The Kingmaker's Sisters : Six Powerful Women in the Wars of the Roses

Based on archival sources that have not previously appeared in print, this history of the Wars of the Roses is told from the perspective of the women behind some of the key participants as the conflict between York and Lancaster ebbed and flowed. An examination of the six sisters of Warwick the Kingmaker who all married powerful noblemen fighting on opposite sides in the Wars of the Roses, this history serves also as an exploration of the role of these women in 15th century society. This is the first time that the Wars of the Roses have been studied from a feminine perspective. The Kingmaker’s Sisters Warwick the Kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick & Salisbury whose wealth and power was so great that he could effectively decide who would rule England during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), had six sisters: Joan, Cecily, Alice, Eleanor, Katherine and Margaret. They all married powerful noblemen who fought on opposing sides during this turbulent period. The Kingmaker's Sisters examines the role that they played in late fifteenth-century England, as wives, mothers and homemakers, but also as deputies for their absent husbands, and how the struggle between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians affected them and their families. Scholarly but accessible, this is the first history of the Wars of the Roses to be written from this perspective, and will appeal to general readers, historians of the period and those with an interest in feminist history.