Her research is impeccable, her eye for detail unerring, and in The Lady Queen she paints a captivating portrait of medieval royalty in all its incandescent complexity. As she did in her acclaimed Four Queens, Nancy Goldstone takes us back to the turbulent and colorful Middle Ages, and with skill and passion brings fully to life one of history's most remarkable women. While a procession of the most important artists and writers of her day found patronage at her glittering court, the turmoil of her times swirled around her: war, plague, intrigue, and the treachery that would, ultimately, bring her down. But she was also widely admired: Dedicated to the welfare of her subjects and realm, she reduced crime, built hospitals and churches, and encouraged the licensing of women physicians. She was notorious: The taint of her husband's death never quite left her. As courageous as Eleanor of Aquitaine, as astute and determined as Elizabeth I of England, Joanna was the only female monarch in her time to rule in her own name. Returning to Naples, she ruled over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for more than thirty years-until she was herself murdered. Determined to defend herself-Joanna won her acquittal against enormous odds.

Her cousin and husband, Prince Andrew of Hungary, had recently been murdered, and Joanna was the chief suspect. On March 15, 1348, Joanna I, Queen of Naples, stood trial for her life before the Pope and his court in Avignon. The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial-and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle A ges.

The lady queen nancy goldstone