Joanna : the notorious Queen of Naples, Jerusalem and Sicily

by Nancy Bazelon Goldstone

Paper Book, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

945.704092

Collection

Publication

London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010.

Description

The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial--and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages. As courageous as Eleanor of Aquitaine, as astute and determined as Elizabeth I of England, Joanna, Queen of Naples, was the only female monarch in her time to rule in her own name.

User reviews

LibraryThing member TomVeal
Joanna of Naples (reg. 1343-1382) was not the only medieval queen who ruled in her own right, but she definitely led one of the most colorful and eventful lives of any female monarch. Married four times, she possibly murdered her first husband, fought a war against her second, discovered shortly
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after the wedding that her third was insane, and finally found a loyal protector in her fourth, but not one who was strong enough to save her from the consequences of the disastrous misjudgment that cost her throne and life.

Nancy Goldstone thinks that Queen Joanna has been unfairly neglected, and she is surely right. The last substantial English biography dates from the late 19th Century - a long time ago for someone who reigned for almost 40 years, brought her kingdom successfully through foreign invasion, civil wars, conflicts with the Church and the catastrophe of the Black Death, was praised by Petrarch and Boccaccio, and attracted other Renaissance luminaries to serve in her court. Moreover, she made a heavy imprint on later history: Her decision to support the deposition of Pope Urban VI was arguably the proximate cause of the Great Schism.

The Lady Queen falls squarely within the genre of popular history. The author is much more interested in people and events than in institutions. She has almost nothing to say about the economic, social, cultural or constitutional history of Joanna's realms (which included Provence and, for a few years, Sicily, as well as the core territories in southern Italy), and her political history is occasionally oversimplified. She engages in guesswork about her characters' attitudes, motives and thoughts. Now and then one encounters an odd factual slip.

Characteristics like these made many histories for the lay reader indistinguishable from historical fiction. That criticism cannot be leveled against this one. The author's research has been meticulous. She appears to have consulted all of the primary sources that are available in print (the vast majority, since Nazi vandals destroyed the major manuscript records during the last days of World War II). Where her linguistic skills were not up to the challenges of medieval Latin, French and Italian, she consulted experts. Her narrative thus has a high degree of credibility, though there are, naturally, many points about which, owing to contradictions and deficiencies in the evidence, widely differing views are possible.

The most serious lacuna is the superficial treatment of religious issues. We are told that Joanna was pious: benefactress of the order of Poor Clares, correspondent of St. Catherine of Siena, admirer of St. Bridget of Sweden. Left out of the picture are weightier matters, such as her possible sympathies the Spiritual Franciscans, instilled by her grandmother Queen Sancia, nor is there more than cursory analysis of her reasons for siding with the Avignon anti-Popes against Urban VI, a step that put her at odds with most of her subjects. In general, the author views dissensions within the Church as comparable to secular political struggles, with nothing at stake except power, money and prestige. That may have been true of some of the contestants, but certainly not of Joanna, and even the most venal churchmen could not entirely scant spiritual concerns.

There is little other ground for complaint. Fluently written, with no dull pages and hardly any confusing ones, The Lady Queen is a well-crafted story of a life that deserves to be better known. One can hope that it will soon attract deeper scholarly interest.
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LibraryThing member zibilee
Destined from birth for greatness, Joanna I begins her early life with her younger sister Maria as an orphan raised in the opulent court of her grandfather, Robert the Wise. When her grandfather dies in her early teens, Joanna is crowned queen of Naples and begins a reign fraught with treachery and
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difficulty. Not only does Joanna deal with the political upheavals that were so common during the middle ages, she must also contend with the meddling papacy, financial disasters and challenges to the legitimacy of her reign by the King of Hungary. To make matters worse, Joanna is wed to Andrew of Hungary, a union that is strained and unpopular with her subjects from the very start. When Andrew is viciously murdered, Joanna's reign takes a a frightening trajectory into the realm of revenge and savagery. But as the Queen fights for her life and her kingdom, she maintains an attitude of nobility and graciousness showing the world that she is truly fit to lead her nation and leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.

