All the King’s Women: Polygyny and Politics in Europe, 900–1250

All the King’s Women: Polygyny and Politics in Europe, 900–1250
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
	1 Libido and Satyriasis
	2 Scholarship
	3 'Polygyny'
	4 Structure
	5 'Aspects' of Polygyny
	6 Objective
	7 Postscript 2020
King Harald Fairhair's Women: a Word on the Sources
	1 “…And Then He Took Her to Bed”
	2 "Concubine or Wife?"
	3 On Sources
	4 Scholarship on the Sagas
1 The Generative Aspect
	1 Thorns, Pigs, and Two Dreams
	2 Royal Blood
	3 Danish Particularism polygyny in the Chronicles
	4 Practices of the Valdemar Era
	5 Dissenting Voices Sven Aggesen and Saxo Grammaticus
	6 The 'Generative Aspect' of Polygyny
	7 Harald, the All-Father
	8 The 'Good' Bastard King
	9 The Mill Maid's Tale
	10 Suitability
	11 Co-optative Kinship
	12 Twofold Legitimacy Sverrir of Norway
	13 Married, Crowned, Unsuccessful
	14 Low-Born and Successful
	15 Polygyny as a Guarantor of Parity
	16 Polygyny without Women?
2 The Habitual Aspect
	1 Models
	2 Polygyny and Historiography the Oddaverjar
	3 A Song of Praise
	4 "Very Susceptible to Love" Jón Loptsson's Women
	5 A Lovers' Saga?
	6 Portrait of a Competitor
	7 Were There Wives?
	8 'Retrospective Marriage'
	9 A Vocable for the Ineffable Elja
	10 The Brother-in-Laws' Confrontation
	11 What Was at Stake I: Bishop Þorlák
	12 What Was at Stake II: Jón Loptsson
	13 Resource Polygyny
	14 Women and Plunder
	15 From Canterbury to Camelot
3 The Agonistic Aspect
	1 Snorri Takes a Bath
	2 Mannjafnað—“Comparison of Men”
	3 Social Rhetoric the Contest for Borghild í Dali
	4 Women in Mannjafnað
	5 Renegotiating Status Loss I: Saint Olav's Lover
	6 The Women's Agon
4 The Expressive Aspect
	1 Political Relations?
	2 What Ælfgifu Means
	3 Polygyny as a Semantic System
	4 Domestic and Foreign Policy: Harald Hardrada's Women
	5 A Successful Takeover: Harald Hardrada and Þóra Þorbergsdóttir (1047)
	6 The Near-Failure of a Party Formation: Eindriði Einarsson and Sigríð Erlingsdóttir (c.1023)
	7 An 'Unproductive' Communication: Valdemar the Great and Helena Guttormsdatter (c.1200)
	8 Renegotiating Status Loss II: the Bridal Journey of Óláf Haraldsson (c.1017)
	9 A Woman in Reserve: the Icelander's Booty and the Orkney Alliance (c.980)
	10 A Family on the Rise: Sigurð Haraldsson's Woman (c.1150)
	11 A New Party: the Daughters of Saxi í Vík (from c.1095)
	12 "And He Will Take Your Daughters...": Magnús the Good and Margrét Þrándsdóttir (c.1040)
	13 Danish Encounters
	14 The Emperor's Daughter and the Elbe Frontier: Erik Ejegod and Queen Bothild (c.1100)
	15 The Cheese and the Anchor: Harald Hardrada's Booty (1047)
5 The Performative Aspect
	1 "Castles and Maidens"
	2 Abishag at the Court of Hákon Hákonarson
	3 Northern European Hierogamy?
	4 Hákon Hlaðajarl
	5 Death in the Pigsty
	6 Jarl Hákon and His Patron Goddess
	7 Perpetual Hierogamy
6 The Comparative View: Western Europe
	1 In the Heartland of Medieval Studies
	2 Scholarship
	3 Sources
	4 Figurations of Polygyny: Arthurian Literature
	5 Strategies of Representation under the Spell of Monogamism
	6 The Invisible Women
	7 In Comparison: the Generative Aspect
	8 In Comparison: the Habitual Aspect
	9 In Comparison: the Agonistic Aspect
	10 In Comparison: the Expressive Aspect
	11 In Comparison: the Performative Aspect
	12 Polygyny as Political Principle: Normandy
	13 The Spoils of the Conqueror: Rollo and Poppa
	14 Mother of the Nation: Gunnor
	15 The Henchman’s Daughter: Herleve
7 The Comparative View: Southern Europe
	1 "Unbearable Heat"
	2 Concubinage at the Highest Level: James I and Aurembiaix of Urgell (1228)
	3 Ornamental Mediterraneanness: Christian Princes and Moorish Maids
	4 Iberian Renunciation—Llibre dels Feits and Primera Crónica General (c.1250)
	5 Ornamental Europeanness: Polygyny in Andalusia
	6 Paritarian Polygyny—Autocratic Abstinence
Polygyny and Europe: By Way of a Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
	Primary Sources
	Secondary Sources
Index