The History Lady

Sisters of Richard III: The Plantagenet Daughters of York by Sarah J. Hodder ISBN: 9781399063869, Pen & Sword History, March 2024

Anne, Elizabeth, and Margaret Plantagenet were the daughters of Richard, Duke of York, and therefore sisters to two kings of England — Edward IV and Richard III. These women watched from the sidelines as their father challenged England’s anointed king and lost his life, as their brothers fought for and held the throne, and as the Plantagenet dynasty fell and made way for the Tudors. This book sets out to recover their lives and restore their voices.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Sarah J. Hodder sets out to do something genuinely worthwhile in Sisters of Richard III: to recover the lives of three women who have spent centuries in the shadow of their more famous brothers. Anne, Elizabeth, and Margaret Plantagenet deserve a book. The question is whether this is quite the book they deserve — and my rating, considerably lower than many others, reflects some specific and significant reservations.

An Important but Neglected Subject

Anne, Elizabeth, and Margaret Plantagenet were sisters to not one but two kings of England, witnessed their father lose his life challenging the crown, and watched the Plantagenet dynasty give way to the Tudors. The chapter on Margaret of York — Duchess of Burgundy and a significant thorn in the side of Henry VII following Bosworth — is particularly engaging, and Anne of York’s unhappy first marriage to the Lancastrian Duke of Exeter makes for genuinely compelling reading. For readers less familiar with this period, the book provides a useful and accessible entry point into the turbulent world of the Wars of the Roses.

Where the Book Succeeds

Hodder humanises these women and gives them a voice long denied to them, crediting their political and social power as well as their domestic roles as wives and mothers. There is genuine enthusiasm for the subject on every page, and the accessible style will serve readers new to the period well.

The Problem of Speculation

The first of my significant reservations is a recurring tendency to speculate about the personal feelings and inner motivations of historical figures as though they were established fact. This is a habit that has no place in popular history, however accessible the intended audience. We simply do not know what these women felt, and presenting speculation as though it carries the same weight as documented evidence does a disservice both to the reader and to the historical figures themselves. A good historian acknowledges the limits of the record; they do not paper over the gaps with conjecture.

Margaret of Anjou and the Victorian Source Problem

The second, and more serious, problem concerns the treatment of Margaret of Anjou. Hodder leans heavily on a Victorian biography as a primary source for understanding Margaret’s personality and career — and Victorian biographies of powerful medieval women should always be approached with extreme caution. The Victorian lens on a queen who wielded real political and military authority was almost invariably a hostile one, shaped by the assumption that ambition and agency in a woman were inherently transgressive. To criticise Margaret for behaving “like a man” is not historical analysis; it is misogyny dressed up as biography. Modern historians have worked hard to move beyond exactly this kind of prejudice, and it is disappointing to see it uncritically recycled here.

A Note on the Battle of Wakefield

Related to this is the book’s acceptance of the claim that Margaret of Anjou was present at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460 — a claim that has been convincingly debunked by more recent scholarship. Repeating it without acknowledgement of the debate is the kind of oversight that will frustrate readers who know the field.

Final Thoughts

Sisters of Richard III is not without value. The subject matter is important, the accessible style will serve readers new to the period well, and there is genuine enthusiasm for these overlooked women on every page. But enthusiasm is not a substitute for rigour, and on the evidence here Hodder’s approach to sources and speculation needs to be considerably tighter.

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.