I am not usually a reader of history or historical biography, so when I received this book I was a little concerned that it wouldn't be engaging enough to hold my attention. As I cracked the spine on the book and sat down to read, I found that it did take a little bit of time to orient myself into the medieval world that the author was documenting and for the first few chapters I struggled a bit. I think this was due to the fact that there was a huge section of exposition on the history of the area that was necessary to set the stage for the main story to be told. As I waded in further, I found that the tale of Joanna's reign was not only very engrossing, but exciting to read about and ponder over. I think that Goldstone has an incredible gift for bringing history to life and a way of telling her tale that absorbs the reader and places them squarely into the grist of the drama. The writing was not showy or flashy but it managed to capture me and keep me involved until the very last page.

I marveled at the strength of Joanna, for it seemed that her reign was plagued with every sort of trial that could possibly come along. During her time as Queen, not only was there the regular pressure of running the kingdom but also challenges to her sovereignty coming from every side and faction. It was incredible to me that she was able to withstand so much disaster and never even think of abdicating her throne. It was also amazing to me how many threats came from her immediate family. Some of the most grievous situations came from her sister Maria, but other relatives didn't bat an eye at creating dangerous situations for her or committing treason as well. It is said in many instances in the book that Joanna had the demeanor and staunchness that the ruler of a nation needs, and that her tenacity to hold on to her kingdom, and even add to it, was extremely impressive, not only for her time, but for ours as well.

On of the things that surprised me about this time in history was how many schemes and machinations were going on within the realm. It seemed that most of the troubles started over attempts to increase domains and kingdoms, or the possibility of generating revenue. It was almost comic the way people switched alliances at that time. One minute they were the Queen's trusted advisors and the next moment they had switched sides and were attempting to overthrow her. These schemes were most obvious from courtiers and family members, but I was flabbergasted to see that many of the Popes played this game as well. It was almost as if everyone was operating for themselves and their fortunes alone and that loyalty was a foreign concept to them. It must have been devastating for Joanna to have everyone turn on her at one time or another, and I can imagine it made it very hard for her to truly trust anyone.

There were some really exceptional qualities about Joanna's rule that are worth mentioning in this review. First of all, during Joanna's tenure as Queen, there were more women matriculated to become doctors in her kingdom than in any other place during that period of time. It is not clear if this was because there was just more opportunity for the schooling of women or if this situation existed because there was a female in power during this time, but I find the fact amazing. Also amazing was the fact that not only did Joanna hold onto her kingdom, but she was able to increase the size of her domain through several military campaigns during her reign. This is doubly impressive when you consider that she had to rely on those whose loyalties were suspect to accomplish this goal. She also managed to keep in her subjects' good graces throughout her reign and made sure that all of them received aid and alms as long as she was in power.

Reading about Joanna was very enlightening for me and I found that I was very invested in this particular woman's story. I think that there were two factors that made this so. The first was the quality of the writing. The clarity and crisp style of the narrative was definitely something that made the book exceptionally entertaining to me, and the second was the story itself. There was simply too much going on to be bored by this tale. Although it was sometimes work to keep the players in the drama straight, there was so much intrigue and scandal scattered throughout the book as to make it a very rollicking read. I think that this would be a great read for those who like historical biography. I also think that this book would have wide appeal to those who are interested in this time and place in history and it would be a great read to cut your teeth on if you are not usually a reader of this genre. A highly entertaining read. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member oldman
Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem, was a lady and a queen. The book by Nancy Goldstone, The Lady Queen, pictures her Middle Ages reign well. Joanna was the great-great granddaughter of the man who contracted with the Pope for sovereignty over the kingdom of Naples, (for an annual
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price to be paid to the Pope). This area of Italy was rich, both economically and militarily, and influenced the whole of Italy with that power. Italy then was a series of city-states, sometimes cooperative, sometimes enemies. In addition, a few families amassed huge fortunes and functioned across and between the city-states leveraging their own political power. Everyone has a boss and this environment was controlled by the popes, then in Avignon. From Avignon the popes approved, disapproved and manipulated the various states and countries to maintain what they considered peace. To maintain political stability marriage connected states to enhance and protect those in power. Quite a setting for intrigue.

