‘Tudor Feminists: Ten Renaissance Women Ahead of Their Time’ by Rebecca Wilson

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction – History

Published: 2024

Format: Hardback

Rating: ★★★

I enjoyed this book – it was good to learn more about some of the people I knew less about like Arbella Stuart, Grainne O’Malley, and Aemilia Lanier. I had only heard of Lanier in passing, knew she was a poet, and O’Malley I largely knew about through Greg Jenner’s excellent episode on her on his ‘You’re Dead to Me’ podcast. I have Sarah Gristwood’s biography of Arbella Stuart to read so I may now be bumping that up my list!

There are a few errors throughout like referring to Henry Courtenay as 2nd Marquis of Devon when he was 2nd Earl of Devon and 1st Marquis of Exeter or saying that Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard Duke of Gloucester when he actually claimed to be Richard Duke of York. There were also some aging errors like Edmund Tudor being aged 24 on 1 November 1455 but aged 26 on 1 November 1456, and that Margaret Beaufort and John de la Pole being aged 3 and 7 on their marriage, but they were only born a year apart. Little things like this kept distracting me from what I was reading.

I would say that we need to be careful applying the word ‘feminist’ to 16th century women as it is a modern concept, and these women were living in very different times. But I also think that this wasn’t necessarily a feminist view which I liked, though it does mean the title is a little misleading. Just personally for me, I don’t like to see a modern concept put on women living 500 years ago, others might, and that might just be a personal preference for me.

Overall, I think this was a good examination of these women, particularly the ones which are less well-known where there is less confirmed information about them. It was very accessible for those with less knowledge which is really important – I love anything which makes history more accessible to those who love to learn but wouldn’t necessarily pick up a drier text. I know I struggle reading some of the drier academic texts sometimes myself, so this is a great introduction to prompt people to look further into the women discussed, and women’s history more generally.

‘The Tudors by Numbers: The Stories and Statistics Behind England’s Most Infamous Royal Dynasty’ by Carol Ann Lloyd

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction – History

Published: 2023

Format: Hardback

Rating: ★★★★★

I absolutely loved this fresh new look on the Tudors. So much has been written about them as a dynasty and this is a new look through the numbers, like the fact that only 1 Tudor monarch left a diary, there were 7 Tudor coronations, and 42% of the Tudor dynasty was ruled by a Queen.

These facts and many others are explored by Carol Ann Lloyd in this new book. It’s well-written and researched, going back to the primary sources, and discussing different historian’s views. It’s divided down within each chapter into different sections discussing different numbers from the dynasty.

The biography is really well managed and very comprehensive, and the index is also well done and comprehensive. Images are people-focused with a few other ones thrown in. The only thing I can think of to criticise, and it’s not really a criticism but possibly a thought for a future follow-up book, is that it’s focused very much on the monarchs. It would be nice to find out more numbers about the people – like the number of people involved in rebellions, the numbers of priest holes in houses, or the numbers of people working as goldsmiths or blacksmiths.

It’s a really enjoyable book and a great addition to any Tudor lover’s bookshelves. There certainly is always some kind of new perspective or something new to learn about the Tudors, especially given how many new discoveries are still being made!

‘Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown’ by Alison Weir

Genre: Adult Fiction – Historical

Published: 2023

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★

Thanks to Headline Publishing for sending me a copy for review.

An interesting addition for sure to the Six Wives series. Hearing the stories told in more detail by the six wives now told by Henry VIII was interesting. Weir presents a view of Henry where he is attempting what is probably an impossible task by the end of the novel – to balance the conservative faction against the reformers in preparation for the minority rule of his son.

However, the book started incredibly slowly, and it took ages to get into the story. Too long, perhaps spent on the reign of Katherine of Aragon and then Anne Boleyn, and less time on Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Katherine Parr. The last 3 wives were covered in about 100 pages of the 600 pages in the book. The pace could have been better balanced had the years of Henry’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon been condensed a little, and more space was given to Katherine Parr who had quite an eventful reign.

It was a very positive part that Alison Weir made use of so many primary sources and confirmed speeches from letters and such like. She always seems to do her research and make use of the surviving sources in her novels as well as her non-fiction works, which is a definite positive in her writing, though she sometimes takes a few too many liberties I feel in her novels, probably for the sake of drama. This was an interesting take on Henry VIII, though, and how he might have been feeling at various points.

Often this reads more like a biography which perhaps is why sometimes the novel seems to get stuck. There are so many characters that unless you were familiar with the period, it would be easy to get confused. But towards the end the novel becomes a very engaging and fast-paced read.

‘Katharine Parr: The Sixth Wife’ by Alison Weir

Genre: Adult Fiction – Historical

Published: 2021

Format: Hardback

Rating: ★★★★

I have thoroughly enjoyed this whole series from Alison Weir, although the previous two for me were the weakest (‘Anna of Kleve’ and ‘Katheryn Howard’). This one brought the series back up to the levels of the first three books in the series. Katherine Parr is often just remembered as the sixth wife and the one who survived, but this offers a new insight into her life and the people who she affected and who affected her most.

