My latest book review, of MJ Neary’s latest novel,Wynfield’s Kingdom: A Tale of the London Slums, the first novel of his stunning new series, set in Victorian South London, has gone live over at The Review today!
Wynfield’s Kingdom: A Tale of the London Slums is one of those amazing books which makes you feel like you’ve discovered something really special. Set mainly in the slums of Bermondsey and Southwark in South London, it paints an image of Victorian London which will stay with you for days – and nights – afterwards. The novel is an amazing story of human existence and endurance, with so many twists and turns that it will not fail to surprise and mesmerise you. The fact you never quite know what the next chapter will bring keeps you hooked and curious to the very end.
Tom did not trust Diana. She might have been helpless but certainly not harmless. Feebleness and innocence are not synonyms. She was dangerous precisely because of her physical weakness. One could expect anything from her. Tom feared that she would torch the tavern out of sheer spite.
“She’s your burden now,” he told Wynfield. “I wash my hands. You brought her here, so you watch over her now. If she starts making trouble, I’ll kick both of you out on the streets. I won’t have any nonsense in my house. You both came here as patients. I allowed you to stay here and that alone was unwise on my part.”
To read the full review of this fantastic novel – and to enter the prize draw and be in with a chance of winning an e-book in the giveaway, simply visit The Review and leave a comment. Good luck!
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My book, Heroines of the Medieval World, is now available in hardback in the UK from both Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK and worldwide from Book Depository. It is also available on Kindle in both the UK and USA and will be available in Hardback from Amazon US from 1 May 2018.
Be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter.
Today, it is my pleasure to welcome Amy Licence on the final leg of her Blog Tour. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing Amy’s latest book, Catherine of Aragon, an Intimate Life of Henry VIII’s TrueWife and today she is back with an extract from this fabulous look into the life and struggles of Henry VIII’s first queen.
This extract is taken from the end of 1529, just before the Reformation parliament meet, illustrating how the marriage was under tension but Catherine was still fighting back.
Catherine was permitted to return for the Christmas season, which was traditionally presided over by the King and Queen together. And Henry was not quite ready to dispense with traditions, either religious or marital; he would need a couple more years for that. Hall related that the season was observed “in great triumph… with great plenty of viands and diverse disguisings and interludes, to the great rejoicing of his people” but it was definitely not a triumph for Catherine. To observers, it seemed that Henry was being pleasant to Catherine, showing his wife “more consideration than was his wont,” and with Anne not making an appearance. However, all was less than harmonious behind the scenes. On Christmas Eve, after her return, Henry had told Catherine that even if the Pope declared their marriage lawful, he still intended to divorce her and he would get his way, as the Church of Canterbury was more important than Rome and he would declare the Pope a heretic. Something must have broken in Catherine to hear this. She had, related Chapuys “lost all hope of bringing him to a sense of right and duty” never could think that her affairs would fall so low as they are at present. She always fancied that the King, after pursuing his course for some time, would turn away, and yielding to his conscience, would change his purpose as he had done at other times, and return to reason.” She had been wrong.
Portrait of Catherine of Aragon by Michel Sittow
Yet the Queen had also been working behind the scenes. She might have been down but Catherine was nothing if not an indefatigable fighter, so she was not yet out. In the knowledge that Henry was hoping for the French and Italian universities to confirm his view of his marriage, Catherine set out to counter his efforts. She was more than a match for him intellectually and in terms of character, but in her present restricted circumstances, there was little she could do, being excluded from the political process as the Reformation Parliament met for the first time. Appealing to the universities was something positive that she hoped might influence the Council. The same Edward Lee, Henry’s almoner, had informed the king that nobody in Spain apart from the Emperor, “cared a straw” whether or not the marriage was dissolved, so Catherine asked Charles to ask the Spanish Universities to write in her defence, along with her niece, Empress Isabella. She hoped that if the Archbishop of Toledo could gather their responses, “her case might be considerably improved.” She also wrote to Margaret of Savoy with the same request, and “wherever else it may be considered expedient” as it was the only thing now she thought might “stop the King in his course.”
Woodcut of Henry and Catherine’s joint coronation
Catherine feared that her husband was “so blind as passionate in these matters, that it is much to be feared that one of these days he will take steps which may perhaps induce his people and the Commons… to consent to the divorce.” She begged Henry for permission to consult her Council of advisers, and was granted permission for them to attend her at Richmond. However, this kindness may have only been conferred “in order to discover whether she had received a recent dispatch from Rome.” In fact, Henry’s new Parliament would not yet discuss Catherine and her marriage in its coming session, instead they were setting about the process of undermining the ties that bound England to Rome.
I would like to congratulate Amy on a fabulous Blog Tour, and thank her for asking History…the Interesting Bits to be a part of it. You can find out more about Amy Licence on her website, and this amazing, definitive, biography of Catherine of Aragon is available from Amazon.
