by Alison Weir
37. Cited by Cannon and Griffiths
38. Ormond; Gothic. An electrotype of Elizabeth’s tomb effigy, cast by Domenico Brucciani in 1870, is in the National Portrait Gallery.
39. Wilkinson: Henry VII’s Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey; Wilkinson: Westminster Abbey
19: “AS LONG AS THE WORLD SHALL ENDURE”
1. Hayward
2. Abell; Wroe
3. Wroe; Dunlop
4. CSP Spain
5. Okerlund: Elizabeth of York; Anglo: “The Court Festivals of Henry VII”
6. Rex: Henry VIII
7. Bacon
8. Anglo: Images of Tudor Kingship
9. CSP Spain
10. Ibid.
11. Bacon
12. Lansdowne MS. 874, f. 49
13. Cited Anglo: Images of Tudor Kingship
14. Ibid.
15. Latin pedigree in the College of Arms; Harleian MS. 1139, f. 37
16. Horrox
17. Meerson; Hamilton; Hoak
18. Jones and Underwood
19. Herbert of Cherbury
20. The Vaux Passional, Peniarth MS. 482D
21. Ibid.; Mary Williams
22. The Letters of King Henry VIII. When Philip had visited England in 1506, the late Queen Elizabeth’s “rich litters and chairs” were placed at his disposal (Starkey: Henry, Virtuous Prince)
23. Williams: Henry VIII and his Court
24. Palgrave
25. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
26. Ibid.; Wriothesley; Additional MS. 71009, ff. 37–44v
27. CSP Spain
28. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
29. Rushton
30. College of Arms MS. I, 11, f. 21r-v
31. Chapter Records; Hope; Vetusta Monumenta; Cracknell
32. National Portrait Gallery Archive
33. Stanley; Wilkinson: Henry VII’s Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey; Wilkinson: Westminster Abbey
APPENDIX I: PORTRAITURE
1. Ormond; Rackham; Tudor-Craig; Jenkins; Marks; Gothic
2. Jenkins; Gothic
3. Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales; Rushforth
4. Darracott; Rushforth; Jenkins; Chrimes; Gothic
5. Scott: “Painting from Life?”; John Fletcher
6. This date reflects recent testing of the panel at the Royal Collection by Ian Tyers using dendrochronology.
7. I am indebted to Jennifer Scott, Curator of Paintings, the Royal Collection, for this information.
8. Doort
9. They are in the Royal Collection and at Petworth House, Sussex; the latter shows Edward VI standing in the center foreground.
10. Strong: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits; Chrimes
11. Jennifer Scott, Curator of Paintings, the Royal Collection, in correspondence with the author
12. Stephen Lloyd; Reynolds: English Portrait Miniatures. The features have been extensively repainted.
13. Doort
14. Inventory of Charles II’s pictures at Whitehall, ca.1666–67, MS. in “the Surveyor’s Office,” cited Millar
15. Millar; Strong: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits; www.royalcollection.org.uk. I am indebted to Jennifer Scott, Curator of Paintings, the Royal Collection, for sending me information on this portrait and scans.
16. See notes at www.royalcollection.org.uk; Scott: “Painting from Life?”
17. Important British Paintings, 1500–1850; Scott: “Painting from Life?”
18. Tudor-Craig
19. Tudor-Craig; Strong: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits; Williamson: The National Portrait Gallery History of the Kings and Queens of England
20. Millar; Strong: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits; www.priory-fine-art.co.uk
21. Ashelford
22. Auerbach and Adams
23. It was purchased by Queen Victoria in 1883.
24. Leland: Collectanea
25. Laynesmith
26. Walpole; Scharf; Cloake: Palaces and Parks of Richmond and Kew; The Reign of Henry VII: Proceedings of the 1993 Harlaxton Symposium; Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales; Scott: The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact; Millar; Hayward
27. Scharf
28. Christ Church Oxford MS. 179, f. lv; McKendrick, Lowden, and Doyle
29. The Renaissance at Sutton Place
30. Gothic
APPENDIX II: ELIZABETH OF YORK’S LADIES AND GENTLEWOMEN
1. PPE
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Starkey: Henry, Virtuous Prince; Meerson
6. PPE
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.; Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
