Customer Reviews

Elizabeth of York, the Mother of Henry VIII

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Nancy Lenz Harvey comments in her preface: "In a way, her life becomes the War of the Roses retold; but in most accounts, Elizabeth of York is covered over by more dramatic events and persons." Unfortunately, that is true of this biography. The first half of the book is a mediocre retelling of the Wars of the Roses, with a few mentions of Elizabeth, mostly somewhat speculative: "It was the daughter Elizabeth who now settled the fears of her younger sisters ...", for example. She figures a little more in the second half, but it is at least equally a biography of Henry VII. I learned virtually nothing about Elizabeth that I didn't already know from more general works, except that she was engaged in childhood to George Neville, Duke of Bedford.

To those who might argue that there is little information available, then I ask what was the point of an alleged biography? There can be value in a book that has no new information if it at least gathers together information otherwise scattered, but this does not even do that. A biography of a poorly documented figure can be a valuable opportunity for the author to chronicle the details of life that get skipped over with more famous characters. I would have expected, for example, to learn the details of the life of a princess of this era. Perhaps (I am making this up) she was awakened after dawn by a nurse, and dressed in clothing that had been warming before a brazier if the weather was cold. She was then taken to meet her parents before Mass, and receive their blessings. After Mass, if her parents were not busy, the family might have a relatively informal breakfast. Her parents would then leave to hunt or meet with advisors or ambassadors, and Elizabeth and her siblings would return to the nursery where they would play outside (weather permitting). As they became older, they would begin lessons in English, Latin and French. Etc. More details than are herein recounted are available about court functions that she attended, such as her brother Richard's wedding. As for her adult life, I would expect more information than we got about her confinements, which were really confinement in a specially prepared suite, in those days; her churching; her finances; letters (which I understand are still extant).

Such information as we get seems oddly organized. As Harvey tells us in her preface, she has "adapted some of the techniques of the novel." The biography is organized around Elizabeth's last pregnancy, with little novelized sections proceeding each chapter. Thus, information about confinement is given with her last pregnancy, not her first. I have learned more about her relationship with her husband and mother-in-law in books about other people, such as Anne Wroe's book on Perkin Warbeck The Perfect Prince: Truth and Deception in Renaissance Europe.

Not much of an addition to information about the Yorkist-Tudor eras.

and it is. But it is generic. It could be a fill in the blanks book. More often than not, the author has not gone from the particular to the general but rather the other way round. She employs inductive thinking.

For example - she takes all known facts about Edward IVs cildren and appliess them to Elizabeth in particular.

It's a gimmick and I don't like general fact that purports to be individualized. It is unfair to the reader who is seeking NEW information.

I gave up on it.