This study explores representations of the Madonna and Child in early modern culture. It considers the mother and son as a conceptual, religio-political unit and examines the ways in which that unit was embodied and performed. Of primary interest is the way mothers derived agency from bearing incipient rulers.

Sid Ray is a professor of English and Women s and Gender Studies at Pace University.

Madonna, Child and Early Modern Accolated Bodies 'Above God himselfe': The Rogue Madonna and Her Daughter Queens 'A joyful mother of two goodly sons': The Madonna of Ephesus and Her Disruptive Twins 'So troubled with the mother': The Politics of Pregnancy in The Duchess of Malfi 'Partner[s] of Greatness': The Madonnas of Macbeth 'A shall not tread on me': Motherless Boys from Titus Andronicus to The Winter's Tale