Why the mother
The choice was a matter of necessity. Any noble relative who gained power while the king was underage had a reason not to give it back. His mother had no such reason: her position depended entirely on her son living to adulthood and taking the throne.
That made her the most reliable option for preserving the dynasty. Not because of any special virtues, but because of how the interests lined up: only she benefited from handing power over at the right time.
- DefenseFemale regents led wars and sieges, signed alliances, and raised taxes for the army just as kings did.
- LawsDecrees were issued in the name of the underage ruler, but drafted and approved by the regency council.
- MarriagesMarriage negotiations for the heir were the main tool of foreign policy, and the regent conducted them herself.
Notice the second point. The formula "in the king's name" preserved the appearance of the usual order. Legally, nothing changed, so the regency required neither new laws nor recognition of anyone's rights.
The regency rested not on a woman's right to rule, but on the dynasty's interests. Power was granted not as recognition, but as the least dangerous option.
The challenges
The first challenge was constant opposition. The nobility regularly tried to remove the female regent, citing women's inability to govern. Much of her energy went not into governing, but into holding on to her position.
The second was handing over power. The moment her son came of age was often contentious: the grown king wanted to rule for himself, while his mother had built her own system of government, and giving it up was difficult for both sides.
The third was how later generations judged them. Chronicles were written by people for whom a woman's power was an aberration, so the regency's successes were credited to advisers, while its failures were blamed personally on the regent. Historians still make this adjustment today.
A similar pattern appeared far beyond Europe: dowager empresses, queen mothers, and senior women of the family governed for underage heirs in many different cultures, for the same reasons.
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Sources
- A regency for an underage heir, most often carried out by the mother, was a widespread institution in European and non-European monarchies
- its stability is linked to the alignment of the regent's interests with those of the dynasty