2013/01/01 by Sara J. Wolfson · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Historical Art and Culture Studies #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Scottish History and National Identity
paper · doi:10.1163/9789004258396_014
openalex publication_date 2013/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
This chapter re-examines the activities of the principal female protagonists of the Bedchamber connected to Henrietta Maria's foreign policy agenda in the late 1620s and 1630s, the Countess of Carlisle and Madame Vantelet. It builds upon Sharon Kettering's definition of French noblewomen's power as indirect, as well as recent work that stresses aristocratic women's roles as key figures in diplomacy, policy-making in the centre and in the localities, and patronage networks. A largely chronological approach are adopted to explore, first, the involvement of these Bedchamber officers in directing Henrietta Maria's foreign policy, and, second, the extent to which the queen's diplomatic relations influenced elite domestic concerns over royal patronage. Underpinning both is an awareness that the dynastic aims of Henrietta Maria's Bedchamber officers uncovers a more complex story of the politics of the queen's circle than has hitherto been considered in Stuart historiography. Keywords: Countess of Carlisle; factional politics; familial networks; female Bedchamber; female political influence; Henrietta Maria's foreign policy; Madame Vantelet