Medieval Rebel Women – Page 3 – History… the interesting bits!

Sybilla of Normandy, Queen of Scots

23/08/202523/08/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

History ... the Interesting Bits — *Alexander I, King of Scots*

Alexander I was the second-to-youngest son of Malcolm III Canmore and his sainted wife Margaret of Wessex. Born around 1077 or 1078, he was thirty-or-so when he ascended the throne in 1107, ‘as the King Henry granted him.’¹Like his brother Edgar before him, Alexander succeeded to the throne as a vassal of the English crown. He had probably spent the years between his father’s death and Edgar’s accession in exile in England, with Edgar and their younger brother, David. John of Fordun provides a largely flattering assessment of Alexander I as king:

‘Now the king was a lettered and godly man ; very humble and amiable towards the clerics and regulars, but terrible beyond measure to the rest of his subjects; a man of large heart, exerting himself in all things beyond his strength. He was most zealous in building churches, in searching for relics of saints, in providing and arranging priestly vestments and sacred books; most open-handed, even beyond his means, to all newcomers; and so devoted to the poor, that he seemed to delight in nothing so much as in supporting them, washing, nourishing, and clothing them.’²

One of the primary duties of a king is to marry and produce heirs; at least one son, preferably two – the heir and the spare. This guarantees the succession and offers stability to a country. Even daughters were useful to a king, their marriages cementing alliances with friends and enemies alike. Alexander I was married shortly after his accession to the throne. His bride was offered to him by his brother-in-law, King Henry I of England. She was Sybilla, also known as Sybilla of Normandy, one of the King of England’s many illegitimate offspring.

King Henry had more than twenty illegitimate children and as many as five were by the same mother, his mistress, or concubine, Sybilla Corbet. Orderic Vitalis refers to Sybilla of Normandy as ‘the daughter of King Henry by a concubine’.³ It is highly likely that Sybilla Corbet was Sybilla’s mother, one indication being their shared Christian name. She was the daughter of a Shropshire landowner named Robert Corbet. Her children with the king included Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, and a young man named William, who was described as the queen’s brother when he accompanied the younger Sybilla to Scotland. Sybilla Corbet is also reputed to have been the mother of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Henry I’s oldest son and the stalwart supporter of his legitimate sister, Empress Matilda, during the Anarchy. After the end of her relationship with the king, Sybilla Corbet would go on to marry Herbert FitzHerbert, who held lands in Yorkshire and Gloucestershire, and have a further five children.

The date of Alexander’s marriage to Sybilla is unknown, though it is thought to have been shortly after his accession to the throne, possibly in 1107 or 1108, and before his involvement in the English campaign in Wales in 1114. It was in a charter dated to 1114 or 1115 that Alexander and Sybilla jointly refounded Scone Abbey, whereby they are referred to as ‘Alexander … King of Scots, son of King Malcolm and Queen Margaret and … Sybilla, Queen of Scots, daughter of King Henry of England.’⁴

Another unknown is Sybilla’s age at the time of her marriage as her birth was unrecorded. Alexander was in his 30s, while most historians agree that it is likely that Sybilla was born in the mid-to-late 1090s and probably in her mid-teens. Although born out of wedlock, as the acknowledged daughter of King Henry I of England, Sybilla was considered a suitable wife for King Alexander. Henry I’s illegitimate daughters played an important role in his foreign and domestic policies; no fewer than ten of them were married into the upper classes of the Norman-French nobility to cement political alliances. Sybilla’s illegitimate status was of less significance than the fact her father was the King of England.

The marriage was intended to bind Alexander even closer to England and to King Henry personally, who was already his brother-in-law, having married Alexander’s sister, Matilda of Scotland, shortly after becoming king. The union was also aimed at securing peace along the Anglo-Scottish border. In his chronicle, William of Malmesbury recorded the marriage, though did not name Sybilla and added ‘there was … some defect about the lady either in correctness of manners or elegance of person.’⁵ Malmesbury stated that Alexander ‘did not sigh much when she died before him, for the woman lacked, as is said, what was desired, either in modest manners, or in elegant body’.⁶ Unfortunately, William of Malmesbury does not elaborate further on this defect, nor on the reasons behind such an unflattering description of the Scottish queen. No other chronicler mentions any flaws in the queen. It is possible that Malmesbury was playing down the queen’s attributes, and the impact of her death on the king, in order to find favour with her brother-in-law David, Alexander I’s younger brother and heir.

