Tag Archives: Queen of England

Book Review: “Anne Neville: Richard III’s Tragic Queen” by Amy Licence

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Anne Neville Licence book cover

It is very unfortunate that little historical evidence or records exist regarding the life of Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick and wife of Edward of Westminster and finally King Richard III. There doesn’t seem to be enough to fill a two hundred page biography but Amy License delivers with this book. As I have mentioned before I try to avoid the Wars of the Roses but this book piqued my interest because it’s about a medieval noblewoman who became Queen of England.

This book gives us the scant detail we know of Anne and fleshes it out with interesting historical details. There is a lot of information about the Earl of Warwick, Anne’s father, known to history as “The Kingmaker”, because details of his life give us insight into the home Anne grew up in. Warwick was Captain of Calais so Anne spent a few years of her childhood in France. Warwick’s machinations in bringing the Yorkist Edward, Earl of March to the throne and his about face in supporting Margaret of Anjou’s attempt to bring her husband Henry VI back to the throne are described. Licence gives us a great lesson in these events in easy to understand narrative. This is important to Anne’s story because it explains how she came to marry Edward of Westminster, the son of Margaret of Anjou and King Henry VI.

It is also important to Anne’s story because her father was killed in battle and eventually her husband Edward was killed too, leaving her a widow in the care of her sister Isabel and her husband the mercurial Duke of Clarence, brother of Anne’s future husband, Richard Duke of Gloucester. It is interesting to note that no one knows how the marriage of Anne and Richard originated. There was opposition to the alliance and it is a mystery who first suggested it. But marry they did with no expectation they would be king and queen.

The early years of Anne’s marriage and the birth of her son Edward of Middleham are recounted. Licence tells us of the castles the couple lived in and how they acquired more property and renovated some of them, along with the religious institutions they patronized. Using contemporary sources regarding how medieval women ran their households and aided their husband’s, we can get an idea of Anne’s daily life. All of this was to change with the sudden death of Richard’s brother, King Edward IV in the spring of 1483.

Richard was appointed Protector and regent for Edward’s young son, King Edward V. In a mysterious turn of events, Edward V and his brother and sisters were declared illegitimate and the Council asked Richard to be king. King Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York disappeared in the Tower of London sometime during the summer of 1483. Richard and Anne were crowned king and queen and then circumstances seem to have unraveled over the next two years.

This book is enjoyable, easy to read and fascinating. This time period of the Wars of the Roses brings up way more questions than answers based on the existing evidence. Licence poses all these questions and leaves it up to the reader to decide what they think really happened.

Book Review: “Eleanor of Castile: The Shadow Queen” by Sara Cockerill

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Eleanor Cockerill book cover

The title of this book is really fitting because there isn’t much in the way of historical records about this medieval English queen. Eleanor of Castile’s life was due for a new look as previous biographies were written years ago. Sarah Cockerill, an English lawyer, spent the last ten years doing in depth research on Eleanor and it really shows. She should be given much credit for this as she gives us all the facts known about Eleanor along with some fascinating insight into her personality. Eleanor’s marriage to King Edward I was obviously a love match, a real anomaly in English royal history. Cockerill gives us many tidbits on their relationship which is fascinating stuff.

That being said, this book is not an easy read. It’s badly in need of an editor. There are errors and omissions, as well as spelling and grammatical errors which are annoying. The narrative is not in chronological or any other sensible order. Due to the lack of sources on Eleanor, a large portion of the book deals with the history of the men surrounding her and the reader can easily get bogged down. For me, it wasn’t until about two hundred pages in that it got more focused on Eleanor and Cockerill’s insight began to become apparent. This isn’t a curl up with the cat and a cup of tea book but if you are looking for a good reference on Eleanor of Castile and thirteenth century English history, this book will fit the bill.

Book Review: “Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth-Century England” by John Carmi Parsons

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eleanor of castile parsons book cover

Eleanor of Castile is one of the few medieval queens I know very little about. Apparently there is a reason for this. Very little of historical record exists about this lady. What we do know of her is she was the wife of King Edward I of England, she went with him on Crusade, she had many children, she was a prolific collector of properties and Edward built crosses in her memory. Interestingly, there are a few books about her and John Carmi Parsons wrote one of them.

This work can be considered a quasi-scholarly effort. That being said I enjoyed this book. Parsons has separate sections. The first is a section on theme and context. Specifically he tells us how little in the way of historical records there are and gives us a biographical sketch of what we know about her. He talks a little about Eleanor’s reputation through the ages: how she is considered a grasping queen at one point and a gentle and benign queen at other times in history. He talks about her many pregnancies and births and her unexpected death at the age of forty-nine. This gives us a fairly complete biographical history of her.

The next section is about Eleanor’s prerogatives, resources and administration. Parsons goes into detail about Eleanor’s sources of revenue, her household and staff, wardrobe, exchequer and treasury, and local administration. All of this is pretty fascinating stuff because it doesn’t just relate to Eleanor alone but also other thirteenth century queens. It gives us an idea of how these women lived. Chapter three is an interesting glimpse into Eleanor’s reputation as a queen. The name of this section is “Outcry and Gossip, Rumor and Scandal”. Apparently Eleanor was well known for her acquisition of properties, most likely with Edward’s overt encouragement and her methods could sometimes be dubious judging from the evidence. Eleanor’s income apparently was inadequate and she used any means necessary to increase it.

Parson’s includes a long appendix which chronicles all of Eleanor’s procurement of property where records exist. This section is forty pages long! Even if you don’t read the whole chapter, it gives you an idea of how Eleanor spent her time and increased her income. The last chapter gives an explanation of the legend and the reality of Eleanor’s reputation. Evidently, Eleanor was concerned about her reputation and how she was perceived. On her death bed, she directed an audit of her proceedings in her property acquisitions and ordered any irregularities be made whole. This book is enlightening and I would highly recommend it. If you are unfamiliar with medieval terms such as “advowson” and “corrodies” I would suggest you keep a dictionary close by. It’s a great introduction to this elusive queen and tells us quite a bit about how medieval queens operated.