The story of King Edward III of England’s granddaughters tells a tale of power and ambition. Through their political marriages, these granddaughters helped make England a strong and formidable country. This biography tells the story of King Edward III’s nine out of eleven granddaughters. These women led scandalous lives. This story shines light on forgotten royal women.

Before reading this book, I had never heard of these women before. Therefore, I was intrigued by them. One of my favorites of King Edward III’s granddaughters was Phillippa of Lancaster, who became Queen of Portugal. She gave birth to two famous sons. They were Henry the Navigator and Edward, who became known as the Philosopher King. Another of my favorites was her sister, Catalina. She became queen consort and regent of Castile. Philippa of Clarence was also another favorite of mine. This was because she was the ancestress of the House of York. Therefore, I found each of these royal women fascinating!

Overall, it was a very informative and comprehensive biography of King Edward III’s granddaughters. It also focuses on the impact each of these princesses made in European history. I found the biography to be disjointed and disorganized. It would have been better had it been narrowly focused on each woman. I think that it should have been broken up into two books. Instead, I found that I received a short summary of each woman and was not as in depth as I would like. Nevertheless, it opened my eyes to these royal women I knew nothing about! Still, this book is a must read for fans of English royalty! I recommend this book for fans of Katherine Swinford, Daughters of Chivalry, and Plantagenet Princesses!

Another lovely book from Kathryn Warner. It is in part a list of who married whom, but there's a lot more than that. Two of John of Gaunt's daughters married royals in Spain and Portugal, and established successful dynasties which lasted for decades, even centuries. Among their descendants were Isabella and Ferdinand, Henry the Navigator and Phillip II. In this way, they fulfilled Gaunt's ambition gaining a crown.

There were a few surprises here as well. Edward III’s beloved eldest daughter, Isabella did not marry until her 30s to a Frenchman, Enguerrand de Courcy. Although her daughter grew up in France, she was an ancestor of Emperor Charles V as well as Charles II and the Stuart monarchs. Isabella Plantagenet was thus the ancestor of most of the monarchs of England from 1600 onwards.
Joan Beaufort, one of my personal favourites was the maternal grandmother of the Yorkist Kings Edward IV and Richard III. So much for the idea of “pure” Yorkist blood untainted by Beaufort illegitimacy: they were grandsons of one of the original 4 Beaufort siblings!

Warner once again reveals how women could wield power through not just their marriage and children but through the bequests of land and their relationships with the church. A woman choosing her own husband though, could be a potent force. Most studies on the children of Edward III focus on his sons and their descendants, this much needed study reorientates the focus on his many daughters and granddaughters. Women whom he loved and honoured: even those who were born after his death understood the legacy of their royal power and blood.

Thanks to Pen and Sword books for approving me for this title on Netgalley. I was not required to write a review, either positive or negative and all opinions expressed are my own.

An informative and interesting read based on characters of history I otherwise would not of been aware of.

Always refreshing to read a study dedicated to a woman or women in their own right, not as a foot note to their husband / father /other male relatives story.

Everyone is related to Edward III. Seriously hasn’t that been proven? That there is an outstanding amount of persons in England and other royal families in other countries that can trace their heritage back to Edward III? It blows my mind! He sounds magnificent, like the ultimate in leadership, a role model for the masses.
I was impressed by how the author used a repetitive pattern to not alienate an avid reader, but instead, captivate the reader to continue to the next chapters almost like an onion. I did not feel aggravated by this feature, it was masterfully done. I especially liked the epilogue that continued the family tree, as well as how it sharpened my understanding of the ancestors’ associations to future nobility. Well done!

This was ok but I was hoping for more than just chapters of begats. I did really enjoy the glimpses into how you go about researching something like this but because that was where all the meat was, I found the end notes to be more interesting than the book

Edward III was a famously successful king in terms of monarchical reign and length, he was also the grandsire of royalty and nobility across Europe. In this book Warner considers the influence of this monarch in terms of the lives of his nine granddaughters. I found this incredibly fascinating and learnt a lot more about the lives of a number of powerful women. Surprising to me was the huge influence that these women had in Spain and Portugal through their founding of dynasties.

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Granddaughters of Edward III" by Kathryn Warner, which provides a glimpse into the lives of the four women who are the focus of the book: Philippa, Elizabeth, Mary, and Isabella. Through her writing, the author brings these women to life, making them seem like real people rather than just names in a history book.

What I particularly appreciated about this book was how it shed light on the experiences of women during the medieval period. The granddaughters of Edward III lived in a world that was dominated by men, and yet they managed to carve out their own paths and leave their own mark on history. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in medieval history or women's history.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

We can read in the annotation that this book is a joint biography of the granddaughters of Edward III and his wife Philippa. We'll get a lot more. Thanks to the author's style, I consider this book the best book I've ever read.

