The Documentary Politics of Conquered England's Queens

The particular value of Bell’s book is its accessibility to readers with little background in the oft-bewildering events of eleventh-century England. Bell frames these queenly texts thoughtfully; he provides detailed context for each but is careful not to overwhelm the general reader.[...]

The translations themselves are readable, clear and judiciously updated for a modern reader. Those of us who have assigned Campbell and Barlow’s editions in our courses and slowly led students through their prose will find that using Bell allows extra class time for discussion.[...]

Through The Documentary Politics of Conquered England’s Queens Bell makes important contributions to the field of eleventh-century English history. Bell makes accessible to a broad readership a glimpse of court politics, queenly performance of rulership, and the convergence of gender and documentary culture through the lens of queenly textual production. Bell’s work also engages scholarship on women’s power to demonstrate Emma and Edith’s position at court as part of a ruling collective. He accepts as patently obvious that both Emma and Edith could read the works they commissioned with such care and expense; a notion that, until recently, a surprising number of scholars resisted.

-- Laura L. Gathagan * The Medieval Review (2026): 2026.06.