Some historians have interpreted the childless marriage as also being loveless, perhaps drawing on Malmesbury’s depiction of Sybilla, most actually agree that, although there were no children, it was a happy and loving marriage. With this distance of time, it would be difficult to be certain either way. However, despite the lack of an heir, Alexander did not repudiate his wife, though that could always be as a result of who her father was. Rosalind Marshal suggests that Alexander loved Sybilla, and mourned her deeply when she died, founding a church in her memory.

Alexander and Sybilla’s court is said to have been one of splendour, with reference to Arab stallions and Turkish men-at-arms. They issued a number of charters together, including the one founding Scone Abbey, mentioned above. Scone was the ancient site for the installation and crowning of Scotland’s kings, it was the centre of royal power in Scotland. Sybilla’s inclusion in the foundation of the Augustinian priory there demonstrates how she had become an integral part of the Scottish ruling dynasty. She and Alexander also made a joint offering to the cathedral church of St Andrews.

Sybilla also made grants, as an ecclesiastical patron, in her own right. She granted the manor of Beath in Fife to Dunfermline Abbey, the monastery founded by her husband’s parents, Malcolm III and Queen Margaret, their final resting place. Sybilla attested one of the four surviving charters from Alexander I’s reign, demonstrating her presence at court and involvement in the affairs of state. Significantly, it may have been Sybilla who acted as peacemaker between the king and Eadmer, when he became Bishop of St Andrews. Due to the investiture controversy that was causing issues throughout Europe, with kings and bishops in disagreement over the validity of lay investiture, Eadmer accepted the ring of office from King Alexander, but not the staff. The staff had been placed on the altar at the cathedral of St Andrews and it seems likely that Sybilla was the one who broached the compromise whereby Eadmer would take the episcopal ring from the king, but the pastoral staff from the altar. When Eadmer arrived at the cathedral church of St Andrews to take up the pastoral staff, Queen Sybilla was there to greet him.

Queen Sybilla died suddenly on the Island of the Women at ‘Loch Tay, the cell of the canons of Scone’ on 12 or 13 July 1122 and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. Afterwards, the king granted the island on Loch Tay, and its surrounding lands, to the canons at Scone, to pray for the soul of Queen Sybilla, and himself. Alexander did not remarry after Sybilla’s death, leaving the crown to his brother, David, on his own death in 1124.

Queen Sybilla has left little imprint on history, beyond her name as a witness on a surviving charter and the founding of Scone Abbey. That she did not bear children, and therefore an heir for Alexander I, means that she did not have living descendants to keep her memory alive and memorialise her life and deeds, as Queen Margaret had. Her significance is, perhaps, not in her impact on Scotland but rather the physical link that she represented between the kingdoms and dynasties of England and Scotland, and thus demonstrating Scottish acceptance of Norman rule in England.

***

Notes:

1. Manuscript E, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, edited and translated by Michael Swanton, p. 241; 2. John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation, pp. 217-218; 3. ‘filiam Henrici regis Anglorun ex concubine’ Orderic Vitalis cited in Danna Messer, Medieval Monarchs, Female Illegitimacy and Modern Genealogical Matters: Part 1: Sybilla, Queen of Scotland, c. 1090-1122, fmg.ac; 4. ‘Alexander…rex Scottorum filius regis Malcolmi et regine Margerete et…Sibilla regina Scottorum filia Henrici regis Anglie’ Scone, 1, p. 1. Quoted in fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; 5. William of Malmesbury, 400, p. 349, quoted in fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; 6. William of Malmesbury, quoted in Messer, Medieval Monarchs, Female Illegitimacy and Modern Genealogical Matters: Part 1: Sybilla, Queen of Scotland, c. 1090-1122

Images:

Sources:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, edited and translated by Michael Swanton; John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation; Danna Messer, Medieval Monarchs, Female Illegitimacy and Modern Genealogical Matters: Part 1: Sybilla, Queen of Scotland, c. 1090-1122; fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; Jessica Nelson, Sybilla (d. 1122), queen of Scots and consort of Alexander I, Oxforddnb.com; Walter Bower, Scotichronicon; A.A.M. Duncan, Alexander I, Oxforddnb.com; Forester, The Chronicle of John Florence of Worcester with the two continuations; David Ross, Scotland, History of a Nation; Rosalind K. Marshall, Scottish Queens 1034-1714; Mike Ashley, A Brief History of British Kings & Queens; Richard Oram, editor, The Kings & Queens of Scotland

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.

‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org. Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword, Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon, Amberley Publishing, and Bookshop.org.

Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.

Podcast:

Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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Book Corner: The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson

22/08/202520/08/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

For fans of Philippa Gregor, Alison Weir and Elizabeth Fremantle, an untold story about how the plot against Anne Boleyn entrapped a gifted young musician. A glamorous queen, a volatile king, a gifted musician concealing a forbidden romance.

Everyone knows Anne Boleyn’s story. No one knows Mark Smeaton’s. On May 17, 1536, a young court musician was executed, accused of adultery and treason with the queen. Most historians believe both he and Anne Boleyn were innocent – victims of Henry VIII’s rage.

Mark Smeaton was a talented performer who rose from poverty to become a royal favourite. He played for the king in private and entertained at sumptuous feasts. He witnessed Anne Boleyn’s astonishing rise and fall – her reign of a thousand days. History tells us little about him, other than noting his confession and execution. The Queen’s Musician imagines his story, as seen from his perspective and that of the young woman who loves him. It all takes place amid the spectacle and danger of the Tudor court.

What an interesting take on a well known story!

The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson looks at the story of Anne Boleyn’s downfall through the eyes of her musician, Mark Smeaton. Smeaton was the lowliest, in terms of social standing, of the men accused of sleeping with Henry VIII’s second queen. You cannot fail to feel sympathy for the poor musician, drawn into a scandal created by his social superiors.

Young Mark Smeaton establishes himself in the reader’s affections from the very beginning. You find yourself invested in his life, enjoying his journey, his music and his success. But then, once in a while, you remember where the book is going, inexorably, to its tragic, dramatic end. The tension is palpable the closer you get to the dramatic events of 1536.

All to bring down a queen.

Poor Mark!

Even if he hadn’t been king, His Majesty would have been a commanding figure. He was vigorous, with masculine features, draped in white and gold. The rotund, graying cardinal hovered near him like a honeybee buzzing a flower. Recalling the scene later, I could see the rupture between them. More than once, the cardinal leaned close to His Majesty to begin a conversation, but the king turned his head away.

The room was still noisy, the diners talking among themselves. I waited for someone to call for quiet so the concert could begin. Several minutes passed, and I stood beside the stool uncertain what to do. I bowed to His Majesty and the others, but they took no notice. I began to worry that my great opportunity would turn out to be a humiliating disappointment. Then the king brought his goblet to his lips, drank slowly, paused, and raised his hand for silence. He said nothing, but his command was clear: I am ready now. You may begin.

Dressed like a prince and given this chance to entertain the king, I was pleased with my performance that night. I played six pieces, mostly English, before ending with the French love song. The king stood at his place and applauded. “Excellent, my boy, wonderful. Your songs bring me back to my younger days.”

I stood and bowed deeply. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” I glanced at the cardinal who looked only at the king.

“What is your name?”

“I am Mark Smeaton, Your Majesty.” I bowed again, elated by even this brief attention.

“The French song – it was perfection. I might want to sing it. Send me the music and the words.”

“With great pleasure, Your Majesty. I would be most honored to prepare a copy.”

“Be sure to get it from him.” The king motioned to one of his grooms who, like me, kept bowing his head.

The cardinal edged closer to the king and said, “It will be done before you leave, Your Majesty.” The king acted like he didn’t hear.

After my performance, I joined several other musicians playing light music to enhance what seemed like a festive mood. The cardinal approached and said, “Thank you, Mark – your songs have lifted His Majesty’s spirits. Please prepare the manuscript tomorrow morning.”

