Lands were also important to the queen in nonfinancial terms. Whilst landed income provided the wherewithal to demonstrate benevolence and dispense patronage and gifts, among other things, the lands themselves enabled the queen to build and maintain a power base. As previously stated, patronage could help the queen to build relationships and connections, thereby enabling the construction of networks. However, (Margaret of Anjou)'s landownership had an additional element. People and places lay at the heart of any power base and certain of Margaret’s dower lands gave her a foothold in regions that were not traditionally part of the queen’s dower. For example, Margaret’s many holdings in the Midlands gave her the opportunity to build and establish networks in lands that had not before experienced the queen’s reach. Her standing as a landholder in this region may well have proved to be a supporting factor in her attempt to move the court there following a number of crises in the 1450s, including the king’s bout of insanity and the first Battle of St. Albans. Such action on the queen’s part suggests that she felt supported in the region and secure in the knowledge that the royal power base there was firm.

Michele Seah and Katia Wright,“The Medieval English Queen as a Landowner”, “Women and Economic Power in Premodern European Courts”