Daughters of Chivalry

Virginal, chaste, humble, patiently waiting for rescue by brave knights and handsome princes: this idealized—and largely mythical—notion of the medieval noblewoman still lingers. Yet the reality was very different, as Kelcey Wilson-Lee shows in this vibrant account of the five daughters of Edward I, often known as Longshanks.The lives of these sisters—Eleanora, Joanna, Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth—ran the gamut of experiences open to royal women in the Middle Ages. Edward’s daughters were o...