Unveiling the mystery of the “High Crosses of Ireland”

From Aleteia:

A new book sheds light on some of the most beloved Catholic artifacts of Ireland.

Built at the end of the first millennium, the “high crosses of Ireland” are iconic cultural landmarks of the green isle. Yet, little is known about them. In an upcoming book, Roger Stalley, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Trinity College, Dublin, has collected the results of his research and insight into some of the most beloved Catholic artifacts of Ireland. Stalley discusses his research for his new book, Early Irish Sculpture and the Art of the High Crosses, in an article in the Irish Times.

Pilgrims by Matthew Kneale

From The Guardian:

Matthew Kneale will probably always be best known for the award-winning English Passengers, his exuberant polyphonic novel in 21 voices. Interweaving a 19th-century British seafaring expedition in search of the garden of Eden with a vicious episode in Australian colonial history, it dramatised the clash between faith and science, empathy and self-interest.

Two decades on, his new novel tracks another journey: that of a motley group of 13th-century pilgrims, banding together for safety on the road from England towards Rome. A landowner has been ordered to make the trip after fighting over territory with a local abbot, but most are following the prickings of their own conscience or wanderlust, as well as hoping to win reduced time in purgatory. Constance fears her adultery has brought down sickness on her young son; her freeloading sister is along for the ride. Oswald has made a career of performing pilgrimages for the souls of the dead. Margaret wants more souvenir pilgrim badges for her hat. And Tom son of Tom, a poor village lad, hopes “good Saint Pete” will intercede with God on behalf of his dead cat, which has been appearing in his dreams with purgatorial fires licking at its fur. His family are happy enough to see him go; there’ll be more room in the shared bed.

read more of Justine Jordan's review @ The Guardian

Book: Medieval History of Warrington

From Warrington Guardian:

A fascinating insight into the history of Warrington during the Medieval period has been released.

Harry Wells, a respected local historian, has published Studies of Medieval Warrington. As well as mapping the stories of the town from before the Norman Conquest, it also sheds lights on some of the names which still resonate in Warrington today from the Botelers who rules Warrington for generations to Beamont.

The book also tells the story of many of the different districts and villages of Warrington.

read more @ Warrington Guardian

for more on Warrington:

- Warrington Murders and Misdemeanours by Julia Joyce

- A-Z of Warrington: Places-People-History by Janice Hayes

Whodunnit? Did Agatha Christie ‘borrow’ the plot for acclaimed novel?

From The Guardian:

The striking plot of one of Agatha Christie’s best-known mysteries, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, surprises each new generation of readers. But now there is a further twist in the tale. Fresh evidence suggests Christie may have taken the idea from an acclaimed Norwegian author.

Lucy Moffatt, a British translator living in Norway, has found a likely source for the famous solution to the murder in an early English magazine translation of Stein Riverton’s story Jernvognen (The Iron Chariot).  “You do have to wonder if her book was at least influenced by Riverton’s mystery,” said Moffatt.

Christie’s book, published in 1926, swiftly established itself as a classic of the genre. And in the 94 years since, her fans and publishers have been careful to guard the identity of the killer.

For Moffatt, a Christie fan, the power of Riverton’s book lies in its sinister handling of the environment, which mirrors the killer’s disturbed state of mind. “It is more of a study of madness,” she said, “It uses the landscape as metaphor, while Christie sticks to a smaller canvas.”

Crime By Country

On this page I will be listing the many crime books that I have read and own according to which country they are (predominantly) set in. I will start with crime fiction, noir fiction, cosy crime and detective fiction. Depending on the list (which is by no means a complete list), I may even include some historical crime fiction. It will mean that titles in a series may be split up according to where they are set geographically and only those I have read are listed - which means there may be some incomplete or out-of-order series.

>>> start your reading journey here @ Crime By Country

Review: Kit Marlowe series by MJ Trow

Kit (Christopher) Marlowe, Elizabethan playwright, intelligencer for Queen Elizabeth I, man-about-town.  In this series, MJ Trow has Marlowe in the role of investigator, commencing from this days at Cambridge right up until the final reckoning.

Elizabethan England:

In short, this period in history has been referred to as the golden age. There was the stability of a reigning monarch which contributed to economic prosperity and empirical expansion and also saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the flourishing of the arts, especially the theatre. 

In Elizabethan England, the "theatre became a place where people went to see, not dramatised lectures on good behaviour, but a reflection of their own spirit and day-to-day interests. They wanted to laugh and to cry – to be moved, not by divine reflection, but by human beings doing good and bad things just as they did – loving and murdering, stealing, cheating, acting sacrificially, getting into trouble and behaving nobly: in short, being human like themselves." (source: No Sweat Shakespeare).  In public or in private, these plays also provided an opportunity for a carefully crafted piece of pseudo-political propaganda - which could find an unlucky playwright secreted in the Tower.

With this series, what we get is an entree into this world of Elizabethan  theatre and the notable playwrights of the day which include one fledgling Will Shaxsper (aka Shakespeare), Robert Greene, Thomas Kyd,and Ben Johnson.  We also get a look behind the scenes at the goings-on at the various theatres including The Rose.

However, there was a darker side to Elizabethan England in that religious persecution was rife, and plots, conspiracies and rebellions against the crown were frequent. Under Sir Francis Walsingham, a dedicated spy network was established. "England’s first great experiment in government-backed spying network brought down a queen and perhaps a playwright, saw kidnappings, executions and murders. The fact that Queen Elizabeth reigned for 44 years—and died naturally in her sleep—is evidence of its success." (source History)

So, to the books in the Kit Marlowe series, please see below; and find a link to my review of those that I have read following.


Dark Entry

First in the thrilling new Kit Marlowe historical mystery series - Cambridge, 1583. About to graduate from Corpus Christi, the young Christopher Marlowe spends his days studying and his nights carousing with old friends. But when one of them is discovered lying dead in his King’s College room, mouth open in a silent scream, Marlowe refuses to accept the official verdict of suicide. Calling on the help of his mentor, Sir Roger Manwood, Justice of the Peace, and the queen’s magus, Dr John Dee, a poison expert, Marlowe sets out to prove that his friend was murdered.

my review of Dark Entry

Silent Court

Second in the thrilling new Kit Marlowe historical mystery series - November, 1583. Desperate not to let the Netherlands fall into the hands of Catholic Spain, the Queen’s spymaster orders Cambridge scholar and novice spy Christopher Marlowe to go there to assist its beleaguered leader, William the Silent. However, travelling in disguise as part of a troupe of Egyptian players, Marlowe encounters trouble even before he leaves England. When the players make a detour to perform at the home of Dr John Dee, one of their tricks ends in tragedy – and an arrest for murder . . .

