In this comprehensive study, Fabian Persson examines the lives of royal, aristocratic, and non-aristocratic women at the royal court of two ruling dynasties in early modern Sweden: the House of Vasa (1523–1654) and the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (1654–1720). Using a wide range of archival and architectural evidence, Persson investigates three facets of women's experiences at the early modern court: the opportunities available to women who lived and served at court, the complexities of women's agency in court society, and the precariousness of female power. Unlike earlier studies on gender and power, Persson takes a broader approach by considering the “institutional context” in which women performed specific roles and formed relationships at court (36). This methodology enables him to challenge two common assumptions about gender and power in the early modern period. First, he questions the notion that women at court worked primarily for their families’ benefit and argues that “a number of women had their own agendas rather than their families’” (37). Second, he disputes a rigid “dichotomy between formal and informal [power]” since women and men exercised indirect and informal power through family and personal relationships (39). As a whole, Persson's book offers a new perspective in its methodology, geographical scope, and attention to women's diverse experiences at the early modern court.

The book is organized into three parts. In part 1 Persson investigates how royal subjects could participate in court life without serving in the royal household itself. Poor petitioners and beggars, for instance, took part in rituals of royal compassion, which became more institutionalized and associated with queenship by the early seventeenth century. Aristocratic families also adeptly gained access to the Swedish royal family through their use of what sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has called cultural capital. The Königsmarck family (particularly Aurora von Königsmarck) was a prime example of aristocrats who achieved unparalleled influence at court in the 1660s and 1670s due to their social savvy and royal connections. In part 2 Persson explores the lives of women who served at court and the benefits of royal service, which included greater personal freedom, an income and perquisites, and opportunities to meet potential spouses on the marriage market. More importantly, he describes how women employed informal power and negotiated the court hierarchy to advance themselves. The careers of three leading Chamberers—Emerentia von Düben, Juliana Schierberg, and Anna Catharina Bärfelt—demonstrate how women could wield considerable power at court and represent the rise of the non-aristocratic elite in Swedish society. Royal mistresses, too, could be very influential at court, though their power was significantly more precarious.

In part 3 Persson examines the royal family itself, especially the queen consort's role at court. Foreign-born queens faced challenges as they assimilated to Swedish culture and court life, often with mixed success. When their husbands died, they continued to perform as devoted royal widows and tried to control the preservation of their husbands’ memories. Their efforts received mixed responses from the Swedish elite, however, as shown in the cases of Maria Eleonora, wife of Gustaf II Adolf (r. 1611–32), and Hedvig Eleanora, wife of Charles X Gustaf (r. 1654–60). Whereas Maria Eleanora engaged in a long, acrimonious struggle with the royal council over her husband's burial and daughter's regency, Hedvig Eleanora successfully memorialized Charles X Gustaf and safeguarded the image of her son, Charles XI. In addition, Persson analyzes how ideas about gender influenced the construction of royal apartments. In the sixteenth century, royal apartments followed the “mirrored system” in which the monarchs’ bedrooms were separate but connected (254–55). By the 1680s, however, a new model emerged that instituted separate royal apartments on different floors, an architectural change that reflected a growing preference for traditional gender roles in Swedish society.

Women at the Early Modern Swedish Court makes an important contribution to studies on gender and power in early modern Europe. It provides an innovative and thoroughly researched investigation into women's various roles, experiences, and strategies for exercising power and influence at the early modern court. Most of all, it broadens the geographical scope of anglophone scholarship by offering a fascinating look into women and court life in early modern Sweden and other kingdoms in Northern and Eastern Europe.