Dr Catherine Hanley

I am an independent scholar, researcher and writer who specialises in warfare in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with particular reference to the military and political relationships between France and England during this period. I gained a PhD at the University of Sheffield (2001) on the subject of ‘The Portrayal of Warfare in Old French Literature, c. 1150–c.1270’ and wrote an academic book on the subject, but later made a sideways move to concentrate on writing works of popular history and historical fiction.

My book-length publications are:

War and Combat 1150–1270: The Evidence from Old French Literature (Boydell and Brewer, 2003)

Louis: The French Prince Who Invaded England (Yale University Press, 2016)

Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior (Yale University Press, 2019)

Two Houses, Two Kingdoms: A HIstory of France and England, 1100-1300 (Yale University Press, 2022)

1217: The Battles That Saved England (Osprey, 2024)

Lionessheart: The Life and Times of Joanna Plantagenet (The History Press, 2025)

Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy (Osprey, 2025)

The Family Lives of Medieval Women (The History Press, 2026)

Plus other trade history written under a pseudonym and nine historical novels.

My current projects include The English at War in the Middle Ages (a wide-ranging survey of the theory and practice of war and its influence on the development of national identity from 1066 to 1453), for Yale University Press; and Shadow Kings: The Tragedy of the Conqueror's Heirs (the story of Robert Curthose and William Clito, and how and why they never became kings of England), for Osprey.