This book is an innovative study offering the first examination of how three fourteenth-century English queens, Margaret of France, Isabella of France, and Philippa of Hainault, exercised power and authority. It frames its analysis around four major themes: gender; status; the concept of the crown; and power and authority.

Modern Studies of Queenship  Reconstructing Medieval Expectations The Queen as Intercessor: Power and Influence  A Royal Institution: The Queen's Household and Estates  Motherhood, Matriarchy and the Royal Family  Administrator of the Realm