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I just finished Alison Weir's Queens of the Conquest, which covers the queens of England from William the Conqueror's wife Matilda of Flanders to the would-be first independent queen of England, who is known to us as Empress Maud. Weir has done a very interesting job of filling in details of the lives of the early Norman queens, giving us some sense of the the authority they wielded and how much each of the kings trusted them to act in their stead. Surprisingly there is even a hint of personality showing through, which in the written record tended to be hidden by flowery, sycophantic odes even in their own times.
Several of Weir's recent books, like The Lady in the Tower have gotten bogged down with arguments against other historians. The flow of history seems to get lost in the arguing. Queens of Conquest doesn't have this problem. Weir describes it as 'not an academic history.' I describe it as very readable.
Perhaps the only short coming of the book is that the recorded history of the women only tells us so much. Quite a bit of the information that has come down the form of religious institutions founded and endowed by these women. It's not exactly a big interest of mine, but certainly it would be helpful for anyone interested in development of the Church in England and Normandy during the period.
The book is the first volume of what Weir promises will be a series, "England's Medieval Queens.' Since she already has a separate book on Eleanor of Aquitaine, the second volume will skip her, and dwell on the less well known queens who followed her.
Several of Weir's recent books, like The Lady in the Tower have gotten bogged down with arguments against other historians. The flow of history seems to get lost in the arguing. Queens of Conquest doesn't have this problem. Weir describes it as 'not an academic history.' I describe it as very readable.
Perhaps the only short coming of the book is that the recorded history of the women only tells us so much. Quite a bit of the information that has come down the form of religious institutions founded and endowed by these women. It's not exactly a big interest of mine, but certainly it would be helpful for anyone interested in development of the Church in England and Normandy during the period.
The book is the first volume of what Weir promises will be a series, "England's Medieval Queens.' Since she already has a separate book on Eleanor of Aquitaine, the second volume will skip her, and dwell on the less well known queens who followed her.