Suchergebnisse

This book is a series of case studies reflecting on narrative primary source representations of queens, regents, and royal mistresses in medieval and early modern France. Examining stories of famous women, including Isabeau of Bavaria, Valentina Visconti, Agnès Sorel, Diane de Poitiers, Eleanor of Austria, and even Anne Boleyn, who spent her formative years at the French court, author Tracy Adams takes unprovable or false anecdotes as a point of departure and follows them back to their primary sources.When readers open a work of history, they have the right to assume that what they find on the pages is "historically true," in other words, that it accords with primary sources. And yet scholars studying women of the medieval and early modern periods know all too well how often unprovable or even false anecdotes, frequently scandalous or misogynistic, pass for true. Typically deriving from secondary sources that themselves rely on secondary sources, these anecdotes are passed along in a self-reflexive feedback loop.The central argument of Queens, Regents, Mistresses is that, taken on their own, primary sources cannot be used as straightforward vehicles of truth. Each of Adams' case studies therefore lays out the process of engaging with these sources. Revised interpretations leave readers with new perspectives on these famous women, and also the bibliographical information necessary to turn to the primary sources for themselves.

Agnès Sorel (1428-1450), beautiful favourite of Charles VII of France and first in the long genealogy of French royal mistresses, was mysteriously poisoned in the prime of life. Agnès, part of a network of royal "favourites," is equally interesting for her political activity. And yet, no scholarly study in English of her exists. This study brings her story to an English-speaking audience, examining her in her historical context, that is, the factional struggle for power waged against Charles VII by the dauphin Louis and the king's final routing of the English. It then traces Agnès's afterlife, exploring her roles as founding mother of the tradition of the French royal mistress and foil for the less popular holders of the "office"; as erotic fantasy figure for nineteenth-century historians "re-inventing" the Middle Ages; and, most recently, as poignant victim for fans of the true crime genre.

Evaluates Christine de Pizan's literary engagement with fifteenth-century French politics. Locates the writer's works within a detailed narrative of the complex history of the dispute between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, the two largest political factions.

This research focuses on the proposed UK National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre as a vibrant site of discursive contestation, investigating the heated public and political debate on this memory initiative that took place between 2019 and 2022 through a twofold analysis of elite intention and public reception. Findings demonstrate that Holocaust memory in the UK is infused with ambivalence and contradictory understandings of what the meanings of the past hold for the present. Bursting from the sphere-specific boundaries of memory, however, the debate soon turns into a social problem, one that illuminates broader societal issues that the contemporary British collective struggles with. Insofar as British Holocaust memory, in cultural terms, is bound within a sacralizing discourse, identified and characterized as linked to values such as freedom, democracy and equality, the proposed memory initiative breaks open a Pandora's box that illuminates and underlines polluting qualities such as ambivalence, intolerance and inequality. The critical discussion currently going on in the UK around the memory initiative is so much more than merely a problem of commemoration or location; rather, it embodies the broader identity crisis that affects many in the British public nowadays. Contributing to memory studies and cultural sociology, this research demonstrates how a collective's narrative of self is constantly negotiated, mediated through public discourse in ways that could potentially pave the way to civil repair.

The relationship of the French king and royal mistress, complementary but unequal, embodied the Gallic singularity; the royal mistress exercised a civilizing manner and the soft power of women on the king's behalf. However, both her contemporaries and nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians were uncomfortable with the mistress's political power. Furthermore, paradoxical attitudes about French womanhood have led to analyses of her role that are often contradictory. Royal mistresses have simultaneously been celebrated for their civilizing effect in the realm of culture, chided for their frivolous expenditures on clothing and jewelry, and excoriated for their dangerous meddling in politics. Their increasing visibility in the political realm by the eighteenth century led many to blame Louis XV's mistresses—along with Queen Marie-Antoinette, who exercised a similar influence over her husband, Louis XVI—for the degradation and eventual fall of the monarchy. This article reexamines the historiography of the royal mistress.

Cet article porte sur les expériences des femmes qui ont pratiqué la dentisterie ‐ profession dominée par les hommes ‐ en Ontario entre 1867 et 1917. L'auteure examine l'entrée des femmes dans cette profession et leurs expériences quant à la formation et à la pratique. La situation des femmes qui entraient en dentisterie et de celles qui optaient pour la médecine était différente: les femmes n'ont jamais été exclues de la profession dentaire. Tant en médecine qu'en dentisterie, une fois dans la pratique professionnelle les femmes étaient marginalisées et incitées à adopter des comportements et des rôles propres à leur sexe.This paper explores women's experiences in the male‐dominated profession of dentistry in Ontario between 1867 and 1917. It examines the entrance of women into the dental profession, and their experiences in dental education and dental practice. Circumstances surrounding women's entrance into dentistry were different from those surrounding the entrance of women into medicine: women were never excluded from the dental profession. Nevertheless, once in professional practice, women in the two professions shared experiences of marginalization and of encouragement to pursue sex‐typed behaviour and roles.

Introduction : what was it about France? -- The beginning of a tradition : Agnès Sorel -- A tradition takes hold : Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly -- Diane de Poitiers : epitome of the Frech royal mistress -- Gabrielle d'Estrées : never the twain shall meet -- The mistresses of the Sun King : La Vallière, Montespan, Maintenon -- Tearing the veil : Pompadour and Du Barry -- Epilogue : mistress-queen and the end of a tradition : Marie Antoinette.