Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is a wonderful study but a bit disjointed in the prose style and in the categories of analysis Stafford chose. It's less biographical and narrative than would be appropriate for those simply curious about the two women in question and presumes a lot of bacground knowledge about the period.

Quite a slog for much of the book but helps to understand the Danish and Norman influences in English history.

I love history, especially stories of great movers and shakers, men or women. I read many scholarly books and historical novels. I really looked forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, it's NOT about Emma or Edith at all. It's an esoteric commentary about various versions of manuscripts written in the 11th Century and copied later which happened to mention Emma and Edith. It gave detailed comparison of each version of the manuscripts and compared the various perspectives of each author and their political agenda. It had little to do with Emma or Edith. It's like reading a book titled "Eleanor Roosevelt" but it's actually about all the books written about Eleanor Roosevelt which compared the virtues of these books but said very little about Eleanor Roosevelt herself or her life. Very Disappointing indeed!