The Royal Women Who Made England

The Royal Women Who Made England is a well written, accessible, and nicely notated monograph on the 10th century Saxon England by MJ Porter. Due out 30th Jan 2024 from Pen & Sword on their History imprint, it's 216 pages and will be available in hardcover format. Unclear from publisher's info, but most Pen & Sword titles are also available in electronic format, so it will presumably also be available as an ebook.

The author is a prolific writer of historical fiction of the period, as well as other periods in English and European history. This is a nonfiction selection and although it's perfectly readable and "everyday language" accessible, it's also well annotated and factual. The chapter notes are worth the price of the book and will provide many hours of extra reading. The author has also included a number of appendices including family trees, charters, and a number of facsimiles and photos of relevant geographical points of interest, castles, statues, and illuminated manuscript pages. It added quite a lot of interest to see some of the places that they lived and the castles (and coins). 

The fact that the focus of the book was on the women of the times was also an interesting and welcome choice on the part of the author. Almost all of the extant contemporary sources are centered around the male power players, so to get background info on the wives, daughters, queens, and princesses was excellent.

Four and a half stars. Accessible and very interesting. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.