If you’d like to catch up with the previous stops on Amy’s Blog Tour, simply click on the day: Monday; Tuesday; Wednesday; Thursday.
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My book, Heroines of the Medieval World, is now available in hardback in the UK from both Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK and worldwide from Book Depository. It is also available on Kindle in both the UK and USA and will be available in Hardback from Amazon US from 1 May 2018.
Be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter.
My latest book review, of Derek Birks‘ latest novel, Scars From the Past, the first novel of his stunning new series, set 10 years after the conclusion of his fantasticRebels& Brothers series, has gone live over at The Review today!
Scars From the Past is the first novel from Derek Birks’ new series and, I have to say, it is the ultimate page-turner! It is a new direction for the author. While there is just as much action as in the first series, the story is less about national politics and more family orientated, as the Elders fight to survive, and to avoid the family imploding.Where the first series concentrated on duty and feudal loyalty, this new novel examines more personal relationships; love and friendship.
The original Rebels & Brothers series told the story of Ned Elder, a Sharpe-like hero who fought his way through the Wars of the Roses and Edward IV’s battle to win – and hold – the throne of England. The new series, set ten years after the end of the fourth book, The Last Shroud, follows the adventures of the next generation. Ned’s son, John, is a young man finding it difficult to live up to his father’s legend and the reader follows his journey as he realises his own identity and that duty and responsibility are not so easy to run from…..
To read the full review of this fantastic novel – and to enter the prize draw and be in with a chance of winning a hot-off-the-press signed paperback copy in the giveaway, simply visit The Review and leave a comment. Good luck!
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My book, Heroines of the Medieval World, is now available in hardback in the UK from both Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK and worldwide from Book Depository. It is also available on Kindle in both the UK and USA and will be available in Hardback from Amazon US from 1 May 2018.
Be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter.
After writing about Yolande de Dreux a few weeks back, I became intrigued with the story of her grandson, John de Montfort.
John was the only son of John, count of Montfort, and Joan of Flanders. He was probably born in November or December of 1339. His great-grandmother was Beatrice of England, a daughter of Henry III, who was the mother of his grandfather, Arthur, duke of Brittany. John is first mention in 1341 when his childless uncle, John III, duke of Brittany, provided him with 20,000 livres from his patrimony. However, when the duke died on 30 April 1341, the duchy was thrown into turmoil. Civil war erupted when John’s father and uncle-by-marriage, Charles de Blois, both laid claim to the duchy.
John de Montfort the elder was the son of Arthur, duke of Brittany, by his 2nd wife, Yolande. Charles de Blois was married to Jeanne de Penthièvre, daughter of Arthur’s 2nd son by his 1st wife; Guy of Brittany. The bitter conflict was to be absorbed into the much greater struggle, between France and England, that became known as the Hundred Years’ War. Edward III of England supported young John’s father, while Philip VI of France backed Charles de Blois.
In November 1341 John’s father was captured and it was up to his mother to assume the de Montfort cause. Edward III sent troops to secure various strongholds, but by late 1342, after an unproductive campaign, he had minimised his military involvement, leaving a lieutenant in charge as he headed back to England, accompanied by John, who was about 3 years old at the time, his mother and his sister, Joan.
John’s mother was imprisoned in Tickhill Castle, Yorkshire, supposedly after succumbing to a mental illness, though more likely for political reasons. As a result, John was raised in the household of the queen, Philippa of Hainault. Their fortunes revived briefly when John’s father arrived in England 1345, paying homage to Edward III at Easter, having broken his parole and escaped the duchy. He led a small force back to Brittany, but died suddenly in September of the same year, leaving 6-year-old John in the guardianship of Edward III.
Mary of England, John’s first wife
Sir Thomas Dagworth captured Charles de Blois at Le Roche Derrien in June 1347, giving the English the opportunity to discuss the succession issue. It looked for a time, that Edward would sacrifice; in 1353 a treaty was actually drafted that was heavily in de Blois’ favour, depriving John of most of his rights. Luckily, for John, it was never implemented and de Blois was eventually released, in return for a huge ransom, in 1356.
Edward resolved now to back young John’s claims. Around 17-years-old, John experienced his first military campaign when he fought alongside Henry, duke of Lancaster, in the siege of Rennes, from October 1356 to July 1357, and later taking part in the Rheims campaign of 1359-60. In March, 1361, John married Edward III’s daughter, Mary, at Woodstock. The marriage would end in tragedy as Mary, still only 17, died of plague in September of the same year. Discussions throughout the early 1360s offered no lasting political solution and, now having attained his majority, John returned to Brittany in the summer of 1362.
