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Queen Anne (1217 – 1254) The Great
1248 to 1254:
Queen Anne (1217 – 1254) The Great
1248 to 1254:
Three notables events would occur over the next year. The first might be the most notable if it were not for the last. In January of 1248, Queen Anne finally made good on the promise to take Dublin for the crown. The Countess Sisuile was somewhat shocked at this news given that she was at one time the Queen’s very own daughter by law until the unfortunate early death of Prince Ralph. Perhaps it was this ill memory that caused the Queen to act or perhaps it was the age old desire for crown lands within Ireland. For whatever the reason, it was a swift war as might be expected. By May, the English had crossed the Irish Sea and found a great victory at the Battle of Ath Cliath. By June of the following year, Dublin would fall to siege and the peace was pressed. The Countess was forced to cede her title and lands to the Queen and for the first time since King Eadward IV, the English had made gains to Ireland.
Dublin Won June 1249
The Queen would find great use for this in the coming months as she was already finding some trouble to her Lords and privy council. The Queen very much enjoyed her cousin Nicholas of Wessex but by early 1248, it was becoming clear that he was not the man for his job as master of spies. The issues with Duke Maurice of York and Bedford had not ceased since the revocation of Northumberland and the man remained a problem. Though she would reward Nicholas with the Barony of Ednam when her castle was finished near Teviotdale, she would also make change to council by promoting Mayor Oswulf of Roxburgh as new master if spies and he was promptly sent to York to dig up whatever dirt might be found.
She would also see her fine Lord Steward Baron Ælfstan of Cleeve die in 1248 and there she found a replacement with the Baron Roger de Montfort-l’Amaury. As her council was changing before her, so too was the religious temperament within the realm. A Cathar heresy had taken hold with her cousin Lord Richard of Deheubarth. He was naught but twenty four but seemed bent on converting as many as he might within his small Duchy in Wales. For the love that she had for him, she would look past it for a time, but she could not look away forever. Yet the greatest event, and the saddest of these many months, was the news that came to all at her Christmas court held in Bath in 1248. For some years now, stories of fierce warriors descending from the east had taken up countless tales told in taverns and courts throughout Europe. There were few that paid it much mind, at least those in the west, but in December of 1248, the great city of Krakow in the Kingdom of Ruthenia fell to these so called mongol hordes. It was told that the city was sacked and burned without a living creature left to tell the tale. It was only the fires that burned for supposedly weeks and months that proved this sad fact and many said that these fires could be seen as far away as Hungary to the south and Bohemia to the west such was the great flame and great sorrow.
Mongols Sack Krakow December 1248
It was so troublesome to the Queen that she grew violently ill at the news and was caused to purge herself within the great hall in front of everyone. That this great Lady...this great Queen could be so shaken by such a tale told all that it was indeed dire and from that day forward, the stories coming from the east were no longer ignored. For some many weeks, Queen Anne did take to chapel with her Bishop Maurice as they discussed this tragic news and all else concerning heresy within both England and so too the world at large. The great victory over Dublin near this time did help soothe her nerves and provide for her a sense of right for God and Kingdom and by this time she was feeling more herself. Through religious counsel and that of her fine sons, she began once more to find a strength of purpose even in her now sixty three years and one of her first acts of the war for Dublin was to once more change her privy council.
Privy Council 1249
Trouble with Duke Maurice continued even after naming him cupbearer, and his recalcitrant attitude could not stand. She would do far more in just some few years about him but her next steps were to at the first change her master of spies to another of her kin. Prince Ælfstan had spoken strongly of the idea that such a position should be a close one and no thing was more close than family. Thus, her cousin Earl Simon of Amien’s son Edmund of Wessex was tapped as master of spies and sent on to York. The Queen then moved to create the Duchy of Meath from her holdings within Ireland and this she granted to Earl Jordan of Kildare, at once taking him as vassal from Duke Maurice. Further to that, she granted her eldest son Prince Ælfstan the county of Teviotdale to rule with all of his other lands showing both the Scots to the north and her Duke of York that the crown was powerful (and local) in all ways. Finally to celebrate all of this, she and the Prince were able to arrange a fine betrothal between the young grandson of the Queen, Ælfstan of Wessex who was fourteen at the time, to the seventeen year old Countess of Nevers named Almodis. She was the sister to Count Amedee of Charolais who was also the Duc de Bourbon through his wife and was the very Lord Marshal of France as well. It was, in all, a major coup.
