Fairy Tale Queens: Representations of Early Modern Queenship by Jo Eldridge Carney

Author:Jo Eldridge Carney [Carney, Jo Eldridge]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: History, Europe, England/Great Britain, Legends/Myths/Tales, Royalty
ISBN: 9781137269683
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2012-09-14T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

THE QUEEN’S WARDROBE: DRESSING THE PART

“As she was splendidly beautiful, and her clothes were bedecked with pearls and rubies, the people were dazzled by such a magnificent appearance and adored their incomparable queen. Consequently, the king was so happy that he could not even express his joy.”

—Jean de Mailly, “Blanche Belle”

“The King went to meet them on the road, making it appear that he was going out hawking with his falcons; and, presenting himself to the Queen... He then kissed her, and afterwards embraced all the English princes and barons who accompanied her... The Queen was very magnificently dressed, both her gown and head gear being of the English fashion, and very costly, both in jewels and goldsmiths’ work. Her gown was of gold brocade with a white ground.”

—On Princess Mary Tudor’s marriage to Louis XII of France

“She requested that she be given some time to change her clothes before she appeared before her lord and master. In truth, the people could hardly keep from laughing because of the clothes she was wearing.”

—Charles Perrault, “Donkey-Skin”

“I have nothing for chemises; wherefore, by your highness’ life, I have now sold some bracelets to get a dress of black velvet, for I was all but naked.”

—Catherine of Aragon to her father, King Ferdinand, from the court of Henry VII

In the early modern period, the possession of beauty was considered a sine qua non for queenship even if human imperfections and individual preferences meant that the ideal was often unattainable. Queens were expected to be similarly impressive in their dress, wearing clothing that was magnificent enough to reflect the superiority of their position. A queen could do little to change her physical attributes, other than using cosmetics or a wig for a modicum of improvement, but a wardrobe could be controlled and manipulated in the ongoing project of creating a particular self-image.

Early modern fairy tales feature myriad dazzling dresses as do the expense accounts and inventories of early modern queens. The sumptuous clothing of royal spectacle satisfied public curiosity, but more importantly it articulated and affirmed monarchical status: the splendid dress of gold and silver that Cinderella wore to the ball was meant to convey her eligibility as the prince’s bride just as the costly gold brocade gown Mary Tudor wore upon her arrival in France was meant to establish her worth as queen consort to Louis XII.

Whereas lavish wardrobes were arguably a sign of personal indulgence and vanity, clothing was literally a part of Stephen Greenblatt’s now familiar notion of “self-fashioning,” the deliberate crafting and formulation of identity and self-representation. In a rigidly hierarchical culture, defining a self through clothing also meant circumscribing what others could wear: careful regulation of fashion was a means of preserving and upholding the exclusivity of the monarchy. The continual if ineffective attempts at delineating social status through sumptuary legislation reveal how deeply clothing practices were seen as a challenge to political stability and order. In the emergent material and consumer culture of the early modern period,

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