Submitted Abstract
The aim of this project is to develop understanding on the ways in which the female ruler participated on the rule and administration as well as which strategies were used. The consorts of the rulers from the house of Luxemburg and their ruling practices constitute contrary to their male counterparts an almost unknown research topic. The project covers the period 1292-1442, the era of Luxembourgian hegemony in Western and East-Central Europe (beginning with the marriage of count Henry VII with Margarete duchess of Brabant and closing the timeframe with the end of Luxembourgian hegemony after the death of queen Elisabeth, the only daughter emperor Sigismund´s). The rulers descending from the House of Luxembourg, as many of late-medieval sovereigns, faced the increasing complexity of governing over various territories with disparate administrations, customs and legal frameworks such as in Holy Roman Empire, Czech Lands, Kingdom of Hungary as well as on “lower territorial level” e.g. in County of Luxembourg, Upper and Lower Lusatia, Margraviate of Moravia and Brandenburg. Accumulation of territories and accruing of titles had obviously impact on the structure of the royal court and ruling practices. The proposed project should analyze this phenomenon from gender comparative perspective, address this caveat and bring a new light to the essential problem of sovereign’s power and authority. This can be achieved on the basis of detailed quantitative and qualitative, synchronic and diachronic, formal diplomatic as well as lexicometric analysis of the diplomatic material gathered in database, by using the methods and tools of digital humanities, also in comparison of the results obtained with the “governance” theories and with theoretical frameworks of gender studies.