Anne of Kiev as queen mother and guardian for her son in eleventh-century France

What is it about?

Anne of Kiev was queen of France and mother to the child king, Philip I. Through a re-examination of contemporary evidence from Flemish annals, later chronicle evidence, and documentary sources produced at or around the royal court, this article clearly shows Anne's prominent role alongside her son in the early years of his reign.

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Why is it important?

The article addresses outdated judgements about Anne’s role which are still prevalent in modern historiography, namely that the queen played only a limited part in her son's minority and that she disappeared from power and abandoned her children in order to get remarried. By showing that too much weight has been given to later, unreliable chronicle sources, and instead re-visiting near-contemporary evidence for the 1050s and 1060s, the article demonstrates that Anne played a far more active role in Philip's minority than has been suggested before.