Plantagenet Princesses: The Daughters of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II

by Douglas Boyd

A unique look at the lives of two daughters that highlights the dichotomy of lives of royal women, as both daughters and mothers of kings, who also knew both prison and power.The names of few medieval monarchs and their queens are better known than Eleanor of Aquitaine, uniquely queen of France and queen of England, and her second husband Henry II. Although academically labeled ‘medieval’, their era was the violent transition from the Dark Ages, when countries’ borders were defined with fire and sword. Henry grabbed the English throne thanks largely to Eleanor’s dowry because she owned one third of France. Their daughters also lived extraordinary lives. If princes fought for their succession to crowns, the princesses were traded – usually by their mothers – to strangers for political power without the bloodshed. Years before what would today be marriageable age, royal girls were dispatched to countries whose speech was unknown to them and there became the property of unknown men; their duty the bearing of sons to continue a dynasty and daughters who would be traded in their turn. Some became literal prisoners of their spouses; others outwitted would-be rapists and the Church to seize the reins of power when their husbands died. Eleanor’s daughters Marie and Alix were abandoned in Paris when she divorced Louis VII of France. By Henry II, she bore Matilda, Aliénor and Joanna. Between them, these extraordinary women and their daughters knew the extremes of power and pain. Joanna was imprisoned by William II of Sicily and worse treated by her brutal second husband in Toulouse. If Eleanor was libeled as a whore, Aliénor’s descendants include two saints, Louis of France and Fernando of Spain. And then there were the illegitimate daughters, whose lives read like novels…

Genres: History, Nonfiction, France, British Literature, Biography, Medieval History, Medieval

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2021

Reviews

[Jaidee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 "overwhelming, educational, entertaining, too all-encompassing" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Pen & Sword History for an e-copy of this history book. This was released Feb. 2020. I am providing my honest review.

I learned so very much from this book and enjoyed it a fair bit. Please remember that 2.5 stars is an average good read for me. Having said that with just a few tweaks this book could have been a 3.5 star book.

This book covers an immense chunk of Western European History with particular emphasis on late 12th century to early 14th century through the lens of exploring the lives of the Plantagenet princesses both born within and out of wedlock. These are primarily the children/grandchildren of Eleanor of Aquitane and Henry II. The majority of the stories take place in present day UK and France with generous helpings of Germany and Spain and to a lesser degree Holland, Italy, Greece and the Holy Land and Near East.

Mr. Boyd valiantly gives the general reader huge amounts of information on the Royal families, minor nobility, wars, politics, religion, medicine, social conventions and the arts. We are given general outlines of all the royal princesses' lives and the constraints that they had compared to their brothers but also how some of them became powerful, rich and treacherous in their own rights.
The stories were immensely interesting and although I could follow all the individual strands I was often lost how it all fit together in a larger cohesive whole. If I were to read it again I would keep notes in order to keep track of the relationships between families and generations. On the other hand I did not feel that I should have to work so hard. I would also have appreciated more maps, diagrams and perhaps a chapter on all the royal personages of this immense history primer.

I did however, enjoy this read a great deal and it fostered in me a desire to get to know this period of Western History (as well as the Crusades) in much greater depth.

My next goal is to read a historical fiction of Eleanor of Aquitane. I have shortlisted the 1955 historical novel by Norah Lofts' Eleanor the Queen. Edit: On Bam's recommendation I have switched my priority read to Alison Weir's Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine

If anybody feels that there is a better single volume historical fiction of this figure please leave it in the comments below.

Although this was far from an excellent read...this book certainly whetted my appetite !

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THIS - AND SO DISAPPOINTED

3 years ago I wrote my masters thesis in history about English medieval queenship. Eleanor of Aquitaine is my favourite queen and played a large part in my thesis. Therefore I was so excited to read this about Eleanor's daughters with Henry II. Sadly, it did not live up to my expectations...

👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Subject: The daughters of Eleanor and Henry have gotten way too little attention (aside from Joan, anyway) so it was about time they got their own book.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

Chronological: This book jumped back and forth in time to much it was a miracle, that I was able to keep things straight. If it hadn't been for all my knowledge on the subject, I would have given up on this instantly.

Messy: This moved down so many tangents that didn't really have anything to do with the subject at hand that the book ended up feeling messy and busy.

Subject: Yes, I liked the subject of this book. But I didn't not like how the subject was treated. I was looking forward to learning more about these women, their trials and tribulations, their victories and their impacts on history. However, all I got was a list of husbands and children. Really, these women were degraded to wives and mothers, nothing more. Not women with feelings, ambitions and fears. Just babymakers. That really bummed me out.

