I’m incredibly lucky to have received a copy of Annie Whitehead’s new book Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England. The Anglo-Saxon period is not unfamiliar to me, but definitely not my everyday focus. It was wonderful to re-familiarise myself with some of the names I already knew, and to learn about the lives of new characters in this period. Thank you to Pen and Sword Books for the opportunity to review the book.
About the author
Annie Whitehead is an author and historian and member of the Royal Historical Society. She graduated in history having specialised in the ‘Dark Ages’ and has written three books about early medieval Mercia, the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Midlands. Her book To Be A Queen, the story of Alfred the Great’s daughter was long-listed for Historical Novelist Society’s Book of the Year in 2016. Whitehead has won prizes in both the Mail on Sunday Novel Writing Competition, and the 2012 New Writer Magazine’s Prose and Poetry Competition. In 2017 she won the inaugural HWA/Dorothy Dunnett Society Short Story Prize.
About the book
Many Anglo-Saxon kings are familiar. Æthelred the Unready is one, yet less is written of his wife, who was consort of two kings and championed one of her sons over the others, or his mother who was an anointed queen and powerful regent, but was also accused of witchcraft and regicide. A royal abbess educated five bishops and was instrumental in deciding the date of Easter; another took on the might of Canterbury and Rome and was accused by the monks of fratricide.
Anglo-Saxon women were prized for their bloodlines – one had such rich blood that it sparked a war – and one was appointed regent of a foreign country. Royal mothers wielded power; Eadgifu, wife of Edward the Elder, maintained a position of authority during the reigns of both her sons.
Æthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, was a queen in all but name, while few have heard of Queen Seaxburh, who ruled Wessex, or Queen Cynethryth, who issued her own coinage. She, too, was accused of murder, but was also, like many of the royal women, literate and highly-educated.
From seventh-century Northumbria to eleventh-century Wessex and making extensive use of primary sources, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England examines the lives of individual women in a way that has often been done for the Anglo-Saxon men but not for their wives, sisters, mothers and daughters. It tells their stories: those who ruled and schemed, the peace-weavers and the warrior women, the saints and the sinners. It explores, and restores, their reputations.
My review
Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England is the story of influential women of pre-Conquest England. They are queens, princesses, abbesses and countesses who are mostly unknown; perhaps snippets of their lives being glimpsed through brief mentions in the chronicles, charters and lives of the saints. In piecing together these snippets, Annie Whitehead has created a compelling story of the lives of many influential women who lived over a thousand years ago.
Women are often overlooked in history. In the past powerful women have been kept in the shadows – footnotes of stories written by men who wouldn’t admit to the influence that their female counterparts actually hold. In this book, Whitehead endeavours to lift these women from the pages of history and give them a story. It’s an important task not just for remembrance and curiosity but also to give a more complete understanding of society’s past.
One of the most interesting parts of Women in Power is the subtle feminist themes which I found throughout the book. Whitehead helps to dispel the myth that despite their lives not being committed to paper, females were not powerless or forgettable. Women had the right to accept or reject a marriage proposal, the right to own and distribute property. In ways they were more advanced than the women who came after them, the more familiar Plantagenets, Tudors and Stuarts.
This period of time is a difficult one to tackle as many characters have similar or the same name, or are known through their relationship to a man. One area I feel that could have been improved would be for chapters to have been broken up into smaller sections. Although Whitehead stays on topic, in places characters were discussed by relationship rather than in chronological order which made things difficult to follow. To be honest this may have just been one of the disadvantages of reading on a Kindle where it’s more difficult to flick between pages.
The research conducted and analysed for this book is evident in the robust comparisons of the discrepancies in sources. Whitehead’s enthusiasm and passion for the period shine through at every opportunity and the book is a wonderful account of the lives of women in the Dark Ages. Overall, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England is a must read for history enthusiasts and those who are looking at a well-rounded examination of women of the eleventh century.
Yes! I really enjoyed this book, but as a newbie to Anglo Saxon history I did tend to get tangled up with all the similar sounding names. I do see Anglo Saxon history as different since reading it though – I suppose I always thought of women – even women of power – as submissive. It was good to see the stories of these women.