From before the Norman Conquest of England to the Tudor times, Scotland was an independent neighbour and often enemy of England. Coveted by her southern relation, the kings of Scotland often had to fight to retain their thrones. Much is written about the men but less so about the women. In this book Bennett Connolly attempts to redress that balance with a supportive exploration of the lives of the wives. Unfortunately for many there is little extant evidence but weaving the lives of these women into a more generalised history of the nation is an interesting perspective.

Meticulous research shows. This book proves that.

This author did a deep dive to reveal the Scottish queens who impacted the state, the church and their husbands. Heretofore, only knew of Macbeth's wife. Even then thought Shakespeare's portrayal was of a vindictive, social climbing woman. This book provided a fairer interpretation as well as introducing the reader to other women (wives, daughters, mothers) who ruled the Scottish realm.

This book reminds the reader that Great Britain history is not confined to England and its Kings and Queens.
Scotland has a place at the (history) table too.

#ScotlandsMedievalQueens #NetGalley

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Pen & Sword-Pen & Sword History, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I very much struggled at the beginning of this and kinda lapsed into boredom but I totally did myself a favor and persevered.It is written in a scholarly fashion so don't let that put you off.By the time I got to the Rise of the House of Stewart I was absolutely fascinated.The stories of the queens are inserted into the accounts of the kings and are quite political so basically there are only bits and bobs on the actual queens themselves.Mostly what are on official records such as births, marriages,land endowments, building and church foundings and deaths.There are personal details but they are pretty sparse.I would recommend though if you are researching Scotland as the information seems sound and informative.

A very useful reference for the period.

If reading as one book it can get repetitive as it often recaps events from previous chapters, however to jump in & read solely about the people you're interested in it is very thorough. The early queens chapters are understandably short on detail about the women themselves & have more to do with the kings & what happened during their reigns.

I'll be referencing this one in my upcoming essay so many thanks.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This book had me at hello, during the introduction the author mentions that the starting point for the book was her son insisting she set the record straight about Lady MacBeth. As someone who is always annoyed at Shakespeare’s depiction of Gruoch I was sold.

I knew vague details about most of these women from history at school and a previous book about Scottish queens, but this brought so much more detail to a period that isn’t often written about outside of the wars of independence.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves medieval history, especially women’s history and the history of Scotland

I chose this book based on its title. I expected medallions of individual queens – information about their lives, the reasons for their marriages, and what they experienced at the Scottish court. Instead, the book offers a view of Scottish history through the eyes of these queens, exactly as the last sentence of the annotation claims: *This is the story of Scotland through their eyes*.

What really surprised me was the number of characters that appear in the book. The story flowed very well, and I truly enjoyed reading it, as if I were reading a thrilling novel. Additionally, I learned many historical facts, such as about the first queen who has a preserved portrait from her time.

The beginning of the book, which deals with Lady Macbeth, caught my attention because I learned new things about this famous character, who is often only seen through Shakespeare's play.

If you want to learn more about Scottish history in detail, this book is for you.

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

Loved this! What an informative look into Scotland's history. I would recommend this to anyone looking to expand their knowledge of great Britain!

I had high hopes for Scotland’s Medieval Queens but was sadly left wanting. It is Medieval Scotland and Scotland adjacent, however, I can’t say it truly centres the women. I appreciate there is limited information available on this topic and I will commend the author on their excellent research, but they could have pushed much deeper into those stories and explored further through this lens.

I will also say there is something about the way Sharon Bennett Connolly discussed Gàidhlig throughout that makes me really uncomfortable. There are sections where I understand these were views held by the monarchy and wider English society with direct quotes from writing during that period. However, the framing around these sections was poorly worded or maybe completely misunderstood by the author. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… The attempt to wipe out a language and have it branded barbaric is a classic colonialist move and the wider context around this aspect could have been handled much better in this book.

The bibliography was well done and I think this is a helpful stepping stone for many people wanting to explore the monarchy in medieval Scotland. The writing style is very accessible and overall, this is a rather easy, if frustrating, read.

Both engaging and informative, this was a book I very much enjoyed reading. The writing was smooth and the Queens lives and times where fun to read about.

Scotland’s Medieval Queens by Sharon Bennett Connolly is exactly the kind of historical deep dive that hits the sweet spot between rigorous research and captivating storytelling. It’s a sweeping, intricate portrait of the women who helped shape Scotland’s turbulent past—full of power, tragedy, love, and betrayal. Connolly doesn’t just dust off their stories from the footnotes of history; she gives these queens a commanding presence that pulls you in and keeps you riveted.