Ælfstan of Wessex and Countess Almodis of Nevers June 1249
There would surely be some sadness to follow as this was House Wessex and no matter how great she was, the Queen would feel tragedy deeply within her heart. In September of 1249, news reached the court that Duke Philip of Gloucester had passed on to God and his son Randolph was to inherit at the age of thirty and five. Queen Anne did enjoy Lord Philip’s company and his mother had been one of the few close friends held by her own mother Queen Mary. They were cousins as well and a fine gift was sent to him in remembrance of his father and to note the sure kindness for which she felt for this new Lord. Worse to that, her unfortunate daughter Princess Mary would return to her court in November of the same year with the most tragic tale. In less than four years, she was now widowed for a second time. Though civil war continued to be waged within Scotland, her husband King Giric had been captured by Prince Patrick and executed most cruelly with his head placed upon a spear and traveling before this now King of Scotland’s army. The Princess and former Queen was forced to flee lest something similar happen to her and all knew at court that Queen Anne looked very seriously at invading north once again over this most rude treatment of her regal daughter.
Yet as heartbroken as she was for her only daughter, Queen Anne held eyes elsewhere at that time. Near the end of 1249, the truce with France would end and she still desired Nantes in Brittany. In both cases, fine claim could be found. In the latter, it was said that the Countess Alis of Nantes was the lover to King Marzhin of Brittany (who was also considered the King of Navarre through some holdings in that region.) Iberia was a great mess in these years as the reconquista by the Kingdom of Leon had stalled greatly and Moslems had poured north in great numbers. The Kingdom of Castile had flown from these lands to take up court in Upper Burgundy by this date and the Kingdom of Aragon was but a pittance of what it might have been. For many years split from the Duchy of Aragon who had been married into the French monarchy, even France held some sway here also near Navarre. It was a tempting target to prove to this Breton King that she was more Holy in every way, but another notion caught her eye.
France January 1250
It came to Queen Anne’s attention by her youngest son Prince Henry that Blois had become a hotbed of heresy by this date. Though part of France, it was considered a de jure part of his own realm as the Duke of Orleans. With heresy raging in England at that time, Queen Anne was only too happy to listen to these reports even as she shook her head with indignation at how such a poor state could be found. When in February of 1250 she learned that King Payen the Fat had found war with what once was his wife’s realm in the Duchy of Aragon now comprising most of Perigord just west of Auvergne, she took an even greater notice. With great Kingdoms like Bohemia, Hungary and Poland finding such scourge from this mongol horde from the east...with heresy taking hold in so many courts across Europe...with these French so weak as that...it was time to take a stand and this she did.
Europe March 1250
In March of 1250, Queen Anne sent her son Prince Ælfstan to Dijon so that he might present this King Payen with a declaration of war. It was not for her, it was explained but for her youngest son Prince Henry who might surely be a better ruler in Blois than that which held court at the now. It may be assured that King Payen was not pleased. He was younger than this Queen by a decade and yet had already felt her wrath too many times as Prince and then King. He remembered every little stitch that she had given to his side over the years and it is said spoke too harshly to the Prince in response. Prince Ælfstan, being the fine diplomat, allowed every word before offering a bow and giving one last word said as “Bon Chance.”
King Payen of France would call in every favor to keep from yet another loss to this English Queen and soon found an ally in the King of Aragon, and the war with the Duchy of Aragon was soon found at peace so that he might focus his full attention to what he knew was coming. This it did. The Norman levy was raised as was Anjou and Paris. Another 4,000 were raised from Bath, Lincoln and Westminster. The Prince Ælfstan himself raised the ships to ferry the English across the channel and by May there were over 10,000 knights, men at arms and bowmen marching south. The Queen would raise even more levies in Norfolk and Lancaster after this to assure victory. By September of 1250, 10,000 English were at siege at Blois, 10,000 French were at siege in Orleans and another 8,000 English had landed at Rouen. They would all meet by November in the very cold Battle of Dreux.
