The Royal Mistresses of France; Or, the Secret History of the Amours of All the French Kings ... Made English from the French Original [entitled: “Galanteries Des Rois de France”].
Title | The Royal Mistresses of France; Or, the Secret History of the Amours of All the French Kings ... Made English from the French Original [entitled: “Galanteries Des Rois de France”]. PDF eBook |
Author | Kings (France) |
Publisher | |
Pages | 518 |
Release | 1695 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975
Title | The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975 PDF eBook |
Author | British Library |
Publisher | |
Pages | 488 |
Release | 1979 |
Genre | English imprints |
ISBN |
General catalogue of printed books
Title | General catalogue of printed books PDF eBook |
Author | British museum. Dept. of printed books |
Publisher | |
Pages | 504 |
Release | 1931 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
General Catalogue of Printed Books
Title | General Catalogue of Printed Books PDF eBook |
Author | British Museum. Department of Printed Books |
Publisher | |
Pages | 534 |
Release | 1964 |
Genre | English imprints |
ISBN |
The British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books, 1881-1900
Title | The British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books, 1881-1900 PDF eBook |
Author | British Museum. Department of Printed Books |
Publisher | |
Pages | 866 |
Release | 1946 |
Genre | English literature |
ISBN |
General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1955
Title | General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1955 PDF eBook |
Author | British Museum. Dept. of Printed Books |
Publisher | |
Pages | 1312 |
Release | 1967 |
Genre | English imprints |
ISBN |
The Creation of the French Royal Mistress
Title | The Creation of the French Royal Mistress PDF eBook |
Author | Tracy Adams |
Publisher | Penn State Press |
Pages | 144 |
Release | 2020-03-24 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0271086424 |
Kings throughout medieval and early modern Europe had extraconjugal sexual partners. Only in France, however, did the royal mistress become a quasi-institutionalized political position. This study explores the emergence and development of the position of French royal mistress through detailed portraits of nine of its most significant incumbents: Agnès Sorel, Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Diane de Poitiers, Gabrielle d’Estrées, Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Françoise d’Aubigné, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, and Jeanne Bécu. Beginning in the fifteenth century, key structures converged to create a space at court for the royal mistress. The first was an idea of gender already in place: that while women were legally inferior to men, they were men’s equals in competence. Because of their legal subordinacy, queens were considered to be the safest regents for their husbands, and, subsequently, the royal mistress was the surest counterpoint to the royal favorite. Second, the Renaissance was a period during which people began to experience space as theatrical. This shift to a theatrical world opened up new ways of imagining political guile, which came to be positively associated with the royal mistress. Still, the role had to be activated by an intelligent, charismatic woman associated with a king who sought women as advisors. The fascinating particulars of each case are covered in the chapters of this book. Thoroughly researched and compellingly narrated, this important study explains why the tradition of a politically powerful royal mistress materialized at the French court, but nowhere else in Europe. It will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the French monarchy, women and royalty, and gender studies.