Witch Hammer

Christopher Marlowe investigates a possible act of witchcraft in the third of this intriguing historical mystery series. - July, 1585. Desperate to pursue his chosen career as a professional playwright, the young Christopher Marlowe abandons his Cambridge studies to join Lord Strange’s men, a group of travelling players. En route to perform at Oxford, the players are rehearsing amongst the famous Rollright Stones on the Warwickshire border when they are rudely interrupted by the discovery of the corpse of actor-manager Ned Sledd. Is it an act of witchcraft, a human sacrifice to mark the festival of Lammastide? Or is there a more personal reason? Kit Marlowe determines to find out.

Scorpions' Nest

Christopher Marlowe investigates a school for exiled Catholic priests in the fourth of this intriguing historical mystery series. October, 1586. Sir Francis Walsingham has despatched Kit Marlowe to the English College in Rheims where he suspects the Catholic traitor Matthew Baxter is hiding. Infiltrating the College undercover, Marlowe learns that the community has been rocked by a series of unexplained and violent deaths. With the help of master codebreaker Thomas Phelippes, can Christopher Marlowe unearth a murderer, track down a traitor and extract himself from the scorpions’ nest without being fatally stung?

Crimson Rose

March, 1587. Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine, with the incomparable Ned Alleyn in the title role, has opened at the Rose Theatre, and a new era on the London stage is born. Yet the play is almost shut down on its opening night. For a member of the audience, Eleanor Merchant, lies dead, hit by a musket ball fired from the stage. The man with his finger on the trigger? A bit-part player named Will Shakespeare. Convinced of Shakespeare’s innocence, Marlowe determines to find out what really happened. When a second body is found floating in the River Thames, it becomes clear that Eleanor Merchant’s death was no accident, and that something deeper and darker is afoot. And why is the Queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, taking a close personal interest in the case?

Traitor's Storm

May, 1588. With Elizabeth I s court rocked by stories of an imminent invasion and one of his key undercover agents missing, Sir Francis Walsingham despatches Kit Marlowe to the Isle of Wight off the south coast: the first line of defence against the approaching Spanish Armada. Lodging at Carisbrooke Castle with the Isle of Wight s Governor, Sir George Carey, Marlowe finds the Islanders a strange and suspicious lot, with their own peculiar customs and dialect. But is there reason to doubt their loyalty to the Crown? And is the Island really haunted, as some believe? Of one thing Marlowe is certain: it s no ghost behind the series of violent and inexplicable deaths which plague the region. But will he have time to uncover the truth and expose the killer before the might of the Armada descends?

Secret World

Christopher Marlowe tackles his most baffling case yet. June, 1589. Now a feted poet and playwright, Kit Marlowe is visiting his family in Canterbury. But it's not the happy homecoming he had hoped for. A long-standing family friend has been found dead in her bed, killed by several blows to the head. Convinced that the wrong person has been found guilty of the crime, Marlowe determines to uncover the truth. What did the dead woman mean when she spoke of 'owning the whole world'? If Marlowe could discover what she had in her possession, he would be one step closer to catching her killer. And why is the Queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, taking such an interest in the investigation?

All Hallows Eve

"'Tell me a story, Kit...'"

It's All Hallows' Eve and Kit Marlowe's evening is disrupted by the call of an ethereal voice, requesting a tale for the haunted night. From the depths of his creative mind comes the tale of ghostly horrors and unearthly cries which rattles even the most supernatural of beings...

Eleventh Hour

April, 1590. The queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, is dead, leaving a dangerous power vacuum. His former right hand man, Nicholas Faunt, believes he was poisoned and has ordered Kit Marlowe to discover who killed him. To find the answers, Marlowe must consult the leading scientists and thinkers in the country. But as he questions the members of the so-called School of Night, the playwright-turned-spy becomes convinced that at least one of them is hiding a deadly secret. If he is to outwit the most inquiring minds in Europe and unmask the killer within, Marlowe must devise an impossibly ingenious plan.

my review of Eleventh Hour

Queen's Progress

May, 1591. When Queen Elizabeth decides to embark on a Royal Progress, visiting some of the grandest homes in England, her new spymaster, Sir Robert Cecil, sends Kit Marlowe on ahead, to ensure all goes smoothly. But Marlowe’s reconnaissance mission is dogged by disaster: at Farnham Hall, a body is hurled from the battlements; at Cowdray Castle, a mock tournament ends in near tragedy; at Petworth, a body is discovered in the master bedroom, shot dead. By the time he reaches Chichester, Marlowe fears the worst. Are the incidents linked? Is there a conspiracy to sabotage the Queen’s Progress? Who is pulling the strings – and why? To uncover the truth, Marlowe must come up with a fiendishly clever plan.

my review of Queen's Progress

Black Death

As plague stalks the streets of 16th century London, Christopher Marlowe is drawn into a baffling murder investigation where nothing is as it first appears.

September, 1592. “Kit, I know we have never been friends, but you are the only man in London to whom I can write. Someone is trying to kill me”.  

Christopher Marlowe had never liked Robert Greene when he was alive. But when the former Cambridge scholar is found dead in a cheap London boarding house, shortly after sending Kit a desperate letter, Marlowe feels duty bound to find out who killed him – and why.

What secrets did Robert Greene take with him to the grave? And why is the Queen’s spymaster, Sir Robert Cecil, taking such a keen interest in the case? As plague stalks the streets of London and the stage manager of the Rose Theatre disappears without trace just days before the opening of Marlowe’s new play, the playwright-sleuth finds himself in the midst of a baffling murder investigation – where nothing is as it first appears.

my review of Black Death

The Reckoning

The inaugural performance of Christopher Marlowe's controversial new play is marred by sudden, violent death in this lively 16th century mystery. December, 1592. England is entering dangerous waters as thoughts turn to the question of the ageing Queen Elizabeth's successor. Christopher Marlowe meanwhile is leading a troupe of the Lord Chamberlain's Men on tour with a controversial new play.