“You will have it before ten o’clock, Your Eminence.” In this moment, my excitement at playing for the king blended with my concern for the cardinal’s enterprise. “I hope I have helped you, sir,” I added. The old man’s nod of the head signaled his gratitude.

The next day after breakfast, I ran to the chapel to make the copy and tell Master Peter that the king had complimented my playing.

“The king has already left,” he said…

Although you know Anne Boleyn’s story, The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson will catch you out and draw you in. The author does a wonderful job of depicting the Tudor court; its decadence, the political intrigues, the social strata and the dangerous undercurrents. The latent fear. In Tudor times, ability and intelligence could rise to the top – but it could also lead to one’s downfall.

The Queen’s Musician has all of this … with a little bit of forbidden love thrown into the mix!

Historically accurate, it gets you thinking, too. That you may have heard Smeaton’s music without even knowing it. That his music was attributed to others, or marked as anonymous in order to guarantee its survival following Smeaton’s downfall and execution. It makes you wonder…

Martha Jean Johnson has found a unique angle for telling a familiar story. But this is not Anne Boleyn’s tale. It’s the story of a man who fell victim to those determined to bring down a queen, at all costs. No matter the collateral damage it would take to do it. The tragedy is the poor boy was a pawn, drawn into the intrigues of the great and good, who stepped on him, destroyed him to gain for themselves more power, more influence…

I admit it, I cried.

I always think it is the sign of a good book if it can bring me to tears. The Queen’s Musician is a good book!

The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson is beautifully written, thoughtful and deep.

To Buy the Book: The Queen’s Musician

About the author:

Martha Jean Johnson is a writer of fiction and non-fiction and the author of a series of books and articles on public opinion and public policy. The Queen’s Musician is her debut novel. She also reviews trends in historical fiction and discusses her own love of reading and writing in her biweekly blog, Historical Magic. She currently divides her time between writing and her work with the National Issues Forums Institute, an organization that encourages civil discourse and nonpartisan deliberation on national and local issues. During a long public policy career, she analyzed and reported on American public thinking, working with noted social analyst and public opinion pioneer, Daniel Yankelovich. She has published articles in USA Today and The Huffington Post and appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and PBS. She is the author of a series of nonfiction paperbacks on major political issues, co-authored with Scott Bittle and published by HarperCollins. She holds degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Brown University, and Simmons College. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

Wordly Women: Kathryn Warner

16/08/202502/07/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

I am very happy today to welcome historian Kathryn Warner to History…the Interesting Bits in a new instalment of my Author Spotlight series, Wordly Women. Kathryn is the ‘go to’ person for all-things Edward II. She has also written about John of Gaunt, the Beaumont kings of Jerusalem, the Clare sisters and her latest book is The Black Death in England: Journal of the Plague Years in the Fourteenth Century. Her books are always well research and enjoyable reads. And when we get together to chat on A Slice of Medieval, it is always a fabulous discussion and a pleasure.

So, over to Kathryn…

Sharon: Hi Kathryn, I would love to know what got you into writing?

Kathryn: In a nutshell, my passion for Edward II and his era! It was strange, because during my time at university studying medieval history, I’d never been that interested in him, but my fascination developed some years after I graduated. I started writing stories about him, then started a blog about him and his reign as well, because my passion was so overwhelming that I just had to get it down on paper or on a screen and share it with people. Some years later, I wrote some academic articles about him, then went on to write a full-length biography of Edward and his life and reign, which became my first published book.

Sharon: Tell us about your books.

Kathryn: I’ve written at least twenty non-fiction books now. My earlier ones are biographies and joint biographies, including Edward II’s queen Isabella of France, their daughter-in-law Philippa of Hainault, their grandson John of Gaunt, Edward II’s last and most powerful favourite Hugh Despenser the Younger, Edward’s nieces the de Clare sisters, and Edward III’s granddaughters. These days, I’m massively getting into social history too, and have written a book about aspects of life in London between 1300 and 1350, one about the victims and survivors of the fourteenth-century pandemics of the Black Death, and one called Life in a Medieval Town.

Sharon: What attracts you to the 14th century?