10. PPE
11. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
12. Ibid.
13. PPE
14. Richardson: Plantagenet Ancestry
15. PPE
16. Ibid.
17. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
18. Cokayne; Meerson
19. Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry the Seventh
20. PPE
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Cokayne
24. Exchequer Records E.101
25. Harris
26. Meerson; Glasheen
27. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
28. PPE
29. Meerson
30. PPE
31. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
32. Calendar of Patent Rolls: Henry VII; Exchequer Records E.101
33. PPE
34. Ibid.
35. Meerson
36. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
37. PPE
38. Tomb inscription in St. Swithun’s Church, East Grinstead, Sussex.
39. PPE
40. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
41. PPE
42. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
43. Harris; Meerson
44. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
45. Higginbotham
46. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII
47. Ibid.
48. PPE
49. Meerson; Cokayne; Weir: Britain’s Aristocratic Families, 1066–1603
50. Rivals in Power; PPE
BY ALISON WEIR
Nonfiction
Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings
The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
The Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster
Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England
Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley
Henry VIII: The King and His Court
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life
The Life of Elizabeth I
The Children of Henry VIII
The Wars of the Roses
The Princes in the Tower
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Fiction
A Dangerous Inheritance: A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower
Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine
The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel
Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
ALISON WEIR is the New York Times bestselling author of many historical biographies including Elizabeth of York, Mary Boleyn, The Lady in the Tower, Mistress of the Monarchy, Queen Isabella, Henry VIII, Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Life of Elizabeth I, and The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and of the novels A Dangerous Inheritance, Captive Queen, Innocent Traitor, and The Lady Elizabeth. She lives in Surrey, England, with her husband a
nd two children.
www.alisonweir.org.uk
www.alisonweirtours.com
Elizabeth of York
ALISON WEIR
A Reader’s Guide
A Conversation with Alison Weir
Random House Reader’s Circle: What inspired you to write Elizabeth of York?
Alison Weir: I have always been interested in women’s histories, especially those of queens, and in the 1970s I did a lot of research on medieval queens and Elizabeth of York. I’m hoping to write three books on the medieval queens, but I felt that Elizabeth deserved a full biography. Over the years many people urged me to write one, but after Sarah Gristwood included Elizabeth in her wonderful book Blood Sisters, about the women who helped shape the Wars of the Roses, I held off. Sarah, most generously, encouraged me to go ahead with the project.
RHRC: What was the hardest part of writing this particular book?
AW: Frustration at gaps in the sources. Sometimes it is just not possible even to speculate. That is the nature of medieval biographies, particularly of women.
RHRC: Do you have a specific writing style?
AW: No, I just do what I do and hope for the best! I think that each book is an improvement on the last in terms of writing style.
RHRC: How did you come up with the title?
AW: The title, Elizabeth of York, was the obvious one; I wanted the subtitle, A Tudor Queen and her World, to sum up the essence of the book.
RHRC: Do you think that historians bring to their work something of their own perceptions and moral codes?
AW: Perhaps, but I think it is important to be as objective as possible, and to look at the subject within the context and moral compass of the age in which they lived. I have been accused, for example, of calling Katherine Howard promiscuous, because she took lovers before and after her marriage to Henry VIII; in modern terms that probably doesn’t make her so, but people in Tudor England certainly made such a judgment. It is tempting to judge historical figures by our own standards, but it should be resisted.
RHRC: What books have influenced your life most?
AW: Possibly the Bible, The Complete Peerage, and Antonia Fraser’s Mary Queen of Scots. Reading that as a teenager, I decided that I wanted to write historical biographies.
RHRC: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
AW: Sarah Gristwood, who has