Description
Ladies-in-Waiting in Medieval England examines female attendants who served queens and aristocratic women during the late medieval period. Using a unique set of primary source based statistics, Caroline Dunn reveals that the lady-in-waiting was far more than a pretty girl sewing in the queen's chamber while seeking to catch the eye of an eligible bachelor. Ladies-in-waiting witnessed major historical events of the era and were sophisticated players who earned significant rewards. They had both family and personal interests to advance – through employment they linked kin and court, and through marriage they built bridges between families. Whether royal or aristocratic, ladies-in-waiting worked within gendered spaces, building female-dominated social networks, while also operating within a masculine milieu that offered courtiers of both sexes access to power. Working from a range of sources wider than the subjective anecdote, Dunn presents the first scholarly treatment of medieval English ladies-in-waiting.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. The People of the Household: 1. The household: size, gender, and recruitment; 2. Marriage and courtier families; Part II. Rhythms of Life: 3. Daily life and domestic duties; 4. Ritual and ceremony; Part III. Power and its Rewards: 5. Authority, influence, and power politics; 6. Rewards for good service; Conclusion: Power, authority, influence, and service; Bibliography; Index.
