But she was also a twice-crowned queen, an empress, and heir to the English crown – the first woman ever to hold the position. “A life of Matilda – empress, skilled military leader and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages. Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior is an engrossing and (perhaps most importantly for the readers) an approachable biography of a remarkable and fascinating woman.

Usually those primary sources are written by men who have preconceptions, ingrained ways of thinking about certain topics and the historians have to carefully work on the sources in order to find something that they can use. It also shows the difficulties the historians have with contemporary sources when they want to write about these topics. Reading about that subject breaks preconceptions, shows historical events from another perspective and reminds you that there are multiple perspectives and ways to look and analyse historical events. To be fair, I enjoy reading about women and especially women who ruled or wielded power during the Middle Ages (or in any other historical period). Although I’m not very familiar with that period of English history the subject was intriguing enough, and trusting the author and liking her style of writing I decided to get the book. She mentioned that she was working on Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior on Twitter, and sometime in January doctor Hanley tweeted that the book was available for preorder. I don’t think I linked her Twitter account, but I do follow her there and I enjoy her tweets. In my review of the Edwin Weaver series (or Medieval Midsomer Murder Mysteries as I affectionately like to call it) I mentioned that Catherine Hanley has a PhD in Medieval Studies and that she wrote non-fiction historical books and articles. My silliness aside, let’s chat a bit about what drew me to this book and why I choose to read it. “You said you’re going to read me and here I am, sitting on your shelf twiddling my imaginary thumbs and waiting… So are you gonna read me today?” Yes, I am aware that books are inanimate objects that neither judge nor talk, but THERE IS METHOD TO MY MADNESS! 😀 Usually. Most of the time I get a book, put it on my already too long “To Read List”, put the book on the shelf and then the book is judgmentally looking at me from its shelf for months. Actually, the whole process of acquiring the book, reading it and writing the review is going faster than I thought it would, and it’s definitely faster than usual.

🙂 I was planning to review Catherine Hanley’s Matilda in March, since March is Women’s History Month, but my schedule didn’t work out, therefore I’m opening April with it. Hello dear reader(s) and welcome back to another instalment of Nessa reads and reviews! I’m starting the reviews for the month of April with a history book.

Catherine hanley matilda