Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Queen
(3,623 words)

1. Concept and research

The Old English cwen originally simply meant “woman” or “wife” (compare modern Swedish kvinna, Danish kvinde), but gradually acquired the specific sense of “wife of a king.” The distinction between queenship by marriage and queenship as authority is expressed by qualification, respectively “queen consort” and “queen regnant.” The focus of the…

Cite this page
Jarzebowski, Claudia and Behrends, Jonna, “Queen”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 02 June 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_031037>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20210107



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