Queens of the Age of Chivalry is the third volume of Alison Weir’s Medieval Queens series, and it covers the period from the last part of Edward I’s reign through Richard II, telling the stories of five women who held the title of queen consort of England.

Marguerite of France, at 20, married the 60-year-old Edward I after the death of his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and despite their age difference, the two forged a bond as close as his love match with Eleanor, to the extent that unlike many queens and great ladies, she never remarried after his death. Isabella of France, Marguerite’s niece, is the only queen to have led a successful rebellion against her own husband, placed her son on the throne, and ruled the kingdom for him with her lover Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. This story is so dramatic I can’t help but wonder why a movie or TV series hasn’t been made from it. Isabella’s son, Edward III, had another famously close marriage, and an unfortunately fertile one, since their sons’ descendants ended up fighting each other for the throne in the Wars of the Roses, and they probably came closest to the medieval ideal of a king and queen. Finally, Richard II, their grandson, was married twice, first to the sophisticated but sadly childless Anne of Bohemia, and then to the 6-year-old Isabella of Valois, who found herself a virgin widow at 10 when he was deposed and killed.

The unique personality of each of these five queens is portrayed well by Weir, despite an unfortunate paucity of material on even noble and royal women in medieval times, and I felt that she did a good job at treating them objectively, even Isabella of France, the most controversial. I have to admit that although she is a very good writer, and her books are enormously popular, I have not always gotten along well with Weir, and until recently I had finished few of her books. I’ve generally felt that her biases show too much, and although honesty compels me to admit that this wouldn’t bother me as much if they agreed with mine, they generally don’t. In Queens of the Age of Chivalry, I was pleased to find that I did not encounter this issue and enjoyed the book without reservation.

I received a copy of Queens of the Age of Chivalry from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As always, Alison Weirs book about women in the British Monarchy is intriguing, full of wonderful facts, and enlightening to someone who has read lots of books on this topic. Though so many books about monarchs focus only on the men, this book helps you see into the lives of the women. Queens of the Age of Chivalry details the lives of 5 Medieval queens and all of the lovely intrigue that women in royal positions always have. When reading the book, which reads like fiction, I cannot stop thinking about these woman as the very real people that they were, and how difficult a role they must play. I think Anne of Bohemia is my favorite, as there is more to her story that we will never know.
I give this book five stars and look forward to whatever Ms Weir writes next! Thank you NetGalley!

I was provided a copy of this book from NetGalley and Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I'm not sure when I discovered Alison Weir but not too long ago I looked through some books I've had for 25+ years and there were a few of hers on the Tudors. Last year I was given the opportunity to read an ARC of a novel of one of the Tudor queens, and I was thoroughly impressed. It seems whether it's fiction or nonfiction, Weir is a consummate writer.

I'm not gonna lie--this book is dense and took me weeks to finish. And while I found all the queens fascinating in their own way, there did come a point when I was hoping for it all to end so I could go on to lighter reading. But I persevered. It's excellent writing and adeptly researched, but not a book you want to speed read through. I think I would have liked it better if I read the book over a longer period of time and in sections according to a particular queen.

I really do love Weir's writing and the fact that she shines the light on the women of British history. However, sometimes much is said about the kings and I'm guessing that's simply because there wasn't any information about a particular queen at a particular time. What was revealed about Marguerite, Isabella, Phillippa, Anne and Isabella and how they navigated life as queen helps paint a broader picture of English history in general.

I highly recommend this book, as I do all of Weir's, to further understand women's roles in society throughout the ages.

Alison Weir has earned a well-deserved reputation as a hard-working historian of medieval and early modern Britain. Her books are uniformly well-researched, and read like novels. I have read a number of her books and learned something from all of them. N.B. There is another woman of the same name who is an insufferable bigot; they are two different people.

This book covers basically fourteenth-century England. The queens of this period are not retiring ladies who kept their opinions to themselves; they were basically tough-minded women who either supported or deposed their husbands.

This was a most interesting book. I was actually familiar with a lot of the history, so I was fascinated by Marguerite of France, the second wife of Edward I. I did not know about her political machinations attempting to break up her stepson's romance with his male lover. If someone had succeeded in curbing Edward II's indulgences of his boyfriends how differently the fourteenth century might have played out! Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was, as most history books tend to be, fairly boring, but incredibly well-researched and thoughtful. I only rate it three stars because it's something I probably won't pick up again, but if you have any interest at all in the subject, it's a very good book to pick up.

The author writes clearly and entertainingly about the rich history of the Plantagenet queens of England for an unfamiliar audience.

It’s customary for the medieval history to be presented through the viewpoint of men, as it was a time of even noble and royal women being little but chattel, men’s property, and the wombs to propagate dynasties. They were who history happened to, not the makers of it. In Queens of the Age of Chivalry, however, Alison Weir tries to bring them from the shadows behind the throne into the spotlight, with varying success.