She did have to deal with an overload of names. 11 granddaughters, more than 11 corresponding husbands, plus the children and their partners. The fact that the author always repeats who is who and their previous fates makes it impossible to get lost in the book.

The book is also a fitting prequel to the War of the Roses and the later Tudor power struggles. The ties to the royal family of most families were forged during this time.

The various biographies are also set in the (legal) context of the time. Beyond that, I appreciate the brief mentions of the Portuguese rulers. Their fates are juicier than the marital escapades of Henry VIII.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pen and Swords History for a free digital review copy. This is my honest review.

A look at the lives of nine of Edward III's grandchildren, including one who became queen of Portugal, & another who would become the grandmother of two later kings of England. It also discusses the strong links between England & Castile in the fourteenth century. Now, I read a book about the medieval queens of England last year so I had heard of some of the main players before, but it was a real test to try & get it all straight in your head, as to who was related to who, as you are reading this. Many of the prominent characters had multiple marriages & offspring & there were lots of similar names.

I have awarded this book 3.5 stars (rounded up) for the sheer scale of the research & in awe of all the names & familial relationships the author had to organise. It can be a little dry in places due to the plethora of information but I found it to be an informative, interesting read on the whole.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Pen & Sword, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I am always wanting books about women in history, especially in the medieval time frame! This is no run-of-the-mill biography about Plantagenets, this book does a great job of telling the stories of lives that aren't really covered much in history. This book is well-researched, written extremely well and so, so interesting! The medieval history of these women is juicy! I would love this book be made into a documentary on these women, as well.

There is so much information about women and the families of Edward III's granddaughters that I did not know, pretty much the whole book! The Granddaughters of Edward III is a really good read and I'd recommend to women's history fans, European history fans, and medieval history fans.

Edward III’s famously happy marriage to Philippa of Hainault produced 12 children, six of whom had children of their own. From the birth of Philippa of Clarence in 1355 until the death of Joan Beaufort in 1440, Kathryn Warner’s The Granddaughters of Edward III tells the story of the 11 women who held that distinction.

Many of the women whose lives were described in this book were quite impressive and lived fascinating lives, including John of Gaunt’s three daughters Elizabeth, Philippa and Catalina, the last two of whom became beloved queens of Portugal and Castile respectively as well as ancestresses of Henry VIII’s first wife, Katherine of Aragon. The relations between them were also interesting.

Although I enjoyed it on the whole, my main problem with this book was that there were SO many people - the granddaughters themselves and their (often multiple) husbands and children - that I felt like I needed a scorecard to keep track of. However, there is a list of major characters at the beginning. It might have been easier to deal with each separately than in one long chronological narrative, although that would also have necessitated repeating some information - or maybe to focus on a few of the best documented. It also didn’t help, although the author certainly had no control over this), that so many of the husbands had the same or similar names, first and last. Bourchiers, Nevilles, Staffords, Despensers, and Mortimers popped up with depressing regularity, and one of the granddaughters actually married two different men named Richard Beauchamp. It’s a wonder that anyone at all was allowed to marry without a papal dispensation, given how closely related they all were.

However, I definitely felt that it was worth it to persevere, and I found out a lot about not only the individual women but also about the power politics and machinations of the later Plantagenet court, as well as some of the others in Europe. 3.5 stars.

I received a copy of The Granddaughters of Edward III from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read Anya Seton's classic "Katherine" when I was a young teen and immediately fell in love with the era. I went on to major in history with a focus on medieval England. So I knew many of the players in The Granddaughters of Edward III, which covers the mid/late 1300s and early 1400s. I like that Warner focuses on the women of the time; their marriages, their children, the gifts they received or gave, etc. Of course, I was partial to reading about the daughters of John of Gaunt, Edward III fourth child but one of the most powerful men of the era and the father of Henry IV. The research is detailed and meticulous. Having said that, I had to constantly look up which granddaughter was which, because of first name duplication. I think a different arrangement of the subject matter, such as one granddaughter per section, might have been less confusing. Someone who does not really know about this time period will need to suspend any modern-day sensibilities about child marriage, arranged marriage, marriage between close kin, etc. If you are looking for a nonfiction piece of work that reads like a novel, this is not that book, but if you love medieval history, then give it a try.

People had no need for social media back in the 14-15th centuries, they had the royal families to entertain them.
Warner tackles the progeny of Edward III, focusing on his granddaughters, all eleven of them.
I love royal history and it’s fascinating to delve into their lives, especially as they acted on their own volition and defied authority.
I did get very very confused at times since there are so many names to sort out and keep track.

