Alison Weir is a British author and historian. Her specialty is over the Tudor family. I was not interested in reading about the Tudors at first. All I knew was that King Henry the VIII broke apart from the Catholic church so that he could divorce his first wife, and then he rummaged through wives in an attempt to father an heir. However, I am interested in little-known aspects of history – people or things that have been forgotten or unnoticed. My interest in the unknown or unnoticed aspects of history led me to Alison Weir.

Because she deals with actual historical figures, I admired Alison Weir’s honesty. In her two novels, she was forthright about her use of literary license and explained what was accurate and what was done for dramatic effect. She has kept to the historical facts as closely as is possible. Her major piece of literary license came in her second novel. There were apparently scandalous rumors over a significant figure. No one knows whether or not the rumors were true, but the rumors did exist at the time period. In writing the novel, she had to decide whether to portray the rumors as true or false, whereas in an academic book she could say simply “no one knows.”

Her first novel, Innocent Traitor, centered on the short-lived Lady Jane Grey. After the death of Henry VIII, his son Edward VI became king, but because Edward was a child at the time, his regency governed England. Jane Grey’s parents were ambitious. They planned to marry her to Edward from the moment the two were born. When she learned of their plans during her teenage years, she was thrilled at the prospect of marrying Edward. They shared the same beliefs and ideals, and they had known each other since childhood. Unfortunately, Edward died before he was old enough to assume independent rule. The regent John Dudley went to her parents with a plan to make Jane Grey the Queen and to usurp the succession rights of Mary and Elizabeth. They married her off to the regent’s son Guilford Dudley, a buffoonish lout who she hated. Jane Grey never wanted to usurp Mary and Elizabeth. Instead, she wanted to dedicate her life to scholarly pursuits. Jane Grey was Queen for roughly two weeks before Mary arrived at London and sent her to the Tower.

I really enjoyed Innocent Traitor. Even though it was written in first person, it had a deep psychological intensity, and I felt as though the characters were actually speaking through the pages with their own voices. This was a fascinating look into the late reign of Henry VII and the political schemes of English nobility. It covered through Jane Grey’s life, the experiences and roles of women, the religious splits within the church, and the method of child-rearing. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about the 1500s.

The next novel I read was The Lady Elizabeth. Henry VIII had three children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. This book was about his second daughter, from her childhood until her rise to the Queen of England. This led me closer to the Tudors and to a more intimate portrayal of Henry VIII with his many wives, and how this affected his children and other European countries. Elizabeth was the daughter of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. When she was very young, her mother, who she loved dearly, was beheaded under her father’s orders. Elizabeth spent her entire childhood wanting a mother. Unfortunately, her father went through four more wives in a short time. Each rapid marriage and divorce quickly sent Elizabeth swinging from joy to despair until her father died and she was left with Katherine Parr. From her early childhood, Elizabeth was deathly afraid of marriage and sex. After all, marriage and sex resulted in the death of her own mother and in the death of Jane Seymour, who gave birth to Edward. However, once she reached puberty, her life became plagued with men and marriage.

One thing that certainly fascinated me about the book was the different portrayals of the same people through the lens of Elizabeth in contrast to Jane Grey. Jane Grey viewed Henry VIII as a loving, affable old man. Elizabeth, being his daughter, saw the more violent, dictatorial aspect of Henry VIII. I was a bit disappointed in the different portrayal of Katherine Parr. Jane Grey saw her as an intelligent and independent-minded woman whose quick wit saved her own life from the chopping block. Katherine Parr was also sexually repressed; she had been married off to three different elderly men during her lifetime. In The Lady Elizabeth, she came across as weak and ineffectual. This book was also written in third person format instead of first person.

After finishing The Lady Elizabeth, I searched for more books by Alison Weir. Although she has a new novel out, The Captive Queen, it was not published at the time, so I had to choose among her more academic-style historical books. I’d had enough of the Tudors, so I decided to read Eleanor of Aquitaine, who lived from 1137 until 1204. This book is not a novel and is a biography based upon research. The first thing I did when I received the book was to check her citation method. She uses a combination bibliography and simplified end notes, which hearken back to the bibliography. The landscape and political system of Europe was vastly different from the time of the Tudors. Monarchs were not the supreme power in Europe. Their power and strength depended upon the loyalty of their lords and knights. As a result, the formation of empires and nations were temporary and fleeting.

The book began with background into Aquitaine and Eleanor’s family. Eleanor’s father was more positive in his views toward women. Two significant events shaped his views – his disgust at how his own mother was mistreated, and the wonderful founding of Fontevrault Abbey that became a safe-haven for women from the abuses of society. Except for the knight-training, Eleanor was raised with the same education as men of her status.

At age sixteen, she was orphaned and married off to the King of France. At first, she enjoyed the marriage, but she became disillusioned. Her life in France was boring and lonely. She lacked political power, and she lacked a satisfying sex life. She wept to a French noble and begged him to convince her husband to get into bed with her. Her husband was unusually chaste, and was also an incompetent military leader. Eventually, the Catholic church declared their marriage void and against God because they were revealed to be cousins. The Catholic church at this time had stronger restrictions against cousin marriage than the United States does today. In that time, fourth and fifth cousins were not allowed to marry.

Eleanor then married of her own free will the King of England, who was also the ruler of the Angevin Empire, which was composed of England and a large portion of modern day France. He was a great military leader and was great in bed, as evidenced by their eight children. Unfortunately, Eleanor continued to lack political power. She became disenchanted with this marriage and moved back to Aquitaine with her heir Richard, where she governed without any male interference. When her sons rebelled against their father, she helped to lead the rebellion. They lost the rebellion, and she was imprisoned for a decade.

Her strength and intelligence shined after the death of her second husband. Two of her sons, John and Richard, are the same John and Richard from the Robin Hood legends. However, it was not Robin Hood who saved England from John on behalf of Richard. It was Eleanor who heroically saved England and secured it for Richard in the struggle against John. When Richard was kidnapped on his return trip from the crusades, Eleanor gathered the many nobles to her side, and together they planned a way to free him. Richard’s eventual death left John as the King of England. By this point, Eleanor was advanced in years and wished to retire to Fontevrault Abbey. However, John’s political mishaps forced her out of retirement. His reign saw the disintegration of the Angevin Empire as numerous lords and knights in the mainland disaffected and switched their loyalty to France.

I look forward to more books by Alison Weir, both novels and academic pursuits. The Captive Queen is incidentally the novel version over Eleanor of Aquitaine. I hope she will write a research book over Fontevrault Abbey. Its existence and founding were revolutionary in its positive attitudes toward women.
For years, I have been reading rotating three books, always two novels and one academic book. Right now, for novels, I am more interested in fantasy and adventure.