Kathryn: It was such an astonishingly dramatic and turbulent era. As well as the chaos of Edward II’s reign early in the century – battles, rebellions, executions, betrayals, changes of fortune, hatreds and passions, Edward’s forced abdication, and much else – there were natural disasters too. The pandemics of the Black Death are well known, especially the first one in 1348/49, but there was also a massive famine in England in the 1310s. Edward III began what we know as the Hundred Years War against France in the 1330s, his grandson Richard II witnessed the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, and so on. I really don’t think I’d have liked to live in the fourteenth century, haha, but it’s an endlessly fascinating era to research and write about.

Sharon: Who is your favourite 14th century person and why?

Kathryn: To the surprise of absolutely no one who knows me, Edward II! Without question, he’s one of England’s most unsuccessful kings in history, and was the first one who suffered the fate of deposition or forced abdication in 1327. His reign of just under 20 years is dramatic almost beyond the telling of it, as Edward lurched constantly from one crisis to the next, crises almost entirely of his own making. He was completely unsuited to the position he’d been born into, and was a deeply unconventional man by the standards of his era. I feel that he makes much more sense to us than he did to his contemporaries: he openly loved men, he enjoyed the company of his common subjects and even went on holiday with them, he enjoyed being outdoors and doing hard physical labour. Edward II, born in 1284, is exactly 700 years older than Prince Harry the Duke of Sussex, born in 1984, and I often think that Edward would have been much happier and more successful if he’d been born into the royal family of the late twentieth century than he was in his own lifetime.

Sharon: Who is your least favourite 14th century person and why?

Kathryn: That’s a tricky question to answer, really, as even the people I instinctively don’t tend to like all that much intrigue me and led fascinating lives that I want to delve into. Someone like Roger Mortimer, the first earl of March, for example. He played a massive role in Edward II’s downfall in 1326/27, and as such is someone I feel I should dislike, but I really don’t, because he’s such a complex fascinating person. It’s not Roger that I dislike, it’s the way he’s often been written in modern times, in this absurdly over-romanticised way as the adored lover and saviour of Edward II’s queen, Isabella of France. It flattens his character and turns him into a caricature that has very little to do with the person he actually was. So I can’t say that I have a least favourite fourteenth-century person, but I do often profoundly dislike the simplistic, one-dimensional ways in which many fourteenth-century people are depicted nowadays.

Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?

Kathryn: I think a lot of people might be surprised at just at how many sources we have from the fourteenth century, and how much information there actually is once you start delving into them. In the period I write about, pretty well all the sources are written in Latin or French, and though many have been transcribed and translated, many have not. Looking at original documents in the National Archives is such a joy! I’ve found lots of wonderful details about Edward II and his life and household from his extant accounts, for example. I often fall down a rabbit-hole of research and emerge blinking hours later, and oddly enough, some of my best finds are things I stumbled upon by accident while researching something else.

Sharon: Tell us your ‘favourite’ 14th century story you have come across in your research.

Kathryn: While I was researching a book about London between 1300 and 1350, I came across this fab story. The rector of the church of St Margaret Lothbury in London around the year 1300, whose name was William (his last name was not recorded), had an insatiable curiosity about a disease he called Le Lou. This means ‘The Wolf’ in medieval French, and probably referred to the condition we now call lupus, which means ‘wolf’ in Latin. Believing that wolf flesh could cure the disease, William ordered a cask of four dead wolves from abroad (where exactly was not specified) to be sent to his church. By the time the dead animals arrived in London, however, their corpses had become ‘putrid’, and William was hauled before the court of the mayor of London, Elias Russel, on 5 January 1300, and ordered to explain himself. To me, this situation reveals several things that are worth knowing about the early fourteenth century. Firstly, that a man in England somehow managed to contact a person on the Continent who was willing and able to send him dead wolves; secondly, that officials around the year 1300 were aware that the welfare of the general public in a crowded city might be worsened by the presence of decaying animal corpses; and thirdly, that a person was deeply interested in a particular disease and cared about its victims, and attempted, albeit in a comically misguided way, to find a cure for it.

Sharon: Tell us your least ‘favourite’ 14th century story you have come across in your research.

