Sharon Bennett Connolly - Ladies of Magna Carta

Ladies of Magna Carta

Dedicated to the memory of my Nan and Grandad, with all my love .

Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England

Sharon Bennett Connolly

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

Pen & Sword History

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Sharon Bennett Connolly 2020

ISBN 978 1 52674 525 5

eISBN 978 1 52674 526 2

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52674 527 9

The right of Sharon Bennett Connolly to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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W riting my third book, the first for Pen & Sword, has been an incredible experience and I would like to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged me throughout the process. I would like to thank the staff at Pen & Sword, especially my editors Claire Hopkins and Danna Messer for giving me the opportunity to write this book and for their continuous support.

I would particularly like to thank Amy Licence, whose help, advice and friendship has been invaluable to me in my journey to become an author. I am also grateful to my fellow authors, Kristie Dean, Annie Whitehead and Susan Higginbotham, who have offered advice and encouragement throughout. Thanks to the wonderful Anna Belfrage and Elizabeth Chadwick, for all the little messages of support and discussions about our favourite women throughout history. And thank you to Darren Baker for allowing me a sneak peek at his latest book, The Two Eleanors, and for clearing up a couple of queries for me.

I owe a great debt to Rich Price, owner of the Facebook group King Johns Letters, who continues to do an incredible job of following Johns itinerary and transcribing his Patent and Close Rolls and with whom I have had various discussions about John and his life, and his barons. Thank you, Rich, for all your help and for being a wonderful sounding board and fount of information on Johns reign. I would also like to thank Rachael Rogers of Abergavenny Museum for all the chats weve had over the years about Matilda de Braose, chats that helped this book become a reality. Thank you, Rachael, for all the wonderful support you have always shown me, and to artist Frances Baines and Abergavenny Museum for allowing me to use the drawing of the Christmas Dinner at Abergavenny Castle. I am also grateful to Dean Irwin, whose knowledge and insights of the period and frequent suggestions of further reading have been invaluable to me.

Writing can be a lonely experience, you spend your time reading books for research, or sitting, staring at the computer screen, trying to think of something to write. But social media has changed all that, there are always friends just a click away to give you a diversion or encouragement. I would therefore like to thank the readers of my blog, History the Interesting Bits for their wonderful support and feedback. A special thank you goes, too, to my friends in the online community, whose amusing anecdotes and memes have given me that boost when I needed it, particularly Karrie Stone, Tim Byard-Jones, Karen Clark, Geanine Teramani-Cruz, Anne Marie Bouchard, Harry Basnett, Derek Birks and every one of my Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Also, the online author community has proved invaluable to me. So, I would like to extend a special thank you to Mike Jones, Julian Humphreys, Nathen Amin, S.J.A. Turney, Tony Riches, Sarah Bryson, Matthew Harffy, Dr Janina Ramirez, Giles Kristian, Justin Hill, Mary Anne Yard, Paula Lofting, Samantha Wilcoxson, Bev Newman, Stephanie Churchill and Prue Batten for all your support and encouragement with this book and the previous ones.

And thank you to the various historical sites I have visited, including the British Library, Doncaster Museum, Conisbrough Castle, Lewes and Pevensey Castles, Lincoln Castle and Cathedral, and all the wonderful staff who have been happy to talk about all things Magna Carta. I would like to include some thank yous to those who supported the release of my first two books, Heroines of the Medieval World and Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest . Particular thanks have to go to Sasha and Gill at Lindum Books for hosting my author talks and being so supportive of this local author and to Victoria, Nicola (no h) and everyone at Gainsborough Old Hall, for hosting my book signings and being my place of refuge when I need to get away from the computer.

Thanks go to Kristie Dean, Anne Marie Bouchard and Jayne Smith for their kind permission to use their wonderful photos, and to Daniel Gleave for taking a special trip to Westminster Abbey, just to get a photo for my book! A thank you must also go to my friends closer to home, particularly Sharon Gleave, Jill Gaskell, Di Richardson, and all my local friends, for their wonderful support and for dragging me out for a coffee every once in a while. I reserve a special thanks to my family, especially my sister, Suzanne, whose support has been incredible and very much appreciated, and my brother Stephen. And to my mum and dad for all their love and encouragement, and for their own passion for history. A huge thank you also goes to my research assistant and son, Lewis Connolly, who has travelled to various wonderful places with me in the process of making this book a reality and has turned into a fabulous sounding-board for my ideas and arguments. And to my husband, James, thank you for putting up with all the history talks. I could not have done it without all of you.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to the great historians who have gone before me, who gallantly edited and translated the great chronicles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, so that they are accessible and readable for all of us who have an interest in the period.