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“Elizabeth [Woodville] bore Edward [Edward IV] 10 children, with their youngest arriving just three years before the king’s death…The provision for the young Prince Edward’s education and establishment at Ludlow Castle in the 1470s show that his parents cared deeply about the way his learning was imparted, his leisure hours and the influences upon him. He was to be allowed time to play, to enjoy his dogs and horses, and to be well fed, well slept and preserved from the influence of those who might be uncouth, ill, or of evil intent. The royal family appears to have been a close, warm unit, which retained a sense of loyalty and mutual support throughout Edward’s reign and afterwards. Their household accounts and the glimpses offered by eyewitnesses capture their mutual investment in the life they had created together and fought to protect. The eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, continued to help her sisters and their offspring after she had married Henry VII and become queen.”

— “Marrying for love: Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville” in HistoryExtra x (via edwardslovelyelizabeth)

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Throughout their reign, Renaud and Ida enforced their control over castles in Boulogne just like their Flemish and Norman counterparts. When Baldwin, count of Guines, began building Sangatte Castle in 1191, which threatened their access to Calais from Boulogne and Ambleteuse, there began a twenty-year conflict in which they ultimately prevailed. Hardelot and Bellefontaine (probably erected during their reign) helped secure the southern Boulonnais and Montreuil area. Ida and Renaud favoured Hardelot Castle, which not only had the benefit of good hunting in the adjacent forest, but also a jail.

They maintained good relations with the castellans of Tingry-Fiennes and Longvillers (Caieu), and William of Fiennes was married to Renaud’s sister, Agnes. Ida may have helped negotiate the marriages of her sister in-law Clemence to Jacques, castellan of St. Omer, as well as that of Agnes to William of Fiennes-Tingry. Ida and Renaud’s shared concern to maintain control over the castles in his lands can be seen in the marriage contract for his brother Simon, which stipulated Renaud’s retention of Montenay Castle. Similarly, the revised marriage contract for their daughter, Matilda, affirms Renaud’s continued control of Lillebonne and its castle. Ultimately, it was Philip II’s demand that Renaud render the castle of Mortain to him that led to the final break between the two men.

As rulers of Boulogne, they reasserted power in Merck and in Montreuil vis-à-vis the counts of Guines and Ponthieu respectively through castle building and marriages. They fostered the economic life in Boulogne and maintained cordial relations with the English kings. The surviving acta reveal that Ida was actively involved in the governance of her lands, inherited and reacquired in Normandy. They maintained separate administrative systems in their various landholdings and travelled frequently to maintain their authority. Ida’s lordship within Boulogne and their Norman lands was exercised through her administrative officials and those of her husband. The increasing complexity of the system had no discernible impact on Ida’s authority or power.

Ida and Renaud’s accomplishments were achieved within the context of an increasing royal presence in the region with the king’s direct administration of Vermandois, Amiens, and Artois, the marriages he arranged for the counts of Ponthieu and St. Pol, and his guardianship of Jeanne, countess of Flanders. Their success and Philip II’s aggressive policies towards the English kings led to the temporary unravelling of their power. Although stripped of their inherited lands after the battle of Bouvines, their daughter Matilda and her husband regained all that they had lost when they came of age in the early 1220s.

— Heather J. Tanner, Lordship and Governance by the Inheriting Countesses of Boulogne, 1160-1260

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The first woman to rule the Sasanian Empire in her own right, Boran (590-632) did her best to bring peace and stability during her brief reign.

A crumbling empire

The Sasanian Empire was the last pre-Islamic power on the Iranian plateau. Boran was the daughter of King Khosrow II. Her mother was possibly the Byzantine princess Maria.

Boran was married to her brother, Kavad II, who overthrew their father in 628. His reign was short-lived, and he was succeeded by his son from another wife, Ardashir III. As a child, Ardashir had no real authority and was soon assassinated by the usurper Shahrbaraz.

Boran then had Shahrbaraz killed and took the throne. The exact timeline of her reign is debated, with some sources placing its beginning in 629 and others in 630.

