Eleanor of Provence: Queenship in Thirteenth-Century England

ISBN-13: 9780631227397 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 384 str.

Margaret Howell

Opis

It provides an unusually intimate and coherent picture of a woman who combined a remarkable aptitude for politics with a strong family commitment and warm friendships.

Recenzje

"Margaret Howell′s thought provoking study of King Henry III′s queen, Eleanor of Provence: Queenship in Thirteenth–Century England, has come as a welcome, timely and much needed addition ... Margaret Howell′s carefully researched volume has finally allowed Eleanor of Provence to emerge as one of the most important and dominating figures in English political life during her husband′s reign." Reviews in History

"Margaret Howell has written a supremely good book ... in its broad and humane sympathies, as well as in its contribution to political history, this is a book that could hardly have been better done." Times Literary Supplement

"Howell′s reassessment of Eleanor′s role in 13th–century politics and her approach to the study of queenship make this impressively researched work of import to scholars. Her readable and primarily narrative style should nonetheless appeal to a wider audience." Times Higher Education Supplement

"Howell′s study of one of England′s most long–lived queens is thoroughly delightful, engaging, and grounded in impressive scholarship." Choice

"A scholarly and very readable biography" American Historical Review

"In this deeply researched and well–written work, Howell gives, in telling detail, the life of the queen and her place in the larger events of her time ... Above all, given that counselors played as large a part as they did in Henry′s reign, Howell has written a compelling and illuminating account of one counselor who has been too often overlooked, Henry′s Queen." Speculum

Spis treści

List of Plates.

List of Figures.

Preface.

List of Abbreviations.

Note on Money.

1. Childhood, Marriage and Coronation.

2. The Young Queen.

3. Queen′s Men and King′s Men.

4. The Queen′s Life–Style.

5. Queen Regent.

6. Faction.

7. Revolution.

8. Reaction.

9. War.

10. A Troubled Peace.

11. Queenship: Image, Practice and Resources.

12. Queen Mother.

Bibliography.

Index.

O autorze

Margaret Howell read History at St Hilda′s College, Oxford. Her book, Regalian Right in Medieval England, resulted from postgraduate research in the University of London, and she has also published several articles on the ecclesiastical and political history of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Her career in education included the headship of Nuneaton High School and a principal lectureship at the College of St Paul and St Mary, Cheltenham.

Blurb

This is the first biography of Eleanor of Provence. As consort of Henry III, from 1236 to 1272, Queen Eleanor has been noticed almost entirely for her promotion of Savoyards in England, but the significance of her political role goes far beyond this. Her performance as regent, her determined resistance to baronial reform and her key part in bringing about the fall of Simon de Montfort′s government invite new appraisal.

The book draws on the rich sources available, to reveal the interaction of the private and public facets of the queen′s life, the cultural and spiritual influences to which she responded and the character of her queenship. Eleanor′s changing relationships with her husband and her eldest son, the future Edward I, are here explored in both their personal and political context. The author looks finally at the years of Eleanor′s widowhood, her entry into Amesbury still in control of her dower, and her death and commemoration in 1291.

Eleanor of Provence provides an unusually intimate and coherent picture of a woman who combined a remarkable aptitude for politics with a strong family commitment and warm friendships. The book will be welcomed by all those interested in the workings of medieval politics and court life, and in the public and private role of queens.