Joan de Valence

Linda E. Mitchell is Martha Jane Phillips Starr Missouri Distinguished Professor of Women's & Gender Studies at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, USA. She is the author of Portraits of Medieval Women and Family Life in the Middle Ages and senior editor of the journal, Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques.

"In Joan de Valence, Linda Mitchell takes up a number of challenges that face any scholar attempting to write the life history of a medieval woman. The result is a book making the case not just for this one powerful noblewoman, but for a return to the archives to reassess the underappreciated but important roles that women played in medieval society." (Kathleen Ashley, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 55 (4), October, 2016)

• Introduction: Writing Medieval Women's Biographies1. Growing Up as a Marshal, Marriage, and Motherhood (1230–1258)2. War, Rebellion, and Recovery (1258–1285)3. Success, Conflict, Death, and Bereavement (1285–1296)4. Widow, Lord, and Countess (1297–1307)Conclusion: The Legacies of Joan de ValenceAppendix One: The Family Connections of Joan de ValenceAppendix Two: Joan de Valence's PropertyAppendix Three: Litigation of Joan de Valence in Widowhood