Hello everyone!
Back to book reviews, and I've suddenly realized I don't have all that many from the seaside it looks like. What just happened?
I know for a fact that I had taken roughly about forty new titles with me on vacation, but that doesn't mean I managed to read them all, which, I'm pretty sure, will be a surprise to a lot of people who know me, because I'm always reading something. Usually more than one thing at a time.
And now it looks like I still have a mountain to climb!
Shocking, I know.
I blame it on The Lord of the Rings, because I always take it with me on summer vacation and end up usually reading it over the spen of a week, just to keep it flowing and also to keep my mind sane (no dreaming about Rangers or Elves, if I'm careful).
But one of the books I did manage to read was Alison Weir's Elizabeth of York.
Okay, technically, the full title is 'Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and her World', but let's be honest with each other and say that's the biggest mouthful since 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. Which is why I shortened it just to her name, seeing as that should be enough for anyone to figure out what it's all about.
I will also be honest and say the Tudor binge comes hot on the heels after watching the whole TV series, the reviews of which can be found on this blog, and also, because whenever I hop around to my friend Maegan's blog, she tends to be reading something Tudor-related, or she's going to read it.
I still need to tackle the monster of Henry VIII's fictional autobiography, but that's a story for another day.
Anyway, while my friend is probably the only one I know who can recite just about anything about Henry VIII Tudor even if asked out of the blue, my interests lie elsewhere, namely, with afore-mentioned Elizabeth.
Their relation?
She was his mother.
Elizabeth of York was born to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville as their firstborn child and eldest daughter, in a time when the War of the Roses was in full swing and the country was torn between the royal houses of York and Lancaster, both of those descending from the Plantagenet bloodline. She was the eldest of ten children that her mother bore her father, and went through the harrowing experience of seeking sanctuary in an abbey twice in her life, once when she was just a girl, and the second time when she was already a young woman.
She's interesting because as mother to probably the most famous king in English history, not a lot that's known about her is pure, hard fact, since people differ in opinions quite a lot. Some say she was a puppet queen who was governed by everyone around her but herself, had no say in the lives of her children or their education, and no character. Others, that she was an incredibly intelligent woman in a time when intelligence in the fairer sex was usually a very good sign they would get burned for witchcraft, a deft hand in navigating the world of intrigue in her husband's court, and that she stayed out of politics because she wanted to, not because someone would have forbidden her.
It's an interesting challenge to find out more about her because her husband, Henry VII and the person who established the royal house of Tudor, is fairly well-known and books galore have been written about him, and his successor. Not so for Elizabeth.
I first ran across her in Philippa Gregory's work concerning the Cousins' War, although I have to say that once I got to the book dedicated to Elizabeth herself, 'The White Princess', I was thoroughly disappointed, as the way she was portrayed just made me want to throttle her, Henry, Margaret Beaufort, and chuck the book across at the opposite wall.
So I was very interested in what Alison Weir gathered in her own book, which is non-fiction, as information about the first Tudor Queen. Because what I had seen up until that point were arguing opinions - but what I could see from certain historical notes was that, allegedly, Henry loved his wife very much, as he mourned her death for a long time and never remarried. Her children, also, are depicted as bereft after her passing, which makes me think she would have been a prominent figure in the background of the court.
Her importance to the Tudor cause also has to be noted: as the heiress to the royal house of York, she would bring Henry Tudor the south of the kingdom, those loyal to the house of her father and thus herself, and the support he so desperately needed as conqueror. Also, his royal title was always under question, because the Tudors weren't direct descendants of the Lancaster line, but bastards some generations back, which made Elizabeth's pedigree all the more valuable.
Weir begins her story with how Elizabeth's parents met and how the War of the Roses was going, bringing us up to speed before actually getting to the Battle of Bosworth and Henry's conquest.
From there, we travel back through time and piece together an interesting tapestry of fact and speculation, but a lot of guesses are based off on solid background and intelligence. Weir covers everything, from Elizabeth's pasttimes to her finances, but I was especially interested in the relationship aspect of things, how she and Henry got along, what we know about it, and what influence she had over her children (which, it has to be noted, that considering only Arthur was ever sent away to his own establishment at Ludlow Castle, with the rest remaining with their mother, had to have been prominent).
All in all, I enjoyed the read, even if I think we wouldn't have to know preciselly what she ate on what day or how much the fish cost at the market for some banquet she hosted, but I was very pleased with the image of Elizabeth that emerged from the book: that of a Queen in her own right, but who knew when to step aside and knew how to please.
I will definitely be reading more of Weir's books, and hopefully more books on Elizabeth herself soon! I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the Tudor matriarch, who is often pushed into the shadow of her mother-in-law.
xx
*image not mine
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