Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the World of the Crusades

Jessalynn L. Bird is Associate Professor of Humanistic Studies at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN. Her most recent books are Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean (2025) and Crusade and Reform in Latin Christendom: The Paris Masters against Heresy and Corruption, c. 1179 – c. 1254 (2026).Natasha Hodgson is Associate Professor in History and Director of the Centre Research in History, Heritage and Memory Studies (CRHHMS) at Nottingham Trent University UK. Her publications include Women, Crusading and the Holy Land (2017) and Crusading and Masculinities (2019). She is co-founder of teachingmedievalwomen.org.Helen J. Nicholson is Emerita Professor of History at Cardiff University. She has published extensively on the crusades, the military orders, medieval warfare, and medieval women, including ‘Women on the Third Crusade’ (1997); Sybil, Queen of Jerusalem, 1186–90 (2022); and Women and the Crusades (2023).

• Lists of figures List of contributors List of abbreviationsIntroduction: Women and the World of the CrusadesJessalynn L. Bird, Natasha R. Hodgson, Helen J. NicholsonPart One: Influencers, Instigators, and Organisers1 Alice of MontmorencyG. E. M. Lippiatt2 Birgitta of SwedenChristoph T. Maier3 Philippa of LancasterCatherine Gower4 Isabel of Castile and León and Malintzin (Doña Marina)Amy FullerPart Two: Politics, Defense, and Diplomacy5 Melisende, queen of JerusalemDanielle Park6 Tamar of GeorgiaJonathan Phillips7 Eleanor of AquitaineMichael Evans8 Shajar al-DurrJonathan Phillips9 ʾƎleni, queen of EthiopiaSophia Dege-MüllerPart Three: Co-rulers and Facilitators10 Arwā al-Ṣulayhī of YemenKate Arnold11 Terken KhatunNida Nalcaci12 Marie of ChampagneJames Doherty13 Blanche of CastileLindy Grant14 Töregene KhatunNatasha HodgsonPart Four: Shaping Campaigns, Legacies, and Memories15 Rachel of MainzSarah Ifft Decker16 Margaret of BeverleyNatasha Hodgson17 Marguerite of ProvenceM. Cecilia Gaposchkin and Sean L. Field18 HersendSusan B. Edgington19 The Passengers of the Saint-VictorHelen J. NicholsonPart Five: Authors, Witnesses, and Commemorators20 Anna KomneneLeonora Neville21 Gormonda de MonpeslierLinda Paterson22 Mahaut de CourtenayJessalynn Bird23 Ela of SalisburyGordon Reynolds24 Christine de Pizan on Joan of ArcEarl Jeffrey RichardsGlossaryIndex