Further discussions hosted by the Black Prince, including plans to partition the duchy, failed. However, when Charles de Blois was eventually defeated killed in battle at Auray on 29th September 1364 Jeanne de Penthièvre was forced to come to terms with John de Montfort and the Treaty of Guérande was signed on 12th April 1365. John was recognised as John IV duke of Brittany by Charles V of France, to whom he performed homage for his duchy in December 1366.
Initially, as duke of Brittany, John’s ties to England continued to be strong, his financial debts and other obligations ensuring this. In 1366 he married Joan Holland, step-daughter of Edward, the Black Prince. However, when a lull in the fighting ended in 1369 and France and England were at loggerheads once again, John was caught in a dilemma. As his overlord Charles V was expecting John to fight for France, while Edward III was his old ally and mentor and obviously felt deserving of his loyalty. His prevarications meant his Breton subjects grew restive and when John sided with Edward III, after receiving the earldom of Richmond in 1372 as a sweetener, they openly rebelled.
Joan of Navarre, John’s 3rd wife
By April 1373 John had lost everything; he fled to England as his duchy was overrun by French troops. And yet, worse was to follow. After participating in John of Gaunt’s chevauchée from Calais to Bordeaux, John was tried for treason in the Paris parlement in December 1378. In total, John spent 6 years in exile, living on his English estates and attending court and parliament; he was the 1st foreign prince to be made a Knight of the Garter, in 1374.
John was invited to Brittany in 1379 by his Breton subjects, who were beginning to become suspicious of Charles V’s intentions; realising that his attempts to bring Brittany into the French royal demesne would threaten her traditional privileges and independence. The Breton constable of France, Bertrand de Guesclin, deliberately failed to oppose the duke’s landing. After Charles V died in September 1380 a peace was negotiated with the aid of the count of Flanders and Louis, duke of Anjou, which was ratified in the 2nd Treaty of Guérande in April 1381.
A consequence of the treaty was that John de Montfort now opposed his former allies in England and Navarre. With Edward III dying in 1377, his young grandson was now King Richard II. The English still occupied Brest, and John was having difficulties in collecting revenues from his English estates. John’s wife, Duchess Joan, had been staying in England during the troubles but, after much wrangling, was finally returned to her husband in 1382, only to die in November 1384. Her death removed an important connection to the English court and Richard II, her half-brother.
The 1380s saw John consolidating his position in Brittany, making alliances with other French princes, such as the dukes of Berry and Burgundy and the king of Navarre. He developed the duchy’s institutions, encouraged trade, devised new taxes and exploited minting rights. On a cultural level, John expanded his court and encouraged the arts by extensive patronage. He also encouraged loyalty to his family and dynasty, which was helped greatly by his marriage to Joan of Navarre in 1386 and the birth of his long-awaited heir in 1389.
John V, duke of Brittany
As Anglo-French diplomatic relations thawed in the 1390s, John was able to make a marriage alliance with John of Gaunt, whereby one of his daughters would marry a son of Gaunt’s heir, the earl of Derby. John de Montfort attended the wedding of Richard II and Isabella of France in 1396 and Brest was returned to him in 1397.
Joan and John had an affectionate relationship, producing 8 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood. John and a 2nd son, Arthur, each became duke of Brittany; Arthur was also constable of France and succeeded his nephew, John’s son Peter, as duke. He died in 1458 and was succeeded by his nephew, Francis, son of his younger brother, Richard, count of Étampes, who had died in 1439. A 4th son, Gilles, died in 1412. Joan and John also had 3 daughters: Marie, countess of Alençon; Blanche, countess of Armagnac and Marguerite, vicomtess de Rohan.
John de Montfort paid one last visit to England in 1398, when he took formal possession of Richmond, attended a Garter ceremony at Windsor and spent some time on progress with Richard II before returning home. He died at Nantes on 1st November 1399, where he was buried. In 1402 his widow, now the wife of Henry IV of England, erected an English-made alabaster tomb over his grave; it was destroyed during the French Revolution. Joan acted as regent for her 10-year-old son, John, until her marriage to Henry; when she entrusted the regency and custody of her Breton children, to the Duke of Burgundy.
Brittany remained an independent duchy within France for another 100 years.
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Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
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Sources: Ian Mortimer The Perfect King; Marc Morris Edward I: A Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris; Brewer’s BritishRoyalty by David Williamson; The Mammoth Book of British kings & Queens by Mike Ashley; Britain’s Royal Families by Alison Weir; The Oxford Companion to British History edited by John Cannon; The History Today Companion to British History Edited by Juliet Gardiner and Neil Wenborn; The Story of Scotland by Nigel Tranter; Scotland, History of a Nation by David Ross; oxforddnb.com; britannica.com; W.M. Ormrod The Reign of Edward III.
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My books
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Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, of the successes and failures of one of the most powerful families in England, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey is now available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US,Bookshop.org and Book Depository.
