Servants of the Dynasty

398 Pages·2008·1.83 MB·English

by  Ed. Anne Walthall

The publisher gratefully acknowledges
the generous contribution to this book
provided by the Ahmanson Foundation
Humanities Endowment Fund of the
University of California Press
Foundation.
SERVANTS OF THE DYNASTY
THE CALIFORNIA WORLD HISTORY LIBRARY
Edited by Edmund Burke III, Kenneth Pomeranz, and Patricia Seed
1. The Unending Frontier: Environmental History of the Early Modern
World,by John F. Richards
2. Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History,by David Christian
3. The Graves of Tarim: Genealogy and Mobility across the Indian Ocean,
by Engseng Ho
4. Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860–1920,
by Thomas R. Metcalf
5. Many Middle Passages: Forced Migration and the Making of the
Modern World,edited by Emma Christopher, Cassandra
Pybus, and Marcus Rediker
6. Domesticating the World: African Consumerism and the Genealogies of
Globalization, by Jeremy Prestholdt
7. Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History,edited by
Anne Walthall
8. Island World: A History of Hawai(cid:1)i and the United States,by Gary
Y. Okihiro
9. The Environment and World History,edited by Edmund Burke III
and Kenneth Pomeranz
SERVANTS OF THE DYNASTY
Palace Women in World History
Edited by
Anne Walthall
University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London
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University ofCalifornia Press
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University ofCalifornia Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2008 by The Regents ofthe University ofCalifornia
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Servants ofthe dynasty : palace women in world history / edited
by Anne Walthall.
p. cm. — (The California world history library ; 7)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-520-25443-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-520-25444-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Courtesans—History. 2. Courts and courtiers—History.
3. Ladies-in-waiting—History. 4. Favorites, Royal—History.
5. Harems—History. I. Walthall, Anne.
HQ1122.S47 2008
306.84'109—dc22 2007051011
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements ofANSI/NISOZ39.48–1992 (R1997) (Permanence of
Paper).
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introducing Palace Women Anne Walthall 1
1. Women and the Performance of Power
in Early Modern Southeast Asia
Barbara Watson Andaya 22
2. Women in Classic Maya Royal Courts
Takeshi Inomata 45
3. Women and Power at the Byzantine Court
Kathryn M. Ringrose 65
4. Beyond Harem Walls: Ottoman Royal Women
and the Exercise of Power
Leslie P. Peirce 81
5. Mughal Palace Women Ruby Lal 96
6. Politics in an African Royal Harem:
Women and Seclusion at the Royal Court
of Benin, Nigeria Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan 115
7. Qing Imperial Women: Empresses,
Concubines, and Aisin Gioro Daughters
Shuo Wang 137
8. The Royal Women of Ivan IV’s Family and the
Meaning of Forced Tonsure Isolde Thyrêt 159
9. Servants of the Inner Quarters: The
Women of the Shogun’s Great Interior
Hata Hisako 172
10. Women of Versailles, 1682–1789
Kathryn Norberg 191
11. Concubines and Cloth: Women and Weaving
in Aztec Palaces and Colonial Mexico
Susan Toby Evans 215
12. Women, Royalty, and Indigo Dyeing in Northern
Nigeria, circa 1500–1807 Heidi J. Nast 232
13. Gender and Entertainment at the Song Court
Beverly Bossler 261
14. The Vanished Women of Korea: The Anonymity
of Texts and the Historicity of Subjects
JaHyun Kim Haboush 280
15. The Perils of the Sentimental Family for Royalty
in Postrevolutionary France: The Case of Queen
Marie-Amélie Jo Burr Margadant 299
Bibliography 327
List of Contributors 359
Index 363
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
0.1. Main Enceinte, Chiyoda Castle, Tokyo 6
0.2. The Forbidden City, Beijing 7
0.3. Topkapi Palace, Istanbul 8
2.1. Part ofthe Uaxactun mural 51
2.2. Distribution oftextile production tools in
residential structures at Aguateca 54
2.3. Palace at Uaxactun 56
3.1. The empress Theodora and her court 77
6.1. Oba Ovonramwen in exile at Old Calabar, eastern Nigeria 124
6.2. Queen Eson N’Erie 126
6.3. The Iyoba Aghahouwa, Queen Mother ofBenin, as the Eson 130
6.4. Wives ofOba Erediauwa 133
9.1. Board game: “Success in Serving in the Inner Quarters” 184
11.1. Layout ofthe palace at Cihuatecpan 221
11.2. The teaching oftextile skills 223
vii