Jane can still fairly be called the first among equals in this book's telling, exactly because she was the shortest lived of the sisters, or rather because of the reasons she died so young. She's a troubling figure in some ways. She was serious, humble given her social position, an avid reader. She was also, by any objective standard, a religious zealot. Her vision of Protestantism was markedly similar to what the Cromwells would promote the better part of a century later. Elizabeth I was no sweetheart, but she did bring some kind of religious equilibrium to England during her reign. It's hard to imagine Jane doing the same.
Even given more attention than I've seen them get before, it's harder to get a read on Katherine and Mary. Lady Katherine Grey could have potentially become queen if Elizabeth's bout of smallpox in 1562 had gone worse for her. And at that point it was pretty much Katherine's only hope for freedom. What kind of queen would she have been? Unlike her older sister she hadn't made any big political or theological statements. She loved her husband Edward (like bunnies, I tell you), she loved her two baby sons, and she loved dogs and monkeys. As queen she might have deferred to Edward, but even he was more of an upper class striver than an aspiring ruler.
Then there's Mary. Like Katherine, she had married without Elizabeth's knowledge or permission, and was punished for it. An odd match, as she was a borderline dwarf and husband Thomas Keyes was a borderline giant, but they seem to have clicked on some level. While she was at the top of the succession chart after Katherine's death, she plainly had no great interest in usurping the throne. Elizabeth eventually realized this and freed her. Sadly it wasn't too much later that she was struck down by the plague.
The book is a triumph for de Lisle. She makes her mostly lesser-known historical figures come to life.
2 comments:
What an enormously complicated period this was. I admire you for keeping up with the historical turmoil in a time when all the marriages among royalty were political.
Edward VI, who was a protestant like his father named Lady Jane Grey as his heir in an attempt to avoid the country returning to Catholicism. It didn't work. Mary had Jane deposed (and flung into the Tower) and the country's official religion changed back. Elizabeth had been declared illegitimate. Mary married Philip of Spain in hopes of bearing a child that would succeed to the throne. Nope.. a lot of wind was the result of what was probably an hysterical pregnancy. She was well past her mid-30s by then. Oh dear. She had the Archbisop of Canterbury burned at the stake and many more too - gaining the sobriquet Bloody Mary. Meanwhile, Lady Jane was beheaded. Mary died after another pregnancy that didn't result in a baby.
Elizabeth became queen and Protestantism was restored. Time to make sure nothing else was allowed to interfere. No time for marriage to anyone at all - a husband was bound to take over. But why did Robert Dudley have a room adjoining Elizabeth's that night when Katherine Grey went to beg him to have the queen recognize her marriage - after all, she was heavily pregnant by then..
Confusion abounds and I can't keep up with the half of it. Poor sisters who all died before their mid-30s - Jane just 19. I'm glad to know Leanda de Lisle has been able to make some sense of it all.
You could say a lot of things about that period in history--and particularly British history--but it wasn't boring. In fact few people around today have any idea just how weird things could get.
Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth were all half-siblings. The "half" part made more difference to them than it might to us. They were from different mothers, and in large part were raised separately. I don't think that Edward bore ill will toward Mary, but he wasn't going to let a Catholic succeed him if he had any choice about it. And Elizabeth was not an option for him because she was both younger and--in the eyes of many--an illegitimate child of Henry VIII. That left Jane, with whom he saw eye to eye on matters of religion. This despite the fact that some Protestant thinkers like John Knox believed that rule by women was always wrong. Jane was a true believer but probably didn't realize at first how badly things would go. When her execution drew near she took it as well as anyone could.
I think for Elizabeth remaining unmarried was a power play. With no heir apparent, and with the future of the throne pretty much down to her will, no one could look to the next monarch to overrule her. In fact she died without definitively naming one, so James VI of Scotland's ascension had a little bit of posthumous mindreading to it. Katherine was Elizabeth's cousin but sadly for her family ties didn't extend that far.
These are tangled, mishap-laden stories, and de Lisle does well in making them more comprehensible.
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