In folklore and literature, theFairy Queen orQueen of the Fairies is a female ruler of thefairies, sometimes but not always paired with a king. Depending on the work, she may be named or unnamed;Titania andMab are two frequently used names. Numerous characters, goddesses or folkloric spirits worldwide have been labeled as Fairy Queens.
TheTuatha Dé Danann andDaoine Sidhe ofIrish mythology had numerous local kings and queens. Oonagh, Una or Nuala was the wife ofFinvarra or Fionnbharr, fairy king of western Ireland, although he frequently took other lovers. She was usually described living with Finvarra in his hill Cnoc Meadha, but was sometimes said to have a separate residence in Cnoc Sidh Una (Knockshegouna).[1] In one story following the model of the Fairies' Midwife (Aarne-Thompson type 476), "Fionnbharr's wife" (unnamed) is thoughtlessly cursed by a human girl who must then serve as her midwife. Fionnbharr's wife attempts revenge by giving the girl a belt that will cut her in two when she puts it on, but a fairy servant warns the girl in time.[2] Other Irish fairy queens includedClíodhna of Munster,Aibhell andAiné.[3]
The Arthurian character ofMorgan le Fey (or Morgan of the Fairies) ruled the supernatural island ofAvalon and was sometimes depicted as a fairy queen.[4] In theVita Merlini, she is Morgen, the chief ofnine magical sister queens.
Fairy queens appear in some of theChild Ballads. A kind and helpful fairy queen features inAlison Gross (Child 35), and a terrible and deadly fairy queen is the antagonist ofTam Lin (Child 39). Tam Lin's Fairy Queen pays atithe to Hell every seven years, and Tam Lin fears that he will be forced to serve as a human sacrifice:
An unnamed fairy queen appears inThomas the Rhymer (Child 37), where she takes the titular character as her lover and leaves him with prophetic abilities. Although the romances and ballads associated with Thomas the Rhymer have parallels to Tam Lin, including the tithe to Hell, this fairy queen is a more benevolent figure.
In Thomas Cheyne's rebellion in January 1450, "the King of Fairies" (Regem de ffeyre) and "The Queen of Fairies" (Reginam de ffeyre) were among the aliases used by the (male) leaders.[5][6]
Goodwin Wharton, a 17th-century English politician and mystic, believed that he had married a fairy queen named Penelope La Gard.[7]
There were numerous local beliefs of fairy queens, some of whom had proper names. A charm from theIsle of Man names the fairy rulers as King Philip and Queen Bahee.[8] One Welsh folk informant stated that the queen of theTylwyth Teg was Gwenhidw, wife ofGwydion ab Don, and small, fleecy clouds were her sheep.[9]
Some of these local beliefs influenced literature. "Old Moss the fairy queen" appears in Shantooe Jest, a 19th-century poem by Thomas Shaw inspired byYorkshire andLancashire folklore. She flees the sound of the church bells to live with a giant named Todmore and they eventually settle in the location of Todmorden.[10] Janet or Gennet, a legendary spirit associated with a waterfall calledJanet's Foss in the Yorkshire Dales, was romanticized as a fairy queen by non-local writers and poets.[11]Joan the Wad was a Cornish queen of thepiskeys, made famous in a marketing campaign in the early 1900s.[12] According toJohn Leyden in 1801, the Scottish fairy queen was calledNicneven, the Gyre-Carling, orHecate.[13] Later scholarship has disputed this; Nicneven's earliest known appearance was inAlexander Montgomerie'sFlyting (c. 1580) as a witch and worshiper of Hecate, and a separate character from the Elf Queen.[14]
Equivalents appear across the world. In modern Greek folklore,Lamia is queen of theNereids andArtemis is queen of the mountains and land-nymphs.[15] ARomani legend describes Ana, queen of the Keshali nymphs, who was abducted by a demon.[16]
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In "The Merchant's Tale", byGeoffrey Chaucer,Pluto andProserpine are described as the king and queen of the fairies. This depiction is thought to have influencedWilliam Shakespeare's fairy rulers inA Midsummer Night's Dream.[17]
A fairy queen Gloriana, daughter of KingOberon, is the titular character of the allegorical epic poemThe Faerie Queene byEdmund Spenser. She is also called Tanaquill, derived from the name of the wife ofTarquinius Priscus. She is a virtuous ruler written as an allegorical depiction ofQueen Elizabeth.
