Servants of the Dynasty

Mothers, wives, concubines, entertainers, attendants, officials, maids, drudges. By offering the first comparative view of the women who lived, worked, and served in royal courts around the globe, this work opens a new perspective on the monarchies that have dominated much of human history. Written by leading historians, anthropologists, and archeologists, these lively essays take us from Mayan states to twentieth-century Benin in Nigeria, to the palace of Japanese Shoguns, the Chinese Imperial courts, eighteenth-century Versailles, Mughal India, and beyond. Together they investigate how women's roles differed, how their roles changed over time, and how their histories can illuminate the structures of power and societies in which they lived. This work also furthers our understanding of how royal courts, created to project the authority of male rulers, maintained themselves through the reproductive and productive powers of women.

Investigates how women's roles differed, how their roles changed over time, and how their histories can illuminate the structures of power and societies in which they lived. It also helps understand how royal courts, created to project the authority of male rulers, maintained themselves through the reproductive and productive powers of women.

List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments Introducing Palace Women Anne Walthall 1. Women and the Performance of Power in Early Modern Southeast Asia Barbara Watson Andaya 2. Women in Classic Maya Royal Courts Takeshi Inomata 3. Women and Power at the Byzantine Court Kathryn M. Ringrose 4. Beyond Harem Walls: Ottoman Royal Women and the Exercise of Power Leslie P. Peirce 5. Mughal Palace Women Ruby Lal 6. Politics in an African Royal Harem: Women and Seclusion at the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan 7. Qing Imperial Women: Empresses, Concubines, and Aisin Gioro Daughters Shuo Wang 8. The Royal Women of Ivan IV's Family and the Meaning of Forced Tonsure Isolde Thyret 9. Servants of the Inner Quarters: The Women of the Shogun's Great Interior Hata Hisako 10. Women of Versailles, 1682-1789 Kathryn Norberg 11. Concubines and Cloth: Women and Weaving in Aztec Palaces and in Colonial Mexico Susan Toby Evans 12. Women, Royalty, and Indigo Dyeing in Northern Nigeria, circa 1500-1807 Heidi J. Nast 13. Gender and Entertainment at the Song Court Beverly Bossler 14. The Vanished Women of Korea: The Anonymity of Texts and the Historicity of Subjects JaHyun Kim Haboush 15. The Perils of the Sentimental Family for Royalty in Postrevolutionary France: The Case of Queen Marie-Amelie Jo Burr Margadant Bibliography Contributors Index