"Despite today's highly developed interest in women's history, the queens of medieval Europe are still often treated as figures of romance and legend, as mere pendants to their husbands' reigns, or as victims of a system that used its women as diplomatic pawns but denied them real power. As these essays show, however, these women did not lack opportunities for power; kings, queens, and observers alike understood medieval queenship as a vital and dynamic force in the life of any kingdom." "A wide-ranging analysis of medieval queenship is provided in these ten essays, written by North American and European historians who have mined a rich variety of diplomatic, literary, and archaeological sources. Far more than simple biographical sketches, the essays in this volume examine queenship across a broad geographical and chronological spectrum. Medieval Queenship is a probing investigation of the foundations of queens' power and the means by which they exploited it."--BOOK JACKET.