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Historical person
1124–1204
Eleanor of Aquitaine inherited one of the largest territories in France and became successively queen of France and queen of England. Her first marriage to Louis VII ended after the Second Crusade, and she then married Henry II, bringing Aquitaine into the Angevin empire.
Eleanor exercised unusual political authority over a long life that connected the French, English and crusading worlds. During Richard I’s absence she helped defend his interests against Prince John, raised money for the king’s ransom and travelled to arrange dynastic affairs well into old age. Her final years at Fontevraud came only after decades in which she had acted not merely as a consort but as a landholder, regent and broker of succession.
Alison Weir’s Queens of the Crusades follows Eleanor of Aquitaine from her first marriage and participation in the Second Crusade through her marriage to Henry II, rebellion and later political authority as queen mother. Dan Jones’ The Plantagenets makes her one of the founding figures of the Angevin dynasty and follows the consequences of her family’s conflicts across England and France. Sharon Kay Penman’s A King’s Ransom shows the older Eleanor working to preserve Richard I’s kingdom and raise his ransom during his captivity. Bernard Knight’s Crowner Royal places her court and household around a murder investigation during Richard’s reign. In Penman’s Cruel as the Grave, Eleanor’s political world again frames Justin de Quincy’s service to the queen during the dangerous uncertainty over Richard’s absence and John’s ambitions.
Periods
Series
The five Angevin novels trace the Plantagenet dynasty from the succession crisis after Henry I through Henry II and Eleanor’s turbulent marriage, their sons’ rebellions, Richard I’s crusade, captivity and final campaigns. The sequence combines royal family drama with the Anarchy, Angevin state-building, church–crown conflict and the Third…
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Ferdia, a young Irish noble held hostage after the English invasion of Ireland, saves the life of Henry II’s son Richard and enters his service. He accompanies Richard through rebellion against his father, warfare in Aquitaine and the struggle for the English crown. When Richard becomes king, Ferdia…
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The Anarchy Series follows families, knights and warlords through the civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda and into the Angevin settlement under Henry II. The sequence expands from northern England and Normandy to crusading, Wales, Ireland and the politics around Thomas Becket and Henry’s sons. It is…
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The Crowner John Mysteries follow Sir John de Wolfe, a former crusader appointed county coroner for Devon during the reign of Richard I. Working from Exeter with his officer Gwyn and clerk Thomas, John investigates suspicious deaths through inquests, witness testimony and the limited forensic methods available at…
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Elizabeth Chadwick’s Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy follows one of medieval Europe’s most formidable rulers from her inheritance of Aquitaine and first marriage to Louis VII of France through her turbulent partnership with Henry II of England. The novels place Eleanor’s marriages, motherhood and political ambitions within crusade, dynastic…
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Elizabeth Chadwick’s William Marshal cycle follows the Marshal family and the households bound to it from the civil war of the Anarchy to the crisis of King John’s reign. A Place Beyond Courage centres on William’s father, John Marshal, while The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion trace…
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These medieval mysteries follow the fictional royal agent Justin de Quincy in 1193, while Eleanor of Aquitaine governs for the captive Richard I and John manoeuvres for the throne. Each investigation links murder, theft or conspiracy to the political instability of the Angevin realm.
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The Hawkenlye Mysteries follow Abbess Helewise and French knight Sir Josse d’Acquin as murder and private secrets disturb a fictional religious house in the Weald of Kent. Beginning in 1189 under Richard I, the sequence moves through the ransom years and King John’s troubled reign to civil war…
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The Plantagenet Saga spans the dynasty from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard III. Across fourteen novels, family rebellion, disputed succession, royal marriage and war connect the Angevin Empire, the conquest of Wales, conflict with Scotland, the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses.
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The Medieval Saga follows interlinked fictional families through two centuries of English dynastic conflict, beginning with the invasions of 1066 and ending with Simon de Montfort’s challenge to Henry III. The sequence places ordinary soldiers, household officers and landed families beside the rulers whose wars repeatedly reshape their…
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The Fifth Knight trilogy follows the fictional mercenary Sir Benedict Palmer and the nun Theodosia through crises of Henry II’s reign. The opening novel inserts Palmer into the murder of Thomas Becket as an imagined fifth knight who turns against Reginald FitzUrse and the other attackers after Theodosia…
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The Mistress of the Art of Death series follows Adelia Aguilar, a physician trained in Salerno whose knowledge of anatomy makes her an extraordinary investigator in twelfth-century England. Beginning in Cambridge in 1171, the novels place murder inquiries inside the reign of Henry II, where royal government, church…
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The Queens of England novels dramatise the lives of royal women from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Queen Victoria. Each volume concentrates on a queen, consort or claimant whose marriages, loyalties and private ambitions were inseparable from dynastic politics, religious conflict and the exercise of monarchy.
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Published under the Alan Savage name, the Eleanor of Aquitaine Saga presents Eleanor’s life as a two-volume dynastic narrative. The first book follows her inheritance of Aquitaine, marriage to Louis VII, queenship in France and participation in the Second Crusade. The second begins after annulment and follows her…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
