Customer Reviews

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Tragedy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I didn't expect much from this title because I'd read about these people many times before and knew it all, or so I thought. Big surprise. De Lisle does a marvelous job of debunking the nonsense of intervening historians and liars, and getting at what is true about the Brandon family line. She has consulted and compared original sources so we don't have to, even seeking out the advice of fellow scholars such as Eric Ives. This is high-quality, factual historical synthesis.

I had not realized before just how much Katherine Grey was a figure for opposition to Elizabeth to rally around. Or just how organized and persistent Grey's supporters were. Even though she as a person was nonpolitical and completely harmless, unlike the brilliant and committed evangelical Jane. That's just one of the insights of this book, backed up by the author's careful research.

I also find the reclaiming of Frances Brandon's reputation from cruel mother to loving parent very plausible. As well as her continued dynastic importance long after Jane Grey's execution. From the distance of history we have counted Frances out because we know her male children all died. But at the time, she could still have produced a son whose claim to the throne would have been backed by both Henry VIII's and Edward VI's wills. Since de Lisle makes it clear that Elizabeth always preferred the claim that Mary Stuart had to the English throne, a male heir of the Brandon line would have been a big problem for Elizabeth. No wonder she did everything she could to keep her female cousins from marrying, and to pretend that Katherine Grey's marriage never happened and her boy babies were bastards.

Anyone fascinated as I am with the Tudor century will find riches in this book.

My main motivation for giving this book five stars is de Lisle's "alternative" interpretation of Jane Grey's role in the 1553 succession crisis. There is no shortage of reading material about Jane, but this new research uncovers a lot of whitewashing and untruths in previous biographies of the queen. I won't go into any detail so readers can find out for themselves, and it is definitely worth a look.

It was also great to see the stories of Jane's overshadowed sisters, Katherine and Mary, fleshed out for probably one of the first times. Some books make references in passing to Katherine's tragic life, but Mary is almost always simply referred to as the "hunchback" or "dwarf." Beyond that description, there is usually nothing else mentioned of her. Looking back, that is extremely disappointing given the amount of information de Lisle was able to gather. She has even uncovered details of Mary Grey's burial which had previously been mislabeled and filed away in archival obscurity. The bit about Charles I's burial in the last chapter was also interesting!

Overall, this book has enough new information in it to make it worth reading for even seasoned enthusiasts of the Tudor era. The photo insert is also very nice, with an aerial view of Bradgate Manor and some old maps of London and the Tower.

First, I would urge anyone who enjoys well researched history to give this a read, adding that the author has a lovely manner and is never overbearing with her apparently enormous wealth of knowledge of this period and its power brokers. But, unlike many of the reviewers for this book I am by no means a "tudorite" - indeed I can barely stomach the double standards afforded to this short lived "dynasty" - so my perspective continues to be "now what?" in regard to revelations about Tudor atrocities.

There is a reason that Elizabeth I had to leave the Crown of England to the Scots(!) - of all her grandmother's enormous family by 1603 there was no one left. Think of it as a family genocide: from Henry VII's murder of the young Edward duke of Warwick (1499) to Elizabeth's crude and despotic treatment of the Grey sisters, they systematically and obsessively killed, imprisoned, tortured, harassed and destroyed anyone in their bloodline (read Yorkist blood) regardless of age, gender, or actual cause. What was new in this fine history was just how little I found to like in Jane, who I had always thought to be an unwilling pawn. But, it is the chapters on Katherine and Mary that are the real treat and if I had any remaining doubts as to the real nature of Elizabeth then what she does to these two sisters, their husbands and children is nothing short of a perverted and maniacal vindictiveness.

Secondly, if you wish to introduce yourself to this dynasty then start with this expose of the Tudor psyche and it will serve you well as a buffer to the fantastical myth initiated by Henry VII and coddled by historians ever since.

On a side note, I was fascinated to learn that two royal brothers, Henry Brandon (aged 15, duke of Suffolk) and Charles, aged 14, would both die on the same day and within an hour of each other from the same illness (sweating sickness). More than a little curious.

History loves its myths, the bold men and women who capture the imagination of centuries lost, of great struggles for territory and beliefs, even the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey, "the Nine Days Queen". Once Henry VIII's will denies the Stuarts succession, the Grey sisters, Jane, Katherine and Mary, are thrust into a seething cauldron of Tudor politics, great-granddaughters of Henry VII, grandnieces of Henry VIII and successors to the throne. Henry has dramatically broken from the Church over Anne Boleyn, "a King under God but not the law, because the King makes the law". Upon the death of Edward, Henry's sole male heir, the line to the throne falls directly on the princesses of the realm, a male-dominated country forced to acknowledge the inevitability of women as a means to the crown.

