Historian Weir has deftly sifted through available material to create this very readable biographical treatment of the "other Boleyn girl": Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Not much is truly known about Mary--not even a documented portrait or a good description of what she looked like--there's even disagreement over her birth year and whether she was the elder or younger sister of the more famous Anne. Called "a great and infamous whore" by some writers (but not until years later), because of her brief relationships with Francis I and Henry VIII, Weir disputes that reputation, and does a credible job of putting together bits and pieces to give a better picture of the course of Mary's life. Unfortunately, because there is so little written documentation, Weir's narrative is full of speculation and what ifs and maybes. Sources disagree as to events and personalities and dates, and Weir is forced to make decisions based on actual proof and logic, drawing her own conclusions, disregarding sources that are considered unreliable or prejudiced. One longs for a contemporary's diary or journal to turn up and shed some light here! Advertised as the first full biography of Mary, it is a worthy achievement: the author has done much research on the Tudors and her times and is able to place Mary firmly within that context; she adds new information concerning both of Mary's husbands, William Carey and William Stafford; she clears up several misconceptions about Mary's life at the courts of the Netherlands and France; she gives plausible theories as to Mary's life during undocumented times after she left the English court; and she provides an interesting theory concerning the parentage of Mary's two surviving children, Henry and Katherine. Her appendixes concerning Mary's descendants and the portrait identification issues are fascinating and thought-provoking. It is somehow gratifying to know that the oft-maligned and misunderstood Mary's notable descendants include Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Prince William of Wales. I have enjoyed other works by this author, and overall, this was a good read, and the family charts, illustrations and notes that were included in this volume were much appreciated, even by this Tudor fan. Weir gets high marks for her effort here, but in the end, Mary Boleyn as a historical figure is still very much in shadow.Monday, November 14, 2011
MARY BOLEYN: THE MISTRESS OF KINGS by Alison Weir, 2011.
Historian Weir has deftly sifted through available material to create this very readable biographical treatment of the "other Boleyn girl": Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Not much is truly known about Mary--not even a documented portrait or a good description of what she looked like--there's even disagreement over her birth year and whether she was the elder or younger sister of the more famous Anne. Called "a great and infamous whore" by some writers (but not until years later), because of her brief relationships with Francis I and Henry VIII, Weir disputes that reputation, and does a credible job of putting together bits and pieces to give a better picture of the course of Mary's life. Unfortunately, because there is so little written documentation, Weir's narrative is full of speculation and what ifs and maybes. Sources disagree as to events and personalities and dates, and Weir is forced to make decisions based on actual proof and logic, drawing her own conclusions, disregarding sources that are considered unreliable or prejudiced. One longs for a contemporary's diary or journal to turn up and shed some light here! Advertised as the first full biography of Mary, it is a worthy achievement: the author has done much research on the Tudors and her times and is able to place Mary firmly within that context; she adds new information concerning both of Mary's husbands, William Carey and William Stafford; she clears up several misconceptions about Mary's life at the courts of the Netherlands and France; she gives plausible theories as to Mary's life during undocumented times after she left the English court; and she provides an interesting theory concerning the parentage of Mary's two surviving children, Henry and Katherine. Her appendixes concerning Mary's descendants and the portrait identification issues are fascinating and thought-provoking. It is somehow gratifying to know that the oft-maligned and misunderstood Mary's notable descendants include Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Prince William of Wales. I have enjoyed other works by this author, and overall, this was a good read, and the family charts, illustrations and notes that were included in this volume were much appreciated, even by this Tudor fan. Weir gets high marks for her effort here, but in the end, Mary Boleyn as a historical figure is still very much in shadow.
Historian Weir has deftly sifted through available material to create this very readable biographical treatment of the "other Boleyn girl": Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Not much is truly known about Mary--not even a documented portrait or a good description of what she looked like--there's even disagreement over her birth year and whether she was the elder or younger sister of the more famous Anne. Called "a great and infamous whore" by some writers (but not until years later), because of her brief relationships with Francis I and Henry VIII, Weir disputes that reputation, and does a credible job of putting together bits and pieces to give a better picture of the course of Mary's life. Unfortunately, because there is so little written documentation, Weir's narrative is full of speculation and what ifs and maybes. Sources disagree as to events and personalities and dates, and Weir is forced to make decisions based on actual proof and logic, drawing her own conclusions, disregarding sources that are considered unreliable or prejudiced. One longs for a contemporary's diary or journal to turn up and shed some light here! Advertised as the first full biography of Mary, it is a worthy achievement: the author has done much research on the Tudors and her times and is able to place Mary firmly within that context; she adds new information concerning both of Mary's husbands, William Carey and William Stafford; she clears up several misconceptions about Mary's life at the courts of the Netherlands and France; she gives plausible theories as to Mary's life during undocumented times after she left the English court; and she provides an interesting theory concerning the parentage of Mary's two surviving children, Henry and Katherine. Her appendixes concerning Mary's descendants and the portrait identification issues are fascinating and thought-provoking. It is somehow gratifying to know that the oft-maligned and misunderstood Mary's notable descendants include Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Prince William of Wales. I have enjoyed other works by this author, and overall, this was a good read, and the family charts, illustrations and notes that were included in this volume were much appreciated, even by this Tudor fan. Weir gets high marks for her effort here, but in the end, Mary Boleyn as a historical figure is still very much in shadow.
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