"Spanning the years from the Norman conquest in 1066 to the dawn of a new era in 1154, when Henry II succeeded to the throne and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the first Plantagenet queen, was crowned, this ... book brings to ... life five women, including Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, the first Norman king; Matilda of Scotland, revered as the common mother of all England; and Empress Maud, England's first female ruler, whose son King Henry II would go on to found the Plantagenet dynasty"--Amazon.com.