Out of five queens — Marguerite of France (wife of Edward I), Isabella of France (wife of Edward II), Philippa of Hainault (wife of Edward III), Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois (first and second wives of Richard II) — only Isabella of France really succeeded in leaving a strong mark on history as anything but a wife and mother but as a power in her own right. So no wonder that it is Isabella’s story (and the tumultuous years of history of that part of the world during her reign) that takes up the bulk of the book and its most interesting pages.

I admit I was also primed to like Isabella’s story even before this book, as once upon a time I used to be a preteen obsessed with Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings book series — the seven-book epic chronicling the events that lead to a 100-year conflicts between England and France, the end of the Capet dynasty and the riee of the Valois dynasty in France, the end of Edward II reign in England, supplanted by his unhappy wife Queen Isabella, and the start of Edward III reign. Isabella and both Edwards, the Despensers, Roger Mortimer — all those names to me already felt familiar and I was invested from the beginning.

But as for the other four (well, maybe with the exception of Philippa of Hainault, Isabella’s daughter-in-law), I was a bit more lukewarm as their stories were just less interesting and impactful and they remained mostly relegated to the shadows of men throughout their lives. At least they seemed to have happy marriages, unlike Isabella, so at least there’s that.

This book took me a while to get through, being very long and quite dense — although still enjoyable. Weir does not skimp on details or historical background, and why the sheer amount of details/names/events binging on it was pretty much impossible as we saw one Plantagenet succeeded by another and another and another, and another. But Weir still manages to keep it interesting, avoiding dry and stuffy tone, and does something that I quite appreciated — giving equivalents to the 14th century sums of money in modern amounts of money, which certainly underscored the disgustingly lavish lifestyles of royalty.

I feel much better versed in the English royalty of the 14th century now. Maybe I still have a chance at being erudite enough?

4 stars.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve previously read at least seven books from Alison Weir. Weir writes about British royal history and she and Philippa Gregory are my two favorites sources writing both non-fiction and fiction books. This book covers five queens from 1299 to 1399. They were the wives of four kings. Marguerite of France (wife of Edward I), Isabella of France (Edward II), Philippa of Hainault (Edward III), Anne of Bohemia (Richard II), and Isabella of Valois (second queen of Richard II). Weir makes history readable and accessible. I can always count on her books to be well researched with sources documented. There is a lot of information to absorb from how money was spent on clothing and entertaining to alliances during turbulent times. These are not familiar queens like Elizabeth I but they all played a part in shaping England. This is the third in Weir's Medieval Queen series. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Another solid installment in Weir’s nonfiction “Queens” series. I love how it explores a time I know a little about from the different women’s perspectives. While some were influential, like Edward II’s Queen Isabella, there are others, like the Queens of Richard II, whose stories get lost in the chaos that was his reign, or Philippa, who was a steadying influence on Edward III.

I'm a huge fan of Alison Weir and this series. I think this is such a fun way to learn more about some incredible female historical figures.

This was a good and well researched book covering Marguerite of France, wife of Edward I; Isabella of France, wife of Edward II; Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III; Anne of Bohemia, first wife of Richard II; and Isabella of Valois, the second wife of Richard II. Of all the women, I found Isabella of France the most fascinating- she worked to raise armies, fight to put her son on the throne over her husband, and was incredibly strong against most conventions of the day, which is probably why contemporary chroniclers disliked her so much. You get the chance to learn a great deal about the time period these women lived in: what society was like, what role religion played in daily life as well as politics, the politics of the time, etc.

An interesting book that will fascinate readers, an excellent continuation of Weir's Medieval Queens series.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Fascinating! As always this is impeccably researched and written in an approachable style that informs and entertains. I'm a fan of Weir, whose portraits of Queens have given me insight not only into the women themselves but also into the politics of their respective periods. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A must read.

I have been on a nonfiction kick recently and this one stood out for many reasons. I loved the honesty and emotion. I felt like I was in the moment with the author and I felt like the articulation of the circumstances were easy to understand which I appreciated with such a complex issue.

First line: In September 1299, the Princess Marguerite of France, found herself on a ship crossing the English Channel, with the white cliffs of Dover drawing ever nearer as she sailed to England to marry its King, Edward I.

Summary: In the third installment of the Queens of England series, Alison Weir covers the lives of Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois. Some of these women caused turmoil during their lifetimes but all of them experienced years of change including the Black Death, revolts and the start of the Hundred Years War.

My Thoughts: With each book in this series I learn so much about the people and the time they lived in. Life was completely different than anything I could imagine but I find it fascinating. As I read along I kept checking out the photos of the tombs or sites mentioned in the book. It is a shame that so many items have been lost or destroyed over the years and at the same time that we still have items belonging to some of these queens. I cannot wait for Alison Weir’s final two books in the series even though I know more about the upcoming women but I am hoping to learn even more about them.

