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Throughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family - a dynasty; that politics was family politics; and political life was shaped by the births, marriages and deaths of the ruling family. How did the dynastic system cope with female rule, or pretenders to the throne? How did dynasties use names, the numbering of rulers and the visual display of heraldry to express their identity? And why did some royal families survive and thrive, while others did not? Drawing on a rich and memorable body of sources, this engaging and original history of dynastic power in Latin Christendom and Byzantium explores the role played by family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of the royal and imperial dynasties of Europe. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett makes enthralling sense of the complex web of internal rivalries and loyalties of the ruling dynasties and casts fresh light on an essential feature of the medieval world.
List of contents
Introduction. Royal Families; Part I. The Life Cycle: 1. Choosing a bride; 2. Waiting for sons to be born; 3. Fathers and sons; 4. Female sovereigns; 5. Mistresses and bastards; 6. Family dynamics; 7. Royal mortality; Part II. A Sense of Dynasty: 8. Names and numbering; 9. Saints, images, heraldry, family trees; 10. Responses to dynastic uncertainty: prophecy and astrology; 11. Pretenders and returners: dynastic imposters in the Middle Ages; 12. New families and new kingdoms; 13. Dynasties and the non-dynastic world; Conclusion; Appendices.
About the author
Robert Bartlett, CBE, FBA, is Professor Emeritus at the University of St Andrews. His books include The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950-1350 (1993), which won the Wolfson Literary Prize for History in 1994, and Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? (2015). He is well-known as the writer and presenter of several BBC documentary series including 'Inside the Medieval Mind' (2008), 'The Normans' (2010), and 'The Plantagenets' (2014).
Summary
This engaging history of dynastic power in medieval Europe explores the role of family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of royal and imperial dynasties. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett casts fresh light on an essential feature of the medieval world.
Report
'Integrating numerous translated quotes from key primary sources into a fluently written history, this wide-ranging, authoritative and colourful overview will prove to be of enduring relevance, as a great story for the general reader and a treasure trove for researchers.' Jeroen Duindam, author of Dynasties. A Global History of Power 1300-1800
