Today's show is sponsored by Audible, the home of over 150,000 audiobooks.

To get a free, yes, free audiobook, you're to audibletrial.com forward slash queens

and go find yourself something awesome to listen to today.

This week, I'm going to recommend The Anarchy by Stuart Binns.

Unlike the books that I've suggested so far on this show, this is a work of historical fiction,

part of Binns' Making of England series.

It's a retrospective about a knight loyal to the Empress during the great civil war that we're about to dive into.

History from a non-fiction perspective can sometimes miss out a lot of the noise and the intrigue that fiction can bring,

and Binz's book is really good at bringing that out.

And it's free when you sign up for a trial membership at audible trial.com forward slash queens.

And better yet, by doing so, you'll be showing your support for the Queens of England podcast.

Hello and welcome to the Queens of England podcast. Hello and welcome to the Queens of England podcast.

Episode 7, Matilda of Bologne,

the all-action, badass, sweet-talking,

soldier-leading, warrior diplomat. As we saw in the previous episode, the sinking of the white ship in 1120 was far more than just a personal tragedy for the parents of all who lost children to the waves. It completely changed the course of English history. Gone were Henry's

plans to hand off the throne to his son, he now had to try and find an heir from somewhere else.

Now plan A was to father a new heir himself, and that was the reason behind his marriage to

Adelizer of Louvain, but he wasn't just putting all his eggs in that particular basket.

His daughter Matilda was already Empress to the Holy Roman Empire,

after having married Emperor Henry V in 1114,

and any children that she had with him could also claim the English throne.

This was Plan B.

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