Battle of Dreux November 1250
It was no doubt a stressful time for the Queen as she was no longer a young woman and many things were happening at once. As she was trying to invoke good Catholic promise in the lands of both France and England, Pope Innocent II decided to once more rebuke the Queen and demand that Papal Investiture over Bishops be reinstated. Queen Anne very nearly sounded as her mother when she is said to have responded, “It is my realm!” And as the war continued on, she was presented with representatives of the now King Patrick of Scotland who came to court for him the very same hand of the Princess Mary. It is not said what the response to this was by her, but one may imagine that it may have been unpleasant for they did leave her court in quite the hurry. That is told. She would also gain word at this time of even worse news about her Duke Maurice in York but that shall need to wait for but a moment because she would also find great victories here.
The Battle of Dreux was a resounding victory. Nearly 9,000 French died during the battle to only some 1,600 English, and by December of 1250 both Blois and Dijon were under siege. More to that, Prince Ælfstan came to his mother with news that a great claim had been found in Nantes in Brittany. It was a great fortune that Countess Almodis of Nevers was at court during this time for with these victories, Queen Anne declared that the time was now for these two young nobles to find their match. By January of 1251, Queen Anne had hurried her council to make all preparations such that the finest royal wedding yet seen would take place at Westminster so that she might see her grandson wed and come into his own. Her grandson Ælfstan was a most impressive figure by this date. Sixteen and handsome with the ginger hair of his Hwiccian descendants, he was also well rounded in nearly every way. The early reports of his genius are seen as this young man was as accomplished in education as he was at the tilt. He had learned his father’s diplomatic arts and was never seen without a book to his hand. Nor was he an innocent as his father held many titles and was caused to be away often and thus his son was caused more and more to stand in for him. While the memories of Queen Anne’s first son surely came to her and most especially this young man’s namesake just as it was of his father...when Queen Anne looked to the young man wed that day it is said that she cried great tears of joy and most know that it was because she was thinking of her late husband King Ælfstan.
Ælfstan of Wessex September 1250
France would finally accept peace in 1252 after they fought a most uncanny guerrilla war after their initial defeat. Back and forth it would go and the Queen was forced to look to another trouble during this time. Again, it was that of Duke Maurice of York and Bedford. In March of 1251, Queen Anne was to discover that he too was practicing in the Cather heresy. Not only was he doing so, but he was going through his court and converting any and all that might answer. Poor Bishops were made to renounce their faith and Barons and Earls were called to come to his side. This finally reached a turning point when he demanded that his Earl Anfroi of Vexin convert to this heresy. The Earl denied him and not only that, he called on many within the realm to champion his great faith for the Queen and God. The Earl would find takers, including the Duke Thomas III of Gwynedd and Duchess Umfreda of Normandy.
Earl Anfroi also held the Queen’s support as well as that of her sons. Not taking sides directly, they each in their way found chance to champion this man against such an unholy cause and that it came in the midst of war over Blois angered the Queen likely more than any other thing in her entire reign. Death saddened her. Disloyalty was unforgivable. Heresy was of the devil. By the time the war with France ended with Prince Henry taking Blois as part of his Duchy of Orleans, the Queen had met her last straw with this Duke. It should have been a great victory to be celebrated by all, but this Lord of York could not cease in his efforts to prove himself the worst of his forbears. Queen Anne even went so far as to send him off to treat with rebels in Gwynedd in 1252 with the great hope that he might lose both battle and mayhap his life. She would not be lucky in this as he would win. More to that, she herself would lose when her great chaplain the Bishop of St. Pauls would pass and caused her to name his successor Bishop Waleran in his place. At the least, she demanded that he revert from his avowed heresy (as he was forced to commit earlier by this Duke of York) when he did so and the Bishop was most effusive in his praise for the Queen for her kind words and good counsel.
Europe 1252
By the year 1253, the Queen was sixty and seven and soon to add another year to her age. She was tired, and why not? She had accomplished so much in her long life. Anne saw all of her children succeed and outside of her Duke of York, the realm prosper in nearly every way. These should have been peaceful years for the Queen known as ‘The Great’ but it could not be. When she might have rested her head for all the good that she had done, she would not be able to for two factors. One was of course her wayward and heretical Duke in York and Bedford. The other was far worse even if it came with it one great triumph. Let us speak of the latter before the former because it is almost too amazing.
In February of 1253, King Payen ‘the Fat’ of France died and as France still held to elective, the Lords of that realm found their choice. There were few of them by this date, yet two of them were of the House of Wessex. Queen Anne had for some time supported her son Prince Henry and so did the Prince himself as the Duke of Orleans. They found no great favor with the French Lords but they were to eventually be outnumbered. The Countess of Nevers was married to the heir to Prince Ælfstan and Prince Ælfstan himself was greatly respected by many French nobles and used his considerable words. In the end, Queen Anne would see her son Prince Henry elected as the King of France.
