Strategic Imaginations

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Imaginations of female rule and the imaginative strategies of women rulers explore the gender of political power and its implications for the history of sovereignty. Political sovereignty has long been a central theme in European thought, where philosophy, political theory, historiography, theology, and the arts have interacted to shape notions of rule. Historically, sovereign power has been predominantly viewed as a male prerogative. While recent studies have examined individual women rulers, there has been a lack of comprehensive analysis regarding how women in power navigated a landscape that largely could not conceive of female authority except in negative or grotesque terms. This work highlights that understanding this tension requires a comparative and long-term approach to women’s political rule. It presents a collection of essays that examine female sovereignty across various contexts, from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the British realm, spanning the Middle Ages to the emergence of modern democracy. By addressing historical figures and the complex imagination surrounding female rule in philosophy, literature, and art history, the book uncovers unexpected connections between the strategies employed by women rulers and the prevailing skepticism they faced regarding their authority.