Fairy Tale Queens: Representations of Early Modern Queenship by Jo Eldridge Carney Page B
Authors: Jo Eldridge Carney
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pregnancy will end in wind rather than in anything else.” Michiel added that many in Mary’s court circle still insisted on perpetuating the myth of the pregnancy “for the sake of keeping the populace in hope.” 87
The story of Mary’s imaginary pregnancy has something of a fairy-tale ending, albeit not a conventional happily-ever-after affirmation. When Renard wrote to Charles on June 27, he noted that “The doctors and ladies were two months out of their reckoning, and there is now no appearance of the affair happening for another ten days.” But after worrying about the “calamitous” effects should Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth become heir to the throne, Renard concluded, “Some say that she is not with child at all, but that a suppositious child is going to be presented as hers, and that if a suitable one had been found this would already have been done.” 88
Renard’s startling reference to “a suppositious child” and the phrase “if a suitable child had been found” suggests the possibility of a substitution, like the changeling child that populated numerous folk and fairy tales. Indeed, there were numerous rumors circulating of such a plot. David Loades claims that “there was an elaborate substitution plot masterminded from Spain,” whereas Judith Richards suggests that perhaps the tales “originated from a woman in the queen’s kitchen.” 89
Rumors can emerge from multiple sites, but Foxe offers an even more detailed and local explanation: “One thing of mine own hearing and seeing, I cannot pass over unwitnessed: There came to me, whom I did both hear and see, one Isabel Malt...that she, being delivered of a man-child upon Whit Sunday in the morning, which was the 11th day of June, anno 1555, there came to her the lord North, and another lord to her unknown, dwelling then about Old Fish-street, demanding of her if she would part with her child, and would swear that she never knew nor had any such child: which if she would, her son (they said) should be well provided for, she should take no care of it...but she in no wise would let go her son.” 90 Although it is difficult to confirm or deny these rumors in total or in part, the stories once again demonstrate the convergence of the fantastic fairy-tale world and the historical record. Moreover, that such a dangerous idea of bribing Isabel Malt or any woman in exchange for her baby was even circulating suggests how desperately the queen, her immediate circle, her subjects, and her political allies wished for an heir to the throne. This sequential account of the official—and unofficial—narrative of Mary’s false pregnancy is intended to emphasize that this condition could signal more than the hysterical longings and self-delusion of one woman. Particularly for a queen upon whose reproductive body so much depended, the false pregnancy also encompassed the complex and often contradictory participation of those who surrounded her.
The false or phantom pregnancy, now diagnosed as pseudo-cyesis, is often considered a largely psychological phenomenon, but medical experts also recognize it as a condition with attendant physical attributes. 91 In the absence of the testing tools available today, the early modern woman would have found it more difficult to confirm a pregnancy. Cessation of menses, weight gain, and “quickening,” or sensation of fetal movement, were common indicators then as they are today. However, without our current means to verify these common symptoms, and given the intense pressure to bear children, the early modern woman’s phantom pregnancy should not so quickly be construed as a sign of psychological instability. Rather, the combined forces of public and private longing could lead women to misread certain physical symptoms as actual pregnancy and could even lead some people to entertain the possibility that another child could be “changed” into the succession.
In spite of the suffering and embarrassment that
The story of Mary’s imaginary pregnancy has something of a fairy-tale ending, albeit not a conventional happily-ever-after affirmation. When Renard wrote to Charles on June 27, he noted that “The doctors and ladies were two months out of their reckoning, and there is now no appearance of the affair happening for another ten days.” But after worrying about the “calamitous” effects should Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth become heir to the throne, Renard concluded, “Some say that she is not with child at all, but that a suppositious child is going to be presented as hers, and that if a suitable one had been found this would already have been done.” 88
Renard’s startling reference to “a suppositious child” and the phrase “if a suitable child had been found” suggests the possibility of a substitution, like the changeling child that populated numerous folk and fairy tales. Indeed, there were numerous rumors circulating of such a plot. David Loades claims that “there was an elaborate substitution plot masterminded from Spain,” whereas Judith Richards suggests that perhaps the tales “originated from a woman in the queen’s kitchen.” 89
Rumors can emerge from multiple sites, but Foxe offers an even more detailed and local explanation: “One thing of mine own hearing and seeing, I cannot pass over unwitnessed: There came to me, whom I did both hear and see, one Isabel Malt...that she, being delivered of a man-child upon Whit Sunday in the morning, which was the 11th day of June, anno 1555, there came to her the lord North, and another lord to her unknown, dwelling then about Old Fish-street, demanding of her if she would part with her child, and would swear that she never knew nor had any such child: which if she would, her son (they said) should be well provided for, she should take no care of it...but she in no wise would let go her son.” 90 Although it is difficult to confirm or deny these rumors in total or in part, the stories once again demonstrate the convergence of the fantastic fairy-tale world and the historical record. Moreover, that such a dangerous idea of bribing Isabel Malt or any woman in exchange for her baby was even circulating suggests how desperately the queen, her immediate circle, her subjects, and her political allies wished for an heir to the throne. This sequential account of the official—and unofficial—narrative of Mary’s false pregnancy is intended to emphasize that this condition could signal more than the hysterical longings and self-delusion of one woman. Particularly for a queen upon whose reproductive body so much depended, the false pregnancy also encompassed the complex and often contradictory participation of those who surrounded her.
The false or phantom pregnancy, now diagnosed as pseudo-cyesis, is often considered a largely psychological phenomenon, but medical experts also recognize it as a condition with attendant physical attributes. 91 In the absence of the testing tools available today, the early modern woman would have found it more difficult to confirm a pregnancy. Cessation of menses, weight gain, and “quickening,” or sensation of fetal movement, were common indicators then as they are today. However, without our current means to verify these common symptoms, and given the intense pressure to bear children, the early modern woman’s phantom pregnancy should not so quickly be construed as a sign of psychological instability. Rather, the combined forces of public and private longing could lead women to misread certain physical symptoms as actual pregnancy and could even lead some people to entertain the possibility that another child could be “changed” into the succession.
In spite of the suffering and embarrassment that
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