Katherine Parr has always fascinated me – she was the only one of Henry’s wives to have married twice before her marriage to the King (Katherine of Aragon was married once before) and then once after as well! She is a really intriguing woman who suffered so much through her life and died tragically as well, though at least it was a natural death rather than a beheading!

The book was full of detail and well-paced. I had thought that maybe Weir would rush through Katherine’s first two marriages, but she didn’t, and I think that was actually my favourite part of the book – the bit that I know least about, and certainly is least written about Katherine. The focus tends to be on her royal marriage and her fourth marriage to Thomas Seymour and the controversy with Elizabeth, but it was these early marriages which really shaped her, so it was super interesting to read about those in a fictionalised way.

The ideas of betrayal and religion run throughout as Katherine struggles not to betray her own religious beliefs, or her feelings about Thomas Seymour, to those around her. This was a tumultuous period in English history where religion was very much an open question and Weir handles it sensitively with the views of the time not marred too much by the sensibilities of the present.

This was an excellent book to finish the series off on and this is certainly a series I will come back to again and re-read.

‘Kindred Spirits: Ephemera’ by Jennifer C. Wilson

Genre: Adult Fiction – Historical

Published: 2020

Format: E-Book

Rating: ★★★★

“The afterlife is alive with possibility”

I have loved Jennifer Wilson’s writing since I discovered her books while working at my local library. When I found out that this was a collection of short stories, I was a little disappointed – I really wanted a story set at Windsor Castle with Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville and Henry VIII, but hopefully that will come in the future.

There are characters both old and new including Richard III, John of Gaunt, and Charles Brandon. The variation of characters from so many different periods is one of the things that I love about this series, and this short story collection is brilliant in that respect.  It was interesting to see how the different personalities interacted, particularly the likes of Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, who hadn’t seen each other since Katherine left court in 1531, as well as Edward IV and Richard III, who hadn’t seen each other since Edward IV died in 1483.

Locations include York, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, and St Paul’s Cathedral. There are so many important historical locations in Britain, and what I really liked about this collection was that we got to visit so many of them.

My favourite story in the collection is the one at Hampton Court where the six wives of Henry VIII get together. I really wanted the story to be longer actually, but I don’t think it would have been as good had it been longer. It was brilliantly done the way it was. There is a great cliff-hanger at the end, which I really hope lays the foundation for the next book in the series.

Also published on my sister blog https://tudorblogger.wordpress.com/

‘Fatal Throne’ by Candace Fleming

He was King Henry VIII, a charismatic and extravagant ruler obsessed with both his power as king and with siring a male heir. They were his queens–six ill-fated women, each bound for divorce, or beheading, or death. Watch spellbound as each of Henry’s wives attempts to survive their un-predictable king and his power-hungry court. See the sword flash as fiery Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery. Follow Jane Seymour as she rises from bullied court maiden to beloved queen, only to die after giving birth. Feel Catherine Howard’s terror as old lovers resurface and whisper vicious rumours to Henry’s influential advisors. Experience the heartache of mothers as they lose son after son, heir after heir. Told in stirring first-person accounts, Fatal Throne is at once provocative and heart-breaking, an epic tale that is also an intimate look at the royalty of the most perilous times in English history. [Description from Amazon UK]

Co-written by several authors – Candace Fleming, M.T. Anderson, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Jennifer Donnelly, Linda Sue Park, and Deborah Hopkinson – and received as a Christmas present.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I opened this book as, when I have previously read novels co-written with different authors, there is sometimes a jarring effect where the different voices don’t go together and it doesn’t sound like the same story, but that didn’t happen here. I actually really enjoyed it, and I thought that the emotions of each woman in particular came across very strongly, and gave the story an emotional centre – these were real women who got involved with one of the most notorious of British monarchs, Henry VIII.

I did wonder whether, because the book was quite short to be covering the lives of six women who had quite full lives it might be a bit sparse, but the authors were very clever in the way that they covered the events of the period – it was only revealed what each individual woman would have known, and not what was going on more generally, because it was written from the point of view of each of the women.

What did let the book down for me slightly was, perhaps because I know the stories of these women so well, there were sections of their lives that I was hoping to see that didn’t make the cut, and little details that added to the story but that didn’t quite ring true. However, generally it was a very enjoyable story, and well-handled. I particularly enjoyed the section told from the point of view of Anne of Cleves, as I think she is often overlooked as she was only queen for 6 months, and replaced by a younger woman.

