She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth (64 page)

‘Beginnings 2: Long live the queen?’ draws on a wide variety of sources, including those used in the rest of the book. It opens with Margaret Paston, for whom see
Paston Letters and Papers of
the Fifteenth Century
, ed. N. Davis, R. Beadle and C. Richmond, 3 vols (2004–5), and my
Blood & Roses: The Paston Family in the
Fifteenth Century
(2004). For the history of women in the middle ages, invaluable starting-points are Henrietta Leyser,
Medieval
Women: A Social History of Women in England, 450–1500
(1995) and Mavis Mate,
Women in Medieval English Society
(2000). On the power of the crown in medieval England, see Christine Carpenter,
The Wars of the Roses
(1997), chapter 2, and Gerald Harriss,
Shap
ing the Nation: England, 1360–1461
(2005), Part I. For the Bayeux Tapestry, see D. M. Wilson,
The Bayeux Tapestry
(1985). John Knox’s
First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment
of Women
, published in Geneva in 1558, can be read in facsimile via participating libraries at
Early English Books Online
(http://eebo.chadwyck.com), or in
The Works of John Knox
, ed. D. Laing, 6 vols (1846–64). For Thomas Becon’s
An Humble Supplication unto God
for the Restoring of His Holy Word unto the Church of England
, published at Strasbourg in 1554, see
Early English Books Online
(http://eebo.chadwyck.com) or
Prayers and Other Pieces of Thomas Becon
, ed. J. Ayre (1844).

For Matilda the chronicle sources are voluminous and fascinating. For Orderic Vitalis, see
The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic
Vitalis
, ed. and trans. M. Chibnall, 6 vols (1968–90). The
Gesta
Stephani
is edited and translated by K. R. Potter, with introduction and notes by R. H. C. Davis (1976). William of Malmesbury’s
Historia Novella
is translated by K. R. Potter and edited by Edmund King (1998), and his
Gesta Regum Anglorum
is edited and translated in two volumes by R. A. B. Mynors (1998–9). Henry of Huntingdon’s
Historia Anglorum
is edited and translated by Diana Greenway (1996; see also her Oxford World’s Classics edition, 2002). The
Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges,
Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni
is edited and translated in two volumes by E. M. C. van Houts (1992–5), and the
Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle
by M. J. Swanton (1996). See also the
Chronicle of John of
Worcester
, ed. and trans. P. McGurk, vol. 3 (1998).
English Histori
cal Documents, 1042–1189
, ed. D. C. Douglas and G. W. Greenaway (1968), has extracts from many of these and other contemporary sources, including the writings of Walter Map and Gerald of Wales.

The essential modern work on Matilda is Marjorie Chibnall’s
The Empress Matilda
(1991); see also C. Beem,
The Lioness Roared:
The Problems of Female Rule in English History
(2006), chapter 1, and Antonia Fraser,
Boadicea’s Chariot: The Warrior Queens
(1988), chapter 10. For Henry I, see Judith Green,
Henry I: King of Eng
land and Duke of Normandy
(2006). For the Norman Conquest and its effects (another subject with a vast historiography), see especially George Garnett,
Conquered England: Kingship, Succes
sion and Tenure, 1066–1166
(2007). For the civil war, see R. H. C. Davis’s lucid
King Stephen
(3rd edition, 1990), which is also the source of the first of the modern quotations given at the beginning of ‘Matilda 4: Greatest in her offspring’; the other is from J. Bradbury,
Stephen and Matilda: The Civil War of 1139–53
(1996). See also
The Anarchy of King Stephen’s Reign
, ed. E. King (1994), D. Crouch,
The Reign of King Stephen
(1999), and D. Matthew,
King Stephen
(2002). On queenship – in the sense of the rights, powers and roles of kings’ wives, rather than female kings – see Pauline Stafford,
Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women’s Power
in Eleventh-Century England
(1997), and for Matilda’s mother see L. Huneycutt,
Matilda of Scotland: A Study in Medieval Queen
ship
(2003). For Matilda in Germany, see the work of Karl Leyser: ‘England and the Empire in the Early Twelfth Century’ and ‘Frederick Barbarossa, Henry II and the Hand of St James’, in his
Medieval Germany and its Neighbours, 900–1250
(1982), and ‘The Anglo-Norman Succession, 1120–5’, in
Anglo-Norman Studies
, 13 (1990), ed. M. Chibnall, 225–41. On the ritual and significance of coronation, see P. E. Schramm,
A History of the English Coronation
, transl. L. G. Wickham Legg (1937). For Matilde of Canossa, see D. Hay,
The Military Leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046–1115
(2008).

