Each book collects our documentaries on one royal court, written out with the evidence behind them: the short version, who's who, a timeline, the documents, and the source and page number for every claim.
79 files on 6 royal courts, 474 pages, for less than the price of two volumes.
The Ottoman, Mughal, Joseon, Chinese and Mongol, and Egyptian courts, and Three Courts: Japan, Russia and Siam.
From the wives of the first rulers to the last caliph's daughter.
From Akbar's nurse to the last empress of Delhi.
From the girls sent to the Ming in 1408 to the last princess of Korea.
From Genghis Khan's daughters to the last emperor's wives.
From Hatshepsut's daughter to the last queens of Egypt.
Japan, Russia and Siam: the nun shogun, Ivan's tsaritsas and the Inner Palace of King Mongkut.
The last spring of Hürrem, file 07 of The Ottoman Volume, complete and unchanged: where the most powerful woman of the empire died, from the diary of an envoy who was in Istanbul that spring. Eleven pages, free.
Get the free fileEach file ends with the claims that travel the internet, checked against the sources. One from each volume:
"Sultan Ibrahim had all 280 women of his harem drowned in one night."
The pay books show his consorts still paid after 1648. The number 280 first appears, as far as we found, in a popular book of 1973.
File 19 · The women of Sultan Ibrahim"Akbar had Anarkali walled up alive."
An English merchant wrote it in 1611 as "it is said". In the year carved on the tomb, Akbar was not in Lahore.
File 05 · The tomb called Anarkali"The official annals record that Prince Sado died in a rice chest."
The entry for that day says he was strictly imprisoned inside. The chest is in his wife's memoir.
File 09 · Lady Hyegyeong at the gate"The empress dowager ordered the Fragrant Concubine to die."
Only in the story printed in 1917. In the decrees, Consort Rong is promoted twice in the empress dowager's name.
File 09 · Consort Rong and the Fragrant Concubine"Nefertiti vanished in year twelve, dead or disgraced."
A quarry inscription of year sixteen names her Great King's Wife.
File 04 · Nefertiti and the line of red paint"No woman could ever leave the King of Siam's harem."
A royal proclamation let them resign, and a court gazette names twelve who did.
File 06 · The Inner Palace of King MongkutReal pages from the books. Click to enlarge.
The women of the world's royal courts, from the record, with the page number.
The Consort Files is a documentary channel about the women of the world's royal courts. We tell their lives from the records: pay books, deeds, court annals, inscriptions, chronicles and the letters of the people who lived beside them.
Every script starts as a research notebook. Each sentence is tied to a source, and where the sources disagree, the video says so. These books print those notebooks, court by court.
Most illustrations are AI-generated reconstructions made for the videos; for almost every woman in these books no likeness survives, and we do not pretend otherwise. Real archive images are credited in each book.
RecordStated in a published study, register, inscription, genealogy or encyclopedia. The page is given.
ChronicleA court history, annal or chronicle, usually in a published translation or ours.
ReportAn ambassador, traveller, missionary or journalist writing in those years. They pass on what they heard.
DisputedThe sources disagree, or a writer offers a guess. We say who says what.
All six volumes as six PDFs: the Ottoman, Mughal, Joseon, Chinese and Mongol, and Egyptian volumes, and Three Courts (Japan, Russia and Siam). Seventy-nine files and 474 pages in all.
Yes. The last spring of Hürrem, a complete file from The Ottoman Volume, is free. Get it from the free file section on this page.
A PDF in US Letter size for each volume you buy. They read well on a tablet or a computer screen and print cleanly.
They hold the research behind them: the documents, the quotations, the dates and the arguments, with the claims you will meet online checked one by one. Each file can be read on its own.
Most are AI-generated reconstructions made for our documentaries, and the books say so on their first pages. Archive paintings, prints and photographs are credited at the back of each book.
Payment and delivery are handled by Gumroad. After checkout Gumroad gives you the download link and sends it to your email.
Each file lists its own sources with page numbers: court annals and chronicles, palace registers, diplomatic letters, the reports of foreign witnesses, and the historians who have studied them.
79 files, 474 pages, every claim with its source and its page.
Get the complete set