Cover
Table of Contents
Genealogical charts
Dramatis personae
Note on names
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
Introduction: Women living with power
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. Filth 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 manquee
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
Index
List of illustrations