Marlowe expects his latest play, Edward II, to ruffle feathers. What he doesn't expect is it to lead to is sudden, violent death. The morning the tour is due to begin, the newest member of the cast is found stabbed to death in the local brothel. And when a second murder, and then a third, disrupt rehearsals for the inaugural performance in the Great Hall at Scudbury Manor, it becomes clear that someone is determined to prevent this play from being performed – at any cost. But who ... and why?

my review of The Reckoning

I loved this latest installment in the Kit Marlowe series so much so that I did not want this to end, and as I realised where this was going, I slowed my reading to tease it out to the very end. All the old crew are back: Will Shaxsper, Burghley, Cecil, Nicholas Faunt, Tom Sledd, Ned Alleyn, Ingram Frizer, Robert Poley and Nicholas Skerries. Marlowe's path will lead him, ultimately, to a tavern in Deptford where he will meet his final reckoning. Fans of Marlowe will know what awaits the Muses' Darling.

more on Marlowe

-  Marlowe in Fiction

- Roy Kendall: Christopher Marlowe and Richard Baines: Journeys Through the Elizabethan Underground

- The Marlowe Society

- Jstor: The Truth About Elizabethan Playwrights
- Jstor: The Death of Christopher Marlowe

Review: Scotland Yard's Murder Squad by Dick Kirby

Synopsis: In 1906 the Metropolitan Police Commissioner was asked by the Home Office to make available skilled investigators for murder enquiries nationwide as few constabularies had sufficiently skilled - or indeed, any - detectives.

Thus was born the Reserve Squad, or Murder Squad, as it later became known. Despite a reluctance by some forces to call upon The Met, the Murder Squad has proved its effectiveness on countless occasions with its remit extended to British territories overseas. A particularly sensitive case was the murder of a local superintendent on St Kitts and Nevis.

A former Scotland Yard detective, the Author uses his contacts and experiences to get the inside track on a gruesome collection of infamous cases. Child murderers, a Peer's butler, a King's housekeeper, gangsters, jealous spouses and the notorious mass murderer Dr Bodkin Adams compete for space in this spine-chilling and gripping book which is testament to the Murder Squad's skills and ingenuity - and the evil of the perpetrators.

Brimming with gruesome killings, this highly readable book proves that there is no substitute for old fashioned footwork and instinct.

Kirby - through his vast experience and network of contacts from his Flying Squad days - is able to present an eclectic range of cases from the annals of Scotland Yard. After presenting us with a brief history, representing a nostalgic view of bygone times, we are launched into our first case, taking place at the turn of the 20th century. 

As with many of the earlier cases, forensics was in its infancy, and detectives were still expected to put in the hard slog and discover or reveal the evidence for themselves. Fingerprinting was in use as was the traditional "line up", but it was the sharp-eye witness and the sifting through the circumstantial evidence that aided in a conviction. Only one case presented featured the "court room confession" and a number of cases are still unsolved; and not all our suspects paid the ultimate price. We meet along the way a mixed bag of detectives - a "suspicion" of detectives if you like - and I enjoyed the "what happened to ..." at the end.

For those interested in true crime and / or police methods, this will prove an enjoyable read.

Review: Vintage Crime edited by Martin Edwards

Synopsis: Vintage Crimes will be a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members' work over the years. The book will gather stories from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century by great names of the past, great names of the present together with a few hidden treasures by less familiar writers. The first CWA anthology, Butcher's Dozen, appeared in 1956, and was co-edited by Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert, and Josephine Bell. The anthology has been edited by Martin Edwards since 1996, and has yielded many award-winning and nominated stories in the UK and overseas.

A nice mixed bag of stories - not overly long - from some well-known and not so well-known names in crime fiction. We have stories covering practical jokes gone awry, sleepwalking, dreams, espionage, love and betrayal, greed and jealousy, accidental death and out-and-out murder. Quite a few have that twist at the end that readers will enjoy, and not all our protagonists are deserving of our empathy. With some distinctive noirish tones, I enjoyed all twenty-two stories, and appreciated the mini author biographies at the end. Martin Edwards does it again - collating a diverse range of tales for this murderous anthology.

Review: The Smart Woman's Guide to Murder by Victoria Dowd

Synopsis: A faded country house in the middle of nowhere. The guests are snowed in. The murders begin.

Ursula Smart (not her real name) gate-crashes her mother’s book club at an isolated country house for a long weekend retreat. Joining them are Mother’s best friend, Mirabelle, Aunts Charlotte and (Joy)Less, and Bridget with her dog Mr Bojangles. It doesn’t matter that they’ve read Gone Girl three times this year already. But someone has other ideas.

A body is found in the grounds. Is a lone killer hunting them? Or has one of their own group embarked on a killing spree? What they need is a guide to survive.

I enjoyed this for what it was - a modern version of the "locked room" mystery. The clues in this cosy-mystery are there from the beginning - its just that they have yet to be put into perspective - and there are also a few red herrings.

I enjoyed the style of writing (quirky and witty) - though the narrator - Ursula - did grate on me a little (bit of an attention seeking neurotic with a daddy fixation). The pace was steady (real time if you will) as we kick off with a bang and then wind back to the beginning and proceed from thereon. Snappy chapter headings offer some much needed advice if you want to survive a murderous weekend away. 

Would be interested in reading something else from this author. Nice little isolation read!

Women: Icons of Christ by Phyllis Zagano

Women: Icons of Christ traces the history of ministry by women, especially those ordained as deacons. The author demonstrates how women were removed from leadership, prevented from using their voices, and eliminated from official ministries in the life of the Church. And she refutes arguments against restoring women to the ordained diaconate.

Review for America Magazine by Brianne Jacobs:

For the past 25 years, Zagano has shaped the discourse on gender and the history of leadership in the Roman Catholic Church with multiple award-winning articles and books. In particular, she is one of the world’s foremost experts on the history of the diaconate. She has written on how the meaning of this role has shifted over the last two millennia. More provocatively, she has written about who has filled this role in different circumstances and times in church history. Zagano’s thorough historical scholarship has shown that we must count women in that number.

While Zagano thoughtfully draws out the theological implications of her research, her main point is historical: There is simply no precedent on which to base the exclusion of women from the diaconate in the Catholic Church.

This new book describes the fruits of Zagano’s many labors, both before the 2016 commission and during it. Women: Icons of Christ is not only informative; it may also be a helpful guide for discerning the nature and purpose of recommendations that may be made by the new commission.

read full review here @ America Magazine

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

From Vox - review by Emily VanDerWerff

Kristin Lavransdatter is an amazing novel about how God doesn’t care if we live or die. This Norwegian masterwork is over 1,000 pages long — and it may be the perfect book for the current moment.