King Henry III of France 1253
Henry was her youngest child and though he was always willful and quite the rogue, he had taken to his duties as first Earl and then Duke of Orleans. Further to that, he had become quite good at playing the French politics as they were. He was young with a pretty wife and held a fine son named Geoffrey after his elder brother the Bishop of Lincoln. Henry had always made point to listen to his elder siblings. One a Duke of Norfolk and Somerset as well as heir to the throne. Another that was Duke of Northumberland as well as another that was the Lord Bishop of Lincoln and respected by all. Even his one sister who had been named Countess of Boulogne and then Queen of Scotland did he listen to, but that would not serve him because Henry had become deathly ill in all of his ordeals. His reign as King of France would last less than one month. He would be known as King Henry III of France and when he became King, he took with him the well fought for provinces of Orleans and Blois. Yet when he died at thirty and three, Queen Anne cared no thing for these losses. All she could think of was the young boy who was only four and now named Duke of Orleans, and her precious little child that she and King Ælfstan had held together and was their last together. Their last bond.
Duke Geoffrey of Orleans 1253
There was no consolation when Manasses of Blois gained the kingship after him and found himself in a struggle. Queen Anne held the old man’s son in her dungeon after the last war and yet she would not act. Not out of spite. She was too sad. As always, her other sons gathered around her to give her comfort but she could not let go of this great loss. Now a husband and two sons, all of which she loved with all of her being. Her life’s work meant nothing to her compared to these great figures that she knew. His little fingers and hands...his little cry when she took the teat away. His very sad face when she would say no to him and his great glee when she or King Ælfstan said yes. Henry was her baby as all last children are and when he died, she did too in some way.
It is not spite that the Queen spent her final years doing this, but we might wonder. After another great loss in the face of victory after some many years of the only Lord wishing her not? Her great wish to see the realm purged of its heresy and she herself at an advanced age and that of her youngest going on to God so very near? The last great push of her great reign? There are none that can tell but the history of it and what we do know is that Queen Anne spent the rest of her life punishing this Duke Maurice of York and Bedford.
When Prince Henry died, Queen Anne sent word through her son Prince Ælfstan that the Duke needs must convert back to the true word and leave off of this heresy. This he did not do and was rude about it. In response, Queen Anne did revoke the Duchy of York itself from him. The Duke was not to be swayed even if he did not revolt against her. It should be remembered that he was still at war against many over his attempt to revoke the Vexin from Earl Anfroi. The Queen did not take kindly to his response and so she did send her son Prince Ælfstan back to him and said that he would no longer be considered the Duke of Bedford. Once more, Maurice de Normandie would not change his mind and would not convert. Still holding title as Earl in many places, Maurice would claim his faith as true and caused the Queen to move to the next step. It was Prince John that came to him and announced that he was no longer the Earl in York, much less Duke, breaking a long line going back to the House of Hwicce. Maurice did not change his mind and did not not change his religious practice. Queen Anne then sent her other son Bishop Geoffrey to Northampton and said that he might remain if he would only convert. He would not do it and thus lost Essex itself.
Revoke Essex March 1253
The Queen did not understand why this proud Duke and great Lord would not change his faith and lose all that was his and that which came before for such a heretical thought but she was undeterred. She would send Bishop Geoffrey once more to Northamtpon to say that he would lose this as well if he would not take the true faith. Once more, the now Earl Maurice said no. He was no longer rude about it. Just proud. By April of 1253, Maurice had moved his court to the last place left to him in Winchester. It was here that Queen Anne finally received him in person. She was on progress from Bath to Westminster at the time and stopped to Winchester where she took over his great hall there which was a hint of what was to come. The now lowly but proud Earl bowed before the Queen and said not a word until she demanded that he convert to the true faith for one and all. It is said that he could not find any answer at all for fear of contradicting her. Instead, he kept his head lowered until she finally answered to him that all that was once his was now lost and Winchester would revert to the crown. He was banished from England from that day forward and there are many that wondered why she did not take his life as well as all of his worldly goods.