William Shakespeare referred multiple times to the figure of a fairy queen.The Merry Wives of Windsor makes reference to the concept. InA Midsummer Night's Dream,Titania is the queen of the fairies and wife of King Oberon. Her name is derived fromOvid as an epithet of the Roman goddessDiana. InRomeo and Juliet, the character ofQueen Mab does not appear but is described; she is the fairies' midwife, who rides in a tiny chariot and brings dreams to humans.
Post-Shakespeare, authors such asBen Jonson andMichael Drayton also named the fairy queen as Mab. Drayton named Mab, not Titania, as Oberon's wife.[18] Aside from Titania and Mab, Oberon was sometimes depicted with wives of other names: Aureola in a 1591 entertainment given for Queen Elizabeth at Elvetham inHampshire,[19] and Chloris inWilliam Percy'sThe Faery Pastorall around 1600.[20]
Fairies and their society often played a major role in the Frenchcontes de fées. The fairies are ruled by a queen inGabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve'sBeauty and the Beast, and in several ofMadame D'Aulnoy's tales, such asThe Princess Mayblossom. InCharlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force'sFairer-than-a-Fairy, the villain is a wicked fairy queen named Nabote who replaced the previous, good queen. D'Aulnoy, who popularized the genre and the term "fairy tale", was nicknamed "la reine de la féerie".[21]
InThe Little White Bird, the predecessor toPeter Pan, authorJ. M. Barrie identifiesQueen Mab as the name of the benign and helpful fairy queen. In Disney'sseries of films based on Tinker Bell, branching out from their adaptation ofPeter Pan, the fairy ruler is Queen Clarion.
InL. Frank Baum's Oz books,Queen Lurline is an otherworldly fairy queen who played a role in the creation of theLand of Oz.[22] An unnamed Queen of the Fairies also features in Baum's bookThe Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, and is named Lulea in Baum'sQueen Zixi of Ix.
In Brandon Mull'sFablehaven series, the Fairy Queen is an essential part of the plot. Although she rules over the fairies, she is actually a unicorn capable of taking humanoid form.
The characterErza Scarlet fromHiro Mashima'sFairy Tail earned the alias "Titania" due to her power.[citation needed]
InFoxglove Summer, part of theRivers of London series, the protagonist Peter Grant is captured by the Fairy Queen and taken off to her Kingdom (analternative reality orOtherworld where Britain is still covered with a massive unbrokenprimeval forest, with no sign of the familiar towns and villages).
InJulie Kagawa'sIron Fey series, Titania and Mab are rival queens of the Summer and Winter Courts. Oberon's half-human daughter, Meghan Chase, eventually becomes queen of the Iron Court.
Diana Wynne Jones'sFire and Hemlock is a modern reimagining of the ballads of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer, in which the Fairy Queen is known as Mrs Laurel Perry Lynn.
The goddessDiana was regularly portrayed as the ruler of the fairy kingdom in demonological literature, such as KingJames VI of Scotland'sDaemonologie, which says that she belongs to "the fourth kind of spirits, which by theGentiles [non-Jews] was called Diana and her wandering court, and amongst us is called Fairy (as I told you) or our good neighbours".[23]
Medieval Christian authorities condemned cult beliefs of nocturnal, female spirit leaders who might accept offerings or take practitioners on a nighttime journey. The Siciliandoñas de fuera of Italy were one example. In Scotland in the 1530s, William Hay described Scottish witches meeting with "seely wights" or "Diana queen of the fairies". Julian Goodare clarifies that "[t]here is no reason to believe that there was a Scottish cult of Diana"; rather, the name was contemporary authorities' way of classifying such beliefs.[24] Names used for this figure includedHerodias, Abundia, Bensozia, Richella, Satia, and numerous others[25] like Doamna Zînelor inRomania (translated byMircea Eliade as "Queen of the Fairies")[26] or Wanne Thekla in the Netherlands.[27]
A queen of the fairies or spirits, referred to as the "Quene of Elfame" and other spelling variants, was mentioned in several Scottish witch trials. In the 16th century,Andro Man claimed to have had children by the "Quene of Elphen". ScholarRobert Pitcairn reconstructed the word as "Elphame" or "Elf-hame".[28]
The concept of a Dianic queen of spirits influenced the neopagan cultures that developed fromCharles Godfrey Leland's concept ofAradia "Queen of the Witches".[29] TheFaerie faith developed from the same source as theMcFarland Dianic tradition.
