In this meticulously researched tome we learn not only of these five women, but also quite a bit about their royal spouses. and the importance of these unions. Only Isabella of France made her own story, and as such, most of the book is dedicated to her. Marguerite of France and Anne of Bohemia seemed to have had happy marriages and little to no scandal surrounding them. They were remembered fondly, but seemed to not have any lasting effect on the country their husbands ruled. Philippa of Hainault had some interesting tidbits to her, such as her spending and securing of matches, and Isabella of Valois was more of a tragic child than a Queen in her own right. Against this dramatic milieu, Alison Weir describes the lives and reigns of five queen consorts: Marguerite of France was seventeen when she became the second wife of sixty-year-old King Edward I. Isabella of France, laterknown as “the She-Wolf,” dethroned her husband, Edward II, and ruled England with her lover. In contrast, Philippa of Hainault was a popular queen to the deposed king’s son Edward III. Anne of Bohemia was queen to Richard II, but she died young and childless.Isabella of Valois became Richard’s second wife when she was only six years old, but was caught up in events when he was violently overthrown. Social distancing will be implemented in all parts of the arts centre, including The Pound Café Bar, which will now serve customers via table service during the day, as well as our well-ventilated auditorium, where all events will be operating with a reduced capacity

As in previous ages, a queen consort’s primary role was to produce strong male heirs, preferably more than one, when infant mortality was horrifically high, even among the most privileged. Few of Britain’s queens could match the prolific and perennially popular Philippa of Hainault, who gave her adoring Edward III no fewer than 12 healthy offspring. And few were more pitiable than the pious and persevering Anne of Bohemia, who could not conceive with the ill-fated Richard II and died barren, or Richard’s second wife, Isabella of Valois, who had not even reached puberty when he was dethroned and executed, leaving her a widow at age 10. Her books on the Tudor queens and Elizabeth of York were first to get me hooked and I had no idea I’d get so into other queens and historical events like the others, but I did. Fully convinced now I could read anything by this author and enjoy it to the max.It’s customary for the medieval history to be presented through the viewpoint of men, as it was a time of even noble and royal women being little but chattel, men’s property, and the wombs to propagate dynasties. They were who history happened to, not the makers of it. In Queens of the Age of Chivalry, however, Alison Weir tries to bring them from the shadows behind the throne into the spotlight, with varying success. Queens of the Crusades [is Weir’s] latest in an impressive canon of more than two dozen historical biographies and novels. . . . [A] brilliant, compelling and meticulously detailed revelation . . . 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 The final book in a trilogy, it is the only one that I have read. The author was recommended to me by a fellow Bookstagrammer. It is crystal clear that Weir’s favorite queen is Queen Isabella (she is one of my favorites, as well) due to her owning the majority of the text and detail. This isn’t a horrible flaw, per se, but this isn’t an Isabella sole biography and “Queens of the Age of Chivalry” is supposed to focus on the other women, as well.

Most of all, I found it fascinating reading about queens I had previously heard little about. There is so much detail about each one, and I take my hat off to Alison Weir at the work that goes into every book she writes. My interest was especially piqued at a theory she posits regarding Edward II. But you’ll have to read the book to find out what that was! Using personal letters and wonderfully vivid sources, Alison Weir evokes the lives of five remarkable Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois. Edward’s great adversary was Philip IV of France, the most powerful ruler in Christendom. From 1296, Philip had been at war with both England and Flanders.Although there is a lot of information, no stuffy nonfiction chronicle is this. Rather it reads more like a novel. I really liked that when Weir cited money, she gave the equivalent in today’s price; this provided a meaningful perspective on the costs. I feel much better versed in the English royalty of the 14th century now. Maybe I still have a chance at being erudite enough? Medieval queens were seen as mere dynastic trophies, yet many of the Plantagenet queens of the High Middle Ages dramatically broke away from the restrictions imposed on their sex, as Alison Weir shows in this gripping group biography of England's fourteenth-century consorts. From one of Britain's best selling historians, a sweeping and magisterial history of the extraordinary lives of five queens in England's turbulent Age of Chivalry