Scope: This might seem like a minor thing, but I was annoyed that this wasn't just about the daughters of Eleanor and Aquitaine - it also included granddaughters and daughters-in-law. If the author had just stayed within the promised scope, more space could have been devoted to creating a full representation of these remarkable women.

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/22b ummmm what Douglas? Mr. Boyd? Maybe you finally went waaayyy out of order and cut so many details in that last chapter that the whole female portions are just not quite correct. I’ll have to look at your bibliography a bit more closely

5/22 right so I had a paragraph written and GR crashed. I just signed on and of course it’s all gone bye bye. I’m just going to say stuff because I don’t remember my fancy words. Yes I’m still suffering from constant painful migraines. I have seen one doctor but I still have three to go.
Anyway yes henry and Eleanor’s daughters are brought up, but there is little discussion. The family history is mostly male in formation and then layer in some Eleanor sprinkle those girls on top. Well they are on the cover. I was excited when one of my favorite families from Provence was brought in, alas very short chapter, and I know there is more to them because I’ve read it. So another FAIL it’s all birth, marriage, hate the mother in law, have a baby, die- lather, rinse, repeat. I’ve not read the book about the princes but of course it will definitely be more full of power and strength.

Soo umm I’ve sorta read quite a bit about the early Plantagenets and how they were entertained at meals, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never known that along with traveling musicians and jonglers there were also FARTERS? Can anyone help me out here? They keep using that word. I don’t think it means what I think it means?

5/19 so I’m only about a thirdish way through and it hit me; this book is titled PLANTAGENET princesses. Misnomer is the word that is coming to mind but I’m exhausted. The reason I’m bothered is because this book is really only about Henry II ‘s daughters ( well the whole family if you want to be picky, which I do want because up until now I read quite a bit about the princes and i was thinking 🤔 they have their own book what’s up with this?) anyway the last Plantagenet king was Richard III ( being that the Lancasters and the Yorks were branched off from the same family tree [just think of Edward III!]) and we all know who he is. Now of course he had a weakling son, but the book makes one think that ONLY Henry and Eleanor’s girls were the only princesses and that is definitely NOT TRUE. Im perturbed now. Im going to read something else now before bed.

Fingers crossed that as I get farther into the book I suddenly discover later era princesses!

Royal reads project

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The role of women in history has often been hard to decipher. Since much of what we know of the women comes from the brief snatches of history that we get from their menfolk, fleshing out these powerful women in their own right has never been easy.
Eleanor of Aquitaine is probably one of the best recorded, as she was very active in her role as Countess and Queen. The fact that she queen of France, who then divorced her husband and then married Henry, going on to become the queen of England raised some scandal - and a lot of documentation on her. When she rebelled against her husband with her four sons later on, that alone would have secured her role in history. But she was more than just a trophy - she was active, issuing charters in her own right.

The women portrayed in this book bring a new life to many of these women to have been mere footnotes in history before. This was a great book and one that I really enjoyed reading.

[Rebekka Steg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited to read Plantagenet Princesses as I absolutely love history and especially learning about women in history. Even with a fair amount of background information I unfortunately found the book very difficult to read. It jumps all over the place, back and forth in time and I found it impossible to keep up with the different people mentioned it. It was also very dry, and a lot of genealogy that was basically just listed. In the end, I couldn't finish it, it was too much of a drudge to get through sadly.

[Amy McElroy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being interested in the Plantagenets I was excited to receive this book. I found it to be very interesting and it helped me better understand the relationships between some of the individuals.
The only thing I would have preferred would be that it was in chronological order, it seemed to jump around which may be confusing for those unfamiliar with the era.

Personally I found it intriguing and it's very well researched.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well researched but not well organized. Lots of great detail but jumps between times and individuals to the point of confusion. I applaud the desire to tell the stories of more women from this period, I just wish it was better executed.

I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although it had the potential to be interesting, this book wandered in too many directions and tried to cover too many people and events to be successful. Instead of focusing only on the more unique female members of the Plantagenet dynasty- those princesses who became successful queens, led armies, and improved their people’s lives- it tries to touch on every single Plantagenet Princess for over a century. The result is a blending of characters with similar, if not identical, names and it became hard early on to separate who was who. Long digressions into the histories of various lands or topics made it easy to lose whatever thread there was, and the result was a book where the reader glazed over quickly. At times written in too scholarly a manner for the casual reader, the writing style would then veer into a more casual form with plenty of repetitions of stories already told. This book might work for people who already know everything about many of the major players, but for everyone else, give it a pass.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are several positives to Douglas Boyd's Plantagenet Princesses, but there are also some negatives.
Positives: The work is well researched and offers a few new things to my collective knowledge about the time period. The work is also through and examines the numerous lives of various Medieval princess. While confusing to some, the various similar or same named women did not confuse me.
Negatives: the narration of the book seemed to be all over the place and may have benefitted from a different style or more chronological order. I felt there seemed to be more about princes and kings than a focus on the women the work should have focused on, not to mention a great deal of the book is about Henry II and Eleanor rather than their progeny.