Kristin Lavransdatter is over 1,000 pages long and was published in three parts between 1920 (one century old, baby!) and 1922. You can purchase it as either one volume or as three separate ones. It follows the life of one medieval Norwegian woman named (you guessed it) Kristin Lavransdatter, from the age of 7 until she dies somewhere around the age of 50. She leads a mostly normal life, but like all of us, she lives in abnormal times. Throughout her lifespan, major world events provide a backdrop of endless political intrigue, rises and falls from fortune and glory, and the arrival of the Black Death in Norway in 1349.

She focuses on the life Kristin carves out irrespective of them, a life involving a broken engagement, a scandalous love affair, and a slowly splintering relationship with her seven sons. By the time Kristin is gracefully approaching death, the book takes on a transcendent, almost religious quality — and even if you’re not a believer, the power of Kristin’s faith in God and her hope to feel his purpose in her life when he remains silent will still be moving.

read more here from Emily VanDerWerff @ Vox

Mysterious island monk explored in new book

From The Oban Times:

The prehistoric and medieval landmarks of western Scotland take centre stage in a new book telling the story of one of the greatest northern saints.

The Man Who Gave his Horse to a Beggar, by John Connell, follows in the footsteps of Aidan of Lindisfarne, taking the reader on an odyssey through Ireland and northern Britain.

The lavishly-illustrated book features photographs from award-winning writer and exhibition designer Phil Cope, and is a biography of a man about whom little is known until now.

Part-biography and part-pilgrimage, The Man Who Gave his Horse To A Beggar takes the reader back in time but also asks what lessons this neglected holy man might have for our own troubled times.

read more here @ The Oban Times

further reading:

Medieval Sourcebook: Bede's Ecclesiastical History

PASE: Aidan of Lindisfarne

Books: Notable Women

Servilia and Her Family by Susan Treggiari

Servilia is often cited as one of the most influential women of the late Roman Republic. Though she was a high-born patrician, her grandfather died disgraced and her controversial father was killed before he could stand for the consulship; she herself married twice, but both husbands were mediocre. Nevertheless, her position in the ruling class still afforded her significant social and political power, and it is likely that she masterminded the distinguished marriages of her one son, Brutus, and her three daughters. During her second marriage she began an affair with Iulius Caesar, which probably lasted for the rest of his life and is further indicative of the force of her charm and her exceptional intelligence.

The patchiness of the sources means that a full biography is impossible, though in suggesting connections between the available evidence and the speculative possibilities open to women of Servilia's status this volume aims to offer an insightful reconstruction of her life and position both as a member of the senatorial nobility and within her extended and nuclear family. The best attested period of Servilia's life, for which the chief source is Cicero's letters, follows the murder of Caesar by her son and her son-in-law, Cassius, who were leaders among the crowd of conspirators in the Senate House on the Ides of March in 44 BC. We find her energetically working to protect the assassins' interests, also defending her grandchildren by the Caesarian Lepidus when he was declared a public enemy and his property threatened with confiscation. Exploring the role she played during these turbulent years of the late Republic reveals much about the ways in which Romans of both sexes exerted influence and sought to control outcomes, as well as about the place of women in high society, allowing us to conclude that Servilia wielded her social and political power effectively, though with discretion and within conventional limits.

Spartan Women by Susan Pomeroy

Sparta, which existed from 800 B.C. until A.D. 200, was renowned in the ancient world as a stoic and martial city-state, and most of what we know about Sparta concerns its military history and male-dominated social structure. Yet Spartan women were in many ways among the most liberated of the ancient world, receiving formal instruction in poetry, music, dance, and physical education. And the most famous of mythic Greek women, Helen of Troy, was originally a Spartan. Written by one of the leading authorities on women in antiquity, Spartan Women seeks to reconstruct the lives and the world of Sparta's women, including how their legal status changed over time and how they held on to their surprising autonomy.

In this book, Sarah Pomeroy covers over a thousand years in the lives of Sparta's women from both the elite and lower classes. This is the first book-length examination of Spartan women, and Pomeroy comprehensively analyses ancient texts and archaeological evidence to construct the history of these elusive though much noticed women. Spartan Women is an authoritative and fresh account that will appeal to all readers interested in ancient history and women's studies.

Elizabeth of York and Her Six Daughters-in-Law: Fashioning Tudor Queenship, 1485–1547 by Retha Warnick

This study of early modern queenship compares the reign of Henry VII’s queen, Elizabeth of York, and those of her daughters-in-law, the six queens of Henry VIII. It defines the traditional expectations for effective Tudor queens—particularly the queen’s critical function of producing an heir—and evaluates them within that framework, before moving to consider their other contributions to the well-being of the court. This fresh comparative approach emphasizes spheres of influence rather than chronology, finding surprising juxtapositions between the various queens’ experiences as mothers, diplomats, participants in secular and religious rituals, domestic managers, and more. More than a series of biographies of individual queens, Elizabeth of York and Her Six Daughters-in-Law is a careful, illuminating examination of the nature of Tudor queenship. 

Three Medieval Queens: Queenship and the Crown in Fourteenth-Century England by Lisa Benz St John

This book is an innovative study offering the first examination of how three fourteenth-century English queens, Margaret of France, Isabella of France, and Philippa of Hainault, exercised power and authority. It frames its analysis around four major themes: gender; status; the concept of the crown; and power and authority.

Berenguela of Castile (1180-1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages by Miriam Shadis

The women in the family which ruled thirteenth-century Castile used maternity, familial and political strategy, and religious and cultural patronage to secure their personal power as well as to promote their lineage. Leonor of England, and her daughters Blanche of Castile (queen of France), Urraca (queen of Portugal), Costanza (a Cistercian nun of Las Huelgas) and Leonor, (queen of Aragon) provide the context for a study focusing on Berenguela of Castile, queen of Leon through marriage and of Castile by right of inheritance, whose most significant accomplishment was to enable the successful rule of her son Fernando.

Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan’s Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece by Debra Hamel

Neaira grew up in a Corinthian brothel in the fourth century B.C., became a high-priced courtesan and a sex slave, then settled into a thirty-year relationship with Stephanos of Athens. But next she found herself in court, charged with transgressing Athens’s marriage laws. This book reconstructs the amazing facts of Neaira’s life and trial, illuminating the social, legal, and cultural worlds of ancient Greece.