While much myth surrounds Lady Jane Grey, de Lisle puts an end to later-century fancies, especially regarding the character of Frances Grey and her supposed cruelty to younger daughter. Jane is, without a doubt, a fanatical, determined Protestant who yields her head to Mary Tudor rather than betraying her religious beliefs. What Henry has wrought in his break from the Church ushers in years of political conflict between Catholics and Protestants, even Mary Tudor's introduction of the Counter-Reformation, a bloody reminder of the power of a monarch on behalf of her beliefs. From the death of Edward I to the end of the Tudor dynasty in King James' son Charles I, "a king tried, executed and buried by his subjects", the Grey sisters endure the constant upheaval of politics, treason, religion and ambition, a constant source of conflict around the throne of England.

While Katherine Grey manages to appease Mary Tudor, she runs afoul of Elizabeth by her choice of marriage partner, ensuring years of imprisonment and unhappiness, yet another tragic consequence for the Grey sisters. Mary Grey's fate is not much kinder than Katherine's. Yet through these three sisters, and Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, the author explores the attitude towards women and the many intrigues that evolve whether the females are willing participants or not. They are history's pawns, the sisters run aground finally against Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen, who ruthlessly holds her place in history, fending off the most intricate plots to steal the throne.

In a complex blend of religion, politics and family ambition, influential men connive for and against, pitting one potential ruler against another, driven in large part by the battle between the Catholic Church and the new Protestant sects. While Mary and Elizabeth embody the struggle, and the endless plots that swirl around them, the Grey sisters are truly pinned to the spear of ambition, unable to escape the fate Henry has set in writing. The author has created a seamless narrative, richly detailed, thoroughly researched, the urgency, frustration and hopes of characters as fresh today as in that century of political turmoil when a woman might gain a crown but just as easily forfeit her head in the process. Luan Gaines/2009.

This book covers an extremely complex bit of history, so I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. We all know about Henry VIII and out of six wives he had one son, Edward, and two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Henry's favorite sister Mary had a daughter Frances who in turn had three daughters - Jane, Katherine and Mary. Upon the death of Edward, well that is when things get complicated as those three sisters (or more specifically any sons they might bear) were potential heirs to the throne of England.

Most Tudorphiles are familiar with the eldest daughter Jane, who becomes the Nine Day Queen and her tragic end. What's refreshing in this book is that de Lisle also shows us *the rest of the story* of the younger sisters Katherine and Mary, who as potential heirs to the throne are unable to marry without the Queen's permission - and Elizabeth was not about to give it and let them have sons who could threaten her crown. Katherine comes to court to serve Elizabeth and falls in love with Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, but without Elizabeth's permission to marry so they do so in secret, although the lovers face the Queen's wrath when the marriage is discovered. Years later a grown Mary arrives at court and she incurs the Queen's anger when she also marries in secret.

And that's about as far as I'll go, if you know the basic history you know where the rest of the story goes and if you don't, well then read it for yourself. The author does a great job of breaking down some old myths (no, Frances wasn't quite the power hungry harridan she's always been portrayed as) as well as breaking new ground with solid facts and research and puts it all together in a very readable book. It was a tad bit dry at first (I don't normally read non-fiction) but once we got into Katherine and Mary's stories I was hooked and had a hard time putting it down.

Along with her first book: "After Elizabeth" (and its very long subtitle), Leanda de Lisle has written this book, focused on the Grey sisters to explore the complex issues of succession in the Tudor Dynasty. After all, so many of Henry VIII's decisions and actions were all directed at ensuring orderly succession after his death. When the only surviving child of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was a daughter, he feared rebellion and civil war if Mary succeeded him. Therefore, he turned heaven and earth upside down to marry Anne Boleyn, young and promising a son, separating England from the universal Catholic Church and the authority of the Pope, risking war with the Holy Roman Empire, and incurring excommunication.
Once he had his son (having to get rid of another disappointing wife), he then violated the principle of primogeniture and settled the succession, with Parliament's consent on the heirs of, not his eldest sister, Margaret, but his favorite sister Mary: the Greys, who would follow his son and daughters if they died without issue.
Ironically, this left only women to succeed Edward VI if he died without issue: his sisters Mary and Elizabeth and their relatives Frances, Jane, Katherine and Mary.
Then both Edward VI and Elizabeth I contravened Henry's will: Edward by naming Jane Grey his heir and Elizabeth by naming Mary, Queen of Scots as hers. (Mary I regretted the inevitability of Elizabeth's succession but did not try to thwart it.) Edward made his decision based on religious principle, since Jane was an Evangelical like him. Elizabeth made her decision based on primogeniture and Mary's royal person, since Mary, Queen of Scots, after all, was a Catholic--and many in her court dreaded another queen and a Catholic on the throne.
Leanda de Lisle traces this sometimes confusing web of succession, with the plots of attempted coups and subterfuges of secret marriages as clearly as possible (with name changes and so many Mary's and Catherine's). She corrects many erroneous interpretations (of Lady Jane Grey as victim or of her mother Frances as an evil woman, etc) effectively, and demonstrates Elizabeth I's cruelty to Katherine and Mary, imprisoning and separating them from their well-beloved husbands and Katherine from one of her sons. The book is very well illustrated too, with excellent family trees for the Tudors and the Greys, et al. One irony of the family trees in my copy was that Jane's name was nearly always in the gutter of the spread!