I admit, that I thought this book would read like an old Jean Plaidy book and was excited to get my hands on it. What I got was a book that was very well-researched, and very detailed. There is a lot of information here. There are interesting lives to read about, but sometimes it read like the Bible to me with the offspring being listed. I think that anyone doing any research on Edward III or the royal family will enjoy this very much. If you are wanting a book that reads like non-fiction, this is not the book. I did like it and am glad that I read it.

For once, a historical book I requested on Net Galley turned out to be a mixed bag for me, and it took me a long time to go through it. I normally choose the topics I’m interested in very thoroughly, be they areas of history I have extended knowledge of or, on the contrary, those I’m a complete blank canvas, so to say. Knowing the Medieval line of succession on the English throne in its vague outlines, I found the proposed subject quite fascinating—it’s not often that a historian focuses on the women of that time, so I was happy to be granted access to this book.

It was very interesting, I have to admit at least that, and seemed to be very well researched. Yet I just couldn’t follow the author in all her meanderings, traipsings-off, goings to and fro; too many side stories, engaging yet sometimes seemingly unrelated anecdotes, and the constant wavering between chronological or logical order when she’s portraying this or that historical persona. As many people had roughly the same names (I lost count of the Philippas and Johns after a while), the whole reading experience ended up being a bit of a struggle; I had a very hard time remembering who was who, and when which event took place.

All in all, an enjoyable read, but a bit too much information for me. (3.5 stars)

This non-fiction book is so good! Whenever I picked up "The Granddaughters of Edward III", I was whisked back in time, and learned something new each and every time I read this book.

Kathryn Warner is such an amazing author, and she brilliantly makes history jump right off of the page before the reader's eyes. I can only begin to imagine the amount of research she must have done for this book, as I was so immersed in the history being told.

Throughout this book, It was so intriguing to see how things connected, how each woman was an important part of history and how they impacted it for future generations, and I plan to do more research on my own as well.

If you enjoy learning about the Late Middle Ages, I highly recommend this book! It kept me turning the pages, and I look forward to reading what Ms. Warner writes next.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pen & Sword History for the ARC of this book! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Granddaughters of Edward III by Kathryn Warner was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. This book interested me in that I have been conducting some genealogical research and I am related to the Plantagenet royalty family. To be honest, most everyone is if they do the research. This book helped me immensely in filling in some gaps in my family tree or just knowing more information, with marriages to other kingdoms, beheadings, wars, etc. . If you, or someone you buy gifts for, is interested in the English royal families of times past, certainly give this book a read.

4 Stars

A well researched book and a very interesting book on English history.I would thoroughly recommend this book to everyone. A real page turner for sure.

Kathryn Warner’s latest book, is a fascinating look at the 11 granddaughters of King Edward III and Queen Philippa of Hainault. While I knew a little about Edward III and his sons, I did not know very much about his granddaughters. Two granddaughters (Philippa and Catalina of Lancaster) became the much beloved Queens of Portugal and Castile & Leon, others married into the nobility and one became a nun. All had to weather changes of fortune during the turbulent years after the death of Edward III, when first Richard II and then Henry IV took the throne. Thanks to this very readable and skilfully woven together account, these 11 women can take their places in the spotlight.

My overriding thought while reading this book was: I recommend an outline. There is a reason when I was a kid we learned to outline what we wanted to say before we wrote - it helps you organize your information so that what you want to say comes through. Even now when I write an article, I watch for places where it goes 'bump' instead of smoothly flowing from idea to idea.

Warner has SO MUCH information, and it's all interesting. But it's rather disorganized, which makes it hard to take in. She couldn't entirely decide between chronological and by subject, it appears. The chapter headings are just one item in a slew of others that appear in each chapter - sometimes the other things in there are related chronologically and sometimes they are not. She is right that the endless duplication of names causes confusion and mostly she does quite well at distinguishing the people from one another. However, she will often throw parenthetical information in when a person is mentioned, that leaves you slightly dizzy and forgetting where you were - it's like a place had to be found for every known bit of information even if sometimes it was only tangentially relevant. I am not sure how best to deal with little things like that, but having a good tight organization of the whole would have really helped - chronological chapters talking about what was going on with each woman in a particular decade is one possible approach.

The most interesting sections were about the two daughters of John of Gaunt who married into royalty and became queens of Portugal and Castile, maybe exactly because they were monarchs and more is known about them. I also was interested by her comment in passing concerning revised opinions of the French queen Isabeau of Bavaria, and I want to look further into that, she is absolutely correct that historical fiction has in part created modern ideas abouit that particular person.

If you don't already know a lot about this period, you might have a hard time reading this book and keeping the characters sorted. If nothing else, you will come away with a fuller understanding of how everyone in the royal families of France, Spain, and England were related to one another...

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a chance to read an advance copy of this book!