Women of Byzantium by Carolyn L. Connor

Women played key roles in Byzantine society: some ruled or co-ruled the empire, and others commissioned art and buildings, went on pilgrimages, and wrote. This engrossing book draws on evidence ranging from pictorial mosaics and inscriptions on the walls of churches to women’s poetry and histories, examining for the first time the lives, occupations, beliefs, and social roles of Byzantine women.

In each chapter Carolyn L. Connor introduces us to a single woman—from the elite to the ordinary—and uses her as a springboard to discuss Byzantine society. Frequently quoting from contemporary accounts, Connor reveals what these women thought of themselves and their lives and how they remembered the lives of women who had lived earlier.

Informative, sympathetic, and engagingly written, this book is a window into Byzantine culture and women’s history that has never before been opened.

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons

Eleanor's patrilineal descent, from a lineage already prestigious enough to have produced an empress in the eleventh century, gave her the lordship of Aquitaine. But marriage re-emphasized her sex which, in the medieval scheme of gender-power relations relegated her to the position of Lady in relation to her Lordly husbands. In this collection, essays provide a context for Eleanor's life and further an evolving understanding of Eleanor's multifaceted career. A valuable collection on the greatest heiress of the medieval period.

Matilda of Scotland: A Study in Medieval Queenship by Lois L. Huneycutt

A study of Matilda of Scotland (wife to Henry I) and the political acumen and personal skills she brought to the role of queen.Matilda of Scotland was the daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland and his Anglo-Saxon queen Margaret. Her marriage to Henry I of England in 1100 thus brought to Henry, descendant of the conquering Normans, a direct and politically desirable link to Matilda's ancestor Alfred the Great.

Her life makes clear that Matilda had outstanding talents. She was educated in the exclusive convents of Romsey and Wilton, a grounding which enabled her to further the literate court culture of the twelfth century, and under her control was a substantial demesne that allowed her to exercise both lay and ecclesiastical patronage. In the matter of ruling, she was an active partner in administering Henry's cross-channel realm, served as a member of his curia regis, and on occasion acted with what amounted to vice-regal authority in England while Henry was in Normandy.

Chroniclers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries often refer to her as Mathilda bona regina, or Matildis beatae memoriae, and for a time she was popularly regarded as a saint. Huneycutt's study shows how Matilda achieved such acclaim, both because the political structures of her day allowed her the opportunity to do so and because she herself was skilled at manipulating those structures.

This study will be valuable to those interested in not only English political history, but also to historians of women, the medieval church, and medieval culture.

Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare (1295-1360): Household and Other Records edited by Jennifer Ward

Noble widows were powerful figures in the later Middle Ages, running their own estates and exercising considerable influence. Elizabeth de Burgh (1295-1360), daughter of one of the most powerful earls in England and cousin of Edward II, lost her third husband at the age of twenty-six, and spent the rest of her life as a widow. In 1317, having inherited one-third of the lands of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who had been killed at Bannockburn three years earlier, she established herself at Clare, which became her main administrative centre for her estates in East Anglia, Dorset and South Wales. She enjoyed a noble lifestyle, was lavish in her hospitality to family and friends, entertaining Edward III in 1340, and she displayed her piety through her patronage of religious houses and her foundation of Clare College in Cambridge.

Her life and activities are portrayed in vivid detail in her household accounts and her will, selected extracts from which are provided in this volume. Altogether, 102 accounts of various types survive from the years of her widowhood, and the records here have been chosen to illustrate the great range of information provided, throwing light on Clare castle itself and its furnishings, daily life and religious practice, visitors, food and drink, livery and retainers, travel, and business. They paint of a vivid picture of the life and work of a noble family in the fourteenth century.

Books: The Crusades

Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds and the Medieval Surgeon by Piers D. Mitchell

This is the first book to be published on any aspect of medicine in the crusades. It will be of interest not only to scholars of the crusades specifically, but also to scholars of medieval Europe, the Byzantine world and the Islamic world. Focusing on injuries and their surgical treatment, Piers D. Mitchell considers medical practitioners, hospitals on battlefields and in towns, torture and mutilation, emergency and planned surgical procedures, bloodletting, analgesia and anesthesia. He provides an assessment of the exchange of medical knowledge that took place between East and West in the crusades, and of the medical negligence legislation for which the kingdom of Jerusalem was famous. The book presents a radical reassessment of many outdated misconceptions concerning medicine in the crusades and the Frankish states of the Latin East.

The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the Crusades edited by Anthony Bale

How were the Crusades, and the crusaders, narrated, described, and romanticised by the various communities that experienced or remembered them? This Companion provides a critical overview of the diverse and multilingual literary output connected with crusading over the last millennium, from the first writings which sought to understand and report on what was happening, to contemporary medievalism, in which crusading is a potent image of holy war and jihad. The chapters show the enduring legacy of the crusaders' imagery, from the chansons de geste to Walter Scott, from Charlemagne to Orlando Bloom. Whilst the crusaders' hold on Jerusalem was relatively short-lived, the desire for Jerusalem has had a long afterlife in many cultural contexts and media.

The Tunis Crusade of 1270: A Mediterranean History by Michael Lower

Why did the last of the major European campaigns to reclaim Jerusalem end in an attack on Tunis, a peaceful North African port city thousands of miles from the Holy Land? In the first book-length study of the campaign in English, Michael Lower tells the story of how the classic era of crusading came to such an unexpected end. Unfolding against a backdrop of conflict and collaboration that extended from England to Inner Asia, the Tunis Crusade entangled people from every corner of the Mediterranean world. Within this expansive geographical playing field, the ambitions of four powerful Mediterranean dynasts would collide. While the slave-boy-turned-sultan Baybars of Egypt and the saint-king Louis IX of France waged a bitter battle for Syria, al-Mustansir of Tunis and Louis's younger brother Charles of Anjou struggled for control of the Sicilian Straits. When the conflicts over Syria and Sicily became intertwined in the late 1260s, the Tunis Crusade was the shocking result.

While the history of the crusades is often told only from the crusaders' perspective, in The Tunis Crusade of 1270, Lower brings Arabic and European-language sources together to offer a panoramic view of these complex multilateral conflicts. Standing at the intersection of two established bodies of scholarship - European History and Near Eastern Studies - this volume contributes to both by opening up a new conversation about the place of crusading in medieval Mediterranean culture.