Joanna did not fall into this political environment, but was born and educated to function as a queen. She became consummate at aligning powers to protect her kingdom and even enlarge it when she became queen. Being woman at that time, her achievements become all the more remarkable. She left no son and heir, though married four times and accused of being an accomplice in the murder of her first husband. Economic depression and plague were events occurring during her reign, yet she kept her kingdom together. After many years of governing her reign ended tragically.

This book, which I received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers, never made it to my “Currently Reading List.” Once it came in the mail I started reading it and was captivated by this person, in her time, was the queen she was. I was stunned with the power, both secular and religious, wielded by the Church. The ultimate punishment was excommunication and interdiction for both secular and religious infractions of papal dictates. Goldstone’s chapters are concise, follow Joanna’s life chronologically and describe the obstacles she encountered and overcame each time. I am not a fan of Middle Ages history generally, but this book was worth the time. This book has five stars for telling me of a lady I had never known and for telling her story so well.
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LibraryThing member hroethgar
A very enjoyable read: in fact, so enjoyable I became a little paranoid. Well-written revisionist history that purports to overturn or substantially add to our understanding of a period often turns out to have remarkably shaky foundations, with the author so keen to spin out a brand ne way of
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looking at a figure or era that it turns out there's more wish-fullfilment than anything else.

Happily, it appears that Goldstone has done her research: there is meticulous detail around her sources, sadly limited by an act of Nazi barbarism in destroying a huge cache containing much of the extant records of this period, and has consulted expert translators for primary sources she herself is unable to read. She appears to have familiarised herself with both the primary and secondary sources available on Joanna herself, and also on the other figures who touch on her life, and the period in general.

Joanna's story is fascinating: her father having obtained papal recognition that she be able to rule Naples and Avignon in her own right before he died the story of her life are the decades of battles to retain her kingdom; in that regard she is perhaps no different to many other monarchs of the era, but she faced the special challenge that every marriage, bar her last, would see a husband determined to overturn her primacy by one means or another; her relationships with a sucession of Popes, the good governance of her kingdom, personal capability (she represented herself, in Latin, at a Church trial against a claim of murdering her husband), and her sheer determination to retain her birthright make for compelling reading.

I would highly recommend it to anyone with more than a passing inerest in medieval or feminist history.
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LibraryThing member setnahkt
A biography of Joanna I of Naples, arguably the first European woman to reign as queen in her own right, as a result of a decision by her father, Robert the Wise. Joanna’s titles included Queen of Naples (roughly the southern third of the Italian peninsula), Duchesse of Provence, Princess of
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Achaia in Greece (because her great-great-grandfather, Charles of Anjou, had bought it) and Queen of Jerusalem (because Charles had bought that too, despite not having any physical presence there). She also had a claim to be Queen of Sicily and was able to exercise that claim briefly (after a series of complicated legal maneuvers, both Joanna and Frederick III claimed the title of sovereign of Sicily, leading to the Neapolitan state being called “The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies” for hundreds of years thereafter).

Naples under Joanna had a mix of fortunes; she entertained both Boccaccio and Petrarch, but also had to endure the Black Death, warfare, and bad luck in husbands (she was put on trial in Papal court for the murder of her first husband, Andrew of Hungary, and her next two, Louis of Taranto and James IV of Majorca, died on campaign). Joanna herself was eventually murdered while a prisoner of Charles of Durazzo (probably; Charles claimed she died of “natural causes”).

