Conjugal Rights in Flux in Medieval Poetry Page: 15
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authority.
King Edgar's increase in monarchal power allowed for the role of queen to gain more
authority as well. Edgar maintained a close relationship with the monks and encouraged
IElfthryth to take on a similar role with the nuns. Andrew Rabin cites the words of the Regularis
Concordia to explain Edgar's desire to have IElfthryth guard the nuns, "[Edgar] most wisely
ordered that his wife, IElfthryth, should defend communities of nuns like a fearless sentinel, so
that naturally a man might aid men and a woman might aid women without a breath of
scandal."38 What is highlighted in his interpretation of this text is "the characterization of the
queen as a mediator capable of passing from the exclusively female space of the cloister to the
largely male space of the court."39 IElfthryth's ability to pass through both spheres allowed her to
fashion a innovative agentive role as queen that allowed her to influence new conceptions of
female legal agency. She also succeeded in creating a voice for women by serving as a
mouthpiece for female litigants during the time that the courts moved to limit female
participation. Rabin points out that her "legal activity has been overshadowed by numerous
accusations of wrongdoing after her death,"40 but that these post-mortem accusations have no
basis in fact. Indeed, he cites Stacy Klein's finding that there is a tendency in late Anglo-Saxon
political writing to correlate self-assured queens with the Old Testament figure of Jezebel.41 As
opposed to Elene who "represented the successful union of Church and state, Jezebel stood for
the dangerous seductions of earthly glory."42 Instead of identifying Queen IElfthryth as a Jezebel
or an Elene, although her legal career would align her more with the latter than the former, I
38 Ibid.,271.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid., 263.
41 Stacy Klein, Ruling Women. Queenship and Gender in Anglo-Saxon Literature (Notre Dame, Indiana:
University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).
42 Klein, Ruling Women, 7.15
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Ward, Jessica D. Conjugal Rights in Flux in Medieval Poetry, thesis, May 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500176/m1/20/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .