I enjoy Alison Weir's books and her second installment from her England's Medieval Queens series, Queens of the Crusades does not disappoint. I thought it was great and loved learning about my ancestors.
Five stars

This author is simply amazing. She always keeps me entertained with her very well researched stories. Well written and captivating, her books are always a treat. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review

I'm a big fan of history, especially when it comes to the English monarchy. I'm less familiar with the Medieval period, and was looking forward to learning about the queens of the period. I won't deny this is reads like it is well researched and informative, but the presentation was fairly dry. I would become confused because many of the presented figures had the same name with no delineation as to who was who. A first name would be used and there would be no clarification if it was the father of the son, making the topic at hand all the more difficult to read. I wish I could love it, but this was not for me.

Very thorough history of the queens of England in the late 12th through early 14th centuries. Dragged at points and could be dense but overall an excellent overview, thigh maybe not for casual readers.

This is a valuable resource on the history of the crusades and political involvement by medieval women rulers.

This is clearly a very well researched and well written biographical nonfiction book about the different queens during the time of the Crusades. I personally prefer her fiction writing, but if you are interested in learning more about this time period, you will definitely enjoy this book. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I've read everything Alison Weir has written, and this book is very typical of her non-fiction. Weir's gift is being able to turn dense historical facts into a compelling narrative. Habitual readers of Weir may find the first 1/3 of the book somewhat a précis of her earlier tome on Eleanor of Aquitaine, but Queens of the Crusades fills in some gaps in my knowledge of English monarchy between Henry II and Eleanor and Richard II.

I don't know that Queens of the Crusades is necessarily the most accurate title. The Crusades were going on in this time period, but for most of the book, the Crusades are peripheral to the power politics of medieval Europe. Eleanor's time preparing for Richard's crusade was more emphasized that her own. Queen Berengaria accompanied Richard on Crusade, but she mostly spent time aboard ship or being safely guarded. While none of these queens match Eleanor of Aquitaine for influence and wise counsel, they do have an impact on history and rather work back toward her. Eleanor of Castile is the one whose role in Crusade is most emphasized. . Richard the Lionheart's queen, Berengaria, is interesting because of her own personal growth. She is a "good girl" for the first part of her life, the wife who obeys even when treated ill. After the death of her husband, Berengaria seems to grow up with the epiphany that not all the men in her life are working toward her good and that to survive, she can no longer be meek and pliable. Her reputation survives though, and she remains well-liked because she was able to parley this into the role of victim. Significantly, Berengaria was childless. King John's queen Isabella, mother of Henry III, was a stereotypical bitch who seemed to love money and powerful men even more than her children, but as Weir catalogs the events of her early life, the reader can see how she got that way. In fact, except Berengaria, all of these queens were criticized at the time if they reached for power, advancement for their families, or luxuries. They mended their reputations only if they lived long enough, supported the right ruler, and eventually associated themselves with nunneries. The virgin/whore archetype has deep roots in western cultures, and this book is an interesting catalog of its development in the medieval period.

This book was an ambitious account of many of the medieval queens. Many I knew very little about and having read this, I now want to know even more. For fans of Alison Weir, this is a must read. So much information packed into a great read. Congrats on another amazing book. I can’t wait for the next one! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

Very, very interesting book. I loved reading about the ladies of power during this extremely male dominated time and resulting research.

I love these groupings of historical royal women Weir is biographizing. This took us in depth to the English Queens of the Crusade periods and I enjoyed this second installment so much. Weir is informative and does a good job in making sure the details of their lives are there as fully as we can have them while splitting the book between so many women.

