Figure 1: Women at court took part very visibly in public ceremonies, such as the coronation of Queen Hedvig Eleonora. Juriaen Ovens, Coronation of Hedvig Eleonora, c. 1654. Copyright Nationalmuseum (Stockholm).

Description based on print version record.

Gendering the Late Medieval and Early Modern World ; 14

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

Women > Sweden > Social conditions.

Women > Sweden > History.

Sweden > Court and courtiers > History.