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 queen seductresses 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. Alison Weir's ground-breaking history of the queens
of medieval England now moves into a period of even higher drama from 1154 to 1291: years of
chivalry dynastic ambition conflict with the church baronial wars and the all-pervading
bonds of feudalism. We see events such as the murder of Becket Magna Carta and the birth of
parliaments from a new perspective. Her narrative begins with the formidable Eleanor of
Aquitaine whose marriage to Henry II establishes a dynasty which rules for over three hundred
years and creates the most powerful empire in western Christendom - but also sows 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 successors were just as
remarkable: Berengaria of Navarre queen of Richard the Lionheart Isabella of Angoulême queen
of John and 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 an enthralling new perspective on a dramatic period of high romance and
sometimes low politics with determined women at its heart.