Author Nancy Goldstone has written a readable and interesting book. There is, alas, no real feel for Joanna as a person – i.e., what she ate, how she took her leisure, etc. - but that can’t really be helped; there’s not much feel for the life of anybody during this time period. Good maps and genealogical trees; contemporary illustrations. A somewhat sparse index.
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LibraryThing member Karweenie
Astonishingly well-written, well-researched, and well-polished. Goldstone breathes fiery life into a bygone era.
LibraryThing member kylljoi
At first I was intimidated by trying to tackle a historical biography, but Nancy Goldstone writes in a way that makes reading history easy and imaginative. Her research is impeccable and composed in a way that can keep a reader engaged.
I was disappointed in myself for not knowing about Joanna I
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sooner! As a Literature student I should have known about the queen who supported both Petrarch and Boccaccio. Which brings me to believe that Goldman is selecting her topics wisely as an author. By providing detailed information on the people readers "should not about but don't" and writing about history in a way that makes it accessible to readers that are not history buffs... Goladman has really found a needed niche in the literary community.
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LibraryThing member NeverStopTrying
The Lady Queen opens dramatically and moves next to setting the local and European context for Joanna’s life and reign. The author uses an engaging , direct, storytelling voice. There are amusing descriptions of court and financial politics of the time and an occasional tongue in cheek tone.

The
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work, despite its title, is not a personal biography but a popular history of Europe centered on the events and consequences of Joanna’s life and reign. The history told is primarily political and does not include much in the way of economic, religious or cultural analysis. That work would have been huge.

Most of my previous history reading has focused on the British Isles and their relationships with France and Spain. This work significantly broadened my view of medieval European history and improved my understanding of the relationships between and among the great dramas of the period: the Hundred Years War, the Plague, the Great Schism (Who’s the Pope? Where’s the Pope?), and the first stirrings of the humanism of the Renaissance. I had not previously realized the spread of Angevin holdings, power and influence throughout Europe, beyond France and England.

While not new information for me, I was still taken aback at the extent to which royal women functioned primarily as political capital, like money in the bank almost, but more disposable and dispensable. Even while Joanna herself served as Queen, and for many years sole ruler, of one of the most prestigious kingdoms in Europe, she treated her female kin as political pawns and the spoils of wars lost and won. She had to in order to survive.

Joanna’s life was never easy and ended harshly, but the author is unapologetically an advocate for further research into and a more positive light put on Joanna’s reign and her role in history. In the Epilogue, Nancy Goldstone wrote:

“During her long and eventful reign, Joanna held together a large and far-flung dominion. … For more than thirty years, this queen fed the poor and cared for the sick; built churches and hospitals; reduced crime and promoted peace; protected trade and introduced new industry within her borders. She guided her subjects to recovery from the many instances of plague, war, famine, and depression endemic to the second half of the fourteenth century. … She has earned the right to be remembered for what she was: the last great sovereign in the Angevin tradition.

I enjoyed reading this work and value what I learned. I fully intend to find and read Goldstone’s earlier work, Four Queens.
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LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
A fascinating biography of an overlooked medieval queen, Joanna of Naples. Nancy Goldstone does an excellent job of portraying the opulent court of Naples, the motivations behind its leaders and rivals, and making sense of the intrigues and politics that surrounded Joanna during her thirty-year
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reign and eventually led to her downfall. Good reading for anyone interested in medieval Europe!
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LibraryThing member OldRoses
I came of age in the 1970s at the height of the Women’s Movement. It was a heady time full of marches and protests and petitions. Women’s Studies departments were formed at colleges and universities. The study of history, full of dead white men, was expanded to include herstory, bringing to
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light the lives and achievements of women in the past.

Women have come a long way since then, now full partners at home, in the workplace and in the history books. But I still find myself, when confronted with a choice of books, always reaching for the one by or about women.

It was with great anticipation that I began reading “The Lady Queen”. Imagine, a woman ruler in medieval Italy, surrounded by “chauvinist” aristocracy and popes who shamelessly exploited women. How did she come to rule? How was her rule different from the men who preceded her and then followed her? How did her subjects feel about being ruled by a woman? What, if any, changes did she make to Italian culture?