Crusading in the Fifteenth Century: Message and Impact by Norman Housley

This collection of essays by European and American scholars addresses the changing nature and appeal of crusading during the period which extended from the battle of Nicopolis in 1396 to the battle of Mohács in 1526. Contributors focus on two key aspects of the subject. One is developments in the crusading message and the language in which it was framed. These were brought about partly by the appearance of new enemies, above all the Ottoman Turks, and partly by shifting religious values and innovative currents of thought within Catholic Europe. The other aspect is the wide range of responses which the papacy's repeated calls to holy war encountered in a Christian community which was increasingly heterogeneous in character. This collection represents a substantial contribution to the study of the Later Crusades and of Renaissance Europe.

The Siege of Acre, 1189-1191 Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Battle That Decided the Third Crusade by John D Hosler

The first comprehensive history of the most decisive military campaign of the Third Crusade and one of the longest wartime sieges of the Middle Ages.

The two-year-long siege of Acre (1189–1191) was the most significant military engagement of the Third Crusade, attracting armies from across Europe, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Maghreb. Drawing on a balanced selection of Christian and Muslim sources, historian John D. Hosler has written the first book-length account of this hard-won victory for the Crusaders, when England’s Richard the Lionheart and King Philip Augustus of France joined forces to defeat the Egyptian Sultan Saladin. Hosler’s lively and engrossing narrative integrates military, political, and religious themes and developments, offers new perspectives on the generals, and provides a full analysis of the tactical, strategic, organizational, and technological aspects on both sides of the conflict. It is the epic story of a monumental confrontation that was the centerpiece of a Holy War in which many thousands fought and died in the name of Christ or Allah.

The Crusader Armies 1099–1187 by Steve Tibble

A major new history of the Crusades that illuminates the strength and sophistication of the Western and Muslim armies.

During the Crusades, the Western and Muslim armies developed various highly sophisticated strategies of both attack and defense, which evolved during the course of the battles. In this ambitious new work, Steve Tibble draws on a wide range of Muslim texts and archaeological evidence as well as more commonly cited Western sources to analyze the respective armies’ strategy, adaptation, evolution, and cultural diversity and show just how sophisticated the Crusader armies were even by today’s standards.

In the first comprehensive account of the subject in sixty years, Tibble takes a fresh approach to Templars, Hospitallers, and other key Orders and makes the controversial proposition that the Crusades were driven as much by sedentary versus nomadic tribal concerns as by religious conflict. This fluently written, broad-ranging narrative provides a crucial missing piece in the study of the West’s attempts to colonize the Middle East during the Middle Ages.

The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187 by Nicholas Morton

The Crusader States and their Neighbours explores the military history of the Medieval Near East, piecing together the fault-lines of conflict which entangled this much-contested region. This was an area where ethnic, religious, dynastic, and commercial interests collided and the causes of war could be numerous. Conflicts persisted for decades and were fought out between many groups including Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Arabs, and the crusaders themselves. Nicholas Morton recreates this world, exploring how each faction sought to advance its own interests by any means possible, adapting its warcraft to better respond to the threats posed by their rivals. Strategies and tactics employed by the pastoral societies of the Central Asian Steppe were pitted against the armies of the agricultural societies of Western Christendom, Byzantium, and the Islamic World, galvanising commanders to adapt their practices in response to their foes. Today, we are generally encouraged to think of this era as a time of religious conflict, and yet this vastly over-simplifies a complex region where violence could take place for many reasons and peoples of different faiths could easily find themselves fighting side-by-side.

Accursed Tower:The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land by Roger Crowley

The city of Acre, powerfully fortified and richly provisioned, was the last crusader stronghold. When it fell in 1291, two hundred years of Christian crusading in the Holy Land came to a bloody end. With his customary narrative brilliance and immediacy, Roger Crowley chronicles the tumultuous and violent attack on Acre, the heaviest bombardment before the age of gunpowder, which left this once great Mediterranean city a crumbling ruin.

The ‘Accursed Tower’ was the focal point of this siege. As the last garrison of the Crusader defences, it came to symbolise the disintegration of the old world and the rise of a new era of Islamic jihad. Crowley’s narrative is based on forensic research, drawing heavily on little known first hand sources, both Christian and Arabic. This is a fast-paced and gripping account of a pivotal moment in world history.

Crusading Spirituality in the Holy Land and Iberia, c.1095-c.1187 by William J. Purkis

For much of the twelfth century the ideals and activities of crusaders were often described in language more normally associated with a monastic rather than a military vocation; like those who took religious vows, crusaders were repeatedly depicted as being driven by a desire to imitate Christ and to live according to the values of the primitive Church.

This book argues that the significance of these descriptions has yet to be fully appreciated, and suggests that the origins and early development of crusading should be studied within the context of the "reformation" of professed religious life in the twelfth century, whose leading figures (such as St Bernard of Clairvaux) advocated the pursuit of devotional undertakings that were modelled on the lives of Christ and his apostles. It also considers topics such as the importance of pilgrimage to early crusading ideology and the relationship between the spirituality of crusading and the activities of the Military Orders, offering a revisionist assessment of how crusading ideas adapted and evolved when introduced to the Iberian peninsula in c.1120. In so doing, the book situates crusading within a broader context of changes in the religious culture of the medieval West.

Crusading and Pilgrimage in the Norman World edited by Kathryn Hurlock & Paul Oldfield

The reputation of the Normans is rooted in warfare, faith and mobility. They were simultaneously famed as warriors, noted for their religious devotion, and celebrated as fearless travellers. In the Middle Ages few activities offered a better conduit to combine warfare, religiosity, and movement than crusading and pilgrimage. However, while scholarship is abundant on many facets of the Norman world, it is a surprise that the Norman relationship with crusading and pilgrimage, so central in many ways to Norman identity, has hitherto not received extensive treatment.

The collection here seeks to fill this gap. It aims to identify what was unique or different about the Normans and their relationship with crusading and pilgrimage, as well as how and why crusade and pilgrimage were important to the Normans. Particular focus is given to Norman participation in the First Crusade, to Norman interaction in later crusading initiatives, to the significance of pilgrimage in diverse parts of the Norman world, and finally to the ways in which crusading and pilgrimage were recorded in Norman narrative. Ultimately, this volume aims to assess, in some cases to confirm, and in others to revise the established paradigm of the Normans as crusaders par excellence and as opportunists who used religion to serve other agendas.

