Focusing on queens consort, rather than regents or proprietary queens, this collection of essays posits that culture is a fundamental “agent of politics in a court context” (1) and that queens and empresses played a critical role in the cultural transfer that shaped the cultural and political history of early modern Europe. The essays place the cultural activities of these consorts in dynastic, political, and court contexts, establishing a myriad of connections that reveal how cultural transfers occurred and what that meant for individual polities, large and small, and the Continent as a whole. The volume includes nine case studies, all based on substantial archival research; an introduction by Adam Morton; and an afterword by Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly.

Dynasty is an important connecting thread in the volume, bringing to light the roles of queens, but also duchesses, electresses, and junior members of royal houses. The first case study, by Almut Bues, for example, discusses the Jagiellonian princesses Katarzina, who became queen of Sweden, and Zophia, later Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, daughters of the Milanese-born queen of Poland, Bonna Sforza. Particularly interesting is the discussion of dowries in the dissemination of Italian Renaissance culture and its role in the “Europeanization of culture” (28). Watanabe-O’Kelly’s essay on Maria Amalia of Saxony, queen of Naples and Sicily, and later, queen of Spain, deftly melds an analysis of the “script” imposed upon consorts by their adopted monarchy with a compelling personal story. Christina Strunck’s thought-provoking comparative essay on Maria Theresa of Austria and Catherine the Great examines the “awkward hierarchies” (64) of two empresses who, while technically consorts, were de facto rulers. Sweden is well represented in the collection with excellent chapters on Queen Hedwig Eleonora by Jill Bepler, and Luise Ulrike of Prussia, queen of Sweden, by coauthors Elise Dermineur and Svante Norrhem.

Clarissa Campbell Orr’s essay on Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen of Great Britain and Ireland, analyzes the queen’s cultural transfer in dynastic and global contexts. Although from a minor ducal German house, she managed to exert significant cultural influence. Two essays on Stuart Catholic consorts, by Anna-Marie Linnell and Adam Morton, respectively, perceptively compare French-born Henrietta Maria with Portuguese-born Catherine of Braganza; their reception and presence reveal the tensions provoked both by their Catholicism and dynastic capital. Morton’s insightful discussion of Queen Catherine will be of particular interest to scholars of international politics. Thomas Biskup offers a learned and fascinating analysis of Brandenburg’s integration with the various houses of Braunschweig. The secret to their success, he persuasively argues, was to marry locally and down, rather than far and up, a strategy that allowed Brandenburg-Prussia to gradually subordinate these smaller houses and dominate North Germany.

While individual chapters deal with noteworthy case studies, the editors do not fully succeed in bringing them together and integrating them into the existing scholarship. The emphasis on dynasty, politics, and court culture follows a generation of robust scholarship by historians, starting with Magdalena S. Sánchez and following with Annemarie Jordan-Gschwend, Clarissa Campbell-Orr (a contributor in this volume), Fanny Cosandey, Theresa Earenfight, Joseph Patrouch, and Katrin Keller, among others; a more in-depth engagement with their work could have strengthened the overall focus of the collection. The incorporation of the minor German houses and other monarchies—Poland, Hungary, Prussia, Russia, Denmark, and Sweden—alongside England, the Holy Roman Empire, and Spain, is a welcome approach. Yet, here, too, the editors lose sight of the geopolitical changes of the Continent during the three centuries that the volume purports to cover. The union of the Trastámara, Burgundian, and Habsburg dynasties in the early sixteenth century actually set the stage for the two main processes under analysis: cultural transfer and early modern European politics. Dismissing the Spanish Habsburgs because the dynasty became extinct in 1700 (231) thus obscures the impact of the senior branch during the previous two centuries. Similarly, although several chapters discuss French culture, the cultural influence of the foreign-born queens of France is largely ignored in spite of their relevance. Nonetheless, despite some historiographical blind spots, this collection contributes broadly to our knowledge of consorts and their role in the dissemination of culture and international politics. One can only hope that these essays will soon turn into full-length monographs.