If you want an introduction to the players of the time period this may be a good book for you, but if you already have a great deal of knowledge of the rulers of the time period, this may not be the book for you.

[Jennifer Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have little knowledge about this time in history and I was interested to read about the women who made an impact. I found the book to be detailed and obviously well researched but I struggled to keep track of the protagonists and their situations. If the book has followed chronological order, I would have found it far more useful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

[julianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this, but found myself so disappointed.

The book meandered around all the female Plantagenet Princesses over a span of one hundred years. Names and dates became confusing and I really wish the author had limited the scope of the book.

I will not be reading this again, or buying it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

[Rebecca Batley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As as historian/ history teacher I was very excited to receive a copy of this book. This period has always fascinated me. Unfortunately I found this book very difficult to read, the author doesn’t lack knowledge but he clearly struggles to communicate it clearly. The book was dull to read and lacked ‘sparks’ of interest.
Factually this book is excellent but I wouldn’t read it again.

[Ana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Plantagenet Princesses immediately drew my attention because I love reading about women in history.
Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with the execution.

My first problem was inconsistency. The style vacillated between very chatty and extremely dry.
There were some spelling and grammatical problems - these may be fixed in the final copy - but it had me itching to get out my red pen. There were also a number of instances of repetition within the text.

The author also seemed to lack focus. This is supposed to be a book about Plantagenet princesses, specifically the daughters of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II. The first fifth of the book is about Eleanor, who was not a Plantagenet princess at all. Even so, the narrative doesn't really focus on her. It meanders off into general history (such as pages about Thomas Becket, for example) that were not really necessary. The rest of the book talks about various Plantagenet princesses over the course of about 100 years - granddaughters of Eleanor and Henry II, or daughters-in-law, which were completely outside the promised scope of the book.

There was also a tendency to gloss over things, leaving me confused; or to list events, leaving me bored. An early example (and I am paraphrasing) goes something like: Henry went here, Eleanor went there, Christmas Court was here, then Easter Court was there.

My final disappointment was the inclusion of sensationalist stories and rumours, such as the one about Eleanor of Aquitaine and her ladies riding bare-breasted on Crusade. One, I didn't see how it was relevant to the narrative. Two, it was presented as fact, where there are no concrete accounts of it ever actually happening.

Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this book to anyone.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much confusion! So many Maude's, Matildas, Henrys, Louis' and so much war, fighting and bloodshed. So many people wanting power and simply taking what they want. This book which is beautiful to look at ( Pen and Sword Publishing makes the most lovely books!) was completely confusing to me. Now, I had read about Eleanor and Henry a lot, but this immediate jump into them was just so abrupt. A genealogical family tree would have helped me understand the lineage a bit more clearly. So many mistresses, so many babies! It was such a brutal and mean time in Englands history. I loved reading about the London Bridge and how it dates to the Roman times. The writing is confusing but so was that time.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think that medieval princesses grew up in an enchanted forest with singing dwarfs and anthropomorphic animals, encountered a charming prince who later rescues them from a horrible fate at the hands of an evil stepmother, then married and lived happily ever after, then this book will quickly change your mind. Author Douglas Boyd explores the life and times of the daughters and granddaughters of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of two kings and mother to two more. Even though the main focus of the book is on the fate of the female descendants, it is necessary to explore the times through the lives of the men involved as well because history (mostly written by men) focuses on them rather than their wives and daughters. While this book fills in many gaps not generally taught about the women who were mostly thought of as pawns in their male relative's political games, I would not recommend it to someone who is just starting to learn about the medieval period. A small number of names are used throughout many generations - it would help to have a large genealogy chart in front of you at all times to keep them straight! (A few charts are provided at the back of the book, but in e-book format it is hard to flip back and forth to check relationships.) Another confusing element is the author's repetition of some women's stories at the beginning of another story. A brief reference would have sufficed rather than a complete rehash of the previous story. However, if you are a medieval history buff, you can overcome these inconveniences and make your way through a thoroughly informative tale.

