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1st Answer:

The job of the King or Duties of a Queen was to get married and give birth to a son normally known as a Heir. The Heir's job was to get married and pass down the royal name like his parents. If he had two boys then the eldest would become Heir and take over the throne when his father and mother both die. If they had a daughter, she would become Queen (when her parents die), but when she marries, whoever she marries will become a prince not a king. But then when she gives birth to a boy, he becomes the Heir in line for the throne, so that when HIS parents die THEN he will become a king and it starts all over again.

2nd Answer:

The duties of queens varied a lot, and in addition to providing an heir, the queen had a number of important responsibilities. For a woman to fulfill everything required, she would have had to be quite a remarkable person.

A king was not very smart if he trusted too many people. There was too much temptation for a lot of people to get rid of him. But unless he was on bad terms with the queen, he usually could trust her safely because her interests usually matched his, and there were even cases where they might be in love with each other besides. Kings had to be able to go off to war, to pilgrimage, on crusade, or just on inspection of their countries, and this meant they needed people they could trust to tend to business when they were gone. Ideally, for many kings, that person was the queen.

The result that the best queens were chosen from young women who were, among other things, literate, versed in diplomacy and politics, capable of speaking several languages, able to understand mathematics sufficiently to manage or review finances, and even able to command military garrisons.

These conditions were recognized early on, and the result is that even before the rise of literacy under Charlemagne, queens were able to stand in for their husbands on matters of state. Cynethryth, for example, who was the wife of King Offa of Mercia, and who died about the time Charlemagne was crowned emperor, witnessed charters on behalf of her husband, clearly taking part in the politics of an important king.

Ethelfleda, who was a daughter of Alfred the Great, also signed agreements on behalf of her husband, and is said to have been the real ruler of Mercia at the time. After his death, she continued to rule. She was a formidable military leader, built forts, and reconstructed the old Roman city of Gloucester. She died in about 918, after building a reputation of being quite good at kicking invading Vikings out of her country.

Another interesting example is Empress Matilda, who was also an English queen. When she was very young, she was betrothed to emperor Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. In order to prepare her to be empress, she was sent to the court of the Holy Roman Empire to complete her education. Her special training to be empress lasted for five years. Later, she was Queen of England as a monarch, fought a drawn out civil war, and finally negotiated with King Steven, her rival, that he would name her son as heir. The son was Henry II of England.

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a highly educated woman who read, wrote, and spoke several languages, including two dialects of French and Latin. She is remembered as a queen of Louis VII of France and Henry II of England. She was a military leader on a crusade, but did not do well at it. She had a pronounced influence on European music and literature. She was the mother of King Richard I and King John.

Yet another example is Queen Margaret I of Denmark, who ruled that country along with Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The law in Denmark did not provide for a queen to be a ruler, but the nobility of the country trusted her and recognized her abilities, so they supported her reign.

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There were different kinds of queens, and they had different duties.

Most queens were the wives of kings. One of the problems with being a king was that you had to have people you could trust to look out for your interests if you were away from the kingdom or indisposed, and who could look out for the interests of your children if you died. In most cases, the best person to do this was the queen. So the queen, aside from being the mother of the royal children, had to be ready and able to take over command of the kingdom. This meant that a good queen had to be prepared to be a diplomat, a law maker, a judge, and even a military commander. Being ready included many things, from having a good education to keeping up to date. For example, it meant memorizing long lists of names of members of the nobility, together with information of their pasts and their interests, their estates, and even in many cases their family histories.

There are many examples of queens who were regents while their husbands were on crusade. Others were regents for young sons. A few were regents while their husbands were too sick to rule or insane.

An example of a queen who ruled during her husband's incapacity was Isabeau of Bavaria, who was regent during a period when her husband, Charles VI of France, was insane.

Another kind of queen was the queen regnant. She ruled. We have lists of queens if this type who were in the middle ages. There were some countries where there were no queens regnant because it was against the law, including France and the Holy Roman Empire, but most medieval monarchies allowed queens to rule. On the other hand, there were many queens regent in the Spanish monarchies, and there were a number of Empresses regent in the Byzantine Empire.

We even have at least one example of an important queen, Margaret I of Denmark, who ruled Denmark despite the fact that the country had a law against ruling queens; she was very successful, ruled for decades, and united Denmark with Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. She was able to do this because when her son was king, he was too young to rule on his own, so she was regent. When the young king died, the nobility was so impressed with her ability that they asked her to continue despite the law. The "rightful" heir attacked with an army to remove her and gain power, but she crushed it, and the whole thing was a done deal.

Another queen with a similar history was Ethelfleda of Mercia, one of the Anglo saxon kingdoms. Her husband, for some unrecorded reason, was unable to rule, so she ruled for him. When he died, she continued to rule. She was highly regarded as a military leader, and repeatedly met and defeated invading Viking armies.

There were also queen mothers, the mothers of kings, and queens dowager, the wives of kings who had died. There were many times when such women were influential. One who comes to mind was Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had been the wife of Henry II of England, and mother of Richard I and John. She continued to be influential until she died, including ruling as regent for her son while he was away on the crusades.

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13y ago

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