The book jumped back and forward in time and I would have preferred this to be in chronological order.
But I did enjoy learning about these historical figures

This was an interesting premise because it is about the daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I was enjoying it until I found many factual errors that other historians had disproved especially when it came to Joanna’s story. These many historical errors made the biography unenjoyable. Thus, I recommend this for those that want to learn about Eleanor’s descendants. However, Janna Biannchi, Jacqueline Alio, and Sharon Bennett Connolly have done a better job in portraying the women of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s line.

2.5 "overwhelming, educational, entertaining, too all-encompassing" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Pen & Sword History for an e-copy of this history book. This was released Feb. 2020. I am providing my honest review.

I learned so very much from this book and enjoyed it a fair bit. Please remember that 2.5 stars is an average good read for me. Having said that with just a few tweaks this book could have been a 3.5 star book.

This book covers an immense chunk of Western European History with particular emphasis on late 12th century to early 14th century through the lens of exploring the lives of the Plantagenet princesses both born within and out of wedlock. These are primarily the children/grandchildren of Eleanor of Aquitane and Henry II. The majority of the stories take place in present day UK and France with generous helpings of Germany and Spain and to a lesser degree Holland, Italy, Greece and the Holy Land and Near East.

Mr. Boyd valiantly gives the general reader huge amounts of information on the Royal families, minor nobility, wars, politics, religion, medicine, social conventions and the arts. We are given general outlines of all the royal princesses' lives and the constraints that they had compared to their brothers but also how some of them became powerful, rich and treacherous in their own rights.
The stories were immensely interesting and although I could follow all the individual strands I was often lost how it all fit together in a larger cohesive whole. If I were to read it again I would keep notes in order to keep track of the relationships between families and generations. On the other hand I did not feel that I should have to work so hard. I would also have appreciated more maps, diagrams and perhaps a chapter on all the royal personages of this immense history primer.

I did however, enjoy this read a great deal and it fostered in me a desire to get to know this period of Western History (as well as the Crusades) in much greater depth.

My next goal is to read a historical fiction of Eleanor of Aquitane. I have shortlisted the 1955 historical novel by Norah Lofts' Eleanor the Queen.

If anybody feels that there is a better single volume historical fiction of this figure please leave it in the comments below.

Although this was far from an excellent read...this book certainly whetted my appetite !

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a woman who lived her life by her own terms regardless of tradition, expectations and approval. As the heiress to the much sought after Duchy of Aquitaine she was courted by some of the highest in Europe before settling on the King of France. After bearing him daughters but no sons, she decided that she no longer wanted to be married to the monk like Louis and made up her mind that Henry II of England would make a much better husband. Eleanor married Henry within weeks of attaining a divorce from the pope and went on to give birth to not one but two future kings and also daughters who became bargaining tools for many treaties orchestrated by their father. As with her first marriage, Eleanor became either bored or just didn’t respect her husband so she set her sons against him which resulted in her being imprisoned by Henry until his death. The daughters and granddaughters, legitimate and illegitimate, of this formidable woman are the subject of this well researched book. When I had the opportunity to read this I jumped at the chance as I adore royal history and though I would say that I’m very knowledgeable in the subject, I discovered facts that I wasn’t aware of. All in all, an easy to read non fiction book with some excellent characters.

Many thanks to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Planagenet Princesses is an enjoyable book, and would make for a good introduction to the subject of Eleanor of Aquitaine's children and grandchildren (and a couple more generations afterwards). I didn't know Eleanor of Castile was one.
Some women don't have dedicated biographies and so there isn't much about them at all, which makes the short chapters in this book more valuable.

However, there were some assumptions and stereotypes about the period that got to me. The (usual) assumption that Western Medicine sucked and only Islamic was any good, and the claim that the church banned herbalism and thought wise women were witches. These are all old misconceptions I would expect perhaps in a high - school textbook but not a scholarly history book.

Also, I do think some of the women in question were victims of circumstances instead of misogyny.

Thanks to Pen and Sword for allowing me to read a PDF of this title. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and weren't influenced in any way.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I expected, but it is a solid work and one that definitely those lovers of medieval British history will also love. Well done Douglas Boyd.

A great read about what happened to the daughters of the devils brood well researched and written i recommend for any history lover

Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of my favorite medieval queens and this was an insightful look into the lives and influences of her three daughters, Matilda, Eleanor, and Joanna.

I have little knowledge about this time in history and I was interested to read about the women who made an impact. I found the book to be detailed and obviously well researched but I struggled to keep track of the protagonists and their situations. If the book has followed chronological order, I would have found it far more useful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Well researched but not well organized. Lots of great detail but jumps between times and individuals to the point of confusion. I applaud the desire to tell the stories of more women from this period, I just wish it was better executed.

I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting enough book about women who are mostly ignored in other histories. It's marred by an excessively pedantic style and a need to tell us too much that is not very interesting or is completely tangential to the stories of these women. And while Eleanor of Aquitaine is important as the founder of this dynasty, the book is not about her -- so why is nearly 20% of it spent on telling us her story in great detail? It should have been greatly shortened and the author should have organized hid thoughts better. The book would have been significantly better with these changes.