[Joanna Arman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Planagenet Princesses is an enjoyable book, and would make for a good introduction to the subject of Eleanor of Aquitaine's children and grandchildren (and a couple more generations afterwards). I didn't know Eleanor of Castile was one.
Some women don't have dedicated biographies and so there isn't much about them at all, which makes the short chapters in this book more valuable.

However, there were some assumptions and stereotypes about the period that got to me. The (usual) assumption that Western Medicine sucked and only Islamic was any good, and the claim that the church banned herbalism and thought wise women were witches. These are all old misconceptions I would expect perhaps in a high - school textbook but not a scholarly history book.

Also, I do think some of the women in question were victims of circumstances instead of misogyny.

Thanks to Pen and Sword for allowing me to read a PDF of this title. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and weren't influenced in any way.

[Stacy K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Game of Thrones recently did a new series which showcases how undervalued women were and yet they played major roles within court. This book attempts to show that impact on medieval Europe and starts with Mathilda and works its way to Eleanor and her daughters and daughters in law. The scope is enormous. Given the details we have on each person it feels like we get to know a pattern but not the players.

[Lois · Rating 2 out of 5]

Readable not extremely accurate

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book that claims to be about the women, the author spent a disproportionately large amount of time discussing the men. It seemed like the women were only brought up when it was necessary to mention their births, marriages, children production, and deaths.

[Kim Mcclung · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was difficult at first to get through. It was not well organized and was confusing. The book also lacked a family tree or any decent maps, which would have made the characters and the land they were fighting over much more understandable. I generally like this author, but this was not his best work.

[ConstantReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Douglas Boyd's biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, "The April Queen", is one of my favourite bios of this queen. I was naturally excited to read Boyd's newest book treating about Eleanor's daughters.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, figure larger than life. She was wife, mother and grandmother of kings and a rich heiress in her own right. I will never tire of reading books about her although most of popular biographies depict her as legendary, perpetuating many myths.

Eleanor overshadows many of her successors while her daughters are all but forgotten. She had five daughters in total (if there were more, history didn't record their existence). Two, Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix, Countess of Blois, were born during Eleanor's tempestuous first marriage to Louis VII of France. That marriage ended in annulment in 1152.

Eleanor's second husband was Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy, who became Henry II of England in 1154. With him she had about ten children in total, among them three sons who became kings: Henry the Young King, Richard the Lionheart and John I.

While Eleanor's sons are famous, her daughters remain on the fringes of history although they married into the upper echelons of European nobility: Matilda (named after her illustrious grandmother Empress Matilda) became Duchess of Saxony, Eleanor (named after her mother) became Queen of Castile and Joan became Queen of Sicily.

Little is known about Eleanor's daughters with Louis VII while the lives of her daughters with Henry II are far better documented. In this book, Douglas Boyd charted their lives to show what it was like to live during the Middle Ages as a powerful woman. The book gave a lot of details of these women's lives and enriched my knowledge of the period.

If you like to read about Eleanor of Aquitaine, I'm sure you'll enjoy this book.

[Emily Hird · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had so much promise but does not deliver. I was so excited to read this book but was left disappointed and frustrated.

The main issue of the book is it’s structure. It says too much and too little at the same time. It goes off on long drawn out tangents which often don’t have anything to do with the women it’s meant to be focused on but then leaves out important details about said women. It also jumps across different centuries, countries and people (often with the same name) so you are left confused and unable to follow anything it is saying. If I had not had background knowledge on a lot of these women this book would have been unreadable.

Furthermore, it depicts a very bias narrative. The author purposely misses out historical evidence or scripture if it doesn’t support his theories. An example of this is saying Richard the lion-heart was gay and did not like women. Now I am not saying it’s out of the question he may have slept with men, I know some historians believe this, but to say he had no interest in women at all and fail to mention his bastard son Philip is incredibly misleading. It is disrespectful to your readers to write your theories as if they are fact. Especially when you are clearly going for some agenda.

Lastly, something that irritated me was when he chose to finish this book. Why would you stop at Edwards III wife and not mention his daughters. Who are Plantagenet princesses. I understand after Richard II some regard this as the end of the true Plantagenets but to stop at Philippa of Hainault made no sense.

It honestly felt like the author had no interest in these women but used them as a shield to discuss men’s history hoping the title would get more readers in. Quite honestly I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. There are so many better books out there that cover these women in a clearer and more respectful manner.

[Katie Bee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II had three daughters -- Matilda, Eleanor, and Joan. This book sets itself up to chronicle their lives and the world they lived in. I was hoping for a book in the vein of Kelcey Wilson-Lee's "Daughters of Chivalry," which is a similar undertaking for Edward I's daughters and is fantastic.

