Review: The Mysterious Death of Katherine Parr by June Woolerton

Synopsis: What killed Katherine Parr?

She was the ultimate Tudor survivor, the queen who managed to outwit and outlive Henry VIII. Yet just over eighteen months after his passing, Katherine Parr was dead. She had been one of the most powerful people in the country, even ruling England for her royal husband, yet she had died hundreds of miles from court and been quickly buried in a tiny chapel with few royal trappings. Her grave was lost for centuries only for her corpse to be mutilated after it was rediscovered during a tea party. The death of Katherine Parr is one of the strangest of any royals – and one of the most mysterious.

The final days of Henry VIII’s last queen included a faithless husband and rumors of a royal affair while the weeks after her funeral swirled with whispers of poison and murder. The Mysterious Death of Katherine Parr dives into the calamitous and tumultuous events leading up to the last hours of a once powerful queen and the bizarre happenings that followed her passing.

From the elaborate embalming of her body, that left it in a state of perfect preservation for almost three centuries despite a burial just yards from her place of death, to the still unexplained disappearance, without trace, of her baby, the many questions surrounding the death of Queen Katherine are examined in a new light.

This brand new book from royal author and historian June Woolerton brings together, for the first time, all the known accounts of the strange rediscovery of Katherine’s tomb and the even odder decision to leave it open to the elements and grave-robbers for decades to ask – how did Katherine Parr really die?

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When Henry VIII died in 1547, his widow Katherine Parr was not only still considered to be Queen, she was also free to remarry - which she did, six months later, to the man who became her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour. Then Katherine found herself pregnant - and eight days after the birth of her only child, a daughter, Katherine was dead and hastily buried.

Woolerton takes the reader through the discovery of Katherine's tomb at Sudeley, the rumours surrounding her death, and her rather hasty and low key funeral. Katherine's husband - Thomas Seymour - hot-foots it back to London, leaving the newborn in the care - initially - of Katherine's attendants. We already know that Katherine's daughter Mary will soon be left without both mother or father, as after a plot was discovered to put the protestant Elizabeth on the throne, her father Sir Thomas Seymour was beheaded for treason.

Woolerton explores Katherine's final months and days, and notes her actions were in sharp contrast to the self-assured woman she was prior to and during her marriage to Henry VIII - and considers this against the backdrop of what we already know - or think we know. Katherine's funeral, in stark contrast to other female monarchs was, as mentioned, a rather hasty and covert affair, not even attended by her husband - and Woolerton delves into this quite deeply, as she does with Katherine's will.

I found Woolerton's exploration of events quite engaging and her open-mindedness to other hypothesis rather refreshing. She posits a number of plausible theories for Katherine's actions and behaviours after Henry's death whilst exploring Seymour's own actions against the changing political tableau.

A must for Tudor lovers, and for those with an interest in royalty and notable women.

Review: Matilda II The Forgotten Queen by Joanna Arman

Synopsis: The wife of King Henry I and the mother of the Empress Maud is a woman and a Queen forgotten to history. She is frequently conflated with her daughter or her mother-in-law. She was born the daughter of the King of Scotland and an Anglo-Saxon princess. Her name was Edith, but her name was changed to Matilda at the time of her marriage.

The Queen who united the line of William the Conqueror with the House of Wessex lived during an age marked by transition and turbulence. She married Henry in the first year of the 12th century and for the eighteen years of her rule aided him in reforming the administrative and legal system due to her knowledge of languages and legal tradition. Together she and her husband founded a series of churches and arranged a marriage for their daughter to the Holy Roman Emperor. Matilda was a woman of letters to corresponded with Kings, Popes, and prelates, and was respected by them all.

Matilda’s greatest legacy was she united two dynasties and gave the Angevin Kings the legitimacy they needed so much. It was through her that the Empress Matilda and Henry II were able to claim the throne. She was the progenitor of the Plantagenet Kings, but the war and conflict which followed the death of her son William led to a negative stereotyping by Medieval Chroniclers. Although they saw her as pious, they said she was a runaway nun and her marriage to Henry was cursed.

This book provides a much-needed re-evaluation of Edith/Matilda’s role and place in the history of the Queens of England.

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I'll begin with a quote from the book: "... much of what we know about her is an idealised and carefully considered version of events written by people who had a specific view of gender norms and social role ...". In other words, much of what we know about early medieval women - their lives and roles - is based upon the stereotypical views of the predominantly male clerics who were writing at the time. 

In fact for this particular monarch, records on her activities are rather scarce, and much of what we do know is centred around her family, her husband, and her children. Her lineage, her education and piety were notable - she was the unifying link between the Anglo Saxon House of Wessex and Normandy.

