Historical
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Queens of the Crusades: England's Medieval Queens Book Two
Packed with incredible true stories and legendary medieval intrigue, this epic narrative history chronicles the first five queens from the powerful royal family that ruled England and France for over three hundred years.
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, seductive queens, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe-these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
This second volume of Alison Weir's critically acclaimed history of the queens of medieval England now moves into a period of even higher drama, from 1154 to 1291: years of chivalry and courtly love, dynastic ambition, conflict between church and throne, baronial wars, and the ruthless interplay between the rival monarchs of Britain and France. We see events such as the murder of Becket, the Magna Carta, and the birth of parliaments from a new perspective.
Weir's narrative begins with the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Henry II established a dynasty that ruled for over three hundred years and created the most powerful empire in western Christendom-but also sowed the seeds for some of the most destructive family conflicts in history and for the collapse, under her son King John, of England's power in Europe. The lives of Eleanor's four successors were just as remarkable: Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard the Lionheart; Isabella of Angoulême, queen of John; Alienor of Provence, queen of Henry III; and finally Eleanor of Castile, the grasping but beloved wife of Edward I.
Through the story of these first five Plantagenet queens, Alison Weir provides a fresh, enthralling narrative focusing on these fascinating female monarchs during this dramatic period of high romance and sometimes low politics, with determined women at its heart.
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, seductive queens, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe-these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
This second volume of Alison Weir's critically acclaimed history of the queens of medieval England now moves into a period of even higher drama, from 1154 to 1291: years of chivalry and courtly love, dynastic ambition, conflict between church and throne, baronial wars, and the ruthless interplay between the rival monarchs of Britain and France. We see events such as the murder of Becket, the Magna Carta, and the birth of parliaments from a new perspective.
Weir's narrative begins with the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Henry II established a dynasty that ruled for over three hundred years and created the most powerful empire in western Christendom-but also sowed the seeds for some of the most destructive family conflicts in history and for the collapse, under her son King John, of England's power in Europe. The lives of Eleanor's four successors were just as remarkable: Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard the Lionheart; Isabella of Angoulême, queen of John; Alienor of Provence, queen of Henry III; and finally Eleanor of Castile, the grasping but beloved wife of Edward I.
Through the story of these first five Plantagenet queens, Alison Weir provides a fresh, enthralling narrative focusing on these fascinating female monarchs during this dramatic period of high romance and sometimes low politics, with determined women at its heart.
Editorial Reviews
"Aimed at the general reader, this rich and robust account will appeal to readers interested in medieval England and some of its most fascinating royal women, whose stories are often left out of the history books."-Booklist
"In its abundant detail about real lives lived amid the broad political strokes of medieval kings, Queens of the Crusades captures a rich sensory impression of how five brilliant yet fallible women managed their subject societies in a precarious and dangerously changeable world."-Bookreporter
"[Weir] writes clearly and entertainingly of the rich history of the Plantagenet queens of England."-New York Journal of Books
"Weir skillfully documents the political, religious, and cultural issues of medieval England and France."-Publishers Weekly
"As in previous books, the exceedingly knowledgeable author's prodigious research is impressive . . . Another treat for Weir fans."-Kirkus Reviews
"Fans of Weir's histories will enjoy this newest installment."-Library Journal
"In its abundant detail about real lives lived amid the broad political strokes of medieval kings, Queens of the Crusades captures a rich sensory impression of how five brilliant yet fallible women managed their subject societies in a precarious and dangerously changeable world."-Bookreporter
"[Weir] writes clearly and entertainingly of the rich history of the Plantagenet queens of England."-New York Journal of Books
"Weir skillfully documents the political, religious, and cultural issues of medieval England and France."-Publishers Weekly
"As in previous books, the exceedingly knowledgeable author's prodigious research is impressive . . . Another treat for Weir fans."-Kirkus Reviews
"Fans of Weir's histories will enjoy this newest installment."-Library Journal
Readers Top Reviews
E. MyersKevin J. Obr
This has been such a fabulous read. Alison Weir has an amazing talent for writing non fictions that are the furthest thing from dry. This installment in the series is immersive and you feel as though you’re taking a backseat ride through these 5 queens lives.
