Women at the early modern Swedish court : power, risk, and opportunity / Fabian Persson.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover -- Table of Contents -- Genealogical charts -- Dramatis personae -- Note on names -- Acknowledgements -- List of illustrations -- Introduction: Women living with power -- Opportunities -- Growing interest -- Sources and the challenge of invisibility -- Outsiders -- 1. Rituals of royal compassion -- Who and when -- Institutionalisation -- The quality of compassion -- 2. Why be at court? The example of the Königsmarcks -- Insiders -- 3. All the Queen's women -- The creation of the Swedish court in the sixteenth century -- The women in service -- The recruitment process

Pay and perquisites -- Marriage -- The appeal of the court -- 4. Noblewomen crossing borders -- Change over time -- Princely women visiting and residing in Sweden -- Swedish noblewomen in service abroad -- Clean break or gradual erosion? -- From melting pot to enclave -- 5. Servants of power -- Everyday power -- and more -- Maids of Honour as power brokers -- Everyday power -- and high politics -- Power struggles on several levels -- Emerentia Düben -- Juliana Schierberg -- Anna Catharina Bärfelt -- Measures of success -- 6. Left behind -- Reputational damage -- Beata Sophia Horn, trapped at court

Ageing and unmarried -- 7. Filth among the apples: Hierarchy and gender at court -- A Swedish Table of Ranks -- Formal hierarchies -- Royal decisiveness -- Increasing formality -- Marks of status -- Negotiating the hierarchy -- 8. A small circle with wide horizons -- Living under surveillance -- Socialised into a group -- Widening interests and attitudes -- Changes in appearance -- The best school in the world -- 9. Fumbling for power: Being a royal mistress -- A golden age of adultery -- A passing fancy -- An emotional anchor -- A lesser sort of marriage

The extraordinary success of Karin Månsdotter -- Pimped to a king -- The role of a royal mistress -- Royals -- 10. The performance of a lifetime: Being Queen Consort -- Being foreign -- Being sociable -- Being self-assured -- Being a success -- 11. The winding road: Royal marriage negotiations -- A queen's worth -- How to pick a marriage partner -- Successful failures -- 12. The broken mirror: Gender differences in the system of royal apartments -- Mirroring apartments -- Royal apartments outside Stockholm -- Renovations -- A mirror cracked -- In-built gender -- 13. Death and beyond

A Swedish Artemisia manquée -- Commemorating a dynasty -- Dynastic memory -- 14. The court as substitute family -- The Princess, her sister and the need for trust -- A court of her own -- Court rather than family -- A long-lost sister -- The entertaining princess -- 15. Epilogue -- Glossary -- Court positions -- Abbreviations -- Coinage -- The calendar -- Bibliography -- Manuscript sources -- Published sources -- Index -- List of illustrations

Figure 1: Women at court took part very visibly in public ceremonies, such as the coronation of Queen Hedvig Eleonora. Juriaen Ovens, Coronation of Hedvig Eleonora, c. 1654. Copyright Nationalmuseum (Stockholm).

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