Tag: tudor

Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson

Rating:

Yes, my friends, it is another historical fiction. Can you see the trend here?

This book is about Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin Lettice Knollys and her tumultuous relationship with the queen. The novel starts off with Lettice as a young girl and shows her starting life at the court of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth never really grew to like Lettice because she was much more attractive than the queen. Elizabeth’s jealousy came out in her treatment of Lettice, in how she demanded Lettice go to the house of the newly deceased Amy Dudley, wife of Elizabeth’s favorite Robert Dudley, and get her bed curtains. Robert, after the death of Amy, had intended to marry Elizabeth, but she refused, saying she wanted only to be “married to England.” Elizabeth’s jealousy grew dangerous when Lettice decided to marry Dudley after her first husband died. Robert became the step-father of Elizabeth’s other favorite: Robert Devereaux, the second Earl of Essex. However, Essex did not have the cool head of his step-father and ended up a traitor to the crown, beheaded at the Tower.

Even though this story was clearly heavily fictionalized, I still liked the way that Erickson portrayed Queen Elizabeth. There are a lot of stories and films that show her temper, yet many books are hesitant to show this side of her, preferring instead to see her in a better light. I was surprised, however, that the story did not focus a little bit more on Elizabeth’s worries about Mary, Queen of Scots. It was such a big part of her life and could have been such an interesting dynamic to see through Lettice’s eyes. After all, if rumors were true, then Mary was also cousin to Lettice as well as Elizabeth. While I understand Erickson’s primary focus of the novel was Elizabeth’s relationships with Dudley and Lettice, I would have liked to see how her relationship with Lettice changed as she dealt with the beautiful Mary and her eventual execution.

As far as Lettice goes, I much prefer Margaret George’s interpretation of her in her novel Elizabeth I. George seems to have a more rounded out character, which is always a good thing, but with a character as exciting as Lettice Knollys, it’s even more important. I also liked how George’s Lettice seemed to be more connected to her grandmother, Mary Boleyn. However, Erickson did a good job of portraying Lettice’s attraction to Robert Dudley. He has many times been referred to as “the gypsy,” and Erickson’s depiction of him made him seem very attractive.

I really just wish that Erickson had hashed things out a little bit better. The story seemed to skip many important times, like Lettice’s late life and Elizabeth’s relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots. I think this novel was a little bit rushed, as it seemed like Erickson wanted to get certain points across and ignore other, almost more important, times of Lettice and Elizabeth’s life. However, it’s always nice to see a novel that isn’t from Elizabeth’s point of view, which seems like it would be very skewed. In that aspect, this novel was very well done.

 

 

 

 

If you wish to get yourself a copy of Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson, you can get it here. If you wish to read Margaret George’s Elizabeth I, you can get it here.

Earl of Essex, Elizabeth I, England, historical fiction, Lettice Knollys, Mary Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert Devereux, Robert Dudley, tudor

Man, I love documentaries!

Hello everyone! So, as I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, I really love Philippa Gregory’s books. I also love all things War of the Roses/Tudor/Elizabethan era. However, there are only so many times you can watch “The White Queen/Princess” and “The Tudors.” So I was excited to see a woman named Hayley Nolan doing a web series where she discusses Anne Boleyn and the history of famous places. This led to YouTube.

Now, you can find some documentaries on Netflix or Amazon Video, but boy, are there documentaries on YouTube! I mean hundreds of documentaries. Everything from “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” to “Icons of Power,” to just name a few. They’re all very interesting and I cannot get enough of them!

If you like watching historical documentaries, especially of the Tudors, I recommend the channel allthemed docs and allthemed docs2. Together these channels have over 900 different documentaries you can watch FOR FREE. Yes, free. The magic word.

If I can recommend one documentary in particular, I would recommend the documentary where they found the body of Richard III under a carpark. I’ve watched it many times, and it’s truly amazing. The archaeology student in me cringed at one point because of their stupidity, but the rest o the documentary is very compelling. You can watch it here!

My current watch is “The Six Wives of Henry VIII.” This is my second time watching the series, and it’s amazing. I already know a lot of it from reading books and watching other documentaries and shows, but it’s still very interesting. There are 4 parts that cover all 6 of Henry’s wives. If you’re interested in this period of Tudor history, I highly recommend you start watching with this particular documentary. You can watch part one of it here.