I liked the fact that, between each wife we get a short section from the viewpoint of Henry VIII, and it’s clever how much manages to come across in that short section to contrast with the views of the women. I also liked the final page from the point of view of Elizabeth I as she was really Henry VIII’s success story, though he considered her his biggest disappointment.

This is also published on my other blog https://tudorblogger.wordpress.com/.

Discussion Questions – ‘Queen’s Gambit’ by Elizabeth Fremantle

1. Elizabeth Wilhide has praised Queen’s Gambit, saying, “Fremantle…sheds an intriguing new light on Katherine Parr, one of history’s great survivors.” Aside from surviving her marriage to Henry VIII, in what ways is Katherine Parr a survivor? What do you think her greatest act of survival is? Why?

• Katherine Parr survives not only a marriage to Henry VIII, but two earlier marriages and a later one.
• Parr’s second husband, Lord Latymer, was involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace. She manages to survive without a stain on her reputation, although Fremantle’s novel suggests that she was raped, along with her step-daughter, Meg. Katherine survives this experience and learns from it. She solidifies her belief in god through the actions of that time in Snape.
• Katherine also survived a marriage to Thomas Seymour, who betrayed her with her step-daughter, Elizabeth, if rumours were true and the story is how Fremantle told it. Seymour was later arrested and executed, so it seems like Katherine had a close shave.
• Katherine Parr’s greatest act of survival is probably surviving a marriage to Henry VIII, particularly taking into account how close she came to arrest and almost certain death. Other wives were not so lucky – Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard.

2. Neither Katherine nor Meg will talk about what happened at Snape. How have the events affected each of the women? Do you agree with Dot’s decision to keep Meg’s secret? Why does Dot finally tell Katherine the truth about what Meg endured at Snape?

• The events at Snape have affected both women in different ways. Katherine Parr believes that she saved Meg from the same thing that happened to her. This keeps her going for a long time.
• Katherine is almost ashamed of what happened, because her second husband, Lord Latymer, also knew about it. I think she felt she had to be strong for Meg.
• With the events in Snape, Meg felt that she had to keep it secret from Katherine; because it would compromise the latter’s strength. Meg shrinks from any physical contact, as can be seen with her aversion to marriage. I think Dot’s decision to keep Meg’s secret was right, after all, it wasn’t her secret to tell at all. However, I also think that it was right for her to tell Katherine after Dot’s death.
• I think that Katherine needed strength at the time when Dot tells the secret. For Katherine, hearing about how Meg endured what she did gave her the strength she needed to carry on.

‘The Taming of the Queen’ by Philippa Gregory

Why would a woman marry a serial killer? Because she cannot refuse… Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives – King Henry VIII – commands her to marry him. Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted sixteen months, the one before barely half a year. But Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn’s trust in him grows as she unites the royal family, creates a radical study circle at the heart of the court, and rules the kingdom as Regent. But is this enough to keep her safe? A leader of religious reform and the first woman to publish in English, Kateryn stands out as an independent woman with a mind of her own. But she cannot save the Protestants, under threat for their faith, and Henry’s dangerous gaze turns on her. The traditional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy – the punishment is death by fire and the king’s name is on the warrant…[Description from Waterstones]

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel of Philippa Gregory’s, because I haven’t really liked many of her later novels; I much prefer her earlier ones. Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, has always intrigued me – I think that, as Henry VIII’s only twice-widowed wife she has a lot of life to discover before she married Henry VIII, and it doesn’t seem to have been much written about. However, if you’re looking for a fictional account of Katherine Parr’s early years then this isn’t it. The story starts with the death of her second husband, Lord Latimer.

Parts of this book I did find quite disturbing (I’m sure you’ll be able to guess which bit in particular if you’ve read it), and although I’m not convinced that it happened as Gregory wrote it, it does definitely reflect what we know about Henry VIII’s controlling personality. There are quite a few places in this novel where it really makes you question what you know about Henry VIII, and wonder if perhaps he was affected by a fall from his horse, or any other number of theories which attempt to explain why his personality seems to have changed. Of course, one could suggest that power just went to his head, but I guess we’ll never know the whole truth.

Of the characters I particularly loved the view of Anne Askew, the Protestant martyr. I felt that she was portrayed as a real person and not just the religious martyr of John Foxe in his ‘Book of Martyrs’. Much of the literature on Anne Askew features her torture and execution heavily, so it was interesting to see her actually interacting with the court, and how she could have been involved with Katherine Parr. The dynamic with the Seymour brothers was also very interesting, as I know how the story ends, and so it was intriguing to think that they may have once been close and acting as a concerted unit, rather than against each other, as in their later lives.

I would recommend this book to others interested in Tudor history, as I think it is one of the more gripping novels I’ve read about Katherine Parr, better than the one written by Suzannah Dunn, though I can’t yet compare it to Jean Plaidy’s effort, which I haven’t read, but is on my list to read.

Also published on my sister blog – https://tudorblogger.wordpress.com/