Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

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Record Number: 2238 Author(s)/Creator(s): Cosandey , Fanny. Contributor(s): Title: De lance en quenouille. La place de la reine dans l'État moderne (14e- 17e siècles) Source: Annales : Histoire, Sciences Sociales 52, 4 (juillet-août 1997): Pages 799 - 820. Description: Article Type: Journal Article Subject (See Also): Inheritance Kings Law Politics Queens Regents Salic Law Award Note: Geographic Area: France Century: 14- 15- 16- 17 Primary Evidence: Illustrations: Table: Abstract: Although the role of the queen has always been acknowledged in French historiography, few studies have examined the specific judicial and historical circumstances that established the queen as an essential person in the institutional history of the Ancien Régime. Following a chronological perspective imposed by the successive threats to succession beginning in the fourteenth century, this article examines how these crises led to a redefinition of the legal statute for the queen. Jurists, wanting to stabilize the lines of succession, formed a specific law, known as the Salic law, that prohibited women from rule; however, the laws devised for governing the regency, specifically the ordinance of 1407, paradoxically integrated the queen into the center of power. The ordinance of 1407, often misunderstood by historians, emerges as one of the key documents because it established the role of the queen in the monarchical system by linking the Salic law to the Regency. The Salic law prohibited direct succession and thus assured that women could not usurp the throne; the ordinance of 1407 demonstrates that women could wield power and were therefore essential to the function of the monarchical system. Specifically, the queen assured passage of power from one king to another while simultaneously assuring the continuity of the dynasty. [Reproduced by permission of Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales]. Related Resources: Author's Affiliation: Centre de Recherches Historiques- Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Conference Info: - , - Year of Publication: 1997. Language: French ISSN/ISBN: 03952649

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