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Queen Margaret of Anjou has been vilified throughout history and was even defamed by Shakespeare as a "she-wolf" in his history of Henry VI part III. This revisionist biographical study begins by redefining a "she-wolf's" connote from that of rapacious predator to a protector as seen in original myth for Rome's foundation. By studying her childhood and reign it analyzes her identity as a "she-wolf" and regent sovereign on behalf of her mentally ill husband, Henry VI and their young son, Edward of Westminster. Contrary to previous historiography, this analysis emphasizes how Margaret was apprenticed by the she-wolves of her grandmother and mother during their regent sovereignty in the absence of a husband or son. It then continues to analyze events such as her intercessory role in the Jack Cade's Rebellion of 1450, her eighty-two letters and other forms of de facto rule that Margaret implemented. Despite her imminent loss in a hyper-masculinized, political culture during the War of the Roses this accredits the successes of Margaret's tenure as queen overlooked by historians. Furthermore, this study addresses the attacks from Margaret's contemporary sources and how her historiography has evolved with the continuation of such attacks. This influence has even spilled into literature and film as the success of Game of Thrones has popularized Margaret's defamed archetype in the fictional character Cersei Lannister. The purpose of this study is to address not only the faults of Margaret's narrative, but to address the importance for historians to create women as the protagonist of their own story and not their male counterparts. This concludes then with a greater question of how to study the nature of regency in a medieval government with the concern of queens as regents.
ContributorsAtchinson, Sarah Waneta (Author) / Barnes, Andrew (Thesis director) / Warnicke, Retha (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05