Kathy Garay on Manufacturing Majesty, 1207–2007

Dr. Kathy Garay of the McMas­ter Lib­rary gave a lively and fast-paced talk explor­ing the nature of majesty to the Medi­eval and Early Mod­ern Research Group. Her paper,“Manufacturing Majesty: Eliza­beth of Hun­gary, Diana of Eng­land and the Con­struc­tion of Royal Saints, 1207–2007,” reflec­ted on the rather strik­ing sim­il­ar­it­ies between St. Eliza­beth of Hun­gary and Lady Diana Spen­cer. stelizabethsmall.jpgPar­tic­u­larly:

  • Lin­eage
  • Texts
  • Mar­ital Love
  • In-Laws
  • Beauty
  • Moth­er­hood
  • The Third Person
  • Char­ity
  • Agency
  • Funeral Rites
  • Leg­acy

stElizabeth.jpg

  • Lin­eage — both came from aris­to­cratic stock;
  • Texts — Bio­graphy (hagi­o­graph­ies) emerged very quickly after the deaths of both women;
  • In Love with Hus­bands — When this was not always com­mon in royal marriages;
  • Chal­lenges from the Fam­il­ies they Mar­ried Into: Eliza­beth was too pious for her in-laws ;
  • Appear­ance and Beauty — Both were remark­ably beautiful;
  • Moth­er­hood — Both were exem­plary moth­ers and also recog­nized as moth­ers of the nation;
  • The Third Per­son — There were third people in each mar­riage, for Eliza­beth it was her con­fessor Kon­rad and for Diana, the Cam­illa issue;
  • Ded­ic­a­tion to Char­ity and Social Action — Eliza­beth was con­stantly shar­ing wealth with the impov­er­ished, Diana with Aids vic­tim in particular;
  • Agency — Both were able to change the per­cep­tions and affect the role into which they were cast;
  • Funeral Rites — The lives of both were cel­eb­rated with par­tic­u­larly ela­bour­ate state funerals;
  • Leg­acy — Both have been memori­al­ised in statu­ary, edi­fice and raised to exal­ted pos­i­tions in the national pysche. 

    •  Dr. Garay demon­strated the remark­able con­sist­ency in the nature of majesty over an 800 year span. She con­cluded with one of the most strik­ing sim­il­ar­it­ies between the two women: the engage­ment bey­ond ‘royal touch’. Last­ing images of both show them not simply amongst the people, but often in a very tact­ile, hands-on and even sub­ser­vi­ent pos­i­tion. Dr. Garay is a superb presenter and her infec­tious enthu­si­asm for her sub­ject mat­ter was a real treat.

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