Boy kings have often been viewed as paradoxical to medieval ideals of royal rulership. This is thanks, in part, to the longstanding myth that strong, adult kingship equalled good kingship. Modern media does little to help dispel such an impression. Bratty boys, overbearing mothers, murderous uncles, power struggles and political decline are central tropes of child kingship as it is depicted in numerous books, films and TV shows. George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones provides an especially notorious example in its figures of King Joffrey and his mother, Cersei Lannister.
Children’s physical frailty, intellectual incapacity and social naivety certainly contrast with the paradigm of adult men anointed by God to wield military might in battle and dispense justice to their subjects. But a child’s succession did not inevitably lead to instability, much as an adult ruler could not necessarily ensure peace and prosperity. This simplistic picture overlooks children’s political significance within medieval society.