The book spans centuries, starting with the saintly Margaret of Wessex, who not only influenced Scottish religious practices but also became a cultural icon, and moving through queens like Elizabeth de Burgh, Joan Beaufort, and Margaret of Denmark—each of whom faced their own uniquely brutal challenges in a country where political alliances could turn deadly at a moment’s notice. Connolly excels at showing how these women were not passive figures standing behind their royal husbands but formidable players who navigated war, imprisonment, heartbreak, and betrayal with remarkable resilience.

One of the standout elements of this book is how Connolly places these queens’ stories within the larger context of Scottish history without losing sight of their personal narratives. Scotland’s medieval period wasn’t exactly known for peace and quiet—it was a time of bloody wars for independence, political upheaval, and relentless power struggles. Yet despite this chaos, these queens were not just collateral damage or pawns. They wielded influence in ways both public and private, whether through strategic marriages, diplomacy, or sheer tenacity.

Connolly’s writing is accessible without sacrificing depth, making it feel more like you’re hearing fascinating stories over a pint in a cozy pub than slogging through a dry history textbook. And while she doesn’t shy away from the darker elements of their lives—imprisonment, loss, betrayal—she also gives space to moments of love, hope, and even triumph. The love story between Joan Beaufort and James I, for example, is romantic and tragic in equal measure, and Connolly captures that complexity beautifully.

If I had any critique, it would be that a few sections felt slightly rushed—some queens, especially those who lived quieter or less dramatic lives, didn’t get quite as much narrative weight as their more infamous counterparts. But to be fair, it’s hard to balance such a wide range of figures without some stories taking center stage.

At 4.5 stars, this book is an absorbing read that will appeal to both history buffs and casual readers alike. Connolly has a gift for bringing these medieval queens out of the shadows and placing them squarely in the spotlight where they belong. If you love history told through the lens of the people who lived it—and you’ve always wanted to know what life was really like for the women who had to navigate Scotland’s violent, unpredictable political landscape—this book is an absolute gem.

I enjoyed this well-researched book but much of it was speculation because not that much is really known about Scotland’s medieval queens. There seemed to be more information about the kings in this book! However, they are all interesting. Many of them were not only good wives and mothers - they also founded abbeys and supported religious houses, took a hands-on approach to the management of estates and even had good diplomatic skills.

Queen Ermengarde, for example, was influential in public affairs and even negotiated with English emissaries. Queen Joan found her purpose in pursuing peace between Scotland and England. Queen Annabella secured the Stewart dynasty, furthered treaties abd corresponded with foreign courts. Queen Mary, wife of James III founded a hospital and established a friary for the Franciscans.

Any lover of Scottish or royal history would enjoy this book.

This was really informative and has a narrative that makes it easy to follow. I think histories that try to cover a lot tend to get lost easily and don’t have a cohesive narrative. This was cohesive and didn’t drag on.

Solid 3.5 simply for the well-research and informative writing. At times it drags and if you are not accustomed to a book full of names and dates being thrown at the reader then it may be a little bit of a rough read.
I like that she attempted to place each woman into context particularly when there is very little historical record available to add details and facts about the life of the woman.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Not a winner, in my opinion. I found it very confusing, so many names thrown about without any context. It felt more like a genealogy book at times, and then at times more like a dry history book that mainly focused on outlining "big events". For these types of biographies - especially for the women, where so little is known - I think context, experience and emotions are much more important than genealogy. And this book had zero.

Scotland is a land of beauty and a culture all its own, but when it comes to the history of the Scottish monarchy only one word will suffice, messy. The tales of the Scottish monarchy are full of tragedies, violence, and bloody ends. As so often with many other monarchies we tend to focus on the men who wore the crown and those around them, but what about the tales of the queens who stood beside their husbands? The stories of the medieval queens of Scotland have often been overlooked for their more famous husbands, until now. Sharon Bennett Connolly has compiled the stories of these queens in her latest book, “Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From Saint Margaret to Margaret of Denmark.”

I want to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I am a big fan of Sharon Bennett Connolly and her books, so when I heard that she was writing a book about Scottish medieval queens, I knew I wanted to read it. I know very little about Scottish history, other than the Stewarts because of a different book, so I was excited to learn more.

As Connolly states in her introduction, her inspiration for this book was from the Shakespearean play Macbeth, specifically the character of Lady Macbeth. A historical figure who has been much maligned in history, Lady Macbeth’s actual name was Gruoch, and her story and Macbeth’s make a fabulous introduction to her book. We stay in the 11th century with the first queen featured heavily in this text, and that is the only saint, Saint Margaret, the wife of Malcolm III and the one who reformed the Scottish Church.

