This study examines representations of early modern female consorts and regnants via extra-literary emblematics such as paintings, jewelry, miniature portraits, carvings, placards, masques, funerary monuments, and imprese.

Our interdisciplinary collection of essays provides an engaging study of how Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus (1454-1510); Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603); Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1542-1587); Anne of Denmark (1574-1619); and Spain's Maria Luisa de Orleans (1662-1689) either succeeded in promoting authority and inspiring loyalty, or, conversely, had identities shaped for them for various political, religious, or cultural reasons. Knowledge of material culture, and how such objects created specific gender identities, reveals new insights into these queens' lives, as they flourished in court, as members of their communities received them, and as individuals appropriated and shaped their reputations during their lives and after their deaths.

""High and Mighty Queens" of Early Modern England" is a truly interdisciplinary anthology of essays including articles on such actual queen regnants as Mary I and Elizabeth I, and queen consorts such as Anne Boleyn, Anna of Denmark, and Henrietta Maria. The collection also deals with a number of literary representations of earlier historical queens such as Cleopatra, and semi-historical ones such as Gertrude, Tamora, and Lady Macbeth, and such fictional ones as Hermione and the queen of "Cymbeline, "all of them Shakespeare characters. This fascinating look at Renaissance queens also examines myth and folklore, Romantic or Victorian representations, and the depictions of queens like Catherine de Medici of France in twentieth century film.

"High and Mighty Queens" of Early Modern England is a truly interdisciplinary anthology of essays including articles on such actual queen regnants as Mary I and Elizabeth I, and queen consorts such as Anne Boleyn, Anna of Denmark, and Henrietta Maria. The collection also deals with a number of literary representations of earlier historical queens such as Cleopatra, and semi-historical ones such as Gertrude, Tamora, and Lady Macbeth, and such fictional ones as Hermione and the queen of Cymbeline, all of them Shakespeare characters. This fascinating look at Renaissance queens also examines myth and folklore, Romantic or Victorian representations, and the depictions of queens like Catherine de Medici of France in twentieth century film.