QUEENS OF THE AGE OF CHIVALRY

Five consorts of 14th-century British kings, hitherto obscure, come vividly to life.

The prolific Weir, a serious historian and diligent researcher, specializes in English royal women, having recounted the lives of Anne Boleyn, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Mary, Queen of Scots, and many others in both novels and books of nonfiction. This book completes the author’s Medieval Queens trilogy, following Queens of Conquest and Queens of the Crusades. Weir points out that her subjects “grew up in an age in which society regarded women as inferior beings.” The education of princesses emphasized piety and aimed “to increase their desirability in the royal marriage market and equip them to be the ornaments of courts.” Some may not have been literate, and their public influence varied from negligible to considerable. As objects of diplomatic strategy, most were French, England’s major rival, betrothed in childhood and married a few years later. In fact, 12 was considered the ideal age for marriage. Most of these royal women accepted their privileged but subordinate role, which featured a great deal of ceremony, religious observance, pregnancy, and family matters as well as occasional brushes with the nasty politics of the time. In addition to political matters, the author examines the women’s wardrobes, hairstyles, jewelry, designs of their living quarters, architecture of their castles, travel itineraries, and their royal domestic routines. History buffs may skim some of these sections. Fortunately, Weir regularly steps back to assess 14th-century Europe, “an age that witnessed high drama: the toppling of two kings, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death and the Peasants’ Revolt.” At the same time, she writes, “England saw a burgeoning nationalism and the rise and prosperity of the merchant classes.” The author includes helpful family trees for the Plantagenets and the French royal connections at the time.

Well-researched, competent popular medieval history.