Lives of the Queens of England Volume 2

Long before women's history became a field of study, Agnes Strickland undertook something radical: telling the lives of England's queens as worthy of permanent record. Volume 2 spans over two centuries of royal women, from Berengaria of Navarre, the crusader queen who never set foot in England, to Anne of Bohemia, Richard II's beloved queen whose death sparked riots in London. We see Eleanor of Provence navigate the political minefield of Henry III's court, while Eleanor of Castile becomes immortalized in the legend of the queen's crossing. These are not mere appendages to kingly history but complex figures wielding power, influence, and sometimes devastating loss. The Stricklands drew on sources that had gathered dust for centuries, restoring these women from obscurity. The scholarship may reflect its Victorian era, but its ambition remains vital: to insist that these queens mattered, that their stories were worth telling at length.