Queens of the Crusades is an enormously ambitious undertaking that seeks to cover the lives and influences of the first five Plantagenet Queens: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Berengaria of Navarre, Isabel of Angouleme, Alienor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile. In a time period where women were often consigned as objects meant only for marriage and children, many of these Queens were able to use their influence to press for political and societal change. Each stewarded their powers differently to make an indelible mark on the England. The years from 1154-1291 were filled with high drama, significant achievement, and moments of dark xenophobia against persecuted peoples, things that Weir handles with proper depth and tact. I always appreciate how Weir writes history in a way that is readable and enjoyable for both academics and the common reader alike and brings these women to life. Even Queens were often consigned to the sidelines of history, and Weir uses primary sources to give us not just a record of their lives and accomplishments, but their personalities, their loves, their faults and their perspectives through important events such as the Magna Carta. I enjoyed this book and it makes me more eager to read the first book in this series and to continue on to the next.

This was a wonderful, in-depth look at the wives of kings from Alison Weir. The writing is lovely, and the research is fabulous. Weir produces books that make me so interested to learn more and more about these people. I think readers of history will find this fascinating!!

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This was quite fascinating. I enjoy Alison Weir in general but this was very well done. As a series this second book was interesting and an easy read

This book covers the reigns of five medieval Queens of England, starting with Eleanor of Aquitaine. I had read Alison Weir's "Eleanor of Aquitaine" many years ago, but it was good to have a refresher on her life, but I didn't know much about the other four queens: Berengaria of Navarre, Isabella of Angouleme, Alienor of Provence, and Eleanor of Castile.

Like most history books, this provides a list of major events in each woman's life, but it also provides a few more intimate details, like what types of mothers they were and how they gained their wealth, or not as the case may be. It's interesting to see what these queens had to do in order to survive and to make sure their children thrived, especially after their husband's died.

It is also a little sad to see the way these women were treated as pawns in the political machinations of England, France, and Spain mostly, but the effects of their alliances are felt throughout most of Europe and even into the Middle East.

If you read lots of historical fiction versus the history of this time period, you might be disappointed in the structure of the book. Weir is a historian, and she deals in facts, and there just isn't a lot of information about how these women FELT about their lives. In historical fiction, however, the author can fill in those blanks and the women become more nuanced. Still, I enjoyed learning more about these women's lives. I found the parts about Alienore of Provence and Eleanor of Castile to be the most interesting, but really, they were all remarkable women.

This book is 560 pages, although the last 100 pages or so cover bibliography and notes, so it isn't too long, for a history book anyway, but it still took me longer than anticipated, so I missed posting this before the publication date of 2/23/2021. I want to thank Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC.


