The Medieval Queen Here and There, Then and Now: A Symposium

Monday 9 December 2025
Barker Center 110 (the Thompson Room)
Sponsored by the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies and the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature

Welcome and opening remarks (9:00-9:15)
Sean Gilsdorf, Committee on Medieval Studies

Session I (9:15-10:30)
You Could Be the King, but Watch the Queen Conquer: Queens and Political Agency

Mandy Brenner, “Symbol and Sword: The Military Roles of Medieval Queens”
Jiani Johnson, “Invisible Crowns: Formal and Informal Queenship in Medieval Italy”
Thea Tjolle, “Crown and (Dis)Constraint: Gender Relations and Royal Agency in the Reign of Tamar”

Session II (10:45-12:15)
You Always Was a Black Queen: Medieval Queenship in Global Perspective

Vanessa Chen, “From Consort to Emperor: Wu Zetian, Rulership, and the ‘Imperial Feminine’ in Early Medieval China”
Malak Sannoun, “Everything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Shajar al-Durr and Social Scrutiny”
Gabrielle Greene, “She Works Hard for the System: The ‘Imperial Feminine’ in West African Contexts”
Bianca Arraiza Carlo, “From Throne to Shore: Comparative Female Leadership in the European and Taíno Worlds”

Session III (1:00-2:15)
The Image of My Queen that I Can’t Erase: Envisioning the Medieval Queen

Donald Cruse, “Minting Matriarchs: Representing Queens on Medieval Coins”
Sterling Hoyte, ““Piety and Power: Mary as Model in Medieval and Early Modern Queenship”
Franco Arraiza Carlo, “Crowning Legacies: Change in Queenly Iconography from Byzantium to Tudor England”
Nicole Uribe Lopez, “Mystifying Sovereignty: Virginity, Feminine Imagery, and Patriarchal Power Under the Rule of Queen Elizabeth I”

Session IV (2:30-4:00)
A Beauty Queen from a Movie Scene: Reputation, Notoriety, and the Figure of the Queen

McKenna McKrell, “Models and Morals: Medieval Queens and their Influence on Women Subjects”
Cooper Skenyon, “Victim or Villainess? Morgause’s Transformation from Thomas Mallory to T.H. White”
Daisha Clayton, “Purity and Persona: The Virgin Queen in Modern Media”