Beginning with fourteen pages of who's who, Arman then sets out to trace Matilda's ancestry and her links to the religious foundations of Romsey and Wilton. We are treated to the history of the period, briefly under Williams I & II, the conflict between Church and Crown, and the succession of Henry I. Diversions to the Crusades and Henry I's early political career overshadow any real gleamings we have of Matilda.

However, Arman soon gets around to Matilda's family, her siblings Mary and David, her own children Matilda and William, and Henry's brood of illegitimate children. Matilda's patronage of scholarship, her pious building projects and relationships with clerics are also touched upon. In reality, much of Matilda's life was overshadowed by political events pertaining to her husband, even her time in the political spotlight as regent for Henry I was brief. She did not live to see death of her only son William in the White Ship disaster of 1120, not the succession wars of her daughter Matilda and her nephew Stephen.

I am hoping that prior to final print, a good editor will be going over this - there were numerous errors with dates and names that need attending to. I myself was not a fan of the layout of the book - it really is a very basic introductory work, and in fact much of the content could be readily found on the internet. Kudos for subject matter. However, to say that this work "provides a much-needed re-evaluation of Edith/Matilda’s role" I think is slightly ambitious.

Review: The Two Isabellas of King John by Kristen McQuinn

Synopsis: King John of England was married to two women: Isabella of Gloucester and Isabelle of Angouleme. The two women were central to shaping John and his reign, each in her own way molding the king and each other over their lives. Little is known about Isabella of Gloucester and she has largely become an historical footnote; Isabelle of Angouleme has a reputation as a witch and poisoner. However, both were products of their time, victims and pawns of the powerful men whose voices overwrote the experiences of women. By examining these two very different women through a modern feminist lens, The Two Isabellas offers new insight into one of England's lesser-known queens and a different interpretation of one of its least popular kings.

In The Two Isabellas of King John, Kristen McQuinn offers new and intriguing insights into two of England's important yet little understood queen-consorts, the wives of King John. Taking a feminist light, McQuinn brightly shines it on both England's least well-known consort, Isabella of Gloucester, his first wife, and one of its least popular, Isabelle of Angouleme, his child bride.

Firstly I am troubled by the use of phrases such as "feminist light" and "feminist lens" - quite frankly what does this mean. I grew up in the era where "women's lib" and "feminism" were concepts and movements that touched on every area of a woman's experiences — politics, work, family, equality and sexuality. These hard won victories are currently being enjoyed by latter generations, so to bandy such phrases about today, puts me a little on edge. Don't get me wrong, I am all for looking at historical characters and events in a new light, but why does the work of a female author looking at a female character need to be labelled "feminist". And what is a "modern feminist lens" - how is it different from the views of the numerous female authors who blazed a trail beforehand.

Secondly, I really take umbrage at the following phrase: " ... offers new insight into one of England's lesser-known queens and a different interpretation of one of its least popular kings .." Quite frankly what does this actually mean - what new insight because - for me - there was no new insight, no shining light on two lesser known queens, no new interpretation on the view of John's reign.  Lately the number of history books using the phrases "new information" and "new insights" that have actually delivered on this I could count on one hand (excluding my thumb).

And so, sixty-five pages down, there was nothing remotely resembling anything close to a biography or life story for either women - just a lot of "academic" twaddle, assumptions and educated guesses with the occasional mention of either or both. A lot of "concepts" being explored but not a lot substance on either woman so far. In fact, I was ready to chuck the whole thing in there and then. But I persevered through dry and boring monotone, page after page, on the role of women, queens and mothers, childhood and childbirth, fashion, trade, architecture and education, with little to endear this reader and nothing this reader had not discovered in other tomes previously written, many of which stand as the pre-eminent works not only of their own times but even now.

A couple of phrases I did pick up on - but again I have said them so often myself - is that the lives of medieval women - regardless of social status - was typically viewed through the agency of the men in their lives - their fathers and other male kin, their husbands, and finally their sons. McQuinn does acknowledge that "... the roles of women, even queens, most often fell with the private family-orientated realm, and thus outside the purview of most chroniclers .."  Hence, with very little information on either woman to use and turn into a singular biography, we are left looking at both their lives in relation to their marriage to the same man - King John of England. Darren Baker in his work "The Two Eleanors of Henry III" (read my review here) presented something similar and managed to pull it off slightly better than McQuinn has done.

The only time we really get a sense of the presence of either woman is from about page 80 to about 120 - a mere forty pages - the bulk of which is dedicated to Isabella of Angouleme, John's second wife - his first wife, Isabella of Gloucester hardly features at all. And here, the same information can be found in any number of tomes already published on both John and the era in question.

