Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England

In her own day, Eleanor de Montfort (d. 1275) was one of the most important women within the English realm. As the youngest daughter of King John, a sister of King Henry III and an aunt of the Lord Edward (the future King Edward I), Eleanor occupied a place at the heart of politics during one of the most turbulent periods in English history, the period of baronial reform and rebellion (1258-67). This book is the first full-scale biography of Eleanor for more than one hundred and fifty years. It draws on a wealth of information from contemporary records to provide an intimate portrait of Eleanor as a wife, mother, politician and lord. Beginning with her years as the child bride of William Marshal junior (d. 1231), earl of Pembroke, this biography charts Eleanor's experiences as a teenage widow, her second marriage to Simon de Montfort, and the couple's subsequent political fortunes.