The Red Queen

brittany — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Philippa Gregory’s most recent work of historical fiction, The Red Queen, describes the bloody War of the Roses from the perspective of Margaret Beaufort, a member of the house of Lancaster and, perhaps most famously, grandmother to Henry VIII. Gregory’s second book in the Cousins’ War series, The Red Queen serves as a foil to The White Queen, which presented the war from the perspective of the York Queen Elizabeth Woodville.

As a child, Margaret is fervently devout, with a special devotion to Joan of Arc and the Virgin Mary. Her desire to join a religious order is, however, of little importance to her family, who hope that she will provide an heir to the throne. She is married at the age of twelve to Edmund Tudor, King Henry VI’s twenty-four-year-old half brother, and widowed shortly after becoming pregnant. Margaret faces death herself during a difficult childbirth, and becomes convinced God spared her life in order for her to fulfill her destiny and make her son the King of England. Devoting her life to this ambition, Margaret carefully navigates the shifting court politics of a nation seething with civil war. Her determination and clever plotting allow her to infiltrate the house of York and orchestrate one of the greatest rebellions in British history—calling her son back from exile in order to wage war, seize the crown, and become the king she always knew he would be.

Margaret is presented as the antithesis of her rival Elizabeth, the protagonist of The White Queen: Margaret is plain, Elizabeth famously beautiful; Margaret’s life lacks romance, Elizabeth’s is a love story; Margaret is a pious Catholic and Elizabeth practices magic. Allied with opposing sides, the women’s experiences of the wars are also quite disparate. It was interesting to see the events presented from the women’s different points of view, but as divergent as their stories were, this approach to the series occasionally made it feel as if I had already read the book.

One of the most interesting aspects of Margaret in The Red Queen is her central role in the murder of the two princes in the tower, both Elizabeth’s sons. The person responsible for their murder is left a mystery in The White Queen, and remains one of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Gregory’s choice to have Margaret order their execution, while a historically plausible theory, is a risky one for an author. It is a testament to Gregory’s writing and character development that she can create a sympathetic character out of a cold-blooded killer.

Another intriguing aspect of the book is Gregory’s exploration of women’s religious beliefs and practices, which is also a central theme in The White Queen. Margaret’s constant assertions that she is favored by God and that her political plots are in accordance with divine will is repetitive and tiresome at times, but using religion to legitimize ambition and power was a frequent trope in women’s lives. Gregory uses this device, not to suggest any divine origin of Margaret’s unlikely rise to power, but to demonstrate the way Margaret herself might have negotiated and viewed that power. Furthermore, Gregory’s depiction of Margaret’s constant recourse to prayer—like Elizabeth’s use of magic—elucidates how women viewed their relationship with the divine as a way to control events over which they actually had very little control.

Serious historians may be frustrated with Gregory’s highly fictionalized writing, and Margaret is a very complex character to be explored in such an easy-to-read, breezy novel. Ultimately, however, Gregory is to be commended for bringing attention to women’s history. Margaret is a fascinating historical figure whose role in her son’s climb to power and influence over the early Tudor kings has often been overlooked. I recommend The Red Queen as a thoroughly enjoyable examination of Margaret and the War of the Roses, a delightfully crafted story of the woman who brought the Tudors to the throne.

Written by: Shannon Hill, October 13th 2010

The White Queen

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:54:00 +0000

By Philippa Gregory

Touchstone

Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, The White Queen, opens her series on the War of the Roses with a tale of blood and lust shrouded in historic mythology. Told from the perspective of Elizabeth Rivers, country maiden turned Queen of England; we follow the fall of the House of Lancaster and rise of the house of York through a Romeo and Juliet love story with a conspiring twist.

Elizabeth loses her husband in battle fighting for King Henry, leader of the house of Lancaster. As Lancaster falls and the Yorks take the reigns of Britain she loses her property and in turn her sons inheritance and only hope of a prosperous future. As the daughter of a nobleman she decides to plead with the new king, Edward IV. It is at this fated and possibly magically guided first meeting that our story truly begins. Lust at first sight is followed by a series of desperate mysterious acts, the most fascinating of which is the possible use of magic by Elizabeth’s mother to propagate her daughter’s second marriage. The King, an infamous womanizer, would be nearly impossible to pin down especially when he was still at war. It is implied that a water goddess, Melusina, a fabled descendant of the Rivers line, intervenes after Elizabeth mom invokes her. The Rivers family calls upon Melusina throughout the book for luck and hope bringing fantastical explanations for some quite unbelievable but true turns of events.

Magic aside, it is a beautifully woven story that heeds to the integrity of the historical record while still maintaining the lightness of a beach read. My one complaint would be the repetitiveness of Elizabeth’s language, she at times seems more of a conniving robot then a person but to be fair in order for her rise to power to have been plausible at all she had to have a one track mind.

As summer turns to fall, you may have a hankering to be back in the classroom. With this book you can easily reap all the benefits of a history class plus the easy reading pleasure of a good romance novel.

Written by: Nicole Levitz, September 30th 2009