Anne of Bohemia and Her Struggle to Conceive

Abstract

This article will examine and transcribe The National Archives E 101/402/18, a six-membrane collection of apothecary bills containing medicines purchased for Anne of Bohemia, first queen of Richard II (r. 1377–99). These bills date from the final year of Anne's life (she died of plague in June 1394), which indicates that the queen did not accept her childlessness as her permanent fate. In addition, Anne's treatment sheds light on the medicinal practices of late medieval English elites from the perspective of practice rather than theory (as presented in medieval texts).

infertility, Anne of Bohemia, Richard II, medieval England