Revoke Winchester March 1253
This was the harshest act of her long reign and it was the most foreign to her. It may be this that was the reason she stopped short of the ultimate punishment. It may well also be due to the historical nature of this last revocation. For the first time in over 200 years, the ancestral lands of Winchester and Wessex were finally returned to her House. It was a thing never done by old King Eadgar, nor his sons King Uhtræd the Bold and King Eadward IV. It could not be accomplished by her grandfather King Æthelric nor her mother Queen Mary. No. This was only finally achieved under Queen Anne the Great and if no thing she ever did for her reign was good (which of course it was) this act alone may very well have earned her this given moniker.
The mass revocation also produced a thing not seen since the 11th century if not before – a large holding of land by the crown which no great Lord, not even the Lady Adela of Hereford could match. Queen Anne could savor that only so long, however, for this did displease many of her Lords that were not her children or daughter by law. Thus the Queen shared in her wealth. To her heir and son Prince Ælfstan, she added the titles of Duke of Valois and Duke of York and gave to him also Lincoln and Gainsborough, the historical home of the House of Wessex since the time of King Eadgar. To her daughter Princess Mary’s latest husband Earl Stigand of Sussex, she added the title of Earl of Essex, though she would not raise the Earl to Duke. And alongside her son Prince Ælfstan, she would work to convert back many of those that were unduly charged by the previous Lord of York when he forced them to convert to the unholy practice of the Cather heresy.
Unfortunately these great acts spent in trying to restore the true faith in England and rid heresy produced one of the most ironic and truly outrageous happenings in perhaps all of recorded history. For her deeds, Pope Innocent II sent to Queen Anne an interdict in April of 1253 and declared she and England as excommunicated from Holy Church. It was an unbelievable act and only two people in the world could surely find any reason or joy from it. One most certainly was the man Maurice de Normandie who was now living in hiding somewhere in Auvergne. The other was the man that caused it, the now King Manasses of France.
Queen Anne Excommunicated April 1253
It was as if a dagger had been thrust into Queen Anne’s heart such was her shock. Her sons as well were outraged and Prince Geoffrey the Bishop of Lincoln was the first to take travel to Rome itself to plead his mother’s case. The Queen herself had little recourse as her words would not seem to cause the Bishop of Rome to relent. Her Bishops were behind her as were her Lords and most certainly the people. Wherever she went during this time, the roads were filled with well wishers all of whom came to glimpse this regal woman and to throw at her path fine flowers and kisses through the air so that she might know just how much she was loved and cherished. This outpouring of support and love did allow the aged Queen a feeling of good cheer and when in June of 1253 she had gathered enough gold and silver, she did send this Holy Father a more than generous tithe as a gesture of good will.
Gift to Pope June 1253
This did not convince Pope Innocent II so the Queen’s next step was to send her Court Chaplain Bishop Stephen of Oualata to Rome so that he might argue in her favor. As she did this, she also sent her son Prince Ælfstan to Melun where he began to argue in favor of himself as the next King of France and told all that he held the very support of his regal mother. Unbeknownst to Queen Anne, Prince Ælfstan too then traveled to Rome and joined his brother Prince Geoffrey and the Bishop of Oualata in their efforts. Then in December of 1253, her final son Prince John would brave a winter passage all the way from Northumberland in the north to Italia and Rome where these three brothers of Wessex would continue their words to the Holy Father whenever he might listen. This he finally did either due to irritation from the constant pestering by these Princes or because they were finally able to convince him the error of his ways. Whatever the cause, Pope Innocent II would lift the interdict in February of 1254 and Queen Anne was finally free of this outrageous anathema.
Pope ends excommunication of Queen Anne February 1254
The Queen could take some satisfaction in this as well due to the troubles of King Manasses in France at this time. His Lords of Bourbon had broken away and a rebellion some 2,000 strong had taken hold of his land in Blois. It would be a short lived schadenfreude, however, as the Queen saw her own rebellion to Glamorgan very soon after. In this, Queen Anne’s response was to ask why did not Wales hold the same crown authority as England? Were they not one and the same? Thus she began to press for absolute authority throughout Wales in May of 1254. The same month she would learn of the death of her Duchess Umfreda in Normandy at three score and ten years of age. They had become close friends and this more than anything perhaps let her know that her own time may well be near. Duchess Umfreda would leave behind a forty two year old daughter Mahaut to rule as Lady of those lands and a fine gift was sent to her as a result.
