#OTD in 1066 King Edward the Confessor died childless, creating a succession dispute that led to the Norman Conquest. This scene on the Bayeux Tapestry shows Queen Edith weeping at his deathbed, one of FIVE surviving pre-Conquest portraits of queens. THREAD:
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The earliest contemporary image of an English queen is of 'Cynethryth Regina' d.798, queen of Offa of Mercia during the Mercian supremacy. She's depicted on coinage minted in her name, almost unheard of for a queen consort, and is named in a charter as queen 'by the grace of God'

The next pre-Conquest depiction of queen is that of Saint Æthelthryth (c.636-679), abbess of Ely, in the 10th C Benedictional of Æthelwold. Though a former queen of Northumbria, she is portrayed on account of her sainthood, key to which was the renunciation of her queenly status.

The other two depictions of queens are both of Emma of Normandy (d.1052). The earliest is her joint ruler-portrait on the Winchester New Minster Liber Vitae with her second husband Cnut, on account of his donation of a gold cross. The royal couple are given equal prominence.

The 2nd image of Emma of Normandy is her portrait on the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a political work commissioned by Emma herself. Note how she is big, central and enthroned, while her two sons, King Harthacnut and King Edward (whose death begins this thread), peer in from the side.

We simply don't know how many images of queens were created but don't survive. But the images we do have can certainly tell us about the ways in which the influence or significance of individual queens could be constructed through their image.