Still, I enjoyed this book

This is the second installment of Alison Weir’s England’s Medieval Queen’s series. The first followed England’s queens from the Conquest through the Anarchy. This book picks up with Eleanor of Aquitaine and continues through Eleanor of Castille. The book is divided into the reigns of the queen’s husbands/kings, although in most instances that did not work. For some queens there is an abundance of known information, especially Eleanor of Aquitaine, and some there is very little, as with Berengaria of Navarre. Because of that the reigns of the kings do not exactly add up.
I loved so much about this book, and I learned so much I had not from Wier’s previous books. I have always been fascinated with Eleanor of Aquitaine, and as Weir admits, there has been so much more research since her book on her. She is really shown as the queen I think she thought she would be remembered as. The “whore” rumors are disproved with legitimate research and her relationships with both husbands as well as her children are detailed. You can really understand not only her point of view, but Henry II’s as well.
Not much is known about Berengaria of Navarre and she is largely overshadowed by her husband and mother-in-law in history as well as this book. Richard I is well known as the Lionheart, but his queen barely gets a mention in material about him. Most overlook her completely and look to Eleanor of Aquitaine as Richard’s main influence, which was true, but Berengaria had true value and meaning in what happened during her husband’s reign. I got a real feel for her in this book, which is hard to do considering what is known about her. I was glad to finally learn more about her, and in many ways her plight.
Berengaria was followed by Isabella of Angouleme. Much more is known about Isabella partially because of the controversial king she was married to, John I, and partially because of the queen she was herself and her actions after John died. History has not looked kindly on her and Weir shows evidence as to why. Weir does an excellent job of showing the constraints she was under as both a strong woman and queen, while showing how she was instrumental in the loss of so many English territories on mainland Europe. This book does an excellent job of showing that as a widow of an unpopular king with little support in England, including from her son Henry III, what she was forced to do to survive. I did find her story fascinating and want to learn more, and hope Weir writes a biography of her.
Alienor of Provence was one of four sisters that became queens, which made her somewhat controversial although there were definite benefits. She is another strong woman and Weir also does an excellent job giving her credit where its due while also explaining why she was hated during her time. Her family played an instrumental part in both her successes and almost all of her failures as queen. Weir explained her faults and strengths well and backed it up with sources of the time. Her love for her children was so very important during both her reign and that of her son, Edward I. Weir shows that love transcended everything until her death.
The final queen in the book is Eleanor of Castille, queen of Edward I. She was just as complex as the two queens that came before her. She had huge faults as both a person and monarch and Weir lays them out with sources from the time. That she gave birth to 18 children was incredible in itself, but that only one of her sons survived tells the story of the time. I liked that in being so upfront about her faults Weir was able to show how Eleanor attempted to redeem herself on her death bed.
This book is classic Alison Weir. It is an unbiased look at 5 queens, some that have been overlooked or mischaracterized by history, based on research, facts and primary sources of the time. I give it a solid 4 stars, close to 4.5 or 5. There are a couple reasons I could not give it 5 stars. It was heavy on the history of the kings, sometimes to the detriment of the queens. I think this is because there is so much more recorded about the kings, but it still somewhat took away from the subject matter. Along with this, I did not like the division of the parts by the kings rather than the queens’ scope of influence. I understand that this was probably easiest as most queens level of influence depended on their husband, but it did not work for me. There was very little about Berengaria of Navarre in her part and you really learned about her during the part about Isabella of Angouleme. 95 percent of Berengaria’s part was about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Isabella heavily dominated the beginning of Alienor of Provence’s part and it was not until Chapter 6 of Eleanor of Castille’s part that Alienor became the main subject. I understand that there is going to be overlap, but I really did not like this set up and wonder if it is because of the lack of information for Berengaria of Navarre. I think had there been as much information about her as the queens that followed her it would have been easy to set up the parts based on the queens rather than their husband’s reigns.
Full disclosure, I had already pre-ordered this book when I received and email from Ballantine asking if I would review it in exchange for a digital ARC. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House/Ballantine Books and Alison Weir for an electronic ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review of this book. I am also very sorry I forgot to publish this review on publication date!

Alison Weir has been writing top-notch books about English history (lots of great stuff on the Tudors) for decades now and her latest--the second volume of a series--covers ground she's delved into a bit before bit in Queens of the Crusades. I really enjoyed reading about King John's wife, Isabella, who I haven't read much about, and everything about Edward I's wife, Eleanor, who tends to get lost in a lot of histories of this period because of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was and is still such a fascinating woman to read about. Definitely a great pick for popular history collections and as well for fans (like me!) of Alison Weir!

I loved this book!! I learned so much I never knew about the Queens and the crusades,and just every day life. Highly recommend this book.
I received this ARC from Netgalley. Thank you!!

This book could have simply been titled “Eleanor”, as much of its earlier content focuses on Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the later near half of the book focuses on “Alienor” of Provence and her daughter-in-law, Eleanor of Castile. Though truth be told, the queen who stood out most to me, in terms of overall characterization and redeemable qualities, was Richard I’s queen, Berengaria.

Not the lightest or fastest paced book, I appreciate Weir’s attention to detail, though I must point out a heavy dependence on the records of Matthew Price. I also observed several instances where the year was inaccurately written as “20xx”, such as “2016,” and “2019,” although this can obviously be inferred to be meant as 1216 and 1219. This may have just been a typo in the electronic version of the manuscript.

Overall, I have to disagree with some of the other reviews I’ve read on (GoodReads) and say that I actually quite preferred the later portion of the book, from Eleanor of Provence through Eleanor of Castile. It may be due to improvements in record-keeping that Weir was able to access, but I found the detail to be much more lush and full, and the description of The Second Barons’ War in particular pulled me in.