However, "Plantagenet Princesses," while expansive in ambition and scope, is unfortunately disappointing. The chronology is muddy and mangled, jumping all over the place (sometimes generations at a time), discredited and/or unsourced stories are frequently included, and all too often the narrative devolves into a list of "begats", with the female characters reduced to their husbands and children. (Far from staying with the three Princesses alluded to in the title, Boyd ranges far and wide to daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters, daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law, et cetera ad infinitum.)

This is neither a book for the popular reader (without a strong grounding in the era, the reader would get hopelessly lost in the chronological tangle and endless iterations and recapitulations of family trees), nor the academic one (the sourcing is very minimal, and many rumors, errors, anachronisms, and suppositions are included).

I wish the author had stuck with just Henry & Eleanor's three daughters. I think that would have given him more time and space to explore their lives and worlds, and enabled him to keep his chronologies and story threads in better order.

[Joanne Tinkler (Mamajomakes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a woman who lived her life by her own terms regardless of tradition, expectations and approval. As the heiress to the much sought after Duchy of Aquitaine she was courted by some of the highest in Europe before settling on the King of France. After bearing him daughters but no sons, she decided that she no longer wanted to be married to the monk like Louis and made up her mind that Henry II of England would make a much better husband. Eleanor married Henry within weeks of attaining a divorce from the pope and went on to give birth to not one but two future kings and also daughters who became bargaining tools for many treaties orchestrated by their father. As with her first marriage, Eleanor became either bored or just didn’t respect her husband so she set her sons against him which resulted in her being imprisoned by Henry until his death. The daughters and granddaughters, legitimate and illegitimate, of this formidable woman are the subject of this well researched book. When I had the opportunity to read this I jumped at the chance as I adore royal history and though I would say that I’m very knowledgeable in the subject, I discovered facts that I wasn’t aware of. All in all, an easy to read non fiction book with some excellent characters.

Many thanks to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Jo-anne Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alienor of Aquitaine was a rich heiress who was placed in a loveless marriage with Louis the Pious, King of France. Divorced after several years during which she only gave birth to daughters, Alienor became Eleanor, wife of Henry II of England and thus a strong female dynasty was founded.
In this book the legacy of Eleanor in terms of the female line is explored and it is fascinating. much is written about the Kings of England but the web of intermarriage between the branches of the royal families is the true source of power. Over 100 years the lives of the famous and the forgotten are considered, from Margaret of France, a true she-wolf and wife to the incompetent Edward II to the obscure Constance of Brittany and a couple of Welsh ladies. OK so most the women had similar names and it can become tricky to follow at times but this is a really interesting book that places women in the context of their times

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Should be titled "women loosely associated with Plantagenet royal house".

I would give 4 stars for the content, one star for the jumping around and lack of chronological order, whatever the author says, and one star for the fact that many females included are by no stretch of imagination can be called Plantagenet princesses. The only women who can be described as such are those whose father or grandfather in the MALE LINE was a Plantagenet king. Margaret of Provence is definitely not it, being a wife of a French king whose maternal grandmother was a Plantagenet princess. Therefore this book is clearly mistitled, and while it contains a lot of interesting information, not to mention juicy gossip, it's far less useful than a Wikipedia article about these same women would be.

[Keely · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but I didn't think it focused deeply on the titular characters. It was more of an overview of Alienor, her daughters and grandchildren etc. I'm not sure if the research was scant about the titular characters but I wished we look into them more deeply. It was so messy and all over the place. I didn't think we got to know the titular women at all, all was talked about their marriage and children; which is so dull.

Quite dissapointing.

[John Sinclair · Rating 2 out of 5]

BOOK REVIEW ⭐️⭐️
I got to a place in this book where his over-generalizations (and often inaccuracies) are mixed in such a jumble that I had to give up. There’s so much he wants to say but he crisscrossed over time and people so much that I had trouble keeping track. AND I KNOW THESE PEOPLE. Frankly this book deserves one star for effort, and one star for my guilt at DNF.
#books #books2023 #bookstagram #bookthreads #booktok #bookworm #reading #threads #bookreview
2023 Reviewed 📚 40

[Mrs T. Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

Well written account of some of the lesser known plantagenet women. Most histories of this era focus on the male line of each monarch but this author has taken the time to research and report on the lives of the often forgotten daughter's who were used as political pawns.

[Chasity Gaines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informational and Interesting

A fantastically written history of the woman from the Plantagent bloodline. Their strength, cunning, bravery highlights the very essence of these woman ahead of their time in some aspects. And a reminder that even a princess's don't lead glamorous and happily ever after lives. Highly recommended