A thorough and helpfully sober overview of Eleanor is provided by R. V. Turner,
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France, Queen of
England
(2009). Not at all sober, but inspiringly lyrical (if requiring of careful treatment) is Amy Kelly,
Eleanor of Aquitaine and the
Four Kings
(1952). Important essays, especially those by E. A. R. Brown, Marie Hivergneaux, R. V. Turner, James Brundage, Constance Bouchard, Peggy McCracken and Jane Martindale, are to be found in
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady
, ed. B. Wheeler and J. C. Parsons (2003). More of Jane Martindale’s insights are published in her own collection of essays,
Status, Authority and
Regional Power: Aquitaine and France, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries
(1997), and in her contribution to
King John: New Interpretations
, ed. S. D. Church (1999); and see the essays by Daniel Callahan, John Gillingham and Ruth Harvey in
The World of Eleanor of Aqui
taine: Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh
and Thirteenth Centuries
, ed. C. Léglu and M. Bull (2005). See also H. G. Richardson, ‘The Charters and Letters of Eleanor of Aquitaine’,
English Historical Review
, 74 (1959), 193–213. For Eleanor’s second husband, see W. L. Warren,
Henry II
(1973), and
Henry II:
New Interpretations
, ed. C. Harper-Bill and N. Vincent (2007); and for her sons, J. Gillingham,
Richard I
(1999), and W. L. Warren,
King John
(1978). For Eleanor on crusade, see Jonathan Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
(2007). For Bernard of Clairvaux, see
The Letters of St Bernard of
Clairvaux
, trans. Bruno Scott James (1953). There is an extensive literature in French on Eleanor’s life and career; here I would mention particularly J. Holt, ‘Aliénor d’Aquitaine, Jean Sans Terre et la Succession de 1199’,
Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale
, 29 (1986), 95–100.

Many of the chronicle sources for Eleanor’s life are less easily accessible than those for her mother-in-law Matilda. Lengthy extracts from William of Newburgh’s
Historia Rerum Anglicarum
, and shorter ones from the
Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi
and the writings of Gerald of Wales and Walter Map are printed in translation in
English Historical Documents, 1042–1189
, ed. D. C. Douglas and G. W. Greenaway (1968). The
Chronicle of Richard of Devizes
is edited and translated by J. T. Appleby (1963), and John of Salisbury’s
Historia Pontificalis
by Marjorie Chibnall (1956). Roger of Howden’s chronicle was published in English translation (as
The
Annals of Roger de Hoveden
) by H. T. Riley in 1853, and in the original Latin (as
Chronica Rogeri de Hovedene
) in four volumes by W. Stubbs between 1868 and 1871. Stubbs also published the original texts of Ralph of Diceto’s works in two volumes as
Radulfide Dic
eto Decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica
(1876).

The essential narrative source for the reign of Edward II and Isabella as queen of England is the
Vita Edwardi Secundi
: I have mainly followed the translation by N. Denholm-Young (1957), but see also the new edition by Wendy Childs (2005). Translated extracts from other contemporary chronicles are included in
Eng
lish Historical Documents, 1189–1327
, ed. H. Rothwell (1975). The untranslated text of Geoffrey le Baker’s chronicle is published in an edition by E. M. Thompson as
Chronicon Galfridi le Baker
de Swynbroke
(1889); I have also used the
Chronique Métrique de
Godefroy de Paris
, ed. J.-A. Buchon (1827). For the politics of the reign, see R. M. Haines,
King Edward II
(2003); M. McKisack,
The Fourteenth Century
(1959); J. R. Maddicott,
Thomas of Lancas
ter, 1307–22
(1970); and N. Fryde,
The Tyranny and Fall of Edward
II, 1321–1326
(1979); also J. S. Hamilton,
Piers Gaveston, Earl of
Cornwall
(1988), and
The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives
, ed. G. Dodd and A. Musson (2006). For the famine, see W. C. Jordan,
The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth
Century
(1996).