The lifting of the Papal interdict had come as a fine birthday present to the Queen as she turned sixty and nine in March of 1254. The death of Lady Umfreda of Normandy was quite the opposite. Queen Anne had hoped to see her own three score and ten years much as her revered great-grandfather King Eadward IV had found. She still seemed in good health in May of that year, but by June she went down hill rapidly. Prince John and Prince Geoffrey had already returned home soon after the Pope ended his misguided foolishness but Prince Ælfstan had stayed behind in Rome for a time to continue his work in securing good opinion of both England and their Queen. When his mother found her sickbed in June, he was quickly recalled to court and by mid-month, three sons and a daughter sat by their mother’s bed as any grieving children would be they royalty or peasants. Her grandchildren were there too, especially the still young Duke Geoffrey of Orleans and the Prince’s son and namesake Ælfstan now considered the Count of Nevers through his wife.
It is said that this family took turns telling stories of their revered mother and remembering those that had come before and were lost too soon...the Prince Ralph...the Prince Henry who would be King of France for such a short time...and most assuredly their father King Ælfstan. In her final days, they each in turn made great effort to ease her pain and every record shows that in her final hours there was a smile to her face. Some chroniclers even suggest that her finals words were, “It is good.” A simple phrase from a remarkable woman and monarch of any time, much less the 13th century, and on June 23rd in the Year of Our Lord 1254, Queen Anne did breath her last.
Queen Anne Dies June 1254
Sixty nine years she had lived, thirty seven of them as Great Queen of England and Wales. Though never there herself, she had been a Crusader Queen in every way and helped establish a true land for Christians in the Levant. In thirty seven years she had conquered nearly half of France, Rennes in Brittany, Dublin in Ireland and Teviotdale in Scotland where her great forbear King Eadgar of Wessex had begun his journey nearly two hundred years earlier as well as bringing Winchester itself back into the lands of the crown. She had established absolute crown authority over England and was well on her way to doing the same in Wales. She had shown true power and was able to meddle in the laws and elections within both France and Scotland by this time and such was her great respect the world over, never once had the Emperor of the Germans ever attempted to thwart her or even challenge. Only the Pope had tried and then failed due to the one thing that she herself would have said was her most important legacy. Her children.
Her eldest son Ralph would see a childhood injury cripple him for life. The apple of her eye, she would beam with pride as he moved beyond his affliction and see manhood as both intelligent and noble. That he was so cruelly struck down at sixteen never left her mind and there can be no doubt that she may well have yearned for her final passage so that she might once again spy his beautiful face. Her youngest son...the baby...Henry. With him she would see a rise from Earl to Duke and finally to the very King of France before his death and this too hurt her. Yet again, surely she knew that even his roguish ways could not deprive her of seeing his jaunty step and charming smile once again. And then there were those still living and left to grieve for her, and they did. Mary would be heartsick. Three times married and from Countess to Queen to Countess once more, her mother’s death would be the thing that hurt her the most. John who was so very capable and ruled in the north as Duke of Northumberland and held the line against the Scots. Geoffrey who had proved in every way that he deserved his raising as Lord Bishop of Lincoln. And her heir...Ælfstan named after his father. He had been Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Somerset, Duke of York and Duke of Valois and her Lord Chancellor since the very day his father had died. Now Prince Ælfstan was the King of England and Wales at forty five and his wife, the Duchess Adela of Hereford and Lancaster was Queen at the same age.
When one considers Queen Anne’s naming as ‘The Great’ it may well be this above all that earns her such title. For nearly two hundred years, Lancaster and York in the north had proved a trouble for the crown of England as well as Normandy to the south. For over sixty years prior to her taking the throne, the crown itself had proved just as likely to cause the trouble within the realm. In her thirty seven years as Queen, Anne had seen Normandy grow closer than ever, York broken beyond repair and given to her son and heir and Hereford and Lancaster bound to the crown such that their issue would inherit both. The scheming, plotting, murder and scandal that had plagued Wessex from perhaps time immemorial was ended and despite some few examples here and there, Queen Anne’s era could surely be called one of good feeling. If a man had done such a thing and all of this, he would be revered for all time. That it was a woman? Historians may argue who is the greatest monarch of English history, but let there be no doubt. To this historian, there can be no question that it was and is this Queen Anne.
England June 1254
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To be continued...
To be continued...
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