Sadly, only my first question was answered. The rest of the 300+ pages were filled with the usual battles, funerals, coronations, plots and counter-plots found in most history books. This book was written for a popular audience, yet it is all the things that everyone hates about history. Just a dry recitation of dates and historical figures.

Ms. Goldstone tries to excuse the paucity of material concerning the actual life and rule of Joanna on records that were lost during WWII. What I found most frustrating were the tantalizing hints of her life. Her concern with and improvement of healthcare, the arts, and religious orders are mentioned again and again but never expanded upon. I kept hoping for more details on them which would, directly or indirectly, tell me more about Joanna as a person and as a queen.

Joanna’s life was ended by assassination. There was a problem with what to do with her body because she had been excommunicated and couldn’t be buried in hallowed ground. A religious order, of whom she had been a benefactor, came up with a solution. I just wanted to scream. What had she done for them they were willing to put aside their religious convictions and provide her with a resting place?

Alas, this book does not live up to its title. I know very little more about Joanna and her “notorious reign” than I did before I read this superficial biography.
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LibraryThing member Ceridwen83
I agree with most other reviews that the amount of research that went into this was amazing. The book overall was not as engaging as other books I have read in the genre but still worth the read.
LibraryThing member kirbyowns
While the author's research is amazing, there are too many facts and details in this book. It tends to drag down interestingness of the book. Had I not promised to review this book it would have ended up in my abandonded pile before chapter 3.
LibraryThing member pru-lennon
i just couldn't read this any more. i tried but it is too dry. it's full of details, which are great because it means the author did her research, but on the flip side, it means you're trying to keep straight so much information, some of it which doesn't seem entirely pertinent to the story, that
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you are bored. i wanted to like this and wanted to be able to finish it (i hate not finishing a book and it has to take a lot of tries for me to given in) but at this rate i'll be reading this until i'm 50 (i'm 31 now). i was a history minor in college so it's not that the topic bores me, it was just too much info not told in a gripping enough way.
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LibraryThing member jeanie1
I was very excited to receive this book. As I knew nothing of this Queen, I thought the book would open up a whole new world for me. Well, that sort of happened, but I became so bogged down in details that I my enthusiam soon waned. I have yet to complete the book, mostly brecause I have to take a
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break and read something that is not so brain-draining.
The author did exhaustive research and compiled a massive amount of information. Unfortunately she was unable to turn that research into a tome that keeps the reader interested.
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LibraryThing member atelier
This is a fascinating biography of this most intriguing character in European history. Goldstone has done her research well, and is able to communicate the intricacies of the politics of the period in a way that is both intelligible and intelligent. This book brings the period to life in a very
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real way. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Kasthu
Joanna I, queen of Sicily, Naples, and Jerusalem, is the subject of this highly interesting biography. She ruled one of the most powerful kingdoms in the late 14th century, surviving the numerous calamities that plagued (pun intended) Europe at that time. She was also implicated in the death of her
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first husband, Andrew of Hungary, and eventually married four times.

Joanna emerges in this highly informative book as one of the most fascinating women of medieval Europe that I’ve ever read about. Goldstone admits that she doesn’t have much information to go on, but she puts Joanna’s story together very well. She’s one of those people who were much maligned in life; but in reality, Joanna did a number of wonderful things for her kingdom—even as her enemies tried to bring her down. Goldstone goes into a lot of detail about the papal politics of the time; Joanna had a close relationship with Clement and was very deeply involved in the great schism. From the schism to the plague, to 14th century scholarship, to even the Hundred Years’ War (of which Joanna was more of a spectator), Goldstone covers everything in a way that makes it easy for the reader to understand.

The jumping off point of the book is Joanna’s trial (described somewhat dramatically as being “on trial for her life”), but really the murder and trial are only a small part of this story. By no means is this a bad thing, though. Instead, the author focuses on Joanna, a courageous woman who faced much adversity in her life.
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LibraryThing member Melisende
Highly engaging biography of a much maligned queen.
LibraryThing member scofer
Obviously well researched but, for me at least, The Lady Queen was unbelievably dry and read like a text book. Try as I may, I lost interest early on and struggled through this book. I am a huge fan of historical fiction and thought this one would be right up my alley, but I am afraid it kept
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putting me to sleep rather than being the page turner that I had hoped for. High marks for the research effort involved, though.

