The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800

Download or read book The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800 written by William Monter and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-24 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this lively and pathbreaking book, William Monter sketches Europe's increasing acceptance of autonomous female rulers between the late Middle Ages and the French Revolution. Monter surveys the governmental records of Europe's thirty women monarchs—the famous (Mary Stuart, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great) as well as the obscure (Charlotte of Cyprus, Isabel Clara Eugenia of the Netherlands)—describing how each of them achieved sovereign authority, wielded it, and (more often than men) abandoned it. Monter argues that Europe's female kings, who ruled by divine right, experienced no significant political opposition despite their gender.