Since the discovery of the Paston letters, a family's collection of their correspondences, and also the trend to survey female historical figures in more equal measure to men, has it become clear that so many letters are yet to be discovered and evaluated. Private and public, they prove rich and significant sources of information on diplomatic implications, tendencies of factions, and individual machinations.

Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI, has been described as “she-wolf of France” (Shakespeare), an obstinate woman that seizes her mentally ill husband’s regime to become the foe of the Yorkist faction in the Wars of the Roses. Indeed, Margaret of Anjou was a strong and influential woman. However, historiography has played a controversially hostile trick on her, and recent publications have finally shown Margaret from a different perspective, as do the present The Letters of Margaret of Anjou, edited by Helen Maurer and B.M. Cron.

As this new and resourceful edition of her letters shows, she was a prolific networker and versatile politician: “The Quene is a grete and strong labourid woman, for she spareth noo peyne to sue hire thinges to an intent and conclusion to hir power” (John Bocking to Sir John Fastolf, p. 207). Margaret's life has been targeted in diverse historical (and also fictional) accounts in the past. There is an evident interest in her documents, intentions, sometimes clever manoeuvres, and also in a new publication of her letters, as the first and last, and incomplete edition was published by Cecil Monro in 1863. Both Maurer and Cron have proven their eligibility for the task via notable publications on England’s Queen.

The letters are printed in the original spelling and include translations from French and Latin. Not all letters are by Margaret; some are addressed to her, some are about her and were obviously included as they address matters regarding the queen. However, they do not deflect but refer to Margaret's commitment in the rising struggles of the Wars of the Roses.

The volume proves a remarkable source of material for England’s domestic and foreign politics in the fifteenth century. Margaret, the daughter of René of Anjou, and niece to the King of France Charles VII, did not just play the role of a diplomatic pawn. After marrying Henry VI, she became a vital player demonstrating tactical strength during her husband's years of sickness; her regime was efficient and calculated, albeit unsuccessful. The letters reveal her intentions and often relate to non-existent oral negotiations. Furthermore, the volume gives us clear insights into Margaret's networking with nobility and clergy, her interior affairs, business transactions and connections that do influence politics.

Maurer and Cron divide their analysis into two main parts: ‘Great and Good Queen’ and ‘Political Queen’. This division is in fact a chronological choice, as political implications are truly evident in a great deal of the letters of Part I, too, especially from the birth of Henry’s son in 1453. The first part demonstrates key issues of Margaret's role as the king's wife, a good domestically responsible queen, a mediating arbitrator in careers and matchmaking: family connections would create highly sensitive new political associations. Clerical matters have delicate implications as well, due to court affiliations, or business interests that refer to issues of land ownership. Margaret’s political importance as leader of the Lancastrian faction becomes clearer towards the later part of the volume, but certainly her implications in these quarrels are palpable from the beginning, as decisions taken in the late 1440s have a considerable impact on future strife, as for example the Nuneaton letter and its following contextualisation clearly show (p. 24).

Part II focuses on the more explosive years of interior strife and Margaret's struggle to keep her son Edward's claim on the crown from her exile in France, even though the Yorkists had already taken control of England. Most interesting are the ever-present implications of the Neville family in various matters throughout the volume. The Duke of Warwick's role as a York supporter and inimical presence in Margaret's life (apart from the very end, 275–278) is fascinating to follow. The analysis of the communication with the Duchess of York (195–199) is equally intriguing.

For each letter, the editors give contextual knowledge. This is very well researched indeed – the arguments for the dating of letters and the inquiries into the addressees, as well as historical instances that shed light on the context of each single letter are very convincing. Maurer and Cron draw parallels from similar accounts and thus position their material very well. When information is lacking in sources, the reasoning is persuasive and speculations are convincingly explained. Scepticism phrased by the editors is immensely pleasurable to read, so are emphatic readings of Margaret's intentions, among them threats. Most analyses are also given a historical scope insofar as they not only explain circumstances but also address the future dealings of their protagonists, including deaths and executions. This is especially enriching as it often concerns major players that reappear in further contexts like the Queen's Chancellor, or Margaret’s connections with France in latter times of crisis.

A slight caveat: The volume might have benefitted from a longer introduction, the content of which mainly appears in chapter six on “Money Matters” – as finances prove a basis for power politics in Margaret’s England – and the letters in this exquisite chapter are certainly among the most interesting and politically explosive in the edition, addressing rising problems on all fronts. I believe this volume would also have profited from a chronology of the political events in connection with the supposed dates of the letters. Knowledge about the main political players and details is not always clearly introduced. Sometimes cases of name-dropping might confuse an amateur reader, especially when important families are merely referred to in passing (e.g. de la Pole / Suffolk). That “mutual obligations of service and lordship were integral to late medieval English society” (p. 78) might be a given, but could have been mentioned earlier, just as the intended marriage of Margaret's son Prince Edward with Warwick's daughter is alluded to in passing before being explained in diplomatic detail. In fact, a list of bullet points and indications of new paragraphs for each letter could also have contributed to an easier reading flow than the apparent smoother transitions from one letter directly to the next.

The very commendable volume demonstrates highly skilled and meticulous in-depth research; the editors confidently reason their corrections of former interpretations, mainly by the nineteenth century editor Monro. The footnotes and the biography demonstrate the numerous sources consulted by the precise and questioning editors. The Letters of Margaret of Anjou proves a rich and invaluable source, complex in its substantial details, at times highly entertaining, to those working with fifteenth century Anglo-French networks, politics, and power.