Stories about royal women form some of our most foundational myths about femininity, and yet their legacies have been almost entirely constructed by the words and images created by men. This book leads us deep into a world of queens, empresses, princesses, mistresses and courtiers, uncovering how their ambitions were shaped, celebrated and often thwarted, […]
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. This book explores the lives of these young women, how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It looks at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by […]
Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown by JF Andrews
When William the Conqueror died in 1087 he left the throne of England to William Rufus… his second son. The result was an immediate war as Rufus’s elder brother Robert fought to gain the crown he saw as rightfully his; this conflict marked the start of 400 years of bloody disputes as the English monarchy’s […]
Joanna Plantagenet, the lionhearted woman
Joanna Plantagenet, Queen of Sicily, later Countess of Toulouse, was every bit as lionhearted as her more famous brother Richard I. As her biographer, Catherine Hanley, says, she “led an extraordinary life full of adventure and danger”, the more so because she was a woman. Joanna’s eventful life also illustrates many of the major issues […]
Five surprising facts about Henry Benedict Stuart
To mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Henry Benedict Stuart, also known as Cardinal York, on 6 March, 1725, our guest authors Calum E Cunningham and Stefano Baccolo offer five surprising facts about this influential man, now largely unknown outside Italy. You’ll have heard of his elder brother, though: Charles Edward Stuart, better […]
Scotland’s Medieval Queens by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. And Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints […]
Inspired by Scotland’s medieval queens
Sharon Bennett Connolly was initially inspired to write a book about Scotland’s medieval queens by a request to set the record straight. But the inspiration also came from the women themselves: peacemakers, diplomats, mothers, widows, prisoners, the many Margarets — saint, glamorous but unhappy wife, queen in her own right who died before taking the […]
The royal women of 10th-century England
Apart from two well-known women, Æthelflæd and Elfrida (Ælfthryth), there’s a lack of information in books about the royal women of 10th-century England, says MJ Porter. So MJ decided to write a book about them. Here are some of the women it covers, including the impressive Eadgifu. In recent years, I’ve set about fictionalising the […]