Queenship and the Rhetoric of Power at the Court of Maria de’ Medici

• In Event: "Di tentar fama io mai non sarò stanca": Women’s Writings in Renaissance Time I

Abstract

Early Modern queens, whether as consorts or rulers in their own right, constituted pivotal and often controversial figures. Maria de’ Medici, queen of France, was no exception and drew on ritual and rhetoric to legitimize her rule and promote women’s authority. A hitherto unknown letter of 1603 from Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici to Maria gives lengthy advice on how to act as a queen, specifically a French queen of Florentine descent. By placing this new correspondence within wider traditions of queenship and rhetorical discourse, this paper will examine Maria de’ Medici’s strategic positioning and the socio-political expectations placed upon her by her Medici heritage and lineage of active, powerful women. Other examples of didactic letters about queenship by other Medici women, including by Maria herself to her daughter Henrietta Maria and Christine de Lorraine, will provide further invaluable insights into contemporary notions of queenship, identity and power.

Author

• Janie Cole, University of Cape Town