Margaret of Anjou Taken Prisoner after the Battle of Tewkesbury by John Gilbert

Elizabeth of York, fashion character design. Mourning outfit, c. 1482.

It's almost Valentine's! I was able to finish the Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou piece for my Wars of the Roses series <3

Henry VI tends to be brushed off as a mentally-ill and ineffective monarch to this day, and it's difficult to find information that does not infantalize or malign him. Margaret of Anjou, my favorite figure from this period, would was a steadfast pillar of support for Henry until the day he died. A lot of historians paint Margaret as only supporting her husband to secure the throne for their son, but I find that narrative difficult to be the only reason. Margaret campaigned for Henry's release from captivity tirelessly and worked extremely hard to gather support for his reign and even raised armies for him. While their relationship doesn't have the passion and flare that Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville did, I think their kind of devotion is exemplary in royal diplomatic marriages from the period.

THE WHITE QUEEN 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WEEK | Day 7 (August 20): Free Day → Favorite Costumes

SOPHIE OKONEDO as Margaret of Anjou in THE HOLLOW CROWN: HENRY VI, Part 1 (2016)

THE WHITE QUEEN 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WEEK | Day 5 — best queens

VEERLE BEATENS and FAYE MARSAY as MARGARET OF ANJOU and ANNE NEVILLE THE WHITE QUEEN (2013) | 1x05 "War at First Hand"

Margaret of Anjou After Tewkesbury

Niccolò dell’Arca, Lamentation over the Dead Christ (figure of Mary Madgalene), 1463 | Sandra Logan, Shakespeare's Foreign Queens: Drama, Politics and the Enemy Within | Max Ginsberg, War Pieta (detail) | Livi Michael, Accession | Anneliese Merrigan, To All the Bodies I've Dreamt of Carrying in Absence of Yours | Anne Carson, 'The Glass Essay', Glass, Irony & God | Margaret (Katy Stephens) and the remains of her son, Richard III (RSC, Michael Boyd 2007).

Britain's Bloody Crown + Costumes

Margaret of Anjou's red, silver & black dress in Episode 01.

// requested by @garnetbutterflysblog

I am going to take part in a major writing competition organized by an independent British publisher, and if I win, I’m going to be offered a five-book contract on novels about the women of the Wars of the Roses (well, except Catherine de Valois for book 1).

Like, yes, the prize is specifically a contract for this specific brief, I’m not hallucinating.

Please, please, wish me luck

Philippa Gregory eat your heart out

@theladyelizabeth @cinemaocd

Historical figures that have served as inspiration for the women in ASOIAF - George R.R. Martin interview

Interviewer: What women through history have inspired and helped you on your way to creating these female characters that we love?

George: There are some very interesting queens in both English and French history who have, at least partially, inspired the characters in Game of Thrones. Many people have observed that Game of Thrones is based, in part, on the Wars of the Roses and that is certainly true, although I don't do a one-for-one translation. If you go and say “This character is based on that character” you're gonna be partly right, but also partly wrong, because I like to mix and match and throw a few twists, making the characters my own. Certainly, the wife of Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, was one of the most interesting queens in English history. She was the mother of the princes in the tower and married secretly. She was a Lancastrian, but she married the Yorkist claimant secretly and that produced all sorts of trouble, and she was in the middle of all that stuff with Richard III. She was fascinating! On the other side, the Lancastrian queen, Margaret of Anjou: she was pretty amazing and definitely hardcore! She was married to the idiot king, Henry VI, and she basically had to command her side after some of the leading Lancastrian supporters were killed in the early parts of the war. If you go back a hundred years before, Isabella, the wife of king Edward II, the She-Wolf of France, she was a pretty amazing one too. She basically got rid of her husband, imprisoned him, and allegedly had him killed by having a hot poker thrust up his ass while he was in captivity and then she and her lover took over and ran the kingdom until her son Edward III rose up against his own mother and imprisoned her. All of this stuff, I play with it, but I can't claim to really have invented any of it. There are some things in history that are just as violent and twisted and bizarre and amazing as anything in my books.

- George R.R. Martin, Supanova Expo

Elizabeth of York, fashion character design, c. 1472-1473.

The fleur-de-lys on the dress make me think of the moment when Elizabeth was engaged to Charles, the Dauphin of France.

(Almost) Every Costume Per Episode + Margaret of Anjou’s purple gown with gold print and pearl embellishments in 1x04

THE WHITE QUEEN 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WEEK | Day 2 (August 15): Favorite Villian → Margaret of Anjou

I've never been liked. I'm damned twice in most men's eyes. I'm the woman who dared to rule when her husband could not and who fought to ensure her only son's position. Now, how could I do such a thing?

SOPHIE OKONEDO as Margaret of Anjou in THE HOLLOW CROWN: HENRY VI, Part 2 (2016)

THE WHITE QUEEN 10-Year Anniversary Week -> Best Queen(s): Anne Neville and Margaret of Anjou