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Historical person
1031–1083
Matilda of Flanders was the wife of William the Conqueror and queen of England from 1068. She governed Normandy during William’s absences, acted as patron of churches and religious houses and maintained a household with its own political influence.
The marriage produced several surviving children, including Robert Curthose, William II and Henry I. Conflict between William and their eldest son placed Matilda in the difficult position of supporting both husband and child. Matilda of Flanders was born in Bruges and died in Caen.
Tracy Borman’s Matilda reconstructs Matilda of Flanders as William the Conqueror’s political partner, regent and the first English queen to receive a formal coronation. Georgette Heyer’s The Conqueror and Jean Plaidy’s The Bastard King place her marriage beside William’s rise from insecure Norman duke to conqueror of England, giving their domestic partnership a role in his legitimacy and dynasty. Alison Weir’s Queens of the Conquest follows Matilda as the first of the post-Conquest queens whose households, property and children shaped monarchy beyond the battlefield. Marc Morris’ William I (Penguin Monarchs) sets her directly within William’s government, continental responsibilities and difficult relationship with their sons.
Series
Conquest follows England after the Norman victory of 1066. The books use Hastings, rebellion, occupation and the consolidation of William the Conqueror’s rule to show how conquest continues long after a single battle is won. The series is strongest as a post-Conquest saga about dispossession, resistance, new lordship…
All books in this series
This collection brings together Georgette Heyer’s historical novels set outside her main Regency-romance sequence. The settings range from medieval England and France to the Norman Conquest, Elizabethan maritime conflict, the escape of Charles II and the Peninsular War. The list follows the ordering supplied by the Fantastic Fiction…
All books in this series
The Norman trilogy follows William the Conqueror and his heirs as they seize and consolidate the English crown. The sequence moves from the Norman Conquest through the reign of Henry I to the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, showing how conquest, inheritance and baronial loyalty reshaped England.
All books in this series
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
