Written by historian and prolific writer Alison Weir, Queens of the Age of Chivalry is the history of five medieval queens who ruled England during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, and Isabella of Valois. Despite being ostensibly brief biographies of the English queens, Weir includes the tiniest of details in her work, from what provisions each woman packed during a royal progress to how much their dowry cost. Although Weir's prose is as fluid and clear as ever, Queens of the Age of Chivalry vacillates between minute record-keeping to sweeping histories of war, love, and betrayal, making for a somewhat uneven read. In one respect, there's something for everyone, whether it be the prosaic details that help transport the reader to a time and place many lifetimes ago (and could assist anyone thinking of writing their own historical novel) or the immersive life stories that shaped this medieval world. Yet this also creates a narrative that lurches and lulls, particularly where the queens themselves are concerned. A third of the book is focused on Isabella of France alone, overshadowing the other queens and making Queens of the Age of Chivalry feel notably lopsided around her. Nevertheless, Weir also provides insight into the oft-forgotten noblewomen whose lives have been so frequently overshadowed by their husbands, fathers, and sons, thereby making this book a valuable resource and essential history.

Another great informative book by Alison Weir. I love her books because they are always well-researched and presented in a way that can be easily understood.

I have read everything that Alison Weir has published. This third installment in the England's Medieval Queens series tells the stories of 5 Queens from 1299-1409. These ladies sure don't disappoint! The author paints a vivid and well-rounded picture of the lives of these women and how their stories were shaped by and ended up impacting the fabric of history.

England’s Age of Chivalry was a surprisingly turbulent period marked by coups, civil unrest, and outright war on multiple fronts. We meet five queens in this book, including one of the most reviled and one of the most beloved in all of English history.

This is the third book in Alison Weir’s England’s Medieval Queens, in which she profiles the queens of medieval England from the Conquest to (I believe) the end of the War of the Roses. In this book, we meet the queens of Edward I, II, and III, as well as the two queens of Richard II. Of these queens, I was only familiar with Isabella the so-called She Wolf of France, so I was excited to dig into their stories.

This is a surprisingly sad and strange collection of queens, and I enjoyed getting to know all their stories in turn, seeing how their fortunes were tied to the men they wed and how well they managed to rule. Weir makes a good case for how the queens managed to influence England’s politics, whether it was done visibly or behind the scenes. She does a good job of bringing their personalities and the dynamics of their relationships with their husbands to light.

However, Weir does have a bad habit of falling back on lists and letters to demonstrate her points in some places – did I really have to struggle through so much of Isabella of France’s flowery correspondence to understand what was going on? I also thought that sometimes we spent too much time with the men in time periods where historical references run thin, with the queens only popping up with their clothes or presents documented. I wished we might have gone deeper into an analysis of their actions or the like in such cases.

Alison Weir is one of my favorite non-fiction authors and I've thoroughly enjoyed all the books I've read by her. Queens of the Age of Chivalry is no exception and Weir brings these queens (Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Phillipa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, and Isabella of Valois) to the forefront which is unusual since the kings often overshadow their wives (Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II). Weir uses a massive amount of primary sources to ferret out the personalities, beliefs, and internal lives of these queens as well as their impact on both England, the kings they married, and the countries they were born. A recommended read if you're looking to learn more about 14th century England.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I will read anything this author writes. She is so great at writing and her research is always spot on. I didnt know it was part of a series so I have to go get the rest of these!

This book covered a portion of Britain’s history that has rarely been discussed in detail. I found these women stories to be very fascinating. It is sad that there is very little information about these women. However, Mrs. Weir did an excellent job in telling these queens stories and discussing the role of queenship. I’m excited for the next book in the series!

Alison Weir is back in her element with the non-fiction narration of Queens in the Age of Chivalry. This book begins with the second queen of Edward I, Marguerite of France, who provides spares for the future king Edward II. The Marguerite section is very short, due no doubt to a few extant sources. Here, Weir fleshes this section out by describing the lifestyle she would have known in her various residences. When Edward II becomes king, our focus shifts to Marguerite's kinswoman Isabella of France. Much of the Isabella section you can find in rather more detail in Weir's book solely on Isabella. I did wish that Weir would've focused a bit more on the lives of Marguerite's children during their half-brother's reign, particularly Kent. Isabella takes up a solid third of the book, and if Weir wants to venture into historical fiction again, Isabella would be a good starting point. Phillippa of Hainault is particularly interesting because here Weir stresses the relationship to each other and queenship and the struggle to maintain it that Isabella and Phillippa experience. Phillippa is often overshadowed by her idealized king of a husband Edward III and her sons the Black Prince and John of Gaunt. I found this to be the most interesting section in terms of filling in interesting blanks in history. Finally, Weir concludes with the two ill-fated queens of the Black Prince's son Richard II. We see these women rise to their positions as children in many cases, and this invites readers to compare medieval concepts of childhood and womanhood in politics with the later female rulers like Elizabeth I and with those of today.

'Queens of the Age of Chivalry' is clearly well-researched and well written by Weir. This book functions more as an educational deep dive as opposed to a focused biographical exploration of each Queen. That being said, I was expecting and hoping for more of a biographical focus. There was a lot of time spent talking about Kings and other noble men or court members. I understand that all of this provides context to each Queen's life and is expected in a more academic account of history. Simply, if you're looking to lean more about the Queens and only the Queens, just know this book is going to be a LOT more than that and might be overwhelming for you.

I loved this book, learning about the powerful female leaders of such an interesting time in Europe's history. The writing was engaging and kept you reading.