The fact that Cleopatra is better known for her seductions than her statecraft, and that Jezebel is remembered as a painted trollop rather than a faithful wife and religiously devout queen, isn’t a way for historians to keep these interesting women in the public eye, rather it’s a subversion of their power, a re-writing of history to belittle and shame these powerful figures, preventing them from becoming icons of feminine strength and capability. Slut shaming has its roots in our earliest history, but it continues to flourish in our supposedly post-feminist, equal-rights world. It is used to punish women for transgressions against gender norms, threatening the security of their place in society and warning that they’d better be “good girls” and not rock the patriarchal boat, or they, too could end up with people believing they’ve slept with everything from farm animals to relatives. This is The Jezebel Effect
The Jezebel Effect: Why the Slut Shaming of Famous Queens Still Matters by Kyra Cornelius Kramer is a remarkable, thought-provoking analysis of the way queens have been treated and judged, based on their sexuality. The author is passionate about her subject and pulls no punches. Her arguments are well thought out and presented in such an honest, forthright manner that it is as if she is talking to you personally. It is a surprisingly enjoyable book; and I guarantee you will learn something new and find yourself re-appraising your own thoughts and approaches to women in history.
Anne Boleyn
Starting with the biblical queen, Jezebel, and including Cleopatra, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Catherine the Great, Kyra Kramer uses these queens as case studies demonstrating the way a woman’s reputation can be won, lost or destroyed through her sexual activities. Taking each queen in turn, their lives are analysed in great detail, demonstrating how political and personal slander were used by their enemies to create their bad-girl images.
For the last 500 or so years, the most popular version of Anne’s life has her playing the role of sultry harlot, a woman willing to use her sexuality as the bait to trap a king. At the very least it has been taken for granted that she wanted to be queen and manipulated Henry in order to achieve her goal. She looms in the public mind as “the most popular femme fatale, far outranking Cleopatra or Catherine the Great of Russia”. Inasmuch as Anne has been cast as a sly temptress making a gambit for the throne, here execution seldom engenders pity…
Kyra Kramer uses the queens as examples of how the stories of their lives have been manipulated as a political weapon to discredit and to apportion blame. The author goes on to present modern-day situations and makes an amazing case of showing how the way women were treated and vilified in the past is informing our thoughts and opinions of today, and how the shaming of women due to their sexual practices is continuing, and expanding, especially in the internet age.
This book will make you think again about how you present and represent women in your own life – it made me rethink a portion of my book as I realised I had conceptualised one of my ‘Heroines’ based on the deeply entrenched way women have been viewed for centuries. We see it in everyday life: a woman has an affair with a married man and it is she who is blamed, not the man; a female politician gets threatened with rape because she acts against the norm, Kyra Kramer demonstrates how such concepts have been used and developed throughout the centuries.
The Jezebel Effect: Why the Slut Shaming of Famous Queens Still Matters is a fabulous, fascinating read that will make you think again of how women have been viewed in the past, and are still being viewed today. It’s an enjoyable read that combines the history with the philosophy and politics of the sexual activities of some of the most famous – and infamous – of queens. It is a forthright analysis of women’s history that will leave you not only thinking about its contents for days afterwards, but about your own approach – whether you’re a man or a woman – to how women are seen and appraised every day.
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My book, Heroines of the Medieval World, is now available in hardback in the UK from both Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK and worldwide from Book Depository. It is also available on Kindle in both the UK and USA and will be available in Hardback from Amazon US from 1 May 2018.
Be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter.
My latest book review, of Steven A. McKay’s latest novel, Blood of the Wolf, the final novel of his stunning Forest Lord series, a wonderful new reworking the legend of Robin Hood has gone live over at The Review today!
With Blood of the Wolf, Steven A McKay has definitely saved the best to last! The fourth and concluding part of his fabulous Forest Lord series sees Robin and his band of Merry Men reunited and embarking on one final adventure together, facing a most formidable foe; a new and particularly vicious band of outlaws. This book has everything: suspense, action and enduring friendships that are tested to their limits. Old and new enemies make the reader eager to see Robin win through, and a few surprises along the way make this a thoroughly entertaining and gripping novel.
It leads you on a desperate chase through the forests, in the halls of the Sheriff’s castles and into the villages of England …
To read the full review of this fantastic novel – and to enter the prize draw and be in with a chance of winning a paperback copy in the giveaway, simply visit The Review and leave a comment. Good luck!
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My book, Heroines of the Medieval World, is now available in hardback in the UK from both Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK and worldwide from Book Depository. It is also available on Kindle in both the UK and USA and will be available in Hardback from Amazon US from 1 May 2018.
Be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter.
My latest book review, of MJ Neary’s latest novel, Wynfield’s Kingdom: A Tale of the London Slums, the first novel of his stunning new series, set in Victorian South London, has gone live over at The Review today!
History... the interesting bits! 