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  A fascinating and meticulously researched biography of an overlooked woman who deserves to be remembered.

  '

  Elizabeth Day, broadcaster and Sunday Times #1 bestselling author

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  This moving account of the short life of King Richard II’s child bride is outstanding. It is beautifully written – a page-turner and visually vividly evocative. France and England in the troubled decades before Agincourt come alive. The scholarship too is impeccable. The book is a gem.

  '

  David d’Avray, Emeritus Professor of History, University College London, and Supernumerary Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford

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  In this fascinating, lavishly illustrated and deeply researched book, Dillian Gordon has done a wonderful job in bringing the heartbreaking story of one of England’s most tragic and forgotten queens to life.

  '

  Christopher Given-Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University of St Andrews, and author of Henry IV

• '

  Ysabel is the heart-rending story of a forgotten queen of medieval England. Crowned in Westminster Abbey at the age of seven, her father was mad, her husband was murdered, and she died after childbirth before she was twenty. It is the life of a woman with great privilege and no power, a woman who had everything except choice – and who now, for the first time, can speak to us. Dillian Gordon’s book is not just a compelling narrative; it is a great feat of historical recovery. Until now, the details of Ysabel’s life were hidden in a range of medieval documents accessible only to scholars. Out of them, Gordon has spun a tragic tale of a girl’s life sacrificed to her family’s pursuit of power.

  '

  Neil MacGregor, author and broadcaster, and former Director of the National Gallery and the British Museum

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  In this ground-breaking study, Dillian Gordon illuminates the glittering but often cruel world in which Ysabel lived her short life. It is a story told with clarity, scholarship and sensitivity.

  '

  Caroline Barron, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Royal Holloway, University of London

Ysabel of Valois: A Note on Her Name
Introduction
Chapter 1: Ysabel’s Family
Chapter 2: Ysabel’s Childhood Home: Saint-Pol by the Seine
Chapter 3: Marriage by Proxy: Ysabel becomes Queen of England
Chapter 4: Crowns, Jewels and Dolls: Preparations for the Marriage
Chapter 5: Farewell to Paris: Ysabel Leaves Home
Chapter 6: Ysabel Meets Richard ii
Chapter 7: Ysabel Arrives in England and Is Crowned
Chapter 8: Ysabel’s Queenship: Life at the English Court
Chapter 9: Richard’s Despotic Behaviour, Departure for Ireland and Capture
Chapter 10: The Reluctance of Henry iv to return Ysabel to France
Chapter 11: Homeward Bound
Chapter 12: Ysabel’s English Legacy
Chapter 13: Back at Home
Chapter 14: The Feud between the Dukes of Burgundy and Orléans
Chapter 15: From Queen to Duchess: Ysabel’s Second Marriage
Chapter 16: Tragedy Comes to Ysabel’s New Family
Chapter 17: Remembered as Duchess, Forgotten as Queen
Chronology
Dramatis Personae

References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

Dillian Gordon was previously Curator of Early Italian Paintings at the National Gallery, London. She has published widely on Italian medieval and Renaissance paintings, as well as on the Wilton Diptych.