Review: The Granddaughters of Edward III by Kathryn Warner

Synopsis: Edward III may be known for his restoration of English kingly authority after the disastrous and mysterious fall of his father, Edward II, and eventual demise of his mother, Queen Isabella. It was Edward III who arguably put England on the map as a military might. This show of power and strength was not simply through developments in government, success in warfare or the establishment of the Order of the Garter, which fused ideals of chivalry and national identity to form camaraderie between king and peerage. The expansion of England as a formidable European powerhouse was also achieved through the traditional lines of political marriages, particularly those of the king of England’s own granddaughters.

This is a joint biography of nine of those women who lived between 1355 and 1440, and their dramatic, turbulent lives. One was queen of Portugal and was the mother of the Illustrious Generation; one married into the family of her parents' deadly enemies and became queen of Castile; one became pregnant by the king of England's half-brother while married to someone else, and her third husband was imprisoned for marrying her without permission; one was widowed at about 24 when her husband was summarily beheaded by a mob, and some years later bore an illegitimate daughter to an earl; one saw her marriage annulled so that her husband could marry a Bohemian lady-in-waiting; one was born illegitimate, had sixteen children, and was the grandmother of two kings of England.

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An accessible history of the family of King Edward III of England.

At a mere 144 pages of biographical content, this book will provide a basic introduction to not only the granddaughters of Edward III and his queen, Philippa of Hainault, but also of their children and other grandchildren.

Warner provides a basic Who's Who and family trees at the start, and ends with the descendants of the featured granddaughters, and approx 50 pages of notes.

If this is your particular era of study, Warner's book will provide a handy introductory resource for the lineage and general biographical study of Edward's offspring. For those wanting a bit more substance to those featured granddaughters, you will find it lacking here.

read in 2023