Item: The Lady Queen
Rating: 4.00
Author: ladygrey

by Nancy Goldstone

The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial--and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle A ges.

On March 15, 1348, Joanna I, Queen of Naples, stood trial for her life before the Pope and his court in Avignon. She was twenty-two years old. Her cousin and husband, Prince Andrew of Hungary, had recently been murdered, and Joanna was the chief suspect. Determined to defend herself--Joanna won her acquittal against enormous odds. Returning to Naples, she ruled over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for more than thirty years--until she was herself murdered.

As courageous as Eleanor of Aquitaine, as astute and determined as Elizabeth I of England, Joanna was the only female monarch in her time to rule in her own name. She was notorious: The taint of her husband's death never quite left her. But she was also widely admired: Dedicated to the welfare of her subjects and realm, she reduced crime, built hospitals and churches, and encouraged the licensing of women physicians. While a procession of the most important artists and writers of her day found patronage at her glittering court, the turmoil of her times swirled around her: war, plague, intrigue, and the treachery that would, ultimately, bring her down.

As she did in her acclaimed Four Queens, Nancy Goldstone takes us back to the turbulent and colorful Middle Ages, and with skill and passion brings fully to life one of history's most remarkable women. Her research is impeccable, her eye for detail unerring, and in The Lady Queen she paints a captivating portrait of medieval royalty in all its incandescent complexity.

I received this as a first reads book and I have to admit I was expecting it to be historical fiction. Probably I just didn't look close enough when I entered for it, but I'm very glad I did. The Lady Queen is an engaging biography of medieval Queen Joanna I.

[b:The Lady Queen|8154|King, Queen, Knave|Vladimir Nabokov|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mzmKc7KkL._SL75_.jpg|1320269] begins with Joanna's ancestry, which later play significant roles throughout her reign. Then once Joanna ascends to the throne she must contend with years of maintaining her soveirgnity from claims and attacks made both by foreigners and her own husbands. Though she was a strong and more than capable ruler she always had to have a husband in order to produce an heir and to protect her kingdom from invasion of those desired the opulance of Naples. Even Elizabeth I could not have remained single in this political climate.

Joanna maintained her kingdom and much of her dignity through four husbands, five popes, famine, recession, plauge and frequent war. Her determination brought her time and again from the brink of disposition and ruin.

[a:Nancy Goldstone|68259|Nancy Goldstone|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg] takes what could be dry fact and gives it the detail and emotion that bring it to life. Players in distant history are enfleshed and vibrant. The detail of the politics and intrigues are understandable without bearing the weight of Goldstone's opinion. In fact, if Goldstone shows any bias it's that Joanna was a great queen who has largely been mistreated by history and though she has no monuments or funeral statuary her story deserves to be told.

The Lady Queen

by Nancy Goldstone

Reviewed by ladygrey on Nov 26, 2009

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