FOR A BIOGRAPHER of eleventh-century English queens, the work of Frank Barlow must be a constant point of reference. His writing on the eleventh century, and in particular his biographies of eleventh-century rulers, is the essential starting point for anyone assessing English politics at this date. His view that early medieval biography was both possible and useful has acted as a stimulus to all of us who followed him along that difficult path. His biography of Edward the Confessor was not only a personal guide, but also a spur to my own attempt to produce a similar work on Edward's wife and queen, Edith. His fundamental edition of a text closely associated with Edith, the contemporary Life of King Edward, is the basis on which any study of Edith has to be built, and both he and his edition were constant intellectual companions in my own efforts to recreate Edith's life. An academic career pursued in Exeter may have stimulated his own interest in Edith: Exeter was part of the eleventh-century queen's dower. The location certainly added an extra piquancy to the challenge of writing about the writing of queens' biographies. This essay is thus offered as a tribute to Frank Barlow and his work, by way of a reflection on my own practice. What follows is not a new insight into early medieval queens and their lives, but a ‘theory of practice’, or rather a ‘theory of past practice’.