The letters of Margaret of Anjou / edited by Helen Maurer and B.M. Cron.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Margaret, of Anjou, Queen, consort of Henry VI, King of England, 1430-1482, author.

Contributor:

Maurer, Helen E., 1942- editor.

Cron, B. M., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Margaret, of Anjou, Queen, consort of Henry VI, King of England, 1430-1482--Correspondence.

Margaret.

Margaret, of Anjou, Queen, consort of Henry VI, King of England, 1430-1482.

Queens--Great Britain--Biography--Correspondence.

Queens.

Great Britain--History--Henry VI, 1422-1461.

Great Britain.

History.

Genre:

Correspondence.

Personal correspondence.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 303 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK ; Rochester, NY, USA : The Boydell Press, 2019.

Summary:

Margaret of Anjou remains a figure of controversy. As wife to the weak King Henry VI, she was on the losing side in the first phase of the Wars of the Roses. Yorkist propaganda vilifying Margaret was consolidated by Shakespeare: his portrait of a warlike and vengeful queen - "a tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" - became the widely-accepted view, which up until recently had been little questioned. However, Margaret's letters, here in their first full collection, in one place for the first time, have their own story to tell - and present a rather different picture. In her words and the words of her contemporaries, both friend and foe, they reveal a woman who lived according to the noble standards of her time. She enjoyed the hunt, she practised her faith, and she tried to help or protect those who called upon her for assistance, as was expected of a queen and "good lady". Henry's mental breakdown, the birth of their son and growing tensions among the lords of the land forced her to step outside the life she would have expected to live. This study of Margaret's letters establishes the scope of a late medieval queen's concerns, while providing a unique account of this extraordinary woman.

Contents:

Part I Great and Good Queen

1 Matchmaker p. 7

2 Holy Orders p. 17

3 Position Wanted p. 41

4 Business Interests p. 57

5 Protector and Peacemaker p. 81

6 Money Matters p. 115

7 Belief and Benevolence p. 144

8 The Queens Disport p. 158

Part II Political Queen

9 En Famille p. 173

10 Queen Consort p. 192

11 Lancastrian Queen p. 222

12 Queen Beyond the Sea p. 253.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1783274247

9781783274246

OCLC:

1080427990