We get to explore the daughters-in-law of Saint Margaret, Ethelreda of Northumbria, Sybilla of Normandy, and Matilda of Senlis who played more quiet roles than the saintly woman whose shoes they were trying to fill. It should be noted that there were some women like Ada de Warenne who never sat on a throne or wore a crown but were the mother of a future King of Scotland, Malcolm IV the Maiden. Since Malcolm never married or had kids, the throne passed to his brother William the Lion, who was not a huge fan of the English and helped establish the Auld Alliance, with his wife Queen Ermengarde by his side. Although the Scottish did not have the best relationships with the English, it did not mean that they didn’t try to establish peace through marriage with English princesses like Joan of England and Margaret of England. Along the way, a princess of Scotland named Margaret of Scotland married Erik II of Norway, and their daughter Margaret Maid of Norway would become the first Queen Regent of Scotland, albeit for a short period.

After the death of Margaret Maid of Norway, there was to no one’s surprise, a fight for the throne that culminated with John Balliol becoming King of Scotland. The throne would pass to Robert the Bruce, with a feature from a certain rebel named William Wallace. Things were not easy for the Bruce women such as Elizabeth de Burgh and Marjorie Bruce. We also had women like Joan of the Tower and Margaret Drummond who tried to help David Bruce of Scotland rule with different results. Finally, we reach the origins of the House of Stewart with women like Euphemia Ross, Annabella Drummond, Joan Beaufort, Mary of Guelders, and finally Margaret of Denmark. Each woman added something different to the story of Scotland and had to deal with war, executions, childbirth, religious matters, and political intrigue in their unique ways to better Scotland.

I have to applaud Connolly for the amount of history she was able to cover in a single book as she covered four centuries worth of Scottish royal history and made it relatively easy to follow along. I learned so much about Scotland’s royal history and the remarkable women who were queens of Scotland. If you want a fantastic introduction to the turbulent world of medieval Scotland and the women who helped shape the monarchy, I strongly recommend you read, “Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From Saint Margaret to Margaret of Denmark” by Sharon Bennett Connolly.

This was a fantastic book about Scotland's Queens, I really didn't know a lot about the Queens and learned a lot in this book. Sharon Bennett Connolly wrote this perfectly and was glad I was able to read this.

A delightful and thoroughly researched book on the early Queens of Scotland. As not much is known on many of them (which unfortunately was not uncommon during those times), the author does a painstakingly good job of trying to piece their lives together by analyzing their husbands. A must read for any monarchy history fan. Always a bonus from me when it contains pictures! Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

As usual, history is told from a male dominated perspective. Without a doubt there are many women who have influenced the shape of events over millennia, but their story is rarely recorded. I have to confess I know very little about medieval queens, particularly the Scottish monarchs. Sharon Bennett Connolly has assembled a diverse cast and made an excellent job of recounting their role. Behind the scenes, usually, these women were playing a key part in political and court intrigues whispering sense and reason into the ear of their husbands ( and others) and without doubt helped to keep Scotland a strong, fearsome and independent country.

This book is so well written; it deals with the complexities of clan wars, struggle for power, isolation and foreign allegiances in a way that’s easy for the non academic reader to follow with interest. It’s like an adventure story in places and I had a strong sense of the heart of these women. The research appears meticulous. There’s an extensive bibliography with reference to primary and secondary sources. A great resource for further reading. A comprehensive index and best of all, at the end of the book there are numerous plates depicting some portraits and places associated with individuals. I’ve really enjoyed this title.

Scotland has a fascinating history. While it was still a male dominated world, there were a few women that managed to leave their mark in history.

There were some medieval queens that managed to do more than some of their predecessors. With the ever-changing attitudes and political landscapes, these women were often a tie that could help bind a treaty. They were mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters.

This was a pretty good read. For many of the early queens, there is not a lot of new information or really any information, so much of that was a refresher, but for the later queens we have much more.

Dive into this book and get a look at not only these grand ladies, but the men and political realities that they were dealing with each day. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is full of facts, interesting tidbits, and more. Of course, this is history, so some may find it to be a harder read than others, but I could not read this fast enough.

Spend a day in the Scottish wilds and read about these medieval queens.

A nice introduction to the history of these medieval queens that I’m sure one could use as a start of point for writing about one of the women; a reference book. Easy to follow and like always, I love that family trees/linages are included to reference back to when reading. Makes it a bit easier to keep track of your different Margarets, for example.