Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest (Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, General)

by Agnes Strickland, Elizabeth Strickland

The English writer Agnes Strickland (1796–1874) began her career writing poetry and romances before turning to biographical studies. This eight-volume series, written in collaboration with her sister Elizabeth, and first published between 1840 and 1849, was her most ambitious project. It provides accounts of the queens of England from Matilda of Flanders to Queen Anne. Hugely popular in the Victorian period, Lives of the Queens of England and its sequel Lives of the Queens of Scotland remain important landmarks in the development of biography as a genre, and provide interesting perspectives on women's contribution to modern historiography. Volume 1 contains eight biographies of medieval queens, from Matilda of Flanders (c.1031–1083) to Anne of Bohemia in the fourteenth century. For more information on these authors, see and

Genres: History

672 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1852

About the author

Agnes Strickland was an English historical writer and poet. She began her literary career with a poem, "Worcester Field," followed by "The Seven Ages of Woman and Demetrius."

Abandoning poetry, she produced Historical Tales of Illustrious British Children (1833), The Pilgrims of Walsingham (1835), and Tales and Stories from History (1836). Her chief works, however, are Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest and Lives of the Queens of Scotland, and English Princesses (8 vols., 1850–1859), Lives of the Bachelor Kings of England (1861), and Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, in some of which she was assisted by her sister Elizabeth. Strickland's researches were laborious and conscientious, and she remains a useful source. Her style is not as objective as most modern historians, but gives a valuable insight into the mores of her own time.

Most of the Strickland sisters' historical research and writing was done by Elizabeth. Elizabeth however refused all publicity and Agnes was put forward as author. Their biographical works are fine representations of the larger body of biographies written by Victorian women, a significant subset of Victorian biography with unique characteristics, including the focus on female subjects and inclusion of information that was more "social" in nature, such as dress, manners, and diet.

Reviews

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for the Victorian commentary on gender and gender norms, not the historical accuracy 😅

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful. Agnes Strickland is so deliciously Victorian in her mindset, Anglo-centric, disdainful of any Continential influences, spurning 'haughty' princesses while accepting the faults of their male counterparts, praising motherhood and charity above all. Reading the first of this 12 volume set was like stepping into the worldview of the Victorian woman...while at the same time discussing the lives of women who lived long before. Strickland also recounts some lovely romantic details that one simply can't find on Wikipedia these days, like the tragic tale of Rosamund Clifford or the legend of the wife of Fulk of Anjou, who turned into a witch and flew away in the middle of a church service. What a treat.

Volume 1 opens with Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conquerer, and ends late in the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, meaning that just over a hundred years of history is pressed into these pages. While Strickland focuses on the lives of the queens, she does take care to recount the lives of their kings as well. The reign of William Rufus, who had no queen of his own, is told during his mother's chapters. Domina Matilda, my beloved Empress, does not get her own chapters, but her story is instead told in the chapters pertaining to Matilda of Scotland.

Thorough and charming. I look forward to reading the rest of the set.