As as historian/ history teacher I was very excited to receive a copy of this book. This period has always fascinated me. Unfortunately I found this book very difficult to read, the author doesn’t lack knowledge but he clearly struggles to communicate it clearly. The book was dull to read and lacked ‘sparks’ of interest.
Factually this book is excellent but I wouldn’t read it again.

It is okay. An introduction to Eleanor and those around her (more leaning that way). What happened to her daughters and husbands and some events around her.

Alienor of Aquitaine was a rich heiress who was placed in a loveless marriage with Louis the Pious, King of France. Divorced after several years during which she only gave birth to daughters, Alienor became Eleanor, wife of Henry II of England and thus a strong female dynasty was founded.
In this book the legacy of Eleanor in terms of the female line is explored and it is fascinating. much is written about the Kings of England but the web of intermarriage between the branches of the royal families is the true source of power. Over 100 years the lives of the famous and the forgotten are considered, from Margaret of France, a true she-wolf and wife to the incompetent Edward II to the obscure Constance of Brittany and a couple of Welsh ladies. OK so most the women had similar names and it can become tricky to follow at times but this is a really interesting book that places women in the context of their times

Douglas Boyd's biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, "The April Queen", is one of my favourite bios of this queen. I was naturally excited to read Boyd's newest book treating about Eleanor's daughters.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is a figure larger than life. She was wife, mother and grandmother of kings and a rich heiress in her own right. I will never tire of reading books about her although most of popular biographies depict her as legendary, perpetuating many myths.

Eleanor overshadows many of her successors while her daughters are all but forgotten. She had five daughters in total (if there were more, history didn't record their existence). Two, Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix, Countess of Blois, were born during Eleanor's tempestuous first marriage to Louis VII of France. That marriage ended in annulment in 1152.

Eleanor's second husband was Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy, who became Henry II of England in 1154. With him she had about ten children in total, among them three sons who became kings: Henry the Young King, Richard the Lionheart and John I.

While Eleanor's sons are famous, her daughters remain on the fringes of history although they married into the upper echelons of European nobility: Matilda (named after her illustrious grandmother Empress Matilda) became Duchess of Saxony, Eleanor (named after her mother) became Queen of Castile and Joan became Queen of Sicily.

Little is known about Eleanor's daughters with Louis VII while the lives of her daughters with Henry II are far better documented. In this book, Douglas Boyd charted their lives to show what it was like to live during the Middle Ages as a powerful woman. The book gave a lot of details of these women's lives and enriched my knowledge of the period.

If you like to read about Eleanor of Aquitaine, I'm sure you'll enjoy this book.

Being interested in the Plantagenets I was excited to receive this book. I found it to be very interesting and it helped me better understand the relationships between some of the individuals.
The only thing I would have preferred would be that it was in chronological order, it seemed to jump around which may be confusing for those unfamiliar with the era.

Personally I found it intriguing and it's very well researched.

I was so excited to read Plantagenet Princesses, as I absolutely love history and especially learning about women in history. Even with a fair amount of background information I unfortunately found the book very difficult to read. It jumps all over the place, back and forth in time and I found it impossible to keep up with the different people mentioned it. It was also very dry, and a lot of genealogy that was basically just listed. In the end, I couldn't finish it, it was too much of a drudge to get through sadly.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

This is soooo my genre and time in history and was thrilled to be able to read this

Women do get a raw deal when it comes to history and the way they are written about so this is such a worthwhile book.

Love Eleanor of Aquitaine and there is much already in place re her - I loved the extra knowledge this tome gave me - loved the way her character is fleshed out here

Its great to see women portrayed they way they are in this book

If history is your think, you can do no better than this well researched, fascinating book - one of my must reads this year

There are several positives to Douglas Boyd's Plantagenet Princesses, but there are also some negatives.
Positives: The work is well researched and offers a few new things to my collective knowledge about the time period. The work is also through and examines the numerous lives of various Medieval princess. While confusing to some, the various similar or same named women did not confuse me.
Negatives: the narration of the book seemed to be all over the place and may have benefitted from a different style or more chronological order. I felt there seemed to be more about princes and kings than a focus on the women the work should have focused on, not to mention a great deal of the book is about Henry II and Eleanor rather than their progeny.

If you want an introduction to the players of the time period this may be a good book for you, but if you already have a great deal of knowledge of the rulers of the time period, this may not be the book for you.

I was drawn in by the topic - who doesn't think Eleanor of Aquitaine is/was one of the most interesting historical figures from the early middle ages. However, I found the book to be incredibly messy. Nor sure if that the author's fault as many of the women described in the book happen to be named the same thing, but I was not really engaged by their stories with the material presented to me as it was hard to follow. Maybe the timeline/family tree would be better placed at the beginning of the book instead of being appendices at the end of the text.