I think that in the early middle ages, military ability was seen as
incompatible with sainthood. Kings seem to divide the royal virtues with
their queens and the latter become saints, taking on the qualities of
mercy and charity which might be seen as a sign of weakness in a king.
This changes, for reasons that still elude me, in the eleventh century.
Jo Ann McNamara
jmcnamar.shiva.hunter.cuny.edu
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