When we think of the title “medieval queen,” a few things come to mind. They were seen as mere trophy wives who were only suitable for making alliances and giving birth to children. It may be a cruel assessment for a modern audience, but that was the reality of the medieval world. However, the late Plantagenet queens decided to step outside the socially acceptable path for their lives and forged a new one. In Alison Weir’s latest nonfiction book, “Queens of the Age of Chivalry: England’s Medieval Queens,” she explores the lives of five Plantagenet queens who had to adapt quickly to the ever-changing world of late medieval England.

Thank you, Ballantine Books and Net Galley, for sending me a copy of this book. I have read and enjoyed the previous books in England’s Medieval Queens series, and I wanted to see which queens would be included in this book.

The years covered in this book are 1299-1399, a time of turmoil, change, and the plague. During that time, five queens forever left their marks on England: Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, and Isabella of Valois. Their royal husbands were Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II. Since these queens were foreign brides, it was a balancing act between what their home country expected of them and what England expected their new queen to do, which was, in most cases, to give birth to heirs and to stay out of politics.

We begin with Marguerite of France, who was the second wife of Edward I and the mother of Edward II; her most extraordinary claim to fame was to try and prevent her son from ever seeing Piers Gaveston, which sadly did not last long. Isabella of France had to deal with Edward II’s favoritism to not only Piers Gaveston but to Hugh Despenser the Younger. This led her to join Roger Mortimer and rebel against her husband. This decision would create a black cloud around her reputation for centuries.

As part of the rebellion, Edward III married Philippa of Hainault, who was the closest of these five queens to be the ideal medieval queen. She gave Edward III many heirs that would help define future generations. Richard II’s first wife, Anne of Bohemia, was the essence of sophistication, but her death sent him reeling, forcing him to take a child bride named Isabella of Valois.

Being a queen in the late medieval period was not easy, especially with the Black Death, the Hundred Years’ War, the Peasants’ Revolt, and internal struggles were constantly in play, but the five queens mentioned in this book were able to navigate this tumultuous time to create their legacies. Weir once again weaves fun facts and compelling tales of each queen to give her readers her perspective on their true legacies. If you have enjoyed the previous books in “England’s Medieval Queens” series, I would highly recommend you read “Queens of the Age of Chivalry: England’s Medieval Queens” by Alison Weir.

I've really enjoyed learning so much about the women of Medieval England and the role they play in politics and royal rulings. This is no exception, and I look forward to continuing with the series.
*
This tells of England's queens between 1299 and 1399, five women spanning four kings. I did not know much of their stories before reading this and learned a lot through the meticulous research and details provided.
*
The one that fascinated me the most was Isabella, the wife of Edward II. That relationship sounds like a disaster, but it was so interesting to see how much of a role she had in his fate. Also included in this timeframe: the genesis of the Black Death, Geoffrey Chaucer and the stories that inspired The Canterbury Tales, and the seeds of the War of the Roses.
*
I will say, this is dense and not a fast read, but if you're interested in getting really into the weeds of Medieval Queens, this will do it!

This was a fantastic book. I love Alison Weir. She makes history come alive, and though I love history in general, she doesn't fall into the trap of making it dry-reading. I highly recommend this novel for anything interested in European Monarch History, or women's history.

The final book in a trilogy, it is the only one that I have read. The author was recommended to me by a fellow Bookstagrammer.

This book recounts the stories of five queen consorts of Plantagenet period, during the age of chivalry in the fourteenth century . They are Marguerite of France, wife of Edward I, Isabella of France (Edward II), Philippa of Hainault (Edward III), Anne of Bohemia, first wife of Richard II, and his second wife, Isabella of Valois

In this meticulously researched tome we learn not only of these five women, but also quite a bit about their royal spouses. and the importance of these unions.

Although there is a lot of information, no stuffy nonfiction chronicle is this. Rather it reads more like a novel. I really liked that when Weir cited money, she gave the equivalent in today’s price; this provided a meaningful perspective on the costs.

If you are interested in English royal history, particularly medieval, this will be a very satisfying read.

Did not finish. I am a huge Alison Weir fan, she has a natural talent for breaking down very dense history materials. However I feel this is one that she just bit off more than she could finish or that readers can finish. While I am all for showcasing lesser people from history, I feel like this book has too many lesser known queens to keep track of outside of any setting that isn't academic. I know this seems childish, but I feel like this book would benefit greatly from pictures whether it be tapestries that depict their deeds or relics that have been passed down that we know belongs to them, just so we could identify more with these very obscure women who seem to blend into each other a lot.

Queens of the Age of Chivalry is an excellent example of a book that benefits those who are familiar and not so familiar with the Plantagenet Queens presented. The presentation of the material, though non-fiction, read like a story, which I believe makes for an enjoyable read and makes it easier to absorb all the details of these interesting Queens. Though I know Weir has written books about many other non-fiction books about English monarchs, I hope and look forward to see and read many more especially after reading this book!