3 Quotes by Helen Castor

The country was populous and wealthy, and patterns of landholding there complex and fragmented. What more could a lawyer want than a place in which endless occasions for dispute arose among a large population with plenty of money to spend on litigation?

Amid the chaos and confusion, one thing alone was certain: for the first time, a woman would sit upon the throne of England.

If she had truly been sent by God, she would not wear men’s clothes in contravention of God’s law and the Church’s teaching. The nature of her supposed mission was no excuse for this abomination, since no ‘greater’ good could ever justify sin – and in any case women were forbidden to fight, just as they were forbidden to preach, to teach, to administer the sacraments, and all other duties that belonged to men.