Nancy Lenz Harvey - Rose And The Thorn 1975.pdf - Tudor Period related Ebooks - Waller1

E dramatic, extravagant, always fascinating

lives of Mary and Margaret Tudor-sisters and

queens of the Renaissance, pawns in the power

struggle for English supremacy-are here vividly

re - created through their hitherto unpublished

letters to each other and to their brother Henry

VIII and through contemporary accounts-eye

witness reports, folk songs, and court poetry.

These, skilfully interwoven with the narrative,

reveal the whims, excesses, and hasty schemes

that caused Queen Mary to lose France and

Queen Margaret to lose Scotland, and impart

to the story of the Tudor sisters an immediacy

that no conventional historical recounting could

ever provide.

At eighteen, Mary, "the most beautiful woman of

her time," was married to the ailing Louis XII of

France. Louis doted on his witty and lighthearted

young bride, but he died eighty-two days follow

ing the wedding. Suddenly alone and surrounded

by members of the French court she neither knew

nor trusted, Mary seduced her brother's best

friend, the Duke of Suffolk, into a secret mar

riage, explaining why she did so in her letters to

Henry. Her letrers to flim also show how, through

endearing sentiments and guile, she was able to

get back into his good graces.

As for Margaret-short, stout, and plain - she

was married at the age of twelve to King James

IV to seal the peace between a warring England

and Scotland. But the wars continued, and after

James was slaughtered by the English in the

Battle of Fldden Field, Margaret's reign as a

Scottish queen of English descent was constantly

challenged by rival Scottish chieftains. Her

brother ignored her repeated pleas for help and

in desperation she subsequently entered into two

reckless marriages-the first to Archibald

Douglas, Earl of Angus; the second to Henry

(Continued on ack flap)

(Cominued from front flap)

Stewart, Lord Methven. Both marriages degen

erated into a struggle for power that Margaret

was ill-equipped to fight, and she lost all-power,

love, and finally her infant son. Alienated from her

brother, her friends, and her subjects, she reveals

in her letters her bitterness and confusion as she

sinks further into solitary despair.

The opulence and splendor, the private passions

of the ower - wielders, and the public pageantry

of the sixteenth century are dramatically pre

sented in The Rose and the Thorn. The author

has woven a rich tapestry that vividly brings to

life the personalities who altered history and have

thus affected the lives of us all.

NANCY LENZ HARVEY is associate professor

of English at the University of Cincinnati and the

author f the popular biography of Margaret and

Mary Tudor's mother, Elizabeth of York.

Jacket dsign by Bob Antler

Photograph by Carole W. Bowman

THE

ROSE AND

THE THORN

ALSO BY \A\CY I.E\/ H.\R\.EY:

Elizabeth of rorh

Nancy Lenz Harvey - Rose And The Thorn 1975.pdf

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