Henrietta Maria: Generalissima, Queen Consort and Terror of Parliament
Lead Research Organisation:
Nottingham Trent University
Department Name: Sch of Arts and Humanities
Abstract
Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain now has a queen-consort for the first time in over
seventy years, whose role attracts considerable interest and political controversy. Attitudes towards the
queen-consort are deeply rooted in gendered perceptions about women's authority and right to power as
well as suspicions about the potential sexual influence wielded by a wife over her husband. Historically,
queen-consorts have become focal points for public debate, criticism, and social, political and economic
unrest. My project will revise our historical understanding of queen-consorts by examining the case study
of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I. My MA thesis, a comparative analysis of Henrietta Maria
and Marie Antoinette, determined that revolutionary ideology and enlightenment philosophy created
increasingly misogynistic societal expectations for women, impacting on female agency. Exploring the
experiences of Henrietta Maria as queen-consort to an unpopular king, Henrietta Maria played strong
political and military roles in the British Civil Wars alongside noble contemporaries like Margaret
Cavendish and lady Mary Bankes, yet her significance in this respect has often been overlooked.
Currently the two main studies on Henrietta Maria focused on a traditional biographical approach, (Bone,
1972; Pearce, 2018) but they fail to contextualise Henrietta by placing her into the wider narrative of
early modern revolution. More general studies, such as that of Hufton on female peasantry, contextualise
women in the revolutionary period more successfully but usually focus only on the experiences of lower
to middle class people, ignoring the nobility such as Henrietta Maria (Hufton, 1971). My proposed thesis
will address this gap by:
Bringing the experiences of Henrietta Maria to the forefront of Civil War historiography.
Examining the roles of queen-consorts and the impact of revolutionary ideology on gender
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expectations and women's societal functions.
Establishing the political and administrative impact of Henrietta Maria's queenship, her military and
political strength throughout the Civil Wars, and determining the extent to which Parliament saw her as a
legitimate threat.
Evaluating to what extent Henrietta Maria's immense unpopularity was influenced by her roles as
queen-consort and shifts in contemporary gender expectations.
To address these research questions, this interdisciplinary project will employ a range of methodologies.
The source base consists largely of letters penned by the queen consort and will draw upon the
epistolary approach set out by Daybell and Hobby. They have established a convincing framework for
utilising the writing patterns, grammar, and format of letters from the period (Daybell, 2010; Hobby,
1989). The other written sources; parliamentary papers, pamphlets and treaties, require a more
traditional, qualitative approach combined with a thorough understanding of the idiosyncrasies attached
to each genre. As space and patronage were key elements of Henrietta Maria's courtly display of power,
an art/architectural history approach must also be employed. This will involve looking not only at floor
plans of the royal palaces in which Henrietta Maria resided (the Louvre and Hampton Court) but also at
the fortifications she utilised in the civil war in order to better understand her role as a general.
seventy years, whose role attracts considerable interest and political controversy. Attitudes towards the
queen-consort are deeply rooted in gendered perceptions about women's authority and right to power as
well as suspicions about the potential sexual influence wielded by a wife over her husband. Historically,
queen-consorts have become focal points for public debate, criticism, and social, political and economic
unrest. My project will revise our historical understanding of queen-consorts by examining the case study
of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I. My MA thesis, a comparative analysis of Henrietta Maria
and Marie Antoinette, determined that revolutionary ideology and enlightenment philosophy created
increasingly misogynistic societal expectations for women, impacting on female agency. Exploring the
experiences of Henrietta Maria as queen-consort to an unpopular king, Henrietta Maria played strong
political and military roles in the British Civil Wars alongside noble contemporaries like Margaret
Cavendish and lady Mary Bankes, yet her significance in this respect has often been overlooked.
Currently the two main studies on Henrietta Maria focused on a traditional biographical approach, (Bone,
1972; Pearce, 2018) but they fail to contextualise Henrietta by placing her into the wider narrative of
early modern revolution. More general studies, such as that of Hufton on female peasantry, contextualise
women in the revolutionary period more successfully but usually focus only on the experiences of lower
to middle class people, ignoring the nobility such as Henrietta Maria (Hufton, 1971). My proposed thesis
will address this gap by:
Bringing the experiences of Henrietta Maria to the forefront of Civil War historiography.
Examining the roles of queen-consorts and the impact of revolutionary ideology on gender
7 / 23
expectations and women's societal functions.
Establishing the political and administrative impact of Henrietta Maria's queenship, her military and
political strength throughout the Civil Wars, and determining the extent to which Parliament saw her as a
legitimate threat.
Evaluating to what extent Henrietta Maria's immense unpopularity was influenced by her roles as
queen-consort and shifts in contemporary gender expectations.
To address these research questions, this interdisciplinary project will employ a range of methodologies.
The source base consists largely of letters penned by the queen consort and will draw upon the
epistolary approach set out by Daybell and Hobby. They have established a convincing framework for
utilising the writing patterns, grammar, and format of letters from the period (Daybell, 2010; Hobby,
1989). The other written sources; parliamentary papers, pamphlets and treaties, require a more
traditional, qualitative approach combined with a thorough understanding of the idiosyncrasies attached
to each genre. As space and patronage were key elements of Henrietta Maria's courtly display of power,
an art/architectural history approach must also be employed. This will involve looking not only at floor
plans of the royal palaces in which Henrietta Maria resided (the Louvre and Hampton Court) but also at
the fortifications she utilised in the civil war in order to better understand her role as a general.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Mollie Smith (Student) |