Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England [Paperback]

Pauline Stafford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631227385 | ISBN-13: 978-0631227380 | Publication Date: June 18, 2001

Through detailed study of these women the author demonstrates the integral place of royal queens in the rule of the English kingdom and in the process of unification by which England was made.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There is much learning, originality and, indeed, entertainment in Pauline Stafford's Queen Emma and Queen Edith...This book develops a most interesting subject with learning and insight which illuminate the period as a whole." (English Historical Review)

"It provides fascinating insights into medieval family structures, the manipulation of saints' cults, the nature of royal estates and patronage, to name but a few of its themes. Anyone who wants to understand the power structures of the early Middle Ages will want to read it." (History)

"The stories of Queen Emma and Queen Edith are satisfyingly rich in the telling in Pauline Stafford's latest book, Queen Emma and Queen Edith. The sources which provide these riches are varied and Stafford's use of them masterly." (Parergon)

"Readable and learned, it is an admirable illustration of the way in which gender studies may be used to enrich understanding of the whole history of a period." (Times Higher Education Supplement)

"It will become an indispensable tool on undergraduate courses dealing with gender, power and politics in the middle ages ... It also represents a clear, elegantly written and meticulously documented contribution to the study of the eleventh (and tenth) century in England." (Gender and History)

"(Stafford) has used her two queens to suggest a great deal, not only about queens and court politics in eleventh-century England but also about the society and politics of a whole period of west European history." (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford: The Brown Book)

From the Back Cover

This is the first full-scale biography of two early English queens: Emma, queen first to Aethelread and then to Cnut, and Edith, queen to Edward the Confessor. Through detailed study of these women the author demonstrates the integral place of royal queens in the rule of the English kingdom and in the process of unification by which England was made.

The careers of Emma and Edith span the troubled decades of eleventh-century English history, and the book reassesses their role in the story of foreign conquests, succession dispute and political murder. Their biography is illuminated by a detailed study of the structures of tenth- and eleventh-century English Queenship - motherhood, marriage, inheritance and succession, the royal household and patronage, consecrated and holy Queenship. It moves from the partial stories told of them by others, and the unique narrative worlds they themselves commissioned, to a new and detailed biography in which Emma especially emerges as one of the most significant political actors of her day and in which both women are shown as both imprisoned by but contesting the inexorable female lifecycle.

The book is an important contribution to our understanding of eleventh- and twelfth-century rule but also of medieval England in general, and, crucially, the role of women within that world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (June 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631227385
• ISBN-13: 978-0631227380
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good study of two important but overlooked figures, October 11, 2005

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England (Paperback)

Even though women as rulers weren't part of either the Anglo-Saxon or Norman traditions, two English women in particular changed things. Neither was a sovereign ruler but both had personalities of strength and authority. Emma (Ælfgifu after her marriage), sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy (though she carried a Frankish birth-name), was the queen first of Æthelred "the Redeless," Saxon King of England, and then of Canute, the Danish conqueror of the island. Edith, daughter of Godwine, Earl of Wessex, furthered her family's dynastic ambitions by becoming the queen of King Edward the Confessor, and thereby Emma's daughter-in-law. But this volume is considerably more than a dual biography, and more even than the "gender study" it intends to be. It delves deeply into the dynastic power structures of 11th century ruling families and the nature of royal patronage which helped keep rulers in power. The prosopographical appendix and the extensive bibliography also are excellent.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the initiated!, December 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England (Paperback)

Like the other reviewer implied, don't buy this book if you just want a quick peek into the lives of 2 English queens. This book is more appropriate for people well-acquainted with the subject matter. The book is really well-written and will be a great source for history students for years to come.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, January 3, 2005

By 

Jessica White (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England (Paperback)

Hats off to Pauline Stafford for even attempting such a book as this one! Both Queen Emma and Queen Edith lived in a world so long past, so shadowy to us now, that it is indeed an undertaking to explore their lives! I would love to see more of the same type of work. For those of you intrigued by these women, there are some works of fiction out there that you may enjoy: Gildenford & The Norman Pretender by Valerie Anand; A Hollow Crown by Hellen Hollick; and Lord of Sunset by Godwin Parke.