She-Wolves Continued- Feminism and Queenship in Medieval England

Last week, I ended my post on She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by saying that I would pick up the review where I left off, by talking about Isabella of France and Margaret d'Anjou. While both these women are fascinating people and historical figures I greatly admire, I would rather make this post about a more general topic that the book discusses- queenship in medieval England and Europe.
For almost everyone in the United States, the idea of England with a queen is one that is not only believable, but central to their understanding of England. After "tea and crumpets" and "Shakespeare", the Queen is probably the thing most people think of when they think of England. But for centuries, England, along with many of the nations of Europe, would have found the idea of a queen regnant ridiculous and, more importantly, dangerous.

Isabella of France

Margaret D'Anjou

According to medieval tradition, the perfect ruler has to be wise in judgement and strong in battle. Women, of course, could not serve in battle in medieval times; therefore, by the logic of many medieval thinkers and politicians, a woman could not be an effective ruler. In an era as war-torn and perilous as the middle ages, a country without a strong military leader was doomed. When the king of France, Charles VI, became "weak of mind", his lands were taken over by Henry V of England, renowned the world over as a model king for his  military strength. When Henry's son, Henry VI, went into a coma for a year and then emerged an even meeker man than he was when he went in, his kingdom fell into a civil war that lasted for a decade. Those men who considered women weaker than them in that time could not fathom the idea of voluntarily giving control of a country to someone who was obviously not going to be able to control it as well as a man could. When Isabella and Margaret led armies into battle, they were reviled as "she-wolves" and harpies who had stolen the reigns of government from worthier men. To make matters worse, Isabella took up arms against her own husband, an unforgivable crime in medieval times, and Margaret, although fighting on the same side as her husband, did not allow him any say her decisions to make war. These women exemplified to medieval men the dangers of female rule, although to the modern eye they appear no worse than any other rebellious subjects of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

 Women could not rule, it was said, because they could not be fair in judgement and strong in battle. Even after Eleanor of Aquitaine held a glittering and just court for decades in Aquitaine, and Isabella and Margaret led their armies into many successful battles, the prejudice remained. Medieval society was set against female rule not for any concrete reason, but simply because of blind sexism.