Forgotten Royal Women

Behind-the-throne biographies of royal sisters, mothers, and others. It’s said that behind every great man is a woman, and what man is greater than the king? For centuries, royal aunts, cousins, sisters and mothers have watched history unfold from the shadows, their battlefields the bedchamber or the birthing room, their often short lives remembered only through the lens of others. But for those who want to hear them, great stories are still there to be told: the medieval princess who was kidnapped by pirates; the duchess found guilty of procuring love potions; the queen who was imprisoned in a castle for decades. Bringing thirty of these royal women out of the shadows, along with the footnotes of their families, this collection of bite-sized biographies will tell forgotten tales and shine much needed light into the darkened corners of women’s history—and reminds us that British history is more than just a chain of Edwards and Henrys and Georges.

Excerpt from Royal Women Their History and Romance The Dryasdust may contend if he will that history and romance are as far removed from each other as the East is from the West, yet even he must admit that all romance when it concerns royalty becomes history. None can deny the part that the Casket Letters, whether genuine or forged, played in the life of Mary Queen of Scots; and the love letters of Mirabeau and Gambetta are as much a part of the history of France as is the Code Napoleon. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

First of its kind, this book showcases relationships between women, as well as their individual efforts and roles during the Wars of the Roses. The Wars of the Roses were fought in England from the mid-fifteenth century, as the supporters of Lancaster and York wrestled over control of the crown. Books have analyzed the politics, battles and motives of its key characters. However, a discussion of women’s roles relating to the conflict is so far missing. Forgotten Women of the Wars of the Roses highlights their involvement, their lives during wartime and the consequences of their actions. Many women lost male relatives to battle, execution and rebellion, suffering emotional and legal consequences as rivals seized lands and livelihood. Despite the uneasy political atmosphere and challenges in marriage and parenting, women maintained the household and supported the family commercially and politically. Forgotten royal women acted as diplomats, negotiators and supporters to both York and Lancaster. Religious women were involved in the conflict and their individual experiences are examined. There is a discussion of women who fought to overcome potentially dangerous circumstances to secure safety and statusand those who directly supported of the war effort. There were organisers writing lists, planning defenses and strategy and quietly supplying husbands with horses, silver and men. Defenders commanded soldiers during a siege, usually at their homes, and took active roles in family feuds. The existence of women rebels at this time is also discussed, as is women’s wider, more subtle contributions and experiences to the security of the monarchy. The book demands acknowledgement of women’s varied roles during the conflict at all levels of society. It draws on primary sources, aspects of their families, their daily lives, homes and fashions, thus presenting them as three dimensional people against the backdrop of the wars.

The Wars of the Roses were fought in England from the mid-fifteenth century, as the supporters of Lancaster and York wrestled over control of the crown. Books have analyzed the politics, battles and motives of its key characters. However, a discussion of women's roles relating to the conflict is so far missing. Forgotten Women of the Wars of the Roses highlights their involvement, their lives during wartime and the consequences of their actions. Many women lost male relatives to battle, execution, and rebellion, suffering emotional and legal consequences as rivals seized lands and livelihood. Despite the uneasy political atmosphere and challenges in marriage and parenting, women maintained the household and supported the family commercially and politically. Forgotten royal women acted as diplomats, negotiators and supporters to both York and Lancaster. Religious women were involved in the conflict and their individual experiences are examined. There is a discussion of women who fought to overcome potentially dangerous circumstances to secure safety and status and those who directly supported of the war effort. There were organizers writing lists, planning defenses and strategy and quietly supplying husbands with horses, silver and men. Defenders commanded soldiers during a siege, usually at their homes, and took active roles in family feuds. The existence of women rebels at this time is also discussed, as is women's wider, more subtle contributions and experiences to the security of the monarchy. The book demands acknowledgment of women's varied roles during the conflict at all levels of society. It draws on primary sources, aspects of their families, their daily lives, homes and fashions, thus presenting them as three-dimensional people against the backdrop of the wars.

