Anne of Bohemia (Lives of Royal Women)

317 Pages·2022·9.994 MB·English

by  Kristen L. Geaman

ANNE OF BOHEMIA
This volume examines the life of Anne of Bohemia, the first
queen of Richard II (1377–1399), and situates her within the
context of medieval queenship by arguing that Anne ably ful-
filled the political role of the queen consort through her inter-
cession, patronage, and piety.
Much previous scholarship on Anne has focused on her rela-
tionship with famous poets, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, but from
analyzing government documents it becomes clear that Anne
used her wealth and status to enact power. Through financial,
religious, and cultural patronage, Anne rewarded supporters and
servants and influenced court life. The examination of sources
such as a letter from Anne to her half brother, and an apoth-
ecary bill that contains some fertility medicines suggests that the
queen both desired and tried to have children. As such, the vol-
ume questions the public imagination of Anne and shows that,
in this example, although she died childless, Anne and Richard
attempted to have children throughout their marriage.
With the inclusion of tables listing Anne’s acts of interces-
sion and her land holdings and land grants, Anne of Bohemia is
a useful tool for students and scholars interested in queenship
studies, medieval women’s history, and the history of the English
monarchy.
Kristen L. Geaman is an associate lecturer at the University of
Toledo, USA. Her research interests include women’s and gen-
der history and infertility. She has published articles about Anne
of Bohemia in English Historical Review, Social History of Medicine,
and English Consorts: Power, Influence, Dynasty (2022).
Lives of Royal Women
Series Editors:- Elena Woodacre, [email protected]
Louise Wilkinson, [email protected]
This series features academic, yet accessible biographies of royal
women - consorts, dowagers, royal mothers and female sover-
eigns - inclusive of all periods, cultures and geographic regions.
These biographies include a deep engagement with the prem-
ise of queenship studies and the exercise of the queen’s office
(or equivalent), in addition to covering the lives of particular
women. The series is divided into three sub-strands: Queens of
England (blue), Queens and Empresses of Europe (purple), and
Royal Women of the World (red).
Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (1528–1603)
Dynastic Networker
Rubén González Cuerva
Anne of Bohemia
Kristen L. Geaman
ANNE OF BOHEMIA
Kristen L. Geaman
Cover image: Queen Anne of Bohemia gilt bronze effigy on tomb in Westminster Abbey,
London, England © Angelo Hornak / Alamy Stock Photo
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Kristen L. Geaman
The right of Kristen L. Geaman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Geaman, Kristen L., 1985- author.
Title: Anne of Bohemia / Kristen L. Geaman.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series:
Lives of royal women | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Contents: Heritage and Marriage -- "She Settled Quarrels" -- Household
and Finances -- "Most Gracious Queen of England": Patronage --
Biological and Nurturing Motherhood -- Childlessness, Virginity, and
Manhood -- Afterlife and Conclusion.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021054675 (print) | LCCN 2021054676 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367234676 (hbk) | ISBN 9780367234652 (pbk) | ISBN 9780429279959
(ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Anne, Queen, consort of Richard II, King of England,
1366-1394. | Queens--England--Biography. | Richard II, King of England,
1367-1400. | Great Britain--Politics and government--1377-1399. |
England--Biography. | Bohemia (Czech Republic)--Biography.
Classification: LCC DA237.A55 G43 2022 (print) | LCC DA237.A55 (ebook) |
DDC 942.03/8092 [B]--dc23/eng/20220105
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054675
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054676
ISBN: 978-0-367-23467-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-23465-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-27995-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429279959
Typeset in Bembo
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
CONTENTS
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments viii
List of Abbreviations x
List of People xii
Introduction 1
1 Heritage and Marriage 19
2 Intercession: “She Settled Quarrels” 52
3 Finances and Household 90
4 “Most Gracious Queen of England”: Patronage 111
5 Biological and Nurturing Motherhood 143
vi Contents
6 Childlessness, Virginity, and Manhood 166
7 Afterlife and Conclusion 184
Appendix 1 Anne of Bohemia’s Pardons, Licenses,
and Grants 208
Appendix 2 Anne’s Dower and Grants 220
Appendix 3 Letter and Translation of Additional 6159 258
Appendix 4 Servants and Officials 262
Bibliography 269
Index 297
FIGURES
1.1 King and queen from the Liber Regalis 37
2.1 Shrewsbury Charter, 1389, Document 3365/24 80
3.1 Crown of Anne of Bohemia 104
6.1 Richard II’s arms from his tomb in
Westminster Abbey 169
6.2 Tester on the tomb of Richard II and
Anne of Bohemia 171
7.1 Anne’s funeral effigy 185
7.2 Tomb effigies of Anne of Bohemia and Richard II 187
7.3 Anne’s tomb effigy 188
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Chelsea Griffis, Rebecca King Cerling, Lea
Luecking Frost, and Brittany Koza for reading and comment-
ing on my drafts. Your insights have been invaluable in mak-
ing this a better book. I am also grateful to Anne Jeavons and
David Hall for sharing their transcriptions of some Exchequer
documents with me. Thanks to the interlibrary loan staff at the
University of Toledo (UT), who obtained books for me dur-
ing the COVID- 19 pandemic. Without their help and dedica-
tion, this book would never have been finished! Further thanks
are due to the Kohler Awards at UT, which helped finance a
research trip in summer 2019. In addition, I thank Judith M.
Bennett, my dissertation advisor; the University of Southern
California Provost’s Fellowship Program; and the Schallek
Awards, sponsored by the Richard III Society and the Medieval
Academy of America, for their funding and support of my dis-
sertation, which is where I started researching and writing about
Anne of Bohemia.
This book builds on my previously published work. Some
of the ideas, arguments, and material in various chapters were
Acknowledgments ix
previously discussed in the following articles: Kristen L. Geaman,
“A Personal Letter Written by Anne of Bohemia,” English
Historical Review 128, no. 534 (October 2013): 1086–1094,
reproduced with permission of Oxford University Press; Kristen
L. Geaman, “Anne of Bohemia and Her Struggle to Conceive,”
Social History of Medicine 29, no. 2 (May 2016): 224–244, repro-
duced with permission from Oxford University Press; Kristen
Geaman, “Beyond Good Queen Anne: Anne of Bohemia,
Patronage, and Politics,” in Medieval Elite Women and the Exercise
of Power, 1100–1400: Moving Beyond the Exceptionalist Debate,
edited by Heather Tanner (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019),
67–89, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan;
Kristen Geaman, “Anne of Bohemia: Overcoming Infertility,” in
English Consorts: Power, Influence, Dynasty, Vol. 2: Later Plantagenet
and Wars of the Roses Consorts, edited by Joanna Laynesmith and
Elena Woodacre (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming),
reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan; and Kristen
L. Geaman and Theresa Earenfight, “Neither Heir nor Spare:
Childless Queens and the Practice of Monarchy in Pre-M odern
Europe,” in Routledge History of Monarchy, ed. by Elena Woodacre
et al (London: Routledge, 2019), 518–533, reproduced with
permission of Routledge. Finally, some material originated in
my unpublished dissertation, Kristen L. Geaman, “Childless
Queens and Child- like Kings: Negotiating Royal Infertility in
England, 1382–1471” (PhD Dissertation, University of Southern
California, 2013).