QUEENS OF THE CRUSADES (ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE/ SUCCESSORS)

Alison Weir’s ground-breaking history of the Plantagenet queens moves into a period of even higher drama, from 1154 to 1291: years of chivalry, dynastic ambition, conflict with the church, baronial wars, and the all-pervading bonds of feudalism. We see events such as the murder of Becket, Magna Carta and the birth of parliaments from new perspectives: those of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Berengaria of Navarre, Isabella of Angoulême, Alienor of Provence, and finally Eleanor of Castile, the grasping but beloved wife of Edward I.