John C. Foster
exceptionally written with tons of research behind the narrative. Alison Weir is the best!!!
Book Lover
This was another well researched and engaging novel about the British monarchy. Some of the passages were from prior books the author had written on the individual queens, but this did not detract from the overall book. Well worth your time.
This is a most interesting book and well written concerning the lives of English queens during the time of the Crusades. These people spent much time traveling back and forth between England and France during a time when travel was not easy and female people were considered more or less second class citizens. However, these queens knew how to use their influence in the events of the time. Well written history.
R. Patrick Baugh
The author keeps churning out English history-based books, both fiction and non, which is a good thing. Full of interesting facts and stories, it’s a great continuation to her current series.
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
"An Exceedingly Shrewd and Clever Woman"
On Sunday, December 19, 1154, Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, was crowned in Westminster Abbey, along with his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, amid great splendor and rejoicing. Monarchs had about them an aura of spiritual sovereignty, conferred on them at their anointing with holy oil. The coronation of a queen sanctified her and set her apart from lesser women. It enhanced the dignity of her husband the King-especially so in this case because, through his marriage to Eleanor, Henry II had become master of a great continental domain.
The royal dynasty established on that day was to rule England for 331 years.
There are many perceptions of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Debate rages over the extent of her political activity and her influence on culture. As a stateswoman, her influence was felt for over six decades-she was both notorious and respected. It is possible to regard her as a romantic heroine in the widest sense, even though the wilder myths about her have now been dispelled. She inspires the imagination today, just as she did in her own time. But the sources form an incomplete record, so there will always be room to ask the question: who was the real Eleanor?
She was undoubtedly a forceful character. She was heiress to one of the richest domains in medieval Europe. In the twelfth century, Europe was divided into feudal domains, and what is now France then comprised the kingdom of France itself and several vassal domains, or demesnes. The county of Poitou and the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony covered a vast region in the south-west, about one third of modern France. By comparison, the kingdom of France was small, centered mainly upon Paris and the surrounding area. As descendants of the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne, whose empire had encompassed much of western Europe, French kings were overlords of all the fiefdoms, including Aquitaine, in the region roughly corresponding to modern France. This often led to power struggles between the kings and their vassals.
Aquitaine-named "land of waters" after its great rivers-had been established as a duchy by the middle of the tenth century, and it was now very prosperous. In 1058, the southern wine-producing duchy of Gascony, with its bustling port of Bordeaux, had been absorbed into Aquitaine. Poitou lay to the north, where its northern border marched with those of Brittany, Anjou and Touraine, and its chief city was Poitiers. Eleanor's was a rich inheritance.
"Opulent Aquitaine [was] sweet as nectar thanks to its vineyards dotted about with forests, overflowing with fruit of every kind, and endowed with a superabundance of pasture." Aquitanians spoke the langue d'oc (Provençal), or Occitan, a Romance language derived from the dialect spoken by Roman invaders centuries before. North of the Loire, and in Poitou, they spoke Poitevin, or the langue d'oeil.
The Aquitanian lordships and castles were controlled by hostile, feuding vassals who resented interference from their ducal overlords and were notorious for their propensity to rebel and create disorder. They enjoyed a luxurious standard of living compared with their unwashed counterparts in northern France, and were regarded by northerners as soft and idle, yet they could be fierce and violent when provoked. Successive dukes had consistently failed to subdue their vassals or establish cohesion within their own domains, and their authority still did not reach far beyond the vicinities of Poitiers and Bordeaux. They did not have the wealth or resources to extend their power into the feudal wilderness and forests beyond these areas.
Nevertheless, the duchy was wealthy, thanks to its lucrative trade in wine and salt, and its religious life flourished. Successive dukes built and endowed many fine churches and monasteries, notably the Romanesque cathedrals in Poitiers and Angoulême. The twelfth century witnessed a great monastic revival, with the founding of several new orders: the Cistercians; the Augustinian canons, whose double houses admitted both men and women; the Carthusians, who lived under an austere rule requiring them to embrace a life of solitude and silence; and the Order of Fontevraud, especially dear to Eleanor of Aquitaine and her family. The nuns' necrology records that Eleanor "was from her earliest life a patron of the church of Fontevraud."
