Is the world of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones really medieval? How accurately does it reflect the real Middle Ages? Historians have been addressing these questions since the book and television series exploded into a cultural phenomenon. For scholars of medieval and early modern women, they offer a unique vantage point from which to study the intersections of elite women and popular understandings of the premodern world. This volume is a wide-ranging study of those intersections. Focusing on female agency and the role of advice, it finds a wealth of continuities and contrasts between the many powerful female characters of Martin’s fantasy world and the strategies that historical women used to exert influence. Reading characters such as Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, and Brienne of Tarth with a creative, deeply scholarly eye, Queenship and the Women of Westeros makes cutting-edge developments in queenship studies accessible to everyday readers and fans.
Features essays on female characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones such as Daenerys Targaryen, Melisandre, Arya Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Margaery Tyrell, focusing on how they wielded power in their male-dominated world Explores the intersection of academic scholarship on queenship and elite women and popular understandings of the premodern period Highlights the strategies that premodern women used to exert power and influence
Zita Eva Rohr
Queenship female agency advice and counsel medievalism premodernism George R.R. Martin Daenarys Targaryen Cersei Lannister Arya Stark Margaery Tyrell succession elite medieval women Beowulf fantasy genre gender and power