Review: Ladies of the Magna Carta by Sharon Bennett Connolly

Synopsis: Magna Carta clause 39: No man shall be taken, imprisoned, outlawed, banished or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

This clause in Magna Carta was in response to the appalling imprisonment and starvation of Matilda de Braose, the wife of one of King John's barons. Matilda was not the only woman who influenced, or was influenced by, the 1215 Charter of Liberties, now known as Magna Carta. Women from many of the great families of England were affected by the far-reaching legacy of Magna Carta, from their experiences in the civil war and as hostages, to calling on its use to protect their property and rights as widows. Ladies of Magna Carta looks into the relationships - through marriage and blood - of the various noble families and how they were affected by the Barons' Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken.

Including the royal families of England and Scotland, the Marshals, the Warennes, the Braoses and more, Ladies of Magna Carta focuses on the roles played by the women of the great families whose influences and experiences have reached far beyond the thirteenth century.

Background:

Magna Carta was first drafted by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King John of England and a group of rebel barons.  It promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, and was to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the Charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III (claiming John had signed under duress), which ultimately lead to the First Barons' War.

So what did Magna Carta do for women?

Most of the Magna Carta had little directly to do with women. The chief effect of the Magna Carta on women was to protect wealthy widows and heiresses from arbitrary control of their fortunes by the crown, to protect their dower rights for financial sustenance, and to protect their right to consent to the marriage. 

Magna Carta names 34 men but mentions only three women: John's queen (Clause 61), and the sisters of King Alexander II of Scotland and not one was specifically named. This reflects "the inequalities between men and women, and in particular the way women played a very limited part in public affairs." David Carpenter Prof of Medieval History, Kings College London. Carpenter goes on to say that "far from giving equal treatment to all", the Magna Carta was a "divided and divisive document, often reflecting the interests of a baronial elite" who were essentially "a few hundred strong in a population of several millions".

So to my thoughts. This book is very detailed and well researched - those with an interest in this period will find it to their liking and a useful resource for their own investigations.

We begin with a look at the political history of the reigns of Richard I, John (under who things really came to a head), and Henry III; and the increased discontentment among the nobles with both John and his policies which culminated in the document known as the Great Charter or Magna Carta.

Now I will look at now in further detail, looking at the specific clauses from the 1215 Magna Carta and is later editions, that are applicable to women:

Clause (6) Heirs shall be married without disparagement, so that before the marriage be contracted, it shall be notified to the relations of the heir by consanguinity (by 1297 this - Clause 5 - was edited down to one sentence: Heirs shall be married without disparagement).

While not directly about women (the heir/s being referred to in the above is in the masculine), it could protect a woman’s marriage in a system where she did not have full independence to marry whomever she wanted.

Clause (7) At her husband’s death, a widow may have her marriage portion and inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that she and her husband held jointly on the day of his death. She may remain in her husband’s house for forty days after his death, and within this period her dower shall be assigned to her.

Clause (7) A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately, and without difficulty, have her freedom of marriage and her inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her freedom of marriage, or for her inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his death; and she may remain in the principal messuage of her husband, for forty days after her husband’s death, within which time her dower shall be assigned; (†) unless it shall have been assigned before, or excepting his house shall be a castle; and if she departs from the castle, there shall be provided for her a complete house in which she may decently dwell, until her dower shall be assigned to her as aforesaid. (1216 Charter of Henry III)

Clause (7) A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately, and without difficulty, have her freedom of marriage and her inheritance; nor shall she give any thing for her dower, or for her freedom of marriage, or for her inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his death; and she may remain in the principal messuage of her husband, for forty days after her husband's death, within which time her dower shall be assigned; unless it shall have been assigned before, or excepting his house shall be a castle; and if she depart from the castle, there shall be provided for her a complete house in which she may decently dwell, until her dower shall be assigned to her as aforesaid. And she shall have her reasonable estover [allowance] within a common term. And for her dower, shall be assigned to her the third part of all the lands of her husband, which were his during his life, except she were endowed with less at the church door. (1217 Charter of Henry III & as Clause 6 in the 1225 Charter of Henry III, Clause 6 in the 1297 Charter of Edward I)

This clause protected the right of a widow to have some financial protection after marriage and to prevent others from seizing either her dower or other inheritance she might be provided with. It also prevented her husband’s heirs from making the widow vacate her home immediately on the death of her husband.

Clause (8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband. But she must give security that she will not marry without royal consent, if she holds her lands of the Crown, or without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of.

Clause (8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, whilst she is willing to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that she will not marry without our consent, if she hold (lands) of us, or without the consent of her lord if she hold of another. (1216 Charter of Henry III)

Clause (7) No widow shall be compelled to marry, whilst she is willing to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that she will not marry, without our consent, if she hold of us, or without the consent of her lord if she hold of another. (1225 Charter of Henry III & 1297 Charter of Edward I)

This Clause permitted a widow to refuse to marry and prevented (at least in principle) others from coercing her to marry. It also made her responsible for getting the king’s permission to remarry, if she was under his protection or guardianship, or to get her lord’s permission to remarry, if she was accountable to a lower level of nobility. While she could refuse to remarry, she was not supposed to marry just anyone. Given that women were assumed to have less judgment than men were, this was supposed to protect her from unwarranted persuasion.  Over the centuries, a good number of wealthy widows married without the necessary permissions. Depending on the evolution of the law about permission to remarry at the time, and depending on her relationship with the crown or her lord, she might incur heavy penalties or forgiveness.  

However, to put this Clause into context, most women were either under the 'protection' of their father or husband. Widows were deemed to be under the 'protection' of the King but as Susanna Annesley (Kings College, London) points out "for all the undeniable benefits of Magna Carta there were still considerable loopholes that the king could exploit and widows often still found themselves at the mercy of a male overlord, whether he be a member of their own family or the king himself."

Clause (11*) And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and shall pay nothing of that debt; and if children of the deceased shall remain who are under age, necessaries shall be provided for them, according to the tenement [land holding] which belonged to the deceased: and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, saving the rights of the lords. [service due to his feudal lords] In like manner let it be with debts owing to others than Jews.

This clause (omitted from later editions, but included the Charter confirmed by Henry III in 1216) also protected the financial situation of a widow from moneylenders, with her dower protected from being demanded for use to pay her husband’s debts. Under usury laws, Christians could not charge interest, so most moneylenders were Jews.

