Financing Queenship in Late Fifteenth Century England

Late medieval queens required considerable economic and financial resources, to enable them to dispense patronage, exercise power and influence, and establish and maintain political and social networks. This book examines the nature and usage of these resources, via an in-depth study of the reigns of three queens consort from the second half of the fifteenth century in England - Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville and Elizabeth of York - considering how the queens were supported in material terms, and their impact on the economic landscape of the period. It surveys in detail the economic assets available to these queens, including dower lands, monetary and non-monetary grants, and queens' gold, before moving on to a discussion of two major entities - households and affinities - which they needed to maintain. It both sheds light on individual queens and on broader questions of authority and agency in late-medieval English queenship.