“A Strange Woman Slumbers”: The Reframing of the Medieval Queen Margrete’s Sarcophagus by the Danish Women’s Movement and the Artist Agnes Slott-Møller

In 1885 the Danish Women’s Society began publishing the journal Kvinden og Samfundet (Woman and society) and selected the medieval queen Margrete I (1353–1412) as the figure on the cover’s nameplate. The representation of the queen was modeled after the effigy on her sarcophagus. This article explores how this image of the queen was employed to further the agenda of the Danish women’s movement and how the artist Agnes Slott-Møller developed representations of the queen in dialogue with women from key institutions related to the movement. In doing so, it argues that the portrayals of the queen both supported a nationalist agenda and served a progressive cause.