Margaret of Anjou

Part of Jacob Abbott’s Makers of History series, this short biography traces the life of Margaret of Anjou, the French-born queen who married the fragile Henry VI and became one of the driving figures of England’s Wars of the Roses. Abbott follows her from an upbringing in Anjou and Lorraine through her marriage into the English court, the collapse of royal authority under her husband, and her long, often violent struggle to hold the throne for their son, Edward of Westminster. Written for general and younger readers, the book keeps a clear narrative line while sketching the customs of war and politics in the late medieval age of chivalry. It works as a readable entry point to a turbulent reign and to a queen long remembered as fierce, partisan, and resolute.