Medieval Queens Book Tag

Posted September 7, 2020 by Stephanie in Book Tag / 8 Comments

Welcome to the Medieval Queens Book Tag! As a history nerd I couldn’t resist doing this one myself too.
I saw this tag on Tammy’s blog Books, Bones & Buffy and it was originally created by Jess on her blog Jessticulates.

Empress Matilda (1102-1167)

After her father, Henry I, died naming her his heir, Matilda’s cousin, Stephen, subsequently took the throne for himself. Matilda never stopped fighting for what was rightfully hers. Though she would never be named Queen of England in her own right, she was able to convince Stephen to name her son, the future Henry II, his successor over his own children.

Choose a book with a protagonist who stands their ground.

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough is a pretty recent read of mine. You might’ve seen my review of it in August. When choosing a protagonist who stands their ground I immediately thought of Artemisia Gentileschi. Both the character in the book and the historical figure of her were a woman who definitely stands her ground even knowing all the backlash that she would get. I admire her so much.

Read my review of Blood Water Paint here.

 

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204)

Before she married Henry II and became Queen of England in 1152, Eleanor was Queen of France as the wife of Louis VII. She sought an annulment from her marriage to Louis and he eventually agreed because 15 years of marriage had produced no sons, only for Eleanor to go on to have eight children with Henry—five of whom were sons. Ouch! 

Choose a book or series in which the heroine has more than one romantic relationship.

The Hollows by Kim Harrison has been a favorite urban fantasy series of mine for years even though I haven’t finished the whole series yet. I’ve only read the first five books so far but I loved them all. I still have a lot of books to read before reaching the latest new one but I hope to work on it very soon. 

 

Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290)

A keen patron of literature and a successful businesswoman in her own right, Eleanor was Edward I’s first wife. He was so heartbroken when she died that he erected the Eleanor Crosses, 12 stone crosses marking the places where her body rested over night on its journey from Lincolnshire, where she died, to her burial place in London. Three of the crosses still survive today.

Choose a bittersweet book.

Blue by Brynn Ford is another book I read this year, back in June. It was a 5 star read so yeah you can say that I was blown away by this amazing first book. It has a lot of bittersweet moments and tough topics, not just for the main characters but also the secondary ones. I still have to read the sequel so I’m hoping for a happy ending for all of them at least. They all deserve it so much!

Read my review of Blue here.

 

Isabella of France (1295-1358)

Often known as the ‘She-Wolf of France’, Isabella was Edward II’s wife. Unfortunately for Edward he wasn’t particularly good at being king, and Isabella soon grew tired of his (possibly homosexual) relationship with his favourite, Hugh Despenser. After she began an affair with English nobleman Roger Mortimer while on a diplomatic mission to France, the pair returned to England with an army and she deposed Edward and acted as regent until their son, the future Edward III, came of age.

Choose a book where the romance overtook the plot.

Can I Come Over? by Whitney G. was a highly anticipated book of mine. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author as well as her books. And although I wasn’t expecting a lot of plot from what I knew of the premise, the romance still overtook it all in a way where it was hard to like the story and characters at all. I usually do love smutty books like this one so it was disappointing for sure.

Read my review of Can I Come Over? here.

 

Philippa of Hainault (1310/15-1369)

Queen of England as the wife of Edward III, Philippa was beloved by the English people for her compassion and kindness. The Queen’s College, Oxford, founded in 1341, is named in her honour.

Choose a book set at a university.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is set at Yale University. I was already a fan of the author’s books before but I was really surprised and blown away by this one. I loved it so much and consider it Leigh’s best book up until this point. I adored the dark academia atmosphere and I’m very impatient for the sequel!

 

Joan of Navarre (1368-1437)

Joan was Henry IV’s second wife. Six years after his death, Joan was accused of attempting to poison her stepson, Henry V, through witchcraft and was imprisoned for four years until he ordered her release, just six weeks before he suddenly died.

Choose a book about witches.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite trilogies ever. The series features wizards, demons, djinn, magic and of course witches! The Studio Ghibli adaption of Howl’s Movie Castle is also one of my favorite movies ever. It’s a little different from the book, with some things necessarily left out but still magical and so beautiful.

If you see this post consider yourself tagged if you wanna do it.

 

 

8 responses to “Medieval Queens Book Tag

  1. It’s such a bummer when a romance completely takes over a story at the expense of everything else! I just read a book like that, where it almost felt like there were too many steamy scenes!

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