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Review
Praise for Alison Weir’s The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
“[Weir] is well equipped to parse the evidence, ferret out the misconceptions and arrive at sturdy hypotheses about what actually befell Anne.”—The New York Times
“Well-researched and compulsively readable . . . Acclaimed novelist and historian Weir continues to successfully mine the Tudor era, once again excavating literary gold.”—Booklist
“It is a testament to Weir’s artfulness and elegance as a writer that The Lady in the Tower remains fresh and suspenseful, even though the reader knows what's coming.”—The Independent (U.K.)
“Compelling stuff, full of political intrigue and packing an emotional wallop.”—The Oregonian
Book Description
Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn, seduced by two kings, she was an intimate player in one of history’s most gripping dramas. Yet much of what we know about Mary Boleyn has been fostered through garbled gossip, romantic fiction, and the misconceptions repeated by historians. Now, in her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first ever full-scale, in-depth biography of Henry VIII’s famous mistress, in which Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncovers the truth about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age.
With the same brand of extensive forensic research she brought to her acclaimed book The Lady in the Tower, Weir facilitates here a new portrayal of her subjects, revealing how Mary was treated by her ambitious family and the likely nature of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters. She also posits new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary’s mother, Elizabeth Howard, who was rumored to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII.
Weir unravels the truth about Mary’s much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I. She offers plausible theories as to what happened to Mary during the undocumented years of her life, and shows that, far from marrying an insignificant and complacent nonentity, she made a brilliant match with a young man who was the King’s cousin and a rising star at court.
Weir also explores Mary’s own position and role at the English court, and how she became Henry VIII’s mistress. She tracks the probable course of their affair and investigates Mary’s real reputation. With new and compelling evidence, Weir presents the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of Mary’s children, long speculated to have been Henry VIII’s progeny. She also explains why there is barely a mention of Mary in historical records at the time of Anne Boleyn’s notorious fall in 1536.
Alison Weir has drawn fascinating information from the original sources of the period to piece together a life steeped in mystery and misfortune, debunking centuries-old myths and disproving accepted assertions, to give us the truth about Mary Boleyn, the so-called great and infamous whore.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
`What does all this tell us about Mary?',
By J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Mary Boleyn: Mistress of Kings (Hardcover)
We know that Mary Boleyn (who died in 1543) is Anne Boleyn's sister, and that she apparently had affairs with both King François I of France, and King Henry VII of England. We know, too, that she married twice and apparently had two children. Most historians suggest that she is the eldest of the three surviving Boleyn children: Mary, Anne and George. The royal affairs may have made Mary notorious, but there is little to suggest that she had any influence or power in either the English or French courts. Many will be familiar with the portrayal of Mary Boleyn in `The Other Boleyn Girl' by Philippa Gregory, and the films based on it.`There is no escaping that an air of mystery pervades every aspect of Mary Boleyn's life. There is so much we don't know about her, and only so much we can infer from the scant sources that have survived.' In this biography, apparently the first full-length biography published about Mary, Ms Weir seeks to identify the truth about Mary and her life. Was Mary promiscuous? On what basis was she known as `The Great and Infamous Whore'? What evidence exists to support the birth order of the Boleyn sisters? Ms Weir also sets out to examine Mary's time and reputation in France, the details of her affair with Henry VIII and the possible children born as a consequence. Ms Weir touches, as well, on Mary's treatment by her family as well as the relationship between Mary and Anne. Unfortunately, because so little source material exists in relation to Mary, she does not emerge from the shadows of history. What Ms Weir provides is a framework for her life, a description of significant events (and people) which took place during her life time. Mary's role in these events and her relationships with these people can be inferred but are not known with certainty. The strength of Ms Weir's book, for me, is that she largely dispels the myths about Mary's supposed promiscuity. It seems highly likely that, as Ms Weir writes, Mary Boleyn's affair with Henry VIII was discreetly conducted. Otherwise, if Katharine of Aragon had been aware of it she could have used the fact of it in the defence of her own marriage, and surely would have. Henry VIII's argument for annulling his marriage to Katharine so he could marry Anne Boleyn was based on Katharine's earlier marriage to Henry's older brother Arthur. Henry having an affair with Anne's sister Mary created the same degree of affinity. Those without some background in Tudor history might find this book challenging. As a Tudor enthusiast I found it provided some interesting food for thought. Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Biography of a Sad Life of the one Boleyn Survivor,
By microfiche - Published on Amazon.com
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I read this title on my Kindle. The family trees are nearly impossible to read, even with its magnification. Perhaps they are legible on a PC. I didn't need the family trees since I've read regular books about the Boleyns and was not interested in the ancestors of the Careys and Staffords, Mary's two husbands, or the Knollys, Butlers and others. The pictures were black and white on my device, small but clear enough.Ms. Weir seems to have been bitten by the genealogy bug, Britain's Royal Familiesso all that genealogy seemed like padding. [Except the Butler / Boleyn feud over who was entitled to be Earl of Ormond. That is part of the since Mary's son and Anne's daughter inherited their father Thomas Boleyn's claim, and IMO the quarrel over the earldom affected Thomas's character and his relationships with his daughters.] Ms. Weir was hampered, I'm sure, by the lack of concrete information about Mary. Who really paid attention to recording a girl's life then? She did not make waves like her sister Anne did. She was a minor court figure and her liaison with Henry kept discreet. Much of the book is spent disproving slanders that accumulated from King Francois's flippant snicker at Mary's availability - [He might've been the only man who had her in France, and he might've been scoring off Anne and/or Henry through exaggerating Mary's damaged reputation.] - and a few bits of gossip spread by enemies of Anne Boleyn or early historians who confused the gossip about one sister with that of the other. Ms. Weir was thorough with what bits she did find - I appreciated the background on William Carey and how important his position was and also William Stafford's career and religious leanings - but Mary herself seems a colourless background character. Too demure and insecure. Ms. Weir could not help but "presume and assume" about Mary's character and observations. There just isn't enough source evidence about Mary other than her plea to Cromwell and what was said of her. Still, it is the best factual and least distorted biography about her we'll likely get for a long time. Kudos for the attempt. |
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