BOOK: Lindy GRANT, Blance of Castille, Queen of France. New Haven (Conn.): Yale UP, 2017, 456 p. ISBN 9780300219265, USD 50.

(image source: Yale UP)

Book abstract:

This is the first modern scholarly biography of Blanche of Castile, whose identity has until now been subsumed in that of her son, the saintly Louis IX. A central figure in the politics of medieval Europe, Blanche was a sophisticated patron of religion and culture. Through Lindy Grant’s engaging account, based on a close analysis of Blanche’s household accounts and of the social and religious networks on which her power and agency depended, Blanche is revealed as a vibrant and intellectually questioning personality.

On the author:

Lindsy Grant is professor of medieval history, University of Reading, and was previously medieval curator at the Courtauld Institute, London.

More information on the publisher's website.