Representations of Ruling Queens on the French Dramatic Stage, 1560-1661

Authors

Laetitia M. Vedrenne, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

36832

Publication Details

Vedrenne, L. (2006). Representations of Ruling Queens on the French Dramatic Stage, 1560-1661. Cahiers du dix-septième, 11 (1), 253-268.

Abstract

Catherine and Marie de Medici, as well as Anne of Austria, we re abnormalities on the 16yh and 17th-century French political scene: women could not rule France since the reinterpretation of the Salic Law and, indeed, none of those three women reigned in their own name, but as Regent queens. Even though they did not reign in their own name, the mere fact that the head of state was a woman was a controversial issue. Art, both iconographic and literary, is where the anxieties created by female regencies could be played out.