The Geological Society of London was founded in 1807. At the time, membership was restricted to men, many of whom became well-known names in the history of the geological sciences. On the 21 May 1919, the first female Fellows were elected to the Society, 112 years after its formation. This Special Publication celebrates the centenary of that important event. In doing so it presents the often untold stories of pioneering women geoscientists from across the world who navigated male-dominated academia and learned societies, experienced the harsh realities of Siberian field-exploration, or responded to the strategic necessity of the ‘petroleum girls’ in early American oil exploration and production. It uncovers important female role models in the history of science, and investigates why not all of these women received due recognition from their contemporaries and peers. The work has identified a number of common issues that sometimes led to original work and personal achievements being lost or unacknowledged, and as a consequence, to histories being unwritten.

Biographies of royal women from Ancient Egypt to Hawai'i. The stories of their lives and struggles to reign and hold their thrones that we can take inspiration from.

'To say this series is "empowering" doesn't do it justice. Buy a copy for your daughters, sisters, mums, aunts and nieces - just make sure you buy a copy for your sons, brothers, dads, uncles and nephews, too.' - indy100 'Here's to no more forgotten women.' Evening Standard The women who shaped and were erased from our history. The Forgotten Women series will uncover the lost histories of the influential women who have refused over hundreds of years to accept the hand they've been dealt and, as a result, have formed, shaped and changed the course of our futures. The Scientists celebrates 48* unsung scientific heroines whose hugely important, yet broadly unacknowledged or incorrectly attributed, discoveries have transformed our understanding of the scientific world. Mary Anning, the amateur paleontologist whose fossil findings changed scientific thinking about prehistoric life Emmy Noether, dubbed "The Mighty Mathematician You've Never Heard Of" Ynés Mexía, the Mexican-American botanist who discovered over 500 new plant species Wangari Maathai, who started an environmental and ecological revolution in Kenya Margaret Sanger, the maverick nurse who paved the way for the legalization of contraception Chapters including Earth & Universe; Biology & Natural Sciences; Medicine & Psychology; Physics & Chemistry; Mathematics and Technology & Inventions profile the female scientists who have defied the odds, and the opposition, to change the world around us. *The number of Nobel-prize-winning women.

Illicit love, madness, betrayal--it isn’t always good to be the queen Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, and Mary, Queen of Scots. What did they have in common? For a while they were crowned in gold, cosseted in silk, and flattered by courtiers. But in the end, they spent long nights in dark prison towers and were marched to the scaffold where they surrendered their heads to the executioner. And they are hardly alone in their undignified demises. Throughout history, royal women have had a distressing way of meeting bad ends--dying of starvation, being burned at the stake, or expiring in childbirth while trying desperately to produce an heir. They always had to be on their toes and all too often even devious plotting, miraculous pregnancies, and selling out their sisters was not enough to keep them from forcible consignment to religious orders. From Cleopatra (suicide by asp), to Princess Caroline (suspiciously poisoned on her coronation day), there’s a gory downside to being blue-blooded when you lack a Y chromosome. Kris Waldherr’s elegant little book is a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of queens across the ages, a quirky, funny, utterly macabre tribute to the dark side of female empowerment. Over the course of fifty irresistibly illustrated and too-brief lives, Doomed Queens charts centuries of regal backstabbing and intrigue. We meet well-known figures like Catherine of Aragon, whose happy marriage to Henry VIII ended prematurely when it became clear that she was a starter wife--the first of six. And we meet forgotten queens like Amalasuntha, the notoriously literate Ostrogoth princess who overreached politically and was strangled in her bath. While their ends were bleak, these queens did not die without purpose. Their unfortunate lives are colorful cautionary tales for today’s would-be power brokers--a legacy of worldly and womanly wisdom gathered one spectacular regal ruin at a time.