To further complicate matters, Boran’s sister, Azarmidokht, ruled briefly in 630. This suggests that Boran was dethroned and later reinstated. Azarmidokht was described in later sources as a just, intelligent, and attractive woman. She was later depicted as seated, wearing a red embroidered gown and sky-blue studded trousers, holding a battle-axe in her right hand and leaning on a sword in her left. She was likely murdered, though the details of her death remain uncertain.

Stabilizing the empire

The situation Boran faced was dire, with both external threats and internal factional conflicts. Once on the throne, she immediately worked to strengthen her legitimacy by associating herself with her father and imitating his coinage. She proclaimed herself the "Bringer of Glory" and the "Restorer of the Race of Gods."

Boran was deeply committed to justice and worked to provide stability for her subjects. She issued open letters expressing her desire to improve their lives. She reduced taxes, which had been excessively high during her father’s reign, and focused on rebuilding infrastructure, including roads and irrigation systems that had fallen into disrepair.

She ensured the empire’s prosperity by minting a significant number of coins. She also improved relations with the Byzantine Empire, previously an adversary, and sent an embassy to Emperor Heraclius, which was well received.

One of her most remarkable achievements was forging an unprecedented alliance among rival factions, allowing the Sasanian Empire to temporarily resist the Arab invasions.

Despite her efforts, Boran’s period of consolidation was short-lived, and the empire was already in decline. She died around 632, either from illness or assassination. The identity of her immediate successor is unclear—some sources claim it was her nephew, Yazdegerd III, while others suggest that it was her sister, Azarmidokht. In 651, the Sasanian Empire ultimately fell to the Islamic Caliphate.

Boran’s dedication earned her a place in Ferdowsi’s epic, the Shahnameh (Book of Kings).

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Further reading: 

“Azarmigduxt”, Encyclopædia Iranica

“Boran”, Encyclopædia Iranica

Haeri Shahla, The Unforgettable Queens of Islam: Succession, Authority, Gender

Hodge Mehdi Malek, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, History and Coinage of the Sasanian Queen Bōrān (AD 629-631)

Hussain Ashna, “Boran”, in: Goucher Candice (ed.), Women Who Changed the World, Their Lives, Challenges, and Accomplishments Through History

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incense burner in the shape of a feline | c. 1100s CE | iran, seljuq period

in the museum of fine arts, houston collection

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Roundel ✦ Source: The MET

[wonder-worker]

Chronicles that were written after her trial and a ballad, "The Lament of the Duchess of Gloucester," have elements of the truth about her case, but their portrayal of this social and perhaps political rebel tells us about the mores of the period. The true story of Eleanor and her trial is not easy to establish. No trial transcript remains, and the chronicle accounts are biased and appeared long after the trial. There are few references to her in the Patent Rolls, Close Rolls, and the Privy Council. Eleanor seems to have been a convenient target in the struggle between Duke Humphrey and Cardinal Beaufort for control over Henry VI. Humphrey was a popular figure, but his power was not as great as that of the Cardinal. Eleanor, along with members of his household, was accused of necromancy, witchcraft, sorcery, and treason. Eleanor's high-handed manner and obvious enjoyment of her elevated status brought condemnation from Londoners.

Barbara A. Hanawalt, “Portraits of Outlaws, Felons, and Rebels in Late Medieval England”, British Outlaws of Literature and History (McFarland 2011)

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The administrative system within Boulogne grew in complexity during Ida’s rule. Four towns were given keures (law texts) and were governed by mayors aided by echevins (aldermen) and price-setting officials. The mayors of Boulogne and Desvres witnessed the act recording the terms of their daughter Matilda’s marriage to Philippe Hurepel. In Calais, Ida and Renaud granted the merchants a guild, fronting two-thirds of the cost, and establishing that they would receive two-thirds of the revenue. Merck too had a merchants’ guild. The communal charters reveal that the counts retained the rights of the ban, high justice, and the mint. The household officers continued to play an important role in Boulogne: Bald win of Ermlighem (and Wissant) was constable, while Raoul of Lens (1182–1188), Renier Morsel, and Eustace le Moine served as seneschals. Arnulf, advocate of Boulogne, Henry of Belle, bailli of Desvres, and William Niels, bailli of Merck, were also frequent attestors of comital acta.