Kathryn: It’s one that breaks my heart. At the start of the year 1349, Agnes Stokwell was living on Whitecross Street in London with her family, who consisted of her father Walter, a painter; her mother Joan; her older brother Laurence; and her three older sisters, Christine, Imania, and Alice. She also had an aunt named Isabel and an uncle named William, her father’s siblings, and her father’s apprentice Thomas Bournham lived in the household as well. The Stokwell family were pretty well-off and thriving, but by the end of 1349, all of them were dead in the first massive pandemic of the Black Death, except only Agnes. She was just seven years old, and within a few months had lost her entire family, every living relative; her parents, her four older siblings, and her aunt and uncle. Thankfully, her late father’s apprentice Thomas Bournham also lived through the plague, the only other survivor of the household, and was given custody of Agnes at the end of 1349. They both disappear from written record after that, or at least I’ve never been able to find them again, but I hope they lived long and thrived.

Sharon: Are there any other eras you would like to write about?

Kathryn: My second favourite era after the fourteenth century is the eleventh century. I did a few courses on Old English language, literature, history and culture at university, and loved it. I’m particularly interested in the first few decades of the 1000s – the end of Aethelred’s reign, the brief reign of his son Edmund Ironside, King Cnut and his son, and Emma of Normandy, who married both Aethelred and Cnut.

Sharon: What are you working on now?

Kathryn: My current project is provisionally titled Murder and Mayhem, and is about some of the violence, homicide, gangs and feuds in fourteenth-century England. There’s a wealth of material, almost too much, in fact! The book after that is about the royal English household in the late Middle Ages, which is a subject I’ve been wanting to write about for ages.

Sharon: Now that, I want to read!

Sharon: And finally, what is the best thing about being a writer?

Kathryn: For me, it’s the chance to immerse myself in the fourteenth century, to discover fascinating stories and to share them with readers. I also love that my time is unstructured, and I can write whenever I like and take breaks whenever I like, which suits me very well. And finally, it’s simply amazing that I’ve been able to turn my passion for fourteenth-century history into a job!

About the Author:

Kathryn Warner holds two degrees in medieval history from the University of Manchester. She is considered a foremost expert on Edward II and an article from her on the subject was published in the English Historical Review. She has run a website about him since 2005 and a Facebook page about him since 2010 and has carved out a strong online presence as an expert on Edward II and the fourteenth century in general. Kathryn teaches Business English as a foreign language and lives between Dusseldorf and Cumbria.

To buy: Kathryn’s books

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

Anne de Beaujeu, ‘the least foolish woman in France’

09/08/202516/08/2025Sharon Bennett Connolly2 Comments

Anne de France, also known as Anne de Beaujeu, crosses the invisible divide between the medieval and Tudor eras. As with many rulers from medieval times, Anne was called upon to act as regent for an underage king. She was regent of France during the minority of her younger brother, Charles VIII. Anne was the third child born to Louis XI of France and his second wife, Charlotte of Savoy, but she was the first to survive infancy. Louis’ first wife, Margaret of Scotland, was a daughter of James I and Joan Beaufort and had died in August1445, aged 20.

Anne was born at Genappe, near Brussels, in April 1461. At the time of her birth her father was still dauphin of France. However, just a few months later, Anne’s grandfather, Charles VII, the man who had attained the crown thanks to the efforts of Joan of Arc, died.

The unfortunate king had had a fractious relationship with his son and heir, Louis; they did not see each other for the last fifteen years of Charles VII’s life. Louis plotted intrigue with his neighbours and had even raised an army against his father in 1455, following arguments over Louis’ marriage to Charlotte. He eventually fled to Burgundy with his wife after his father threatened to invade his lands in the Dauphiné. He refused to return to France, despite being told that his father was dying; Louis waited at the French border for news that he was king. Charles VII died of starvation on 22 July 1461, after a tumour in his jaw prevented him from eating, and Louis immediately returned to France for his coronation.

