Alliances and Queen (Bees)
Kristen Todd
Marriages were the lifeblood of English society, and their attendant alliance between families were central to social bonds and movement. But marriage was only one aspect of the social fabric as far as women were concerned. The alliances women forged amongst themselves over the course of their lifetimes were just as important to women’s influence and social mobility.
Women worked hard to further the sociopolitical stations of their families (Frye 3-4). This type of social labor was repeatedly compared to the work of bees. Renaissance women often appropriated bees and bee hives to “validate the place of women within their own society” and also validate “the connections between women themselves” (4). Frye and Robertson call these connections “alliances” (4). They define alliances as “a formally recognized relationship, activated or chosen to the political advantage of its members” (4). These alliances manifested in marriages, sisterhoods, neighborhoods, and often, the selection of godmothers (Harris 22-24). Through these alliances, women built intricate social networks. Women, through these networks, worked to better their family’s social/political situation. Mothers and grandmothers started these connections for their daughters so that their daughters could build off the influence of the previous generations with connections within theirs and future generations for their daughters.
Mothers first exposed daughters to these networks when they called upon their connections to help prepare daughters for marriage. In order to “complete their educations, expand their social circles” and gain assistance in the marriage arrangement, Mothers placed their daughters in the household of a “senior woman” (Harris 24-25). In accepting a girl into her household, that woman agreed “to accept custodial responsibility for” that girl (25). This patroness educated the girl, and provided more connections for the girl to begin growing upon the connections of her mother. This both prepares the girl for wife- and motherhood and helps her begin building her own network.
The female patronage system was especially important in the Queen’s choice of “Maids-of-Honour” and based on the “patronage of her Ladies-in-Waiting and the Gentlewomen of her Privy Chamber” (Harris 26). Women who were accepted as Maids of Honour were afforded a great deal of influence. The networking that got them that position was vital; women were valued based on their alliances. Wealthy, respected, powerful allies made the difference between appointment or disappointment. Appointments such as a Queen’s Maids-of-Honour not only represented the favor of the queen; they validated all the social preparation of the maid for marriage and testified to her and her family’s powerful connections. Women’s networks of alliances were women’s own subtler source of power and influence.
A young woman’s alliances made her attractive for other alliances which then determined whom she married. Her alliances, husband included, determined her social influence discussed here. They also determined her ability to further the positions of her male relatives and the marriages of her daughters. As a result, these alliances were born, grown, and reinvented with each generation, similar to the life cycle of a queen bee and her hive. A bee becomes a queen. This new queen starts a hive, governs it and it sustains her. Then, when she dies, one of her daughters takes over, utilizing the vestiges of her mother’s hive and new developments that she has made herself. Then, that daughter as the new queen, repeats the process with her daughter and so on. We see Catherine begin to do this in Henry V. Catherine accesses the knowledge of a woman in her “hive,” Alice. Catherine, seeing King Henry as a suitor begins to prepare herself to become King Henry’s wife. She does so by asking Alice to teach her English. In her first language lesson, she curiously inquires after the names of body parts (III.iv.1-55). Brownell Saloman described the scene, saying that Catherine’s “blushing allusions to obscene words . . . are dramatic expressions of the Princess’ sexual awareness” (Brownell Saloman, “Thematic Contraries and the Dramaturgy of Henry V;” cited in Wilcox 68). In this scene, Catherine not only acquires some language, but also begins sexualizing herself. She prepares herself for the sexual transition into wifehood as well as the linguistic transition as a foreign queen. If not for Alice, Catherine would not have access to the knowledge necessary for the wooing in Act V. Because of Alice, Catherine could converse with Henry in a way that would not otherwise have been possible.
Women worked hard to further the sociopolitical stations of their families (Frye 3-4). This type of social labor was repeatedly compared to the work of bees. Renaissance women often appropriated bees and bee hives to “validate the place of women within their own society” and also validate “the connections between women themselves” (4). Frye and Robertson call these connections “alliances” (4). They define alliances as “a formally recognized relationship, activated or chosen to the political advantage of its members” (4). These alliances manifested in marriages, sisterhoods, neighborhoods, and often, the selection of godmothers (Harris 22-24). Through these alliances, women built intricate social networks. Women, through these networks, worked to better their family’s social/political situation. Mothers and grandmothers started these connections for their daughters so that their daughters could build off the influence of the previous generations with connections within theirs and future generations for their daughters.
Mothers first exposed daughters to these networks when they called upon their connections to help prepare daughters for marriage. In order to “complete their educations, expand their social circles” and gain assistance in the marriage arrangement, Mothers placed their daughters in the household of a “senior woman” (Harris 24-25). In accepting a girl into her household, that woman agreed “to accept custodial responsibility for” that girl (25). This patroness educated the girl, and provided more connections for the girl to begin growing upon the connections of her mother. This both prepares the girl for wife- and motherhood and helps her begin building her own network.
The female patronage system was especially important in the Queen’s choice of “Maids-of-Honour” and based on the “patronage of her Ladies-in-Waiting and the Gentlewomen of her Privy Chamber” (Harris 26). Women who were accepted as Maids of Honour were afforded a great deal of influence. The networking that got them that position was vital; women were valued based on their alliances. Wealthy, respected, powerful allies made the difference between appointment or disappointment. Appointments such as a Queen’s Maids-of-Honour not only represented the favor of the queen; they validated all the social preparation of the maid for marriage and testified to her and her family’s powerful connections. Women’s networks of alliances were women’s own subtler source of power and influence.
A young woman’s alliances made her attractive for other alliances which then determined whom she married. Her alliances, husband included, determined her social influence discussed here. They also determined her ability to further the positions of her male relatives and the marriages of her daughters. As a result, these alliances were born, grown, and reinvented with each generation, similar to the life cycle of a queen bee and her hive. A bee becomes a queen. This new queen starts a hive, governs it and it sustains her. Then, when she dies, one of her daughters takes over, utilizing the vestiges of her mother’s hive and new developments that she has made herself. Then, that daughter as the new queen, repeats the process with her daughter and so on. We see Catherine begin to do this in Henry V. Catherine accesses the knowledge of a woman in her “hive,” Alice. Catherine, seeing King Henry as a suitor begins to prepare herself to become King Henry’s wife. She does so by asking Alice to teach her English. In her first language lesson, she curiously inquires after the names of body parts (III.iv.1-55). Brownell Saloman described the scene, saying that Catherine’s “blushing allusions to obscene words . . . are dramatic expressions of the Princess’ sexual awareness” (Brownell Saloman, “Thematic Contraries and the Dramaturgy of Henry V;” cited in Wilcox 68). In this scene, Catherine not only acquires some language, but also begins sexualizing herself. She prepares herself for the sexual transition into wifehood as well as the linguistic transition as a foreign queen. If not for Alice, Catherine would not have access to the knowledge necessary for the wooing in Act V. Because of Alice, Catherine could converse with Henry in a way that would not otherwise have been possible.