Queens of the Crusade

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, 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 which 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, wife if King John, Alienor of Provence, wife of Henry III, and Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I. In telling their stories, Alison Weir provides an enthralling new perspective on a dramatic period of high romance and sometimes low politics, with determined women at the heart of it.