This course examines Renaissance queens and queenship by exploring historical and fictional queens and empresses. Topics may include the varied roles queens played within their societies, their relationship with religious and political institutions, the ways in which they negotiated sovereignty vis-a-vis the gender they embodied, and all the ways in which queens were celebrated, criticized, and imagined by artists, writers, and communities of their time and today. Discussion will delve into broad questions around identity and politics and feature a broad range of case studies from Europe to colonial America and beyond. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.