Author Leanda de Lisle has written an utterly captivating account of the lives of, Mary, Katherine and Lady Jane Grey in The Sisters Who Would Be Queen. Seriously, this is how non-fiction is done!

The fate of the Grey sisters exemplifies the danger of being born perilously close to the throne of England. All three would eventually fall victim to the English crown, though in different ways.

Lady Jane, the most notable of the Grey sisters, was born the eldest and as such was the one the family vested much time and money in. In a sense, she was the son they never had and she was ever mindful of the responsibility placed upon her. She was deeply religious and had a passion for learning.

One thing that de Lisle opened my mind to was that perhaps Jane wasn't the total helpless pawn when she was offered the throne. Although Jane was very hesitant to take the crown and bypass Mary and Elizabeth and even her own mother, she nonetheless saw this as the only way to keep the Catholic Mary from ruling England and destroying everything that her brother, the Protestant Edward had done. Jane was just as strong in her religious convictions as Mary was, which was proved when after the plot to place Jane on the throne failed and Jane was give a chance to spare her life by converting to Christianity, she drew strength from her own faith and was executed on February 12, 1554.

De Lisle then goes on to tell the stories of Katherine and Mary, whose own lives would prove just as tragic as their sisters'. The remaining Grey sisters would dare to defy queens of England for love and would spend the rest of their lives suffering the consequences. One thing is for sure, Tudor queens are not to be messed with!

I highly recommend The Sisters Who Would Be Queen to anyone who enjoys an exquisitely researched and well-written historical account, and of course, lovers of the Tudors!! I really enjoyed de Lisle's writing style and was entranced in the story of the remarkable, yet heartrending, Grey sisters.

Women weren't trusted to be queens, but they were trusted to be pawns of powerful, agenda-setting men.

That's the bottom line as two Tudor sisters succeed each other on the throne of England, while three cousins of theirs, the Grey sisters, were tools of opposition to the Tudors, especially to go-slow Protestantism, or even Mary's Catholicism.

Or were they "tools"? DeLisle makes clear that the "nine-day-queen," Jane Grey, to the degree a woman could actively seek something then, actively sought the throne. No wonder both Mary and Elizabeth feared her sisters, not just their backers.

Even to the point of trusting Mary, Queen of Scots, another cousin, more. Yes, a tangled web, but De Lisle does a good job of untangling it.

That said, the book probably could have had 30 or so pages of additional fleshing out. Those pages would have included more on the religious angles of Mary, Elizabeth and the Greys, and more on what was happening with Mary, Queen of Scots on both sides of the border.

There's enough missing that this isn't quite a five-star book. Close, but just a tad short.

I selected this book because I was thoroughly impressed with After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England by the same author. I expected a very good book and Leanda De Lisle delivered. I did not expect this totally new dimension on Elizabeth and her succession.

This book adds to the previous documentation of Elizabeth's aversion to naming a successor. It tells how far, even early in her reign, and against great pressure Elizabeth would go not to name a successor. She eventually banned such discussions.

There is a lot to digest. Interesting to me is that William Cecil, despite his disagreement with Elizabeth on this very fundamental issue maintains his position (and his head) throughout her reign. He is later instrumental in bringing James to the throne.

Lady Jane Grey's 9 day rule is the stuff of legend as is the even higher profile imprisonment of Elizabeth I's better known rival for the throne, Mary Queen of Scots. While vaguely aware of Lady Jane's sisters, I had not considered that they were rivals too... nor what had become of them. I have read many Tudor novels and histories, but this aspect to the saga has been hiding in plain sight. Thank you, Leanda De Lisle, for bringing this story to light in my lifetime. My Mother, another reader of Tudor fact and fiction, sadly did not live long enough for this.

How would history have changed had a son of Katherine Grey acceded to the throne? Would there have been a Cromwell? A Victoria?

There are three excellent genealogies in the front, to which I often referred.

I highly recommend this for readers of Tudor history.

We are all very used to hearing the stories of Ann Boleyn and the other wives of Henry VIII, but this book goes back a layer to present the Gray sisters. I learned much that I had not known, and really loved this look at some of the secondary players of history. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the history of the Tudor period. There is also much of interest to those studying Church history as the Protestant Reformation and the politics of the Church of England play a major role in the narrative.