Alison Weir in her Queens of the Age of Chivalry tells the stories of the lives of five queen consorts. As always, Weir’s works are well written, meticulously researched and just a joy to read! If you love history, this book is for you! I voluntarily read and reviewed this complimentary copy of this important book. Well done, Alison Weir!

I enjoyed this audiobook. It contains more detail than the previous books in the series, presumably because more evidence exists for later queens. I especially appreciated the thorough exploration of the rift between Edward II and Queen Isabella. If you're interested in the medieval history of England, this book is a must-read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Alison Weir has done it again! In the third tome detailing the lives of England’s Medieval Queens, no detail is left out. This is the story of the first five Plantagenet Queens: Elenor of Aquitaine, Berengaria of Navarre, Isabella of Angouleme, Alienor of Provence, and Eleanor of Castile.

What is fascinating about Ms. Weir’s work is that she tells history through herstory. The Queens NEXT to the Kings, not behind. These were the times of the Black Plague and The Hundred Years War. All of these women came from royal families and were traded and wed to families that were often at odds with their own in an attempt to maintain peace. Imagine, your family sending you off to marry someone whom you had seen as your enemy, often at an early age (consent was 12 at the time), you have to learn another language and customs, and probably never see your family again, and your job is to maintain peace. And you are a woman who has no rights of her own, even as Queen. Yet these five women led amazing lives and helped shape England for the next few centuries. This is when the names from the Tudor age appear in court and are behind intrigues.

Of the five, Isabella’s story is the longest and most interesting, perhaps because she lived the longest, or maybe because she replaced her husband as ruler. One thing is for certain, Ms. Weir brings the lives and history of these Queen’s to the forefront of history, never to be relegated to the shadows again. This work is hefty, which I love. I love the details, they bring everything to life.

I recommend this to anyone interested in history, especially women’s history, English, or medieval. Don’t think you have to read the other volumes first, these are stand alone, and be warned, you will be drawn into Ms. Weir’s web and will be adding her other works to your TBR pile.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author. I received an ARC for a fair and honest review.

As usual this book is a home run from Ms. Weir! I swear, she is incapable of writing a bad book. Everything is so meticulously researched, and yet written in a very easy to understand and accessible way.

If we could get her books into high school history classes, and chuck the dry as dust “normal“ history books, then I bet we would have a whole lot more historians in this country (or at least kids who don’t hate going to history class 😉).

Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Once again I’m blown away by Weir’s work. She is my favorite historian. I recommend her books all of the time. So far this has been my favorite series because it began so early in the history of Britain and is slowly rolling on to the next historical era. The age of chivalry is where the majority of my knowledge base begins although because of Weir I can recite every monarch of England starting with Henry I. No lie! I have no idea about my country’s Presidents, but I can name that king. And there an awkward conversation starts. HA! Thank you so much Alison weir for being so prolific as well as so accurate. Thank you publishers and NG for the free copy for my unbiased review. Although it may be a tiny bit biased because I am in awe of Weir and all of her works

I did send a note to the publisher that I wouldn't be giving feedback on this title since it was my error, but I can't stand that Netgalley doesn't remove it from my list unless I give feedback. So here is my feedback: I'm a moron and didn't realize I was requesting a nonfiction title. I LOVE ALISON WEIR - both her fiction and nonfiction. However, I know myself, and I will never get through a nonfiction unless it's about the Tudor era I love. I read a little bit to see if I could push through since Alison Weir is a goddess, but I just don't care about this time period so it's not holding me. I would happily read any piece of fiction of hers set in this time period though.

So yes, learn from my mistakes and double check what you're requesting.

I'm always impressed by just how much information Weir is able to gather about these medieval queens. This took me a bit longer to finish than the other two books in the series despite being roughly the same size. Every chapter is brimming with details about expenditures, gifts, clothing, and travel. Sometimes the numbers can feel daunting, but I thought that particularly in the sections about Isabella of France and Philippa of Hainault that Weir helped add broader context around how their interactions shaped both the court and the flow of history.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for more information about Marguerite & Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, and Isabella of Valois. This was my first time reading about most of these women and I felt this was a thorough introduction to who they were, how they lived, and how they navigated the many turbulent events of their times.

In this book, Alison Weir examines the lives of five Queens of England (Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Phillipa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, and Isabella of Valois), married to Kings Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II. This book covers much of the 14th century.
This book took me a while to get into and partly that is because I didn't really get the chivalry connection. Chivalry is mentioned, but really it's just about the era in which these Queens were on the throne.
My favorite stories were those of Isabella of France and Phillipa of Hainault. Not only were they interesting women in their own right, but they and their children also made a significant impact on the royal lineage of England and its history.
I appreciate Ms. Weir's focus on women in English history since they do not get the same focus as men (as per usual). There are a lot of details in Weir's books, and they can at times be overwhelming, but she is a master of getting at the heart of the women whose roles are significant if not well-known.
If you are interested in medieval British Royal history, you will enjoy this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

Absolutely fascinating. This author clearly knows her stuff and has wonderful way to present the information. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

There is not a book that I don't love by Allison Weir. I just love the way that she narrates and the way that the characters come alive, regardless of what she's speaking about. All of her books make me love history even more than I already do. This title is no exception.
Queens of the Age of Chivalry speaks about the lives of five Queens who lived through England’s Age of Chivalry. Covering the years 1299-1409, we meet five remarkable women, whose stories have never been told in such great detail and with such passion.
Reading this book makes me want to read more of England's Age of Chivalry.