Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England. Mother of empires, by Sara Cockerill. I was disappointed to learn that alot of the "white myth " stories are just that. Stories. She lived a remarkable life, but she was far from the Amazonian warrior queen that many of us have been told about. Excellent read and expertly researched.

Woodsmoke and Sage:The five senses 1485-1603:How the Tudors experienced the world, by Amy Licence. What everyone in Tudor saw,smelled, tasted,etc. Fascinating descriptions of what you would've experienced day to day in early modern England. A nice break from Royal biographies.

The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan. Published in 1405, it is a response to a male writer's tirade against women. Powerful stuff. Christine was one of the first (if not the first ) professional female writers of the Middle Ages. This book was one of the first salvos of the roughly 300 year long "Quarelle des Femmes. " A call and response debate that questioned women's roles as wife, mother, warrior, and leader. Highly recommended!

I doubt that she had much to smile about. Presentism is rife. We're quite smug with our modern judgments.