard’s masculinity (as failure to procreate made a man seem less virile) by making the king appear to be a paragon of self-control.
Richard’s actions have excited much greater interest among modern scholars than they did medieval contemporaries. Despite scholars’ elaborate arguments for or against chaste marriage, a letter from Anne of Bohemia to her brother proves the couple consummated their union and hoped for an heir. Any insinuations Richard II made concerning chaste marriage were rearguard actions designed to cushion the couple (although primarily himself, as the only living spouse) from the repercussions of reproductive failure.
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Failing at Dynasty: Anne of Bohemia, Richard II, and Negotiating Royal Infertility in England, 1382-1399
In hereditary monarchies, queens customarily had one duty that outweighed all others in importance: the birth of an heir. Naturally, this failure affected queens’ positions, generally negatively, because fertility empowered queens. In addition, childless queens also affected kings, whose virility might be called into question.
Anne of Bohemia (1366-1394), queen of Richard II (reigned 1377-1399) failed to provide an heir. After her death, Richard launched an understated campaign to recast his union with Anne as a chaste marriage. This was designed to reinforce Richard’s masculinity (as failure to procreate made a man seem less virile) by making the king appear to be a paragon of self-control.
Richard’s actions have excited much greater interest among modern scholars than they did medieval contemporaries. Despite scholars’ elaborate arguments for or against chaste marriage, a letter from Anne of Bohemia to her brother proves the couple consummated their union and hoped for an heir. Any insinuations Richard II made concerning chaste marriage were rearguard actions designed to cushion the couple (although primarily himself, as the only living spouse) from the repercussions of reproductive failure.