Like the Flemish counts Philip and Baldwin VIII, Ida and Renaud relied upon the bailli to maintain peace, although there is no surviving ordnance concerning the baillis’ jurisdiction. They do not seem to have gone quite as far as the Flemish counts in relying upon the bailli as their local agents (replacing the castellans) and their representative over the local feudal courts. In both counties, the castellans continued to provide military service. Similarly, Ida and Renaud, like the Flemish counts, controlled the granting of privileges to towns, establishing fairs, reclaiming land, and enforcing balfart (corvee for building fortifications). There is no evidence for a chancery or an official responsible for overseeing the collection of comital revenues or guarding the comital seals, as there was in Flanders and Hainaut. Two clerics, Henry and Nicholas, wrote letters, writs, and acta for Ida and Renaud. It seems likely that Ida and Renaud, like Waleran of Meulan, used letters to trusted local agents to administer their dispersed lands.

— Heather J. Tanner, Lordship and Governance by the Inheriting Countesses of Boulogne, 1160-1260

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I had a moment of enthusiasm and it shows.

Henry V x Catherine of Valois sketches.

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"Edward IV left Richard III lots of problems after his death which Richard had to deal with and is unfairly blamed for 😔."

First of all, this is simply not true. There were undoubtedly some domestic and international problems when Edward IV died in 1483 (once again: they were not living in a fairytale, it would be unrealistic if there weren’t), but he nevertheless did leave the country in a far more stable position from both standpoints – particularly domestic – than the vast majority of his predecessors. Comparatively speaking, whoever inherited England from Edward had considerable advantages and political leeway that most former heirs – certainly, all former minor heirs – would not have had. The "problems" Richard encountered were of the same variety of pretty much all his predecessors and were at any rate considerably less extreme.

Second of all … Edward did not leave Richard anything. Richard was not his heir. His heir was Edward V, his son, who Richard usurped, a fact you are very conveniently choosing to overlook right now. Richard’s usurpation of his preteen nephew is what caused a split in the regime and ignited a whole new conflict that he proved demonstrably unsuccessful in containing. What happened with Richard is a classic example of one biting off more than they could chew (although, of course, judgements of his reign should remain provisional - which equally applies to the hypothetical scenario where he won Bosworth). Edward IV had nothing to do with that.

I don't get why this is so difficult to understand. I really don't think it can get any more straightforward.

[wonder-worker]

Queens, Warriors, and Dreamers // Day 2: Costumes Aethelflaed // Wedding vs Coronation

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I’d love to have seen Stephen’s face when he found out that Matilda, rather than being taken hostage she covered herself in white and walked out of the castle on foot during a snowstorm.

Like damn she’s a real one.

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The raptus of [Ida of Boulogne] might have recalled for Lambert and his readers Helen of Troy (whose complicity in her abduction was debated in the Middle Ages) or the ‘lovesome damsel’ of Chrétien’s Le Chevalier de la Charrette. Like Helen, Ida is at the centre of a broader political conflict between two mortal enemies. As well as being a kind of proxy war between the French king and the Count of Flanders, the affair once again pitted the counts of Guines against Renaud de Dammartin (in an earlier chapter Lambert references the Trojan war to analogize a battle between Baldwin and Renaud). It is worth remembering that it is two counts duelling over female inheritance that set the events of Silence in motion. Figures like Eufeme in Silence, who is represented as calculating, deceptive, and fickle, and who makes untrue accusations of rape, may have shaped or provided inspiration for Lambert’s portrayal of Ida, but, in circular fashion, could also have been conceived as to ‘instruct’ young male aristocrats on the perceived dangers of women like Ida.

