#and was also weirdly obsessed with romanticizing Edward III and it got kinda questionable | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wonder-worker · 8 months ago

Text

"[Alice Perrers] requested that she be buried in the parish church of Upminster, St Laurence, before the altar of the Virgin Mary. Alice seems to have had an affinity with Mary through her life; a seal of hers from c. 1374 shows an image of the Virgin Mary and child, her tabernacle seized in 1377 had an image of the Virgin Mary on it, and now she wished to be buried before Mary’s altar."

-Gemma Hollman, "The Queen and the Mistress: The Women of Edward III"

#historicwomendaily #alice perrers #my post #I didn't know about this but it's so very intriguing #I wonder if Alice associated herself with Mary to try and assert her own 'quasi-queenship'#(ie: the most powerful woman in the country at the side of a king)#as Mary was obviously important element of queenly iconography in late medieval England #though on the flip side I suspect it would have also raised hackles that Alice - a commoner and royal mistress - was attempting #to present herself in such a way #it's especially interesting to consider in the context of Tompkins' argument that Alice was perceived as 'inverting queenship' (slay)#also this book was ... complicated.#It's very understanding and sympathetic and raised some very good points #but also tried to...massively soften Alice's actions and downplay her role and power in the process #(ie: defending her by diminishing her)#also there's this gem:#'Edward had been markedly restrained with the gifts and favour he had bestowed upon Alice' girl that is a flat-out lie #no other royal mistress of medieval England was ever given so much or honored in such a way.#yes we should emphasize Alice's own proactive role and intelligence in building up her vast estates #but even if that hypothetically hadn't happened #Edward's grants and gifts would have still made her extremely wealthy and powerful regardless #and was also weirdly obsessed with romanticizing Edward III and it got kinda questionable #like yes obviously I think we should ascribe more nuanced motivations and emotions to *Alice* than 'ambitious gold-digger #taking advantage of an aging king'#but I'm not fond of it veering too far on the other side either #I think sometimes we should simply be comfortable admitting when we simply don't know something

13 notes · View notes