Joan de Valence (eBook)

Noblewoman, heiress, widow, magnate, and sister-in-law to King Henry III, Joan de Valence survived and thrived through some of the most chaotic years of medieval English history. For the first time, Mitchell reaches into the archives to illuminate the story of this overlooked woman and, in turn, reveals new ways of thinking about medieval women.

Linda E. Mitchell is Martha Jane Phillips Starr/Missouri Distinguished Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri--Kansas City, USA.

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Heir to an earldom, and wife and widow of William de Valence (half-brother of King Henry III), Joan de Valence was an important actor in the volatile political world of thirteenth-century England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Yet, astonishingly, her story of survival, perseverance, and influence has never been told until now. Joan de Valence: The Life and Influence of a Thirteenth-Century Noblewoman draws on archival research, as well as tools of historical analysis and gender studies, to peel back the layers of this remarkable noblewoman's life. From her survival of the wars between king and baronage at mid-century to her life as a widow and magnate of the realm, the story of Joan de Valance, as Mitchell argues, exemplifies the range of experiences of noblewomen during the middle ages.