Here you can find information on the books and articles that I have published.

The Queen and the Mistress

There were two women in Edward III’s life: Philippa of Hainault, his wife of 40 years and bearer of 12 children, and his mistress, Alice Perrers, the 20-year-old who took the king’s fancy as his ageing wife grew sick. After Philippa’s death Alice began to dominate court, amassing a fortune and persuading the elderly Edward to promote her friends and punish her enemies.

In The Queen and the Mistress, Gemma Hollman brings the story of these two women to life and contrasts the ‘perfect’ medieval queen – the pious, unpolitical, steady Philippa – with the impertinent youth – the wily, charismatic, manipulative Alice. One died a royal, adored, while the full force of the English court united against Alice, wresting both money and power from her and leaving her with nothing but a mission to try to reclaim all that was lost. Both women had wealth and power but used vitally different methods to dispense it; here Hollman brings to the fore their differences and similarities in a unique look at women and power in the Middle Ages.

Royal Witches

9780750989404

Joan of Navarre was the richest woman in the land, at a time when war-torn England was penniless.
Eleanor Cobham was the wife of a weak king’s uncle and her husband was about to fall from grace.
Jacquetta Woodville was a personal enemy of Warwick the Kingmaker, who was about to take his revenge.
Elizabeth Woodville was the widowed mother of a child king, fighting Richard III for her children’s lives.

In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives of these four unique women, looking at how rumours of witchcraft brought them to their knees in a time when superstition and suspicion was rife.


Articles