Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon women were powerful and influential, from royal abbesses to queens and regents. They were educated, literate, and skilled in various fields, and their lives have been explored in a new book. The book highlights the stories of individual women who ruled, schemed, and made significant contributions to Anglo-Saxon society, challenging the traditional view of women in this period.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 240 pages
\n Publication date: 06 October 2021
\n Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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Many Anglo-Saxon kings are familiar, but less is written of their wives, who were consorts of two kings and championed one of their sons over the others, or their mother, who was an anointed queen and powerful regent, but was also accused of witchcraft and regicide. A royal abbess educated five bishops and was instrumental in deciding the date of Easter; another took on the might of Canterbury and Rome and was accused by the monks of fratricide. Anglo-Saxon women were prized for their bloodlines; one had such rich blood that it sparked a war, and one was appointed regent of a foreign country. Royal mothers wielded power; Eadgifu, wife of Edward the Elder, maintained a position of authority during the reigns of both her sons. AEthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, was a queen in all but name, while few have heard of Queen Seaxburh, who ruled Wessex, or Queen Cynethryth, who issued her coinage. She, too, was accused of murder, but was also, like many of the royal women, literate and highly educated. From seventh-century Northumbria to eleventh-century Wessex and making extensive use of primary sources, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England examines the lives of individual women in a way that has often been done for the Anglo-Saxon men but not for their wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters. It tells their stories: those who ruled and schemed, the peace-weavers and the warrior women, the saints and the sinners. It explores and restores their reputations.

\n Weight: 422g\n
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 24 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781399000536\n \n