ahistoriclove:

‘Medieval’ Queens of England!:

[This is just a little something I did to display the lovely artwork I found of these wonderful queens (courtesy of http://womenshistory.about.com/ but I don’t know if they found the artwork elsewhere!)]

From left to right:
1. Matilda of Scotland (c. 1080 – 1 May 1118), born Edith, was the first wife and Queen consort of Henry I of England. 

2. Eleanor of Aquitaine (in French: Aliénor d’Aquitaine, Éléonore de Guyenne) (1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France (1137–1152) and of England (1154–1189). She was the patroness of such literary figures as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and Bernart de Ventadorn.

3. Marguerite ‘Margaret’ of France (November 1157 – August/September 1197) was the eldest daughter of Louis VII of France by his second wife Constance of Castile. She was married to Henry the Young King of England on 2 November 1160.  Her husband became co-ruler with his father in 1170. For unknown reasons, Margaret was not crowned along with her husband on 14 July 1170, an omission that greatly angered her father. In order to please the French King, Henry II had his son and Margaret crowned together in Winchester Cathedral on 27 August 1172. 

4. Berengaria of Navarre (Spanish: Berenguela, French: Bérengère; c. 1165–1170 – 23 December 1230) was Queen of the English as the wife of King Richard I of England. She was the eldest daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile. As is the case with many of the medieval queens consort of the Kingdom of England, relatively little is known of her life. The early 20th Century Cunard passenger liner RMS Berengaria was named in her honour, the first Cunard ship to be named for a British queen. 

5. Isabella of Angoulême (French: Isabelle d’Angoulême; c.1188 – 31 May 1246) was queen consort of England as the second wife of King John from 1200 until John’s death in 1216. She had five children by the king including his heir, later Henry III. In 1220, Isabella married Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, by whom she had another nine children.

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(via jacquettarivers)