Tudor queenship: Rethinking how power affect Catherine of Aragon and Elizabeth I with foucauldian theories from a feminist perspective

School of History, Classics and Archaeology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, United Kingdom

^* Corresponding author: s2308675@ed.ac.uk

Abstract

In the annals of English history, the Tudor Dynasty is one of the most captivating eras. Within this dynastic tapestry, few women figures have left as indelible mark as Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII, and the Virgin Queen---Elizabeth I. One that steps into the sphere of marriage and reproduction, facing the conflict of showing political talent and being the beloved wife of King Henry VIII. The other, a consistent formal dominant of England, remained a virgin throughout her life. Although they had slightly different monarchical roles, they faced similar challenges to the power structure in medieval Tudor. Thus, it is valuable to examine their roles by reconsidering the relations between gender, power, and monarchy. Also, examining how they survive and resist while maximizing their autonomy of power could provide a novel insight into the collaboration of the study of gender history and sociology. This essay attempts historical sociology to scrutinize the role of their queenship in the centre of the patriarchal and monarchical domain of the House of Tudors. There is a notable surge in applying Michel Foucault’s approach to theories of power in gender study by feminists. One of the aims of this research is to fill the vacancy of application of Foucault’s theories into medieval history as well. It aims to investigate the category of gender and its symbolism concerning queenship in the historical period. Most importantly, to redefine, reclaim, and re-evaluate the meanings and values of women figures throughout the traditional historiographical pattern of queenship, which the male chronological historians have largely created at the time. It is found that the two queenships sprouse comprehensive sociological meanings of a parallel considerdation of gender, power and body in such particular political spectrum of monarchial field.