Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest

Everyone knows about the events of 1066, the story of invasion and conquest. But what of the women? Harold II of England had been with Edith Swan-neck for 20 years but in 1066, in order to strengthen his hold on the throne, he married Ealdgyth, sister of two earls. William of Normandy’s duchess, Matilda of Flanders had, supposedly, only agreed to marry the Duke after he’d pulled her pigtails and thrown her in the mud. Harald Hardrada had two wives—apparently at the same time. So, who were these women? What was their real story? And what happened to them after 1066? From Emma of Normandy, wife of both King Cnut and Aethelred II to Saint Margaret, a descendant of Alfred the Great himself, Silk and the Sword traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066.