Princess Nest of Wales: Seductress of the English

By Kari Maund

The daughter of one king and the lover of another; matriarch of a powerful dynasty and the cause of conflict and war: Nest, princess of Dyfed, became a legend. This biography reveals Nest's role in one of the most exciting and dynamic periods of Welsh, Irish and English history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9780752486918

Reviews for Princess Nest of Wales

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title of this book is misleading -- Nest was neither a princess nor, in all likelihood, a seductress. The blurb makes her sound very powerful and intriguing, but little is known about her. Still, in the way she negotiated the transition between the Welsh world of her birth and the Cambro-Norman world she was married into is interesting in itself, and she can't be dismissed in herself either: she was, after all, the mistress of Henry I, bore him a son, and has been referred to as the 'Helen of Wales'.

Kari Maund writes with care, making sure to note when her theories are pure speculation and when they are supported by the sources we have -- and when those sources themselves may not be entirely accurate. I was impressed by how readable this was, and fascinated by the life she managed to reconstruct for Nest.