Henry Ravenhall, "The Date, Author, and Context of the Roman e Silence: A Reassessment", Medium Ævum, Vol. 91, No. 1 (2022)

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Vengeance is Sworn Francesco Hayez, 1851 Oil on Canvas, 237 x 178 cm Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna Inv.-No. GE1642

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Mary Magdalene in the Cave by Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1876)

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Today (20 March) is the 607th anniversary of Henry IV’s death. His death was no surprise - he had been in ill-health since 1405 which only worsened over time. It’s difficult to diagnose him accurately but he seems to have suffered a severe skin complaint which was sometimes called leprosy but was more likely psoriasis, as well as bouts of acute illness and seizures, including one where it was uncertain whether he was alive or dead. It has been suggested that this was epilepsy, stroke, psychosomatic, valvular disease of the heart or coronary heart disease.

Various accounts of deathbed confessions and conversations with his heir, the future Henry V, exist but perhaps the most memorable is that, having been carried unconscious to a bed after his collapse, he asked where he was and when he was was told he was in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey, recounted that it had once been prophesied that he would die in Jerusalem.

His body was embalmed and entombed in the Trinity Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral, close to the tomb of Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, whose son he usurped and had murdered. Henry’s second wife and queen, Joanna (or Juana) of Navarre, was buried beside him in 1437. In 1832, the tomb was opened to check the veracity of the story that Henry’s body was had been thrown into the Thames en route to Canterbury and his face was seen in “complete preservation”.

Pictured (from top left): an illumination of Henry, the effigy of Henry and Joanna of Navarre, the ruins of Bolingbroke Castle and the ceiling of the Jerusalem Chamber which was decorated with the initial R, for Richard II.

Keep reading

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There were at least twenty female heirs to French counties during the twelfth century: Agnes of Ponthieu, Elisabeth of Vermandois, Eleanor of Vermandois, Beatrice of Guines, Matilda II of Boulogne, Marie II of Boulogne, Ida II of Boulogne, Marguerite of Flanders, Agnes of Nevers, Matilda of Nevers, Hawise of Aumale, Alix of Eu, Agnes of Evreux, Petronilla of Brienne/Bar-sur Seine, Matilda of Rethel, Clemence of Fougéres, Bertha of Brittany, Constance of Brittany, Alix of Brittany, Eremburga of Maine, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marquese of Astarac, Beatrix of Astarac, Beatrix of Bigorre, Beatrix II of Bigorre, Stephanie-Beatrix III of Bigorre, Beatrix of Melgueil, and Ermessende of Melgueil. Flemish noblewomen inherited castellanies and the associated administrative duties in Flanders in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries […]. Scott Waugh’s study of thirteenth century England also suggests that female inheritance was a significant characteristic of this region as well. […] Of 192 baronies, forty-three were inherited at least once by a single female heir; sixty-seven by multiple female heirs, as compared to thirty-six from father to son, and twenty-five to collateral heirs.

— Heather J. Tanner, Lordship and Governance by the Inheriting Countesses of Boulogne, 1160-1260

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"But religious orders were not to be the limit of Onami’s career. Yukichika died suddenly in 1582; With no other heirs left, and the fate of her late husband’s family hanging in the balance, Onami did the incredible: she took command, and sources that chronicle the history of that part of Mutsu Province regularly mention her, though not always by name.

“Nikaidō Tōtōmi-no-kami Moriyoshi, too, died on the 23rd of the seventh month. His wife defended the castle at Iwase county. She was the younger sister of Date sakyō-dayū Terumune…”

With Masamune inheriting Date headship from Terumune only two years later, Lady Onami actually led a samurai clan earlier than her more famous nephew. From 1582 to 1589, she ruled Sukagawa Castle as master of the Nikaidō clan. Together with women like Ii Naotora and Tachibana Ginchiyo, she became one of only a handful of women in Japanese history, all of them in the 16th century, to hold that rare distinction of being head of a clan.

Onami is just one among many women at war in Japanese history. While period sources do talk of women, they talk around them; or in the case of people of her rank, speak of them in titles or by the name of a husband, or parent, or brother.

But they are there regardless.

And our picture of those conflicts and the political and societal issues that surround them is incomplete without taking them into account."