Eleanor "sprang from a noble race" of dukes who had been blessed with pious, feisty wives. Her grandfather, William IX, married Philippa, heiress to Toulouse, which bordered Gascony in the south. It was an important fiefdom, for through it wound the major trade routes that linked Aquitaine with the Mediterranean. But Philippa's uncle, Raymond, Count of Saint-Gilles,...
"An Exceedingly Shrewd and Clever Woman"
On Sunday, December 19, 1154, Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, was crowned in Westminster Abbey, along with his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, amid great splendor and rejoicing. Monarchs had about them an aura of spiritual sovereignty, conferred on them at their anointing with holy oil. The coronation of a queen sanctified her and set her apart from lesser women. It enhanced the dignity of her husband the King-especially so in this case because, through his marriage to Eleanor, Henry II had become master of a great continental domain.
The royal dynasty established on that day was to rule England for 331 years.
There are many perceptions of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Debate rages over the extent of her political activity and her influence on culture. As a stateswoman, her influence was felt for over six decades-she was both notorious and respected. It is possible to regard her as a romantic heroine in the widest sense, even though the wilder myths about her have now been dispelled. She inspires the imagination today, just as she did in her own time. But the sources form an incomplete record, so there will always be room to ask the question: who was the real Eleanor?
She was undoubtedly a forceful character. She was heiress to one of the richest domains in medieval Europe. In the twelfth century, Europe was divided into feudal domains, and what is now France then comprised the kingdom of France itself and several vassal domains, or demesnes. The county of Poitou and the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony covered a vast region in the south-west, about one third of modern France. By comparison, the kingdom of France was small, centered mainly upon Paris and the surrounding area. As descendants of the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne, whose empire had encompassed much of western Europe, French kings were overlords of all the fiefdoms, including Aquitaine, in the region roughly corresponding to modern France. This often led to power struggles between the kings and their vassals.
Aquitaine-named "land of waters" after its great rivers-had been established as a duchy by the middle of the tenth century, and it was now very prosperous. In 1058, the southern wine-producing duchy of Gascony, with its bustling port of Bordeaux, had been absorbed into Aquitaine. Poitou lay to the north, where its northern border marched with those of Brittany, Anjou and Touraine, and its chief city was Poitiers. Eleanor's was a rich inheritance.
"Opulent Aquitaine [was] sweet as nectar thanks to its vineyards dotted about with forests, overflowing with fruit of every kind, and endowed with a superabundance of pasture." Aquitanians spoke the langue d'oc (Provençal), or Occitan, a Romance language derived from the dialect spoken by Roman invaders centuries before. North of the Loire, and in Poitou, they spoke Poitevin, or the langue d'oeil.
The Aquitanian lordships and castles were controlled by hostile, feuding vassals who resented interference from their ducal overlords and were notorious for their propensity to rebel and create disorder. They enjoyed a luxurious standard of living compared with their unwashed counterparts in northern France, and were regarded by northerners as soft and idle, yet they could be fierce and violent when provoked. Successive dukes had consistently failed to subdue their vassals or establish cohesion within their own domains, and their authority still did not reach far beyond the vicinities of Poitiers and Bordeaux. They did not have the wealth or resources to extend their power into the feudal wilderness and forests beyond these areas.
Nevertheless, the duchy was wealthy, thanks to its lucrative trade in wine and salt, and its religious life flourished. Successive dukes built and endowed many fine churches and monasteries, notably the Romanesque cathedrals in Poitiers and Angoulême. The twelfth century witnessed a great monastic revival, with the founding of several new orders: the Cistercians; the Augustinian canons, whose double houses admitted both men and women; the Carthusians, who lived under an austere rule requiring them to embrace a life of solitude and silence; and the Order of Fontevraud, especially dear to Eleanor of Aquitaine and her family. The nuns' necrology records that Eleanor "was from her earliest life a patron of the church of Fontevraud."
Eleanor "sprang from a noble race" of dukes who had been blessed with pious, feisty wives. Her grandfather, William IX, married Philippa, heiress to Toulouse, which bordered Gascony in the south. It was an important fiefdom, for through it wound the major trade routes that linked Aquitaine with the Mediterranean. But Philippa's uncle, Raymond, Count of Saint-Gilles,...