Hopefully, this helps some of you who were interested in watching documentaries from these eras. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Amazon Video, documentaries, Elizabethan, Netflix, Philippa Gregory, tudor, videos, War of the Roses, YouTube

The White Princess on Starz

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So, after I finished “The White Queen” on Amazon video, I, of course, had to continue the story and watch “The White Princess.” This was not the first time I have seen the show, but as a Philippa Gregory fan, I had to watch it again.

My first reaction was that I wish they had kept some of the same cast. I understand that they’re all older, but “Princess” happened right after “Queen.” Like, literally right after. “The White Queen” ends with Richard III dying at the battle of Bosworth and Henry Tudor being crowned king. “The White Princess” starts off with Elizabeth of York (Lizzie) finding out that Henry was now king. Now, I understand that making the parents of the main cast older, as they are much older than they were at the start of “The White Queen.” Still, they could have used the same actress for Lizzie and Henry. The only person who was played by the same actress was Lizzie’s grandmother, Duchess Cecily. I know this shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did.

Another thing that bothered me was that Lizzie went from hating Henry to loving him in such a quick fashion. I realize that after a few years you grow to love someone, but Henry had done so many bad things to her. He practically raped her. He locked up her cousin, who was a very innocent, mentally challenged young boy. He even ordered that, when the soldiers went to fetch her at the end of the battle of Bosworth, the soldiers should kill “any boy they find there.” So, he essentially ordered the death of her brother. He also killed Richard III, who was supposedly Lizzie’s love and lover. I don’t understand how she is able to forgive him all of that, let alone love him.

The book goes a little more into Lizzie’s feelings towards Henry. He’s very suspicious about those around him and is always thinking that there is a plot going on. He often accuses Lizzie of conspiring against him, and she resents him for it. While the book does say that they love each other, it seems more plausible to have them dislike each other.

Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing series. It follows the book fairly well, minus the animosity between Lizzie and Henry at times. Lizzie is a very relatable character. I felt very sorry for her, since her mother seemed to care more for her son than she did Lizzie and Lizzie’s children. She was constantly plotting to get Henry off the throne, even though she had married Lizzie to him for her to be queen. I realize that Elizabeth’s son Richard would have been the rightful king, but she is basically plotting against her own daughter in favor of her son. I felt so bad for Lizzie because she is forced into the marriage against her will and then has her mother going against her.

I would have liked to have the series continue until Elizabeth’s death. A big part of the story was the curse that Elizabeth and Lizzie cast upon the people who killed the princes in the tower. It’s revealed that Henry’s mother ordered the deaths, but since the youngest boy, Richard, got away, the curse was not complete. With Henry ordering the death of the “pretender,” who Lizzie believes is her brother, the curse would be completely upon the house of Tudor. The curse said that the male line would die out. Lizzie is constantly telling Henry that they cannot kill the “pretender” because it would be the death of her boys. If the story continued, we would see Lizzie’s reaction to her oldest Arthur’s death, which is part of the fulfillment of the curse. However, the story ended almost abruptly after Lizzie witnessed the death of her cousin Teddy and her supposed brother. It just felt incomplete.

Anyway, don’t think I’m too harsh on this series. Is it as good as “The White Queen”? No, I don’t think so. That seemed to be a more complete story. However, if you watched that, you really should continue the story.

 

 

To purchase the season of “The White Princess,” go here.

book, historical fiction, Starz, the white princess, the white queen, tudor, tv series

“The White Queen” (Based on the novels of Philippa Gregory)

Rating:

If you could not tell by my past reviews, I’m a big fan of Philippa Gregory’s books. The basis of this review is the Starz channel mini-series “The White Queen,” which was adapted for television from three of Philippa Gregory’s “Cousin’s War” novels. The books that the show is based on are “The White Queen,” “The Red Queen,” and “The Kingmaker’s Daughter.” Now, this TV series is a few years old, having aired in 2013. However, it is still such a good series that it’s worth the watch.

 

 

Warning: Contains historical spoilers! (If you wish to skip the spoilers, look for the all caps text)

 

 

The series starts off with Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Baron Rivers and Jacquetta Rivers, waiting for King Edward of York. Her family had been loyal Lancastrians for most of their lives. However, with the death of her husband in battle against the Yorks, Elizabeth was forced to live with her parents, having had her dower lands taken from her by her mother-in-law. She intends to beg the king to intercede on her behalf and get her and her son’s inheritance back. Little did she know that this would set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to the tyrant Henry VIII.

