Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Annie Whitehead #WomensHistoryMonth #TuesdayBookBlog

Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Annie Whitehead landed in my reading stack after I enjoying Annie Whitehead’s short story “Love to Hatred Turn’d” featured in “Historical Stories of Betrayal” and her portrayal of the life and times of Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians and daughter of Alfred the Great in “To Be a Queen”.

A read about women in history for Women’s History Month and women in wars, with a book review for #TuesdayBookBlog.

Anglo-Saxon women were prized for their bloodlines – one had such rich blood that it sparked a war – and one was appointed regent of a foreign country. Royal mothers wielded power; Eadgifu, wife of Edward the Elder, maintained a position of authority during the reigns of both her sons.
Æthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, was a queen in all but name, while few have heard of Queen Seaxburh, who ruled Wessex, or Queen Cynethryth, who issued her own coinage. She, too, was accused of murder, but was also, like many of the royal women, literate and highly-educated.
From seventh-century Northumbria to eleventh-century Wessex and making extensive use of primary sources, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England examines the lives of individual women in a way that has often been done for the Anglo-Saxon men but not for their wives, sisters, mothers and daughters. It tells their stories: those who ruled and schemed, the peace-weavers and the warrior women, the saints and the sinners. It explores, and restores, their reputations.

Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Annie Whitehead, synopsis.

Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Annie Whitehead, book review

What I loved so far about Annie Whitehead’s writing are her portrayals of strong women, persuasive and uncompromising (check out all her books on Amazon). In Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England we encounter more such women who, although lived in the shadows of their husbands or in the backdrop of main historical events and they’ve been almost forgotten, they led lives that were, nevertheless, solid careers. These women were not only queens and princesses, but also abbesses, scribes and “evil” women. They were alive, and not lived by their time.

About the pre-Conquest period in which this historical biography is set we learn that in the Anglo-Saxon history depicted until the year 1000 there are less than twenty women mentioned. In some cases these were the women of the church who made it in the pages of a manuscript, or queens mentioned for the kings they birthed. But what about the lives of powerful women who led influential lives not only in relation to their men or being venerated as saints? These powerful women are more of the women in power that we read about: brave, wise women who, although had no direct access to power, held the status or were able to influence and put their print on history.

We soon discover that the women in Anglo-Saxon England were “more nearly the equal companions of their husbands and brothers than at any other period before the modern age” (says Annie Whitehouse in the Introduction, quoting Historian Doris Mary Stenton).

In her introduction Annie Whitehead explains in great detail the layout of the book and shines a light on the pre-Conquest period as well as on the research materials she mentions, on the women’s rights, customs involving women, as well as on what was expected of the Anglo-Saxon women. I found this intro informative and useful, especially to a novice to the Anglo-Saxon period such as myself.

(I previously read, and found most useful, a blog post by Annie Whitehead about Anglo-Saxon names).

As such, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England is ordered chronologically and structured in six parts: saintly women of Northumbria, the Royal Family of Kent, the Mercians, the Wessex women, and further into the 11th century, and the women who, although not of royal blood, still wielded power.

There are many such women whose stories held my attention.

For once, the triumvirate of holy women, Hild, Eanflæd and her daughter Ælfflæd, all part of the same royal family, and how their lives influences not only the royal lineage, but the holy lives of those around them (through their education and the political influence they had going to the establishment of a royal mausoleum in the 7th century. Two of them might have been abbesses and at the same time).

Next is  Æthelthryth daughter of a king, coming from a family of highly religious women, who was married twice. Yet she used the land (perhaps received as a dowry from her first husband) to build an abbey on it. Her stubbornness in following her faith was awe-inspiring even if it meant first resisting to get married and then fighting to remain a virgin (even after eventually getting married!). Later, miracles were associated with her clothes, while her coffin was believed to hold healing powers too, still sheltering “her virgin flesh”that never rots.

As with each woman of power, Mrs Witehead went further in her research, showing us how Æthelthryth would have used her influence at the court, her position and her intellect, to safeguard her virginity throughout two marriages.

I also read and enjoyed the story of King Anna of West Anglia who had four daughters, all venerated as royal saints, Æthelthryth, Seaxburh, Æthelburh, and Wihtburh. They all led extraordinary lives and were influential even after their death, especially Seaxburh of which little was written because she led a life as a married woman, yet it was her child, also a girl, who linked the royal blood of Anna of Est Anglia with that of the family of Kent.

Wessex Wives was also an intriguing chapter: where are they placed in history since Wessex was possibly an illegitimate son himself? The tale of Judith of Flanders who found herself caught between the father and the son of Wessex was unforgettable.

I enjoyed reading about King Edward the Elder of Wessex who raised highly educated daughters, much like his many wives were, some using their knowledge of the law to advocate for lesser influential women from their kingdom. One of his daughter in law, Queen Emma, fought for her son’s right to throne.

Annie Whitehead is well known for her previous work on the history of Meercia and on Aethelflaed’s life (check out her books on Amazon). In Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England Annie Whitehead gives centre stage to the lesser known mothers and daughters, to the princesses, the queens, women scribes and the saints on pre-Conquest England who chose to use their wits, their education, and their power (such as they had) to carve, for themselves and their bloodline, a future that was of their own choosing and not imposed on them as history often let us believe.

Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England is a biographical work, yet Annie Whitehead masterfully uses the primary sources and cites scholarly opinions only as a scaffolding. On this she uses her writing skills to add flesh and restore these women from the past to their full glory. Through alluring storytelling and careful research Annie Whitehead had me cheering, albeit a millennia later, for the lives led by these powerful women and left me wonder, in hopeful admiration, over how many more such women lived shadowed, yet extraordinary lives.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in the Anglo-Saxon period or who loves to read strong biographies of powerful women.

About Annie Whitehead

Annie Whitehead is a prize-winning writer, historian, and elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has written four award-winning novels set in ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Mercia. She has contributed to fiction and nonfiction anthologies and written for various magazines. She was the winner of the inaugural Historical Writers’ Association/Dorothy Dunnett Prize 2017 and is now a judge for that same competition. She has also been a judge for the HNS (Historical Novel Society) Short Story Competition. She has twice been a prize winner in the Mail on Sunday Novel Writing Competition, and won First Prize in the 2012 New Writer Magazine’s Prose and Poetry Competition. She has been a finalist in the Tom Howard Prize for non-fiction, and was shortlisted for the Exeter Story Prize and Trisha Ashley Award 2021. Her nonfiction books, Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom and Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England, are published by Amberley Books and Pen & Sword Books. She has recently signed a contract to contribute to a new history of English monarchs, to be published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2023.

Connect with Annie Whitehead via Twitter, her author website (with BUY links to all of her books), or read (and get lost) in her blog.