Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Encomium Emmae: Emma Enthroned
  • Creator:
  • Description: The Encomium Emmae was written for Queen Emma, Wife of Cnut, King of England and Denmark. This frontispiece shows Emma crowned, enthroned, and receiving a book from her scribe while her two sons, Harthacnut and Edward, look on in the background. Emma’s crown is based on the architectural crowns worn by personifications of cities as depicted in Roman, Byzantine, and Early Christian art. The use of this type of crown is very unusual within the context of Anglo-Saxon art, but it can be assumed that this type of crown was chosen specifically because of its connection to those sovereign territories. The composition is based on the Adoration of the Magi. The book occupies the position of the Christ child in an Adoration scene, which suggests that the book is like a child to Emma. The image of Emma receiving a book is important because it sets an artistic precedent for literate queens to use the book as a symbol for their attainment of positions of power or the ability to tell their own versions of history.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public domain
  • Subject (See Also): Biography Emma, Wife of Aethelred II, King of England, and Cnut, King of Denmark Patronage, Literary Politics Queens
  • Geographic Area: France
  • Century: 11
  • Date: 1041-1042
  • Related Work:
  • Current Location: British Library, Additional MS 33241, fol. 1r
  • Original Location: Possibly Normandy, Monastery of St. Omer
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Manuscript illuminations
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Vellum (parchment); Paint
  • Donor: Laywoman; Emma, Wife of Aethelred II, King of England, and Cnut, King of Denmark
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 17.3 cm/11.5 cm/
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Catherine E. Karkov, The Art of Anglo-Saxon England. Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2011, pp. 267-271