Clause (26) If any one holding of us a lay fee dies, and the sheriff or our bailiff, shall show our letters-patent of summons concerning the debt which the deceased owed to us, it shall he lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the deceased found on that lay fee, to the amount of that debt, by the view of lawful men, so that nothing shall he removed from thence until our debt he paid to us; and the rest shall he left to the executors to fulfil the will of the deceased; and if nothing be owing to us by him, all the chattels shall fall to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

This is now Clause 18 under the 1216 Charter of Henry III and Clause 19 in the 1217 Charter of Henry III and Clause 18 in the 1225 Charter of Henry III and 1297 Charter of Edward I. It speaks specifically of any debt owed to the Crown, which will be taken from the deceased's estate 9ie: removal and sale of goods and chattels).  It no debt is owing, then the will can be executed in favour of the widow and heirs.

The following is one of the most important Clauses and is still in effect today.

Clause (39) No free-man shall he seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the laws of the land.

It was variously edited as follows in following Charters as:

Clause (30) No free-man shall be taken or imprisoned, or dispossessed or be outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the laws of the land. (1216 Charter of Henry III and as Clause 32 in the 1217 Charter of Henry III)

Clause (29) No free-man shall be taken, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, of his free tenement, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the laws of the land. To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay right or justice (this last sentence was a separate Clause in previous editions but in incorporated with this clause in the 1225 Charter of Henry III and 1297 Charter of Edward I).

This significant Clause states that no "freeman" is to be imprisoned or punished without the lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land. And one must remember, that this Charter was only applicable to all "free men" not "all men". And whilst "freemen" could have been taken to include "free women", women could not sit on juries, so they would always be judged by men.  And really, only those with access to the King's courts, could have access to the King's justice.

Clause (54) No man shall he apprehended or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other man except her husband.

This Clause (numbered 37 in the 1216 Charter of Henry III / Clause 38 in the 1217 Charter of Henry III / Clause 34 in 1297 Charter of Edward I) wasn’t so much for protection of women but prevented a woman’s appeal from being used to imprison or arrest anyone for death or murder. The exception was if her husband was the victim. This fits within the larger scheme of understanding of a woman as both unreliable and having no legal existence other than through her husband or guardian. so it actually reduced and limited women's right to be heard as a witness in court.

Clause (59*) We shall do to Alexander King of Scotland, concerning the restoration of his sisters and hostages, and his liberties and rights, according to the form in which we act to our other barons of England, unless it ought to he otherwise by the charters which we have from his father William, the late King of Scotland; and this shall be by the verdict of his peers in our court.

This clause (omitted from later editions) deals with the specific situation of the sisters of Alexander, king of Scotland who were held as hostages by John to assure a peace. This assured the return of the princesses. Six years later, John’s daughter, Joan of England, married Alexander in a political marriage arranged by her brother, Henry III.

Bennett Connolly wanted: (1) to show how women influenced and were influenced by Magna Carta; how they were a central part of the struggle to bring about such a document, and to ensure that its clauses were being kept; and (2) to "examine how ... Magna Carta influenced and impacted the women of the 13th century" and chose to present the ladies documented within the context of their families.

So, was the brief met - partly yes and partly no. So let us take the second part - influence and impact, and the presentation of the ladies. Yes, the ladies were definitely shown in the "context of their families" - and great detail and attention is given to setting out the family structure and connections. They made for very good examples of how certain clauses of the Magna Carta could be applied and how some women were able to steer their own course during this period. Women , as we have seen, were chattels - under the governance of their fathers and other male relations, their husbands, and to a degree their lords or monarchs. They had no say on whom they married and when, what happened to any children from said union (if any), and what happened tho their husband's estates on his death. However, having said that, there were a couple of ladies listed whom the author claims "had no political role" or "... had little to do with Magna Caata .." - one wonders why they were included at all.

Let us not forget that the women affected, impacted or influenced by the Magna Carta were largely the elite among women: noblewomen, heiresses and wealthy widows. Under common law, once a woman was married, her legal identity was subsumed under that of her husband: the principle of coverture. As mentioned, women had limited property rights, but widows had a bit more ability to control their property than other women did. The common law also provided for dower rights for widows: the right to access a portion of her late husband's estate, for her financial maintenance, until her death.

As to their influence on Magna Carta, this falls into the realm of conjecture and speculation, and the examples given are very narrow and not really enough to provide a satisfactory proof. In this, we are specifically looking at the example of Matilda (Maud) de Braose, who by a careless throw-away line, did arouse such suspicion and jealousy in the King that it condemned her family. Bennett Connolly claims that "[clause 30] .. was brought into existance through the tragedy and suffering of Matilda de Braose and her family .." and ".. given the extent of the family's suffering at the hands of King John, it seems only fair that the dramatic experiences of the de Braose women are enshrined in no less than three clauses of Magna Carta - 7, 8, 9 ...". But can we know this for certain? Was this the only example of John's cruel treatment of noble prisoners? No, because we are aware of the fate of his nephew Arthur and also of twenty-two nobles, captured at Mirebeau, who suffered the same fate as Matilda de Braose. Matilda's case in point was but one strand among many.

In fact it was William Marshall who is claimed to have said: ".. be on alert against the King: what he thinks to do to me, he will do to each and every one of you, or even more, if he gets the upper hand over you ..".  As a loyal supporter of King John and of the Magna Carta,  his words carry much weight, and in this, the fate of the de Braose's can been viewed.

Did Bennett Connolly adequately demonstrate that her chosen subjects ".. were central to the struggle.." and did indeed ".. ensure that its clauses were being kept.." - no, I personally do not think that this was addressed.  Not even Ela of Salisbury or Nicholaa de Haye, in their capacities as Sheriff, exert any influence on the enforcement of Magna Carta.  We can only say with some degree of certainty that it was Eleanor, wife of Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester, who notably aided the fight for political reform led by her husband in the Barons' Wars, and suffered for her opposition to both her brother King Henry III and nephew Edward I.  But this was much later and had little to do with the creation of Manga Carta of King John.

For me personally, I would have set this out a little differently with chapters dedicated to each of the pertinent clauses and examples then given in support, not just biographies of a select few women and then trying to tie them into the relevant clauses..

As for Magna Carta, it was a failure in the short term, but it was a step in creating and defining a set of standards for royalty and nobility.  The King was no longer above the law but held accountable through his nobles.  After many amendments, only three clauses are left enshrined in law today.