The Nature of Things

The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir My rating: 4 of 5 stars "This story begins in 1400 with the murder of one king, and ends in 1471 with the murder of another. One murder could be said to have been a direct result of the other. The story of what happened between 1400 and 1471, which is the story told in this book, answers the question: how?"   - from the introduction to The Wars of the Roses What happened between the killing of the Plantagenet king Richard II and that of the Lancastrian Henry VI was the constant grappling between two families - the Lancasters and the Yorks - for possession of the throne of England. There was continual plotting, scheming to overthrow one king or another or at least to overthrow those who controlled him. Betrayal, treason, brother against brother, son against father, switching of sides in mid-battle, and the most cruel torture and death to the losers were all standard practices of the day. And yet, during the thirty-two years covered by the ...

Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne Boleyn, has had an unfortunate reputation over the past half millennium. During her lifetime, rumors flew about her licentious behavior. She was alleged to be very free with her sexual favors, something that only high-born men, including kings, were allowed.  As a young teenager, Mary spent time at the French court of Francois I. It was suspected and has been repeated by historians throughout the last five hundred years, that she was Francois' mistress. We have a term for that today. It's called statutory rape. If a 13, 14, 15 year old girl did have sexual intercourse with the all-powerful king, it is very unlikely that she had much choice in the matter. But, as Weir points out in this study of Mary's life, there is really no independent proof that this ever happened.  Neither is there any real proof that, later, Mary became the mistress of Henry XIII or that she bore him at least one child. Henry never acknowledged the child, as he did many ...

Having read several fictional accounts of the Tudor era, including Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and the Tudor mystery series by C.J. Sansom, I thought it might be interesting to get an actual historian's take on the period. Alison Weir is an actual British historian who has had an almost life-long fascination with that era and has written widely about it. This book, The Lady in the Tower , concerns the last four months of the life of the second of Henry VIII's six wives and Elizabeth I's mother, Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn has, of course, been an iconic figure of great interest for historians, poets, playwrights, novelists, and, indeed, for ordinary people, virtually since her death by beheading in May, 1536. She was accused and adjudged guilty of treason against her king - specifically of having committed adultery with at least five men, one of whom was her own brother and of having conspired with them to kill the king. All five men were also judged guilty and beheaded. Th...