[This book was reviewed as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers group]
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LibraryThing member juliayoung
Although some of the narrative showed promise, I think the book is maybe too detailed. It lost my devoted interest early. For someone really interested in studying the 1300s in Naples (and Europe, more broadly), it's good, but for a casual reader it may be too dense.
LibraryThing member Nojiskma
I was very excited to get into this book. Unfortunately, it has been hard to finish. The book is a very detailed history of Joanna I and was very dry at times. I was expecting it to be more along the lines of "The Other Boleyn Girl" etc. and was sadly disappointed it was more like reading a history
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book for my college course. If you are into the history, you will love this book.
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LibraryThing member KC9333
The story has all the elements of a supermarket paperback -including murder, deception and adultery. This fascinating account by Nancy Goldstone follows the life of Joanna, the queen of Naples who ruled the southern third of Italy and portions of France for much of the 14th century. At a young age,
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Joanna, defends herself in Papal Court, against charges of murdering her first husband. She goes on to remarry and rule over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for more than 30 years, until she, herself, is murdered.

However, be warned, this is not a novel for light reading. Nancy Goldstone's research is exhaustive and this complicated history covers many years of detailed infighting. There is a huge cast of characters, often with confusing names and titles. But for those willing to work for it, the reward is a complex, satisfying tale and knowledge of an amazing and little known queen.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
This was a very colourful and dramatic slice of Medieval European history focusing on a little known and fascinating ruler, one of the most powerful female rulers of the Medieval age. "During her long, eventful reign, Joanna held together a large and far-flung dominion, which included Provence and
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all of southern Italy, and even expanded her rule, however briefly, into Sicily and Piedmont.....For more than thirty years, this queen fed the poor and cared for the sick; built churches and hospitals; reduced crime and promoted peace; protected trade and introduced new industry within her borders. She guided her subjects to recovery from the many instances of plague, war, famine, and depression endemic to the second half of the fourteenth century." So, why is she called the "notorious" Queen? This is because of the accusation that she murdered her first husband Andrew of Hungary, though she was cleared of this in a trial in 1348. However, this set off a very turbulent period of threatened and actual invasion, negotiating with 5 or 6 successive popes, marital turmoil with the first three of her four husbands, and seeing the deaths of her young children by Andrew and by her second husband Louis of Taranto. Joanna's final fall came at the hands of another Hungarian invasion, after she fell foul of the battles of rival Popes at the time of the Great Schism of the Papacy, an event "which would bitterly divide the church for the next forty years and be as damaging to Europe, and especially to the kingdom of Naples, as any war". Her murder as a wretched prisoner in a remote castle I found particularly sad and bathetic, an ignominious end to a great ruler. In conclusion, the author rues the fact that Joanna's story "when it is recounted at all, focuses entirely on her notoriety, as the queen who murdered her husband, and not on the many impressive accomplishments of her reign." A great read.
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LibraryThing member japaul22
Despite liking Goldstone's history books in the past, this one just hasn't grabbed me, so I'm going to call it a DNF. I usually like these glimpses into what life might have been like for royal/upper class women in times long ago. This one takes place in the 1300s. But it is feeling too much like a
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string of disasters and wars and too little of really getting to a characterization of Joanna I. I know it's hard to piece that together 700 years after events, but I'm not getting enough about her life, decisions, or period details to keep me interested.
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LibraryThing member doc_illusion
Got it free from the early reviewers and still haven't gotten around to reading it. Looks interesting though.

Language

Original publication date

2009-11-03

Physical description

365 p.; 24 cm

ISBN

9780297860860

Barcode

91100000176762

DDC/MDS

945.704092
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