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Queens and Courtesans: Women of Power in Medieval England (National Archives)
Queens and Courtesans Women of Power in Medieval England - National Archives In an age when many women were little more than chattels, some still managed, through birth or beauty, to achieve real power in the land. Queens and Courtesans explores the lives of the extraordinary women who dominated kings and countries, raised armies and fought their rivals tooth and nail. From Matilda, whose determination to win the throne ... more »over her cousin Stephen who plunged England into civil war, to the scheming beauty Elizabeth Woodville, whose secret marriage to Edward IV nearly tipped the balance in the Wars of the Roses, they sought to achieveâand retainâpower at any price.
Many grappled with adversity, like the dazzling impetuous Margaret of Anjou; married at fifteen to Henry VI, she masterminded his military campaigns for years until the battle of Tewkesbury brought devastating defeat. Others exploited family factionâthe great heiress Eleanor of Aquitaine encouraged her sons to rebel against their father Henry II, while Queen Isabella deposed her husband Edward II to rule with her lover in his place. Even those of
low birth could rise to great heights. Jane Shore, mistress of Edward IV and the âmerriest harlot of the realmâ became the improbable wife of the Kingâs Solicitor, while Katherine Swynford went one better and married her noble lover, John of Gaunt. The book captures the glamour of a volatile and perilous age, in which courtly splendor was set against brutal conflict, danger and death.« less