It is hard to read a book like this nowadays without looking at it through a modern lens. Therefore, the absolute extravagance and violence executed by the Plantagenets is hard to stomach at times, especially when it is emphasized by the lengths the royals often went to in order to tax their citizens. I also wish Weir had gone into more detail into the treatment of the Jews in England, as the subject is broached several times throughout the book, and I don’t think it would have been an unnatural topic to flesh out in more detail.

A hearty thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books/Penguin Random House for access to an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review. Posted on GoodReads, Sunday, March 7, 2021.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3859982924

Queens of the Crusades follows the lives of five of England's Queens: Eleanor of Aquitaine (Henry II), Berengaria of Navarre (Richard I), Isabella of Angoulême (John I), Eleanor (Alienor) of Provence (Richard III), and Eleanor of Castile (Edward I) -- Yes lots of Eleanors. The book uses primary sources and other research (mostly Mathew Paris) to tell the story of these five queens.

The majority of the book focuses on two of them: the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine and the ambiguous Eleanor of Castile. In fact, the first third of the book is devoted to Eleanor of Aquitaine which can be good or bad depending on your tastes. I personally would have liked a bit more time spent on the other queens... particularly Isabella, but that is me.

The book is told in Weir's incredibly readable style. And it's easy for the armchair historian to pick up and follow along with. While there's a lot of very interesting information in this book, readers need to be aware that there is some unstated bias in the prose and some theories/facts which are in dispute. It's a good start for people looking for more information about these queens who have exhausted Wikipedia but it's really only a start.

There were also some odd tangents at times that didn't seem to fit with the rest of the narrative and felt shoehorned in because they were interesting tidbits but didn't relate fully to the information at hand.

In all, I am torn about what to rate this book. It's readable. It's approachable. But there's a lack of context provided to some of the sources and Weir's bias is present but it's not stated or acknowledged. There's also the potential for confusion regarding the names in this book. Maud is used instead of Mathilda for Henry II's mother. Alienor is used for Eleanor of Provence. At several points, I had to pause to check to make sure that the name in question was a viable one and that lessened my reading enjoyment. I'm not a fan of fact-checking my non-fiction, and I needed to fact check much of this book. Additionally, I also felt that the book was uneven. The section on Eleanor of Aquitaine was far and away the best and most in depth. However the section on Berengaria of Navarre felt lacking.

If you're a fan of Weir's work, you're going to enjoy this. If you aren't, I'd give it a miss. If you're new to the subject, then this is a good starting point and something light and easy to read.

In all, I liked and disliked parts of this book. And for that I give this:

Three Stars

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley

First line: On Sunday, 19 December 1154, Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, was crowned in Westminster Abbey, along with his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, amidst great splendor and rejoicing.

Summary: In the second installment of Alison Weir’s histories of the queens of England is Queens of the Crusades. It covers Eleanor of Aquitaine, Berengaria of Navarre, Isabella of Angouleme, Alienor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile spanning their lives over several centuries. These women lived in an age when they were expected to be humble and pious. But the queens of this time held power over their lands and income that drew the ire of their male subjects giving several of them tarnished reputations that Weir tries to dissolve.

My Thoughts: I enjoyed learning about these remarkable women. I love Eleanor of Aquitaine. She is one of my favorite queens of England. She lived for such a long time and was queen of France and England as well as duchess of Aquitaine. I was very excited to learn more about her daughter-in-law, Berengaria. She is glossed over so much in fiction since she was queen for such a short time and did not do much to gain prominence in England.

I like that Weir takes into account how often names are reused for different people that she tries to vary the spellings in order to keep them straight for the reader. I knew nothing about the queens after Eleanor. The amount of wealth these women had and spent is astounding. I love to see what the conversions are because it is so shocking.

Having visited England several times I have been to some of the places listed such as Westminster Abbey. I knew many of the tombs there but now I will need to find the ones for these medieval queens on my next visit.

FYI: Second installment of a four part series.