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Title: The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France by Maria Perry ISBN: 0-306-80989-3 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A very interesting book
Comment: This was a book I really liked. I found it facinating to read about another two members of the Tudor family. Maybe the most interesting thing about the Tudor family is how they managed to rule, or simply survive, in a time when cruelty, power struggles and dominance over women were common.
In this book Maria Perry tells us about the sisters' childhood and family background, as well as about their adult lives. In both cases the sisters had to marry a king as part of their father's attempt to keep or make allies, and not for love.
The eldest sister Margaret soon ended up as my favourite. She came across as a strong and couragious woman. In a time when women had no power, she fought to take control over her own life. When she was widowed and still pregnant, her brother tried to arrange a wedding for her. But Margaret wanted to marry based on her own choice, something her brother Henry VIII disliked. Later on she had to fight in order to keep her children, since they as heirs to the throne could be used as tools to rule the country by scroupulous men.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very enjoyable and detailed History
Comment: Perry writes about the lesser known subject of Henry VIII's two sisters, Margaret and Mary who became Queen of Scotland and Queen of France respectively. It's really a review of his whole family, which shows that his sisters, even as political pawns were much more involved in events than wife focused biographies and legends would generally show. There is some early discussion of their parents, Henry VII and his Queen, Elizabeth of York, which shows how they inherited the royal propensity for pagentry and how, Perry's descriptions are sumptuous, the emphasis on sartorial wealth and jewels was really the political rhetoric of the day. More than that, it seems also have been a business, and many conflicts and wars can be explained by the need for the Tudors to pay for all their nice clothes and jewels--even, or especially, they owed money--so that they can keep being royals. Perry is as assiduous about the financial details as she is avid about the fashion details, and even if you aren't quite sure what the numbers mean the story is always readable, imaginative and intriguing, leaving its share of Historical what-ifs. (What if Mary's long-term youthful betrothal to Charles V of Spain had been honored, for example?) As one might expect Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn get their fair share of mention, but the context of their tribulations seems at once more mundane and more majestic.
Rating: 4
Summary: For True Lovers Of Historical Biographies Only
Comment: --Because this book, for the most part, except when the author decides to basically abandon a person or issue in it, is loaded with details. If you are interested in the life and times of Henry VIII, his relatives, friends and enemies, then you will likely forgive the author's apologist attitudes toward him (and her seemingly hyper-critical eye, in my view, of his sisters). If you are relatively thick-skinned about writers who do that, weaving their own opinions through the story they are telling, while supposedly presenting historical fact, you will find this book very interesting and fairly absorbing. There are a lot of minute details about banquets, clothes and social behavior, which are a lot of fun to read and know about, again, if you're interested in the first place. Which I am, so I liked this book.
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Title: Tudor Women: Queens and Commoners by Alison Plowden ISBN: 0750928808 Publisher: Sutton Publishing Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir ISBN: 034543658X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors by Michael Farquhar ISBN: 0140280243 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir ISBN: 0345391780 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 10 July, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father's Crown by Maureen Waller ISBN: 031230711X Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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