Is the world of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones really medieval? How accurately does it reflect the real Middle Ages? Historians have been addressing these questions since the book and television series exploded into a cultural phenomenon. For scholars of medieval and early modern women, they offer a unique vantage point from which to study the intersections of elite women and popular understandings of the premodern world. This volume is a wide-ranging study of those intersections. Focusing on female agency and the role of advice, it finds a wealth of continuities and contrasts between the many powerful female characters of Martin's fantasy world and the strategies that historical women used to exert influence. Reading characters such as Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, and Brienne of Tarth with a creative, deeply scholarly eye, Queenship and the Women of Westeros makes cutting-edge developments in queenship studies accessible to everyday readers and fans.

I. Queenship.- 1. A Game of Thrones in China: The Case of Cixi, Empress-Dowager of China (1835-1908).- 2. Queen of Sad Mischance: Medievalism, "Realism," and the Case of Cersei Lannister.- 3. Westerosi Queens: Medievalist Portrayal of Female Power and Authority in A Song of Ice and Fire.- II. Female Agency.- 4. "All I ever wanted was to fight for a lord I believed in. But the good lords are dead and the rest are monsters." Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, and the Chivalric "Other".- 5. The Peaceweavers of Winterfell.- 6. Cersei Lannister, Regal Commissions, and the Alchemists in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire.- 7. "All men must die, but we are not men": Eastern Faith and Feminine Power in A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones.- III. The Role of Advice.- 8. Daenerys the Unready: Advice and Ruling in Meereen.- 9. The Royal Minorities of Game of Thrones.- 10. Wicked Womenand the Iron Throne: The Two-Fold Tragedy of Witches as Advisors in Game of Thrones.- 11. Afterword: Playing, Winning and Losing the Game of Thrones: Reflections on Female Succession in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones in Comparison to the Premodern Era.