Gender and Genealogy in English Illuminated Royal Genealogical Rolls from the Thirteenth Century

Gender and Genealogy in English Illuminated Royal Genealogical Rolls from the Thirteenth Century* Judith Collard During the late thirteenth century, a series of illustrated genealogies of the kings of England were produced. Literally shaped by contemporary understandings of the past, these genealogical rolls diagrammatically laid out the sequence of kings from the Anglo-Saxon period to the living monarch. Ideas about legitimacy, dynastic descent and gender are central for our understanding of these texts. It is through an exploration of the representation of these elements and, in particular, the treatment of royal w o m e n , that the nature of these genealogies is revealed. They highlight, for example, the significance of diplomatic marriage in dynastic claims. The rolls which form the principal focus of this essay are: London, British Library, Additional M S 47170 (nine membranes, 4491 x 199 m m ) ; Cotton Charter XV.7; Royal M S 14 B.V (six membranes, 4007 x 245 m m ) ; Royal M S 14 B.VI (seven membranes, 4521 x 268 m m ) ; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole Rolls 38 (seven membranes, 3349 x 266 m m ) ; Broxbourne * I would like to thank Dr Pam Smart and Dr Dorothy Page for reading versions of this text, Dr Greg Waite, for his knowledge of Anglo-Saxon history and Dr Keith Moxey, whose sage advice led to a completely different article. Versions of this paper were given at the 1998 A N Z A M E M S conference in Wellington and the 1999 History, Text, Culture conference in Melbourne. 12 Judith Collard Rolls 435 (seven membranes, 4760 x 210 m m ) . These generally consist of a genealogy of the kings of England from Ethelbert of Wessex to either Henry III or Edward I. Oxford, Bodley Rolls 3 (with its detached membrane in the British Library, Cotton Charter XIV.4, six membranes, 4156 x 532 m m and one membrane, 660 m m x 516 m m ) and Ashmole Rolls 50 (two membranes, 1850 m m x 484 m m ) are a separate group of genealogies that follow a different format. These begin with the conquest of England by Brutus, followed by listings of the kings of England, ending with Edward I and the genealogies of the kingdoms of England and Scotland. These rolls have received little detailed scholarly attention since initially described by W.H. Monroe in his 1975 Master's dissertation at the Courtauld Institute.2 Varying in quality from exquisite luxury objects to comparatively simple examples, most genealogical rolls conformed to a single format. They also formed part of a larger group of illuminated histories that emerged in England in the mid-thirteenth century. Much of this material concerned the deeds of the kings of England, and several texts have been linked to those concerned with the court. These texts include: the Flores Historiarum manuscripts (associated with Westminster Abbey); La estoire de seint Aedward le rex and the works of Matthew Paris.3 The image of the 1 W.H. Monroe, 'Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Illustrated Roll-Manuscripts: Peter of Poitiers' "Compendium" and Chronicles of the Kings of England' (M.A. Report, Courtauld Institute, University of London, 1975). 2 Monroe, "Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Illustrated Roll-Manuscripts', pp. 18-19. 3 Together with the rolls these constituted a complementary collection of texts that explicate different aspects of kingship. The most extensive discussion of these illustrated histories is found in J.R. Collard, 'Patronage and Representations of the Kings of England in Thirteenth-Century English Art' (unpublished doctoral dissertation, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia, 1993); Albert Hollaender, 'The Pictorial Work in the "Flores Historiarum" of the so-called Matthew of Westminster (MS Chetham 6712)', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 28 (1944), 361-81; Antonia Gransden, "The Continuations of the "Flores Historiarum" from 1265 to 1327', Medieval Studies, 26 (1974), 472-91; Paul Binski in two articles, 'Abbot Berkyng's Tapestries and Matthew Pahs' "Life of St Edward the Confessor", Archaeologia, 109 (1991), 86-100 and 'Reflections on La estoire de Sein Aedward le rei: hagiography and kingship in thirteenth-century England', Journal ofMedieval History, 16 (1990), 333-50; and VB. Jordan, 'The multiple narratives of Matthew Paris' Estoire de seint Aedward...