Tudor Cousins: Rivals for the Throne [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Dulcie M. Ashdown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

How close did England come in the 16th century to a dispute—perhaps escalating to civil war—between rival candidates for the throne? Indeed, how close did England come to having a Queen Margaret, a King Ferdinando, or a Queen Arbella? Or a King Edward whose consort Queen Honora whose father was a notorious smuggler and friend of pirates? The fact that Henry VIII was succeeded by his three children, in turn, and the last of them by their cousin the king of Scotland, hides the fact that for the best part of 80 years the royal succession was in doubt, a matter for speculation and debate. At almost any time, the Tudor succession might have been diverted to a descendant of one of Henry VIII's sisters—a Douglas or Brandon, Grey or Clifford, Seymour or Stanley, or a Lennox Stuart. Nomination by a monarch as his/her heir or promotion by an English faction or a foreign power was, for each Tudor cousin, always a distinct possibility: to be a Tudor cousin from the 1520s to the end of the 16th century was to live in constant uncertainty, wondering if "fate" would offer crown and throne. There were times when the crown hovered just out of reach: for Margaret, Lady Lennox, for example, when Mary I seemed close to having her half-sister Elizabeth charged with treason and naming her cousin Margaret as heir; for Katherine Grey, in October 1562, when Elizabeth I was apparently on the brink of death—it would have been necessary to release "Queen Katherine" from the Tower of London in which she was a prisoner. Only one of the cousins, Lady Jane Grey, actually challenged for the crown, and that under duress, but her speedy overthrow in 1553 and execution the following year served as a warning to the others to beware manipulation by those who sought to rule through them. Suspicion was enough. Nine of the cousins were at one time or another imprisoned in the Tower. The descendants of Henry VIII's sisters showed many of the traits admired or deplored in the characters of the Tudor monarchs. Their stories offer a new perspective on the Tudor monarchs' actions and policies. It is a dramatic one, containing conspiracy, rebellion, usurpation, treason, execution, and themes which are more often the stuff of fiction—clandestine weddings, secret agents, murder, and witchcraft. This book reveals the ways in which proximity to the throne dominated and frequently marred the lives of the Tudor cousins, sometimes contributing to their deaths.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: The History Press; illustrated edition edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750925477
• ISBN-13: 978-0750925471
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,560,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book, October 25, 2000

By 

M Davis (NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tudor Cousins: Rivals for the Throne (Hardcover)

Fascinating book for anyone interested in the Tudor period. Dulice Ashdown does a nice job of shedding some light on some of the more obscure members and branches fo the Tudor family, especially Lady Margaret Douglas who was Mary Queen of Scots mother-in-law and had near as wild of a life as her daughter-in-law,for not only was her first husband imprisoned by Henry VIII for daring to marry her and dying there, she also may have had a brief flirtation with Charles Howard, the brother of Katheryn Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife executed for adultery. It is an excellent read not only for historians and students of the period but for anyone. While the book did shed light on people like Margaret Douglas and had interesting tidbits on Eleanor Brandon (Lady Jane Grey's aunt), there were a few people mentioned but it was unclear exactly who they really were in terms of familial relations, i.e. an Arthur and Edmund Pole, presumably relations in some way to Margaret Plantagenet-Pole, Countess of Salisbury and Reginald Pole, Archbishop-Cardinal of Canterbury, are briefly mentioned among others. It would have been nice to know a bit clearer who some people were and what relationships they bore to previous mentioned people. But a definite must-read. I can't wait to see how Dulcie Ashdown's planned biography of Margaret Douglas turns out.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The dangers of royal blood in Tudor times, January 26, 2003

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tudor Cousins: Rivals for the Throne (Hardcover)

This book highlights the danger of being close to the throne in Tudor times. It concentrates not on the Tudor monarchs but on their various cousins from the first generation of those related to Henry VIII though to those who were still around at the time of Elizabeth 1st death.

This book is well researched and written and is particularly good in covering Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox and Margaret, Lady Strange - both people who only get short mentions in many books. It discusses things like the annulment of various marriages and the impact of legitimacy in relation to the throne - and how both Mary and Elizabeth were not in a situation to comment too much on it or they risked their own claims to the throne by the terms on Henry VIII will. The author has also taken the time to point out gaps in documentation on the lives of these various cousins and has reproduced some letters not seen in other books on the same people.

I suspect at times readers may become slightly confused by the cousins as their stories weave in and out of each other and as some people change their names with various marriages and the acquisitions of titles. However, if you have any interest in the minor Tudor royals this book is defiantly worth picking up, as I've certainly read worse accounts of these people's lives.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good-but could be confusing, January 18, 2004

By 

Courtney Rabideau (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tudor Cousins: Rivals for the Throne (Hardcover)

I found this book to be very good, but at times it could be sort of confusing. Ms. Ashdown gives the reader the information on who exactly the clements were to the throne of Henry VIII. Ms. Ashdown discusses almost every one of them in detail. Even thought I like and know a lot about the British Royal Family it was hard for me sometimes to know whom I was reading about and had to check with the genealogical chart at the beginning of the book to see who that person was and how they fit in with the family.

Ms. Ashdown spends the most talking about Henry VII's daughters Margaret and Mary whose descendents were the strongest contenders to the throne after Henry VIII died. Some other people Ms. Ashdown talks about are Mary's daughter Frances and her daughters Jane, Kathrine, and Mary as well as Margaret's children Margaret and James whose children Mary and Henry married each other and whose son James became king of Scotland and England. Some of the other people they talk about are another son and granddaughter of the younger Margaret.

All in all, I would say that this is an informative book and I would recommend it to anybody who is interested in the lives of the Tudor-Stuart family.