For Isabella herself, see H. Johnstone, ‘Isabella, the She-Wolf of France’,
History
, new series 21 (1936–7), 208–18, and articles by E. A. R. Brown: ‘The Political Repercussions of Family Ties in the Early Fourteenth Century: The Marriage of Edward II of England and Isabelle of France’,
Speculum
, 63 (1988), 573–95; ‘Diplomacy, Adultery and Domestic Politics at the Court of Philip the Fair: Queen Isabelle’s Mission to France in 1314’, in
Document
ing the Past: Essays in Medieval History Presented to G. P. Cuttino
, ed. J. S. Hamilton and P. J. Bradley (1989), 53–83; and (with N. F. Regalado) ‘
La Grant Feste
: Philip the Fair’s Celebration of the Knighting of his Sons in Paris at Pentecost of 1313’, in
City and
Spectacle in Medieval Europe
, ed. B. Hanawalt and K. Reyerson (1994), 56–85.

Arguments for Edward II’s survival after 1327 have recently been revived and variously updated by Paul Doherty in
Isabella
and the Strange Death of Edward II
(2003), Alison Weir in
Isabella,
She-Wolf of France, Queen of England
(2005), and Ian Mortimer in
The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of
England 1327–1330
(2003), ‘The Death of Edward II in Berkeley Castle’,
English Historical Review
, 120 (2005), 1,175–1,214, and
The
Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation
(2006). It will be clear that I remain unconvinced; see, for traditions of ‘undead’ kings, M. Evans,
The Death of Kings: Royal
Deaths in Medieval England
(2003). Apart from Edward himself and the Emperor Heinrich V, other alleged royal survivors connected to the subjects of this book include Isabella’s short-lived nephew Jean the Posthumous, who was ‘revealed’ in 1356 to have been exchanged in his cradle for a baby who died in his place while he grew to manhood as Giannino Baglioni, a merchant banker of Siena; and the Tudor king Edward VI, who was sighted alive and well after 1553, or so rumour had it, in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain or possibly Denmark: see C. T. Wood, ‘Where is John the Posthumous? Or Mahaut of Artois Settles Her Royal Debts’, in
Documenting the Past: Essays in Medieval History Presented to G. P.
Cuttino
, ed. J. S. Hamilton and P. J. Bradley (1989), 99–117; and C. Skidmore,
Edward VI: The Lost King of England
(2007).

For Margaret see especially Helen Maurer’s
Margaret of Anjou:
Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England
(2003), and J. L. Laynesmith,
The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship, 1445–
1503
(2004). For the politics of the period, see J. L. Watts,
Henry
VI and the Politics of Kingship
(1996); R. A. Griffiths,
The Reign of
King Henry VI
(1981); C. Carpenter,
The Wars of the Roses
(1997); C. D. Ross,
Edward IV
(1974); C. L. Scofield,
The Life and Reign of
Edward IV
, 2 vols (1923); and my
Blood & Roses: The Paston Fam
ily in the Fifteenth Century
(2004). Useful essays include B. Cron, ‘The Duke of Suffolk, the Angevin Marriage and the Ceding of Maine, 1445’,
Journal of Medieval History
, 20 (1994), 77–99; D. Dunn, ‘Margaret of Anjou, Queen Consort of Henry VI: A Reassessment of her Role, 1445–53’, in
Crown, Government and People
in the Fifteenth Century
, ed. R. E. Archer (1995), 107–43; and J. L. Laynesmith, ‘Constructing Queenship at Coventry: Pageantry and Politics at Margaret of Anjou’s “Secret Harbour”’, in
The Fif
teenth Century III: Authority and Subversion
, ed. L. Clark (2003), 139–49. The principal contemporary sources quoted here are the
Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century
, ed. N. Davis, R. Beadle and C. Richmond, 3 vols (2004–5), and the
Calendar
of State Papers, Milan
, ed. A. B. Hinds (1912), available at
Brit
ish History Online
(http://www.british-history.ac.uk). See also the
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England
(an invaluable new scholarly resource, offering transcriptions of all the surviving rolls of parliaments held between 1275 and 1504, with parallel translation into modern English), available by subscription at
British History
Online
(http://www.british-history.ac.uk).