And yet, again, accordingly to the blurb: "The two women were central to shaping John and his reign, each in her own way molding the king and each other over their lives." I am sorry, but I must have been reading a completely different book. Based upon the fact the McQuinn constantly tells us that there is a distinct lack of knowledge on either woman, that they themselves left no personal accounts, and that contemporary accounts show neither woman in a positive light, how can one make the sweeping statement that they were "central to shaping John and his reign".  In fact, the underlying message I got from all of this was the laying of blame for John's behaviour firmly at the feet of both women, which is more in line with a misogynist viewpoint than a feminist one. 

Overall, I came away from this less than impressed.  I skimmed through the final chapter (on the portrayal of both in fiction) and headed straight for the sources - no surprises there for me - and some of those listed I found myself questioning the usage of but that's just my humble opinion.

For me, this was just another in a long line of tomes being churned out by this publisher that all promise the same thing - and funnily enough, deliver it - and that thing being delivered is not much at all.  Would I recommend this - no I wouldn't - not for the generalist reader nor the specialist reader.

I can hear the tut-tutting already. Am I being too harsh, surely there were some redeeming features.  Well, the only redeeming feature is that the author is to be applauded for taking on this task in the first place.  I do know how hard it is to craft a decent tome around a subject matter where there is little or no information - but please don't provide me with something that you can't deliver on.  If there is nothing on your chosen subject - acknowledge and move on!  I personally would much prefer a smaller volume than pages of padding.

Three Medieval Queens by Lisa Benz St. John

This book is an innovative study offering the first examination of how three fourteenth-century English queens, Margaret of France, Isabella of France, and Philippa of Hainault, exercised power and authority. It frames its analysis around four major themes: gender; status; the concept of the crown; and power and authority.

The Trials of Five Queens by R. Storry Deans

Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Mary, Queen of Scots, Marie Antoinette, and Caroline of Brunswick - R. Storry Deans shows in this far-encompassing and illuminating work, these five queens were less than happy and fortunate.  Connected across three countries and three centuries by their treatment and trials, Deans paints vivid portraits of the five women with the help of private letters and court transcripts that surrounded each trial.

With intimate details of the hearings that awaited them, The Trials of Five Queens recounts an informative and entertaining history of murder, adultery, divorce and revolution centred around royal women under intense scrutiny. Both a five-part biography of the queens as well as a study of the revered yet secretive and tumultuous institutions to which they belonged.

Review: Queens of the Conquest by Alison Weir.

"Saga of England's medieval Queens is vivid and stirring, packed with tragedy, high drama, and even comedy. It is a chronicle of love, passion, high intrigue, murder, war, treason, betrayal and sorrow, peopled by a cast of heroines, villains, amazons, stateswomen, adulteresses and lovers."

Weir claims her aim in writing this tome was to strip away the "romantic mythology and legends" - and yet each chapter has its own flowery title. She also claims that it is "not an academic history but a narrative of the times" - and yes it is.

What I actually found was an attempt at updating Agnes Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of England" (pub 1840s) - and there is nothing wrong in that (I have also read Strickland's works), and as more information comes to hand, research quite naturally is updated. Having said that, sometimes when one reads a new work, one has a sense of deja vu.

This tome encompasses the women of the early Norman period: Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland, Adeliza of Louvain, Matilda of Boulogne and Empress Maud - all fascinating women in their own right. Some chapters are longer than others - sometimes, with information is just not there for the author to really delve into the character of these women. There follows the usual sources, letters, bibliography at the end.

Look - an entry level book for the beginner, but nothing new for the purist looking for something with a bit more guts to it.

see also: Melisende's Library - New Alison Weir series on England's Queens

more about Agnes Strickland here @ wikipedia

more about Alison Weir here @ her website

Review: Catherine of Braganza by Sarah-Beth Watkins

Catherine Braganza - not a queen with whom I am overly familiar with - the Restoration not my particular area of expertise. So it was with anticipation that I sat down with this concise biography and discovered just who this woman was. A survivor!

Catherine's time as Queen of England was tumultuous - the reign of her husband, the notorious prolifigate, Charles II, was dominated by his long time mistress, Lady Castlemaine; Catherine's failure to produce an heir saw many plots abound to remove her or execute her - but Charles stood firm beside her. This was also the period of England's war with the Netherlands and the Great Fire of London.

Yet Catherine survived - she outlasted both Charles II and the reign of his brother James II; she witnessed Monmouth's rebellion (Charles' illegitimate son who challenged his uncle James II for power); she saw in the reigns of William and Mary following James' overthrow and exile; and then the coronation of Anne. 

Finally, Catherine returns to Portugal and for the first time, exercising royal power as regent for her nephew (1705). But her happiness was short-lived - she died the same year.

Sarah-Beth successfully recreates the life of Catherine who lived in a most exciting time. Her story is highly readable, not bogged down with too much dry historical facts, and leaves the reader with just enough information to send them off on their own journey of discovery of this queen who for many, was just a mere footnote in history.

Links:

Publisher: List of Sarah-Beth's books

Goodreads: review

Net Gallery: review