Gossips, Misunderstandings and Conflicts Among the Ladies-in-waiting of King Sigismund Augustus’ Wives

Abstract

Ladies-in-waiting environment which constituted the queen’s closest circle, is usually a group of a dozen or so women – matrons, ladies-in-waiting, servants and female servants. Source records relating to the everyday, less official life of this group occurring in women’s chambers are extremely sparse not only for the Middle Ages, but also for the 16th century. By its nature, information about it remained on the walls of women’s rooms – the women involved, including queens, did not usually leave written testimonies of everyday life of ladies-in-waiting environment. The issue of internal relations the ladies-in-waiting of King Sigismund Augustus’ wives is illuminated primarily because in the case of these women, we have invaluable sources, namely epistolary sources. The ladies-in-waitingwas the environment that was particularly associated with spreading rumors, and the conflicts there were primarily characterological and competence-based. An important source were also the unmet matrimonial expectations of queen’s ladies. Women’s misunderstandings and gossip – unlike those spread by men – were usually considered a natural and inevit-able element of courtly life, which should be disregarded and passed over in silence rather than given excessive importance.