Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of Edward I by Kelcey Wilson-Lee

Title: Daughters of Chivalry, The Forgotten Children of Edward I
Series: n/a
Author: Kelcey Wilson-Lee
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Nonfiction; History
Publisher/Publication Date: Picador; March 21, 2019

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Virginal, chaste, humble, patiently waiting for rescue by brave knights and handsome princes: this idealised - 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 the great English king, Edward I. The lives of these sisters - Eleanora, Joanna, Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth - ran the full gamut of experiences open to royal women in the Middle Ages. Living as they did in a courtly culture founded on romantic longing and brilliant pageantry, they knew that a princess was to be chaste yet a mother to many children, preferably sons, meek yet able to influence a recalcitrant husband or even command a host of men-at-arms

I started 2022 with some historical nonfiction. Kelcey Wilson-Lee’s Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of Edward I.

One of the early lines from the introduction says: “Is she acquiescent, a person whom the most important things happen to or for, rather than an actor in her own right?” This book went to great length to show the layers of the lives of Edward I’s five daughters.

Wilson-Lee built a strong and concise narrative—based on surviving records and few instances of speculation—that followed them from early childhood to adulthood and their eventual marriages. It deftly explained the expectations (and limitations) for women at the time, while also setting the ultimate subjects of the book apart, by the privileges (education, fine foods, and good clothing) afforded to them; as well as the power and influence they were able to wield in their respective positons.

I liked how Wilson-Lee touched on the tricky subject of arranged marriages. The book covered the ways they were used to solidify Edward I’s influence, by forging those all-important alliances and connections. But, there was also a focus on what each princess stood to gain from the unions, such as expansive estates that were, in some instances, held jointly with their spouses.

The reign and eventual death of their father and the crowning of their brother, served as examples of time at the height of their influence, as well as further tumultuous periods (beyond war related conflicts) that came with the shift from “daughters of the king” to being “sisters of the king”.

All-in-all, Daughters of Chivalry was excellent.