ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the relationship between the king and the queen reflected on the king’s authority in the late medieval era. It argues that the royal marriage symbolized the state of the kingdom, and that marital issues, not least those of a sexual character, were used to express concern with how the kingdom was ruled. The chapter focuses on a number of late medieval royal couples that in one way or another were described as experiencing marital difficulties. It explains why some medieval writers found it problematic that the king did not have sexual intercourse with his wife. The chapter argues that allegations of impotence or same-sex desire highlighted that the king lacked the masculine authority needed to rule. In the ‘sea of histories’, to use Richard Kagan’s expression, critics made use of shared discourses and narrative tropes that can be found all over medieval Europe.