This chance meeting by the roadside grew into the love of the century. Edward and Elizabeth immediately fall in love with each other. They marry in secret, much to the fury of Edward’s main advisor, the Earl of Warwick. Edward declares his marriage and makes Elizabeth Queen of England.

This action causes Warwick to become bitter at his foiled plan to marry Edward to a princess of France. When Edward denies him the permission to marry his daughters Isabelle and Anne to the royal dukes George and Richard Plantagenet, Warwick plots with George and starts a war to remove Edward from the throne and put George on it. This is a battle that continues until the death of Warwick and, later, George (who had married Isabelle behind Edward’s back).

After Edward’s death, Richard declares Elizabeth and Edward’s marriage to be invalid, and thus deligitimizes Edward’s sons Edward and Richard. Richard becomes the infamous Richard III and puts the boys in the Tower of London. Supposedly, he’s the one who killed them, but the show makes it so that we don’t know who really ordered the death of the boys.

Richard’s reign doesn’t last long, for shortly after Anne’s death, Henry Tudor invades. The series ends at the Battle of Bosworth, where Richard was cut down and Henry Tudor becomes Henry VII. He eventually marries Elizabeth’s daughter Elizabeth of York, and they have many children, including the infamous Henry VIII.

 

 

 

REVIEW STARTS HERE.

 

First off, I’ve been reading the books in order along with the show, first starting with “The Lady of the Rivers,” then “The Red Queen,” and now “The White Queen”. I’ve been trying to read them in the order that the events happen in the timeline, but there are overlaps.

I do have to say that the show follows pretty faithfully to the books, almost down to the line. I love that they are able to pull from all three novels to create a seamless story. We get to see the viewpoint of Elizabeth, Henry’s mother Margaret Beaufort, and Warwick’s daughter Anne. Each of them was a queen in some form, with both Elizabeth and Anne both being crowned and Margaret becoming “My Lady the King’s Mother,” which was essentially calling her queen. Each of the women are strikingly different. Elizabeth is bold and determined to get exactly what she wants. Margaret is pious and certain that her young boy will be king. Anne starts off as a meek little thing but grows into her own. To be fair, as someone who isn’t really big on religion, I wasn’t a huge fan of Margaret, since I couldn’t relate to her intense piety. I felt that I connected more with Anne, feeling intense pity at her first marriage to the Lancastrian prince Edward which was doomed from the beginning. Elizabeth is someone to admire. I loved her fierce love for her children and husband, and never doubted that she would do anything it took to keep them all safe. I did disagree with her demand that her daughter Elizabeth should marry Henry Tudor, but do see that it was the only way to stop the Cousin’s War.

This show has a bit of nudity and a lot of violence, so if you do not like either, I would not recommend this show to you. However, if you do decide to watch it, it’s a very well-made look at the Cousin’s War. I’ve read many books on this era, and while these are very romanticized depictions, it’s a beautiful show that would be a great start to getting into the era.

One thing that sort of bothered me about this show was the lack of Richard’s twisted back. While I completely understand that this was made during or even before they discovered Richard’s skeleton and confirmed his severe case of scoliosis, it still slightly bothered me. I get it. I mean, they didn’t want to do the stereotype of the evil, hunchback king. Heck, most of the time I felt sympathy for Richard (minus the incest that the show portrayed, which isn’t confirmed to be true). They wanted to portray him in a good light. However, after watching the documentary about a team finding Richard’s skeleton, I wanted to see him portrayed more to what we know now is the truth.

If you are a fan of the show “The Tudors” or of this era in particular, I recommend watching this, albeit with a grain of salt. This is not a documentary. This is historical fiction. Enjoy it for what it is.

The sequel “The White Princess” is available on Amazon to rent or buy. It continues the story following Elizabeth of York, her marriage to Henry Tudor, and the constant onslaught of pretenders claiming to be one of the missing princes of the Tower. If you like “The White Queen,” definitely check out “The White Princess.” And, if you get curious, watch the documentary of the discovery of Richard III’s body.

 

 

“The White Queen” is free for Amazon Prime members here.

“The White Princess” is available to rent or buy on Amazon here.

The documentary of the discovery of Richard III’s body is available on YouTube here.

amazon, cousins war, historical fiction, lancaster, Philippa Gregory, plantagenet, Starz, the white princess, the white queen, tudor, tv series, war, york

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