Louis XI was thirty-eight years old when he became king. He was not a likable man. He possessed a keen intelligence and few scruples. His main political aim was to expand his kingdom, using whatever methods would achieve this. He was pious and cultivated, in contrast to the ostentation and debauchery of his predecessors. His web of political intrigues often got him into international hot water, such as the adventure of Péronnne in 1468, when Louis incited the people of Liège to revolt against the Duke of Burgundy. Under the pretext of negotiation, Louis was arrested by the Duke and forced to offer him financial aid. However, these initial setbacks did not last. Louis was a wily diplomat, at home and abroad, earning him the nickname ‘the universal spider’. He managed to extend French territory by acquiring the French duchy of Burgundy, Picardy, Anjou, Maine and Provence. Louis relied on men of modest means to run his administration, rightfully anticipating that they would be more dependent on him and his goodwill than wealthy nobles. He encouraged the bourgeoisie and initiated the Grand Conseil. He also increased the number of military companies who came directly under the command of the king rather than his nobles.

On his accession, Louis’ daughter, Anne, was installed in the Chateau at Amboise, away from the court, with her mother Charlotte of Savoy and paternal grandmother, Marie of Anjou. Anne was given her own attendants, including chambermaids, nurses and a cradle-rocker. Her mother was in charge of Anne’s education. The queen had an extensive library, including classical works by authors such as Cicero, romances, psalters, histories and books on government. Anne inherited the books on her mother’s death; they were still in her library at Moulins when she herself died.

While still in the cradle, in fact as soon as her father was on the throne, Anne was the most eligible princess in Europe. Combined with great energy; many thought her the mirror image of her father in her keen political mind, although not in other ways. She was considered as a bride for Edward IV in England, Duke Francis II of Brittany and even her uncle Charles, Duke of Berry. Any age difference did not matter to her father, who offered the four-year-old princess to the thirty-two-year-old Count of Charolais– Charles the Bold, the future Duke of Burgundy. A betrothal to Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine, came to nothing when the duke broke it off to pursue Mary, Duchess of Burgundy. When she was twelve, almost thirteen, Anne’s future was decided when she married Pierre de Bourbon on 3 November 1473. At thirty-four, Pierre was twenty-one years her senior.

Pierre’s brother, the Duke of Bourbon, allowed him to use the courtesy title of Lord of Beaujeu and gave him rule of the Beaujolais. However, the newly married couple resided in the king’s court at Plessis-lès-Tours. For Anne, the next ten years were spent at the court and, particularly, with her father– during which time Louis XI said Anne was ‘the least foolish woman in France, but a wise one there was not’ (‘Elle était la moins folle femme de France, car de sage il n’en était point’). Anne, who would be called ‘Madame La Grande’ had a sharp political intelligence. She had a handsome face but was not considered beautiful. She fell pregnant in 1476, but little is known of the outcome of the pregnancy, it is possible that she had a short-lived son, Charles, Count of Clermont, but the details are sketchy. In 1481, Anne was given the County of Gien by her father to allow her to finance her own household. In April 1483 she was despatched to Hesdin to bring her little brother’s bride, three-year-old Margaret of Austria, to France. The little princess was to be brought up at the French court until she was old enough to marry the thirteen-year-old dauphin, Charles.

Anne was twenty-two years old when Louis XI died aged sixty on 30 August 1483, at Plessis-lès-Tours in the Loire Valley. He was succeeded by his son, Charles VIII, who was thirteen years old. Louis had not provided for a regency – young Charles was ten months short of his majority – although he had intended to set up a regency council, which would include the young king’s mother, Charlotte of Savoy, and Louis, Duke of Orléans. Louis was a great-grandson of Charles V and brother-in-law to the king and his sister, Anne de Beaujeu, being married to Jeanne de France; he was also Charles VIII’s heir until he produced a son of his own.

Anne’s husband Pierre, Lord of Beaujeu, was to be appointed the council’s president. However, Anne and her husband had also been appointed Charles’s guardians and it seemed a natural progression for them to take over the government of the realm. Charles was crowned on 30 May 1484 and, in the same year, to appease the populace, an Estates General was called. The body which brought together representatives from the Three Estates (nobility, clergy and commons) had last met in 1439. Their grievances, such as requests for reductions in the tailles and no taxation without the consent of the Estates, were heard and promises made; and the representatives went home content they had been listened to, even though their demands were not entirely met.

The nobility, who had control of the army, and Louis d’Orléans in particular, were not happy with the arrangements. Encouraged by Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Duke Francis of Brittany, Louis and his supporters took up arms in what became known as ‘the mad war’ or ‘the silly war’. They were soundly defeated, their army crushed at Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in July 1488, and the Duke of Orléans taken prisoner.

Anne’s greatest success was in Brittany, a semi-autonomous duchy within France. The Duke of Brittany, Francis, died in 1488 leaving his thirteen-year-old daughter Anne as his sole heir. Before his death, in an attempt to keep Brittany from being swallowed up by the French crown, the Duke offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to Maximilian of Austria. However, Maximilian was too far away to protect the duchy when the French army invaded. Anne of Brittany was forced to agree to marry Charles VIII, although Brittany would remain in Anne’s hands. This move eventually led to the annexation of Brittany by the crown. No longer needed as a bride, little Margaret of Austria was sent home and Charles VIII married Anne of Brittany on 6 December 1491. The marriage treaty had one unusual clause in that should Charles die before they had children, Anne was to marry Charles’s heir, the next king of France.

This diplomatic coup was one of the last of the Beaujeu regency as Charles VIII was now twenty and of an age and desire to rule. In 1488, Anne de Beaujeu had become Duchess of Bourbon following the death of Pierre’s older brother, John; the title had initially passed to another older brother, Charles, an Archbishop, who was persuaded to relinquish it after holding it for just two weeks, following Pierre’s invasion of the duchy. Anne and Pierre, now the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon, had become the richest, most powerful nobles in the realm. Although she still acted as an advisor to her young brother, Anne de Beaujeu now turned her attention to her new duchy, familiarising herself with her lands and its administration. She started a building programme, which included the rebuilding of the ducal castle at Gien, and the palace at Moulins. She also reorganised the duchy’s administration, codified its laws and raised taxes. Theirs was the epitome of a Renaissance court, the couple being patrons of the arts and literature. Anne particularly loved paintings, tapestries and books.

Anne finally gave birth to a surviving child, a daughter, on 10 May 1491, who was named Suzanne. Suzanne was carefully educated by her mother, who wrote a book, Les Enseignements d’Anne de France, Duchesse de Bourbonnais et d’Auvergne, à sa fille Suzanne de Bourbon, giving advice to her daughter on the proper behaviour expected of a noblewoman. Anne de Beaujeu was made regent again in 1494, when her brother Charles VIII led his army into Italy. She financially supported the king’s campaign by loaning him 10,000 livres; she made him pay it back in instalments and had recovered the full amount within a year. Charles died in 1498 after striking his head on a door lintel, leaving no direct heir. His distant cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans, succeeded him as King Louis XII. He immediately applied to the papacy for an annulment of his marriage to Anne de Beaujeu’s sister, Jeanne, in order to marry the dowager queen, Anne of Brittany, as the terms of her original marriage contract dictated. In return for Anne de Beaujeu’s support of his accession and repudiation of her sister, Louis agreed to waive royal rights to the duchy of Bourbon and the Auvergne and to allow these rights to pass to Suzanne, should Anne produce no male heir.

In 1503, Pierre de Beaujeu, Duke of Bourbon, fell ill while returning home to Moulins from the French court. He succumbed to a fever, which attacked his body for two months before he died on 10 October. Pierre arranged for Suzanne to marry a prince of royal blood, Charles d’Alençon, and called him to Moulins so the wedding could take place before his death. However, Charles arrived too late and could only act as chief mourner at Pierre’s funeral, rather than as bridegroom to Suzanne. Suzanne’s mother then broke the marriage contract and Suzanne would marry her cousin, Charles III of Bourbon Montpensier, Constable of France, but she died in 1521, childless.

Anne de Beaujeu, Duchess of Bourbon, died on 14 November 1522 at the Château of Chandelle, Coulandon. She was buried alongside her husband and daughter in the abbey at Sauvigny. Her lands and personal title, at her own request, passed to her son-in-law, Charles of Bourbon-Montpensier.

Anne de Beaujeu was regent of France at a time when the country was transitioning from the medieval to the early modern era. She successfully steered the country through civil unrest and initiated the merging of Brittany into the French crown, which would be definitively sealed in 1532.