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Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Translation of Female Kingship provides the first feminist analysis of the part of The History of the Kings of Britain that most readers overlook: the reigns before and after Arthur´s.

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Introduction Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Translation of Female Kingship Re-reading Empress Matilda as a Female King Geoffrey´s History as Preparation for a Female King Undermining and Degrading Female Kingship in the First Variant and the Roman de Brut Delegitimizing and Erasing Female Kingship in the ´Epistola Warino Britoni,´ the Chronica majora, and Layamon´s Brut

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"This volume presents a nuanced consideration of the events which surrounded the composition of Geoffrey´s seminal work, along with an illuminating exploration of the historiographical conversation it started among his fellow writers. This book is a pleasure to read, and will become an essential part of chronicle, narratological, and feminist scholarship." - The Medieval Review

"Tolhurst, author of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Feminist Origins of the Arthurian Legend, promptly follows her work on the Arthurian portions of Geoffrey of Monmouth´s History with this feminist reading of the parts of the text that precede and follow Arthur´s reign . . . Even those who do not support feminist interpretations will value her assessment of Matilda´s female kingship. Tolhurst´s study will appeal specifically to medievalists, literary critics, and serious readers of early texts . . . Highly recommended." - CHOICE

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Fiona Tolhurst is Maître Assistante in Medieval and Early Modern English at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

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