Elizabeth de Burgh was that unusual medieval woman, one who, after being widowed three times, held firmly on to her own property and managed it for her own and her family's benefit. The granddaughter of King Edward I, she lived during the turbulent reign of her uncle, Edward II, and survived to old age during the more settled times in the mid-fourteenth century when his son, Edward III, was on the throne. She was shrewd in her business dealings, cultivated men and women who would support and help her as both colleagues and friends, and lived a pious life in her various dwellings in East Anglia, London, Wales, and Ireland. She was unusual for the time in seeking to promote education, and as a result her name lives on today in her most prestigious foundation, Clare College, Cambridge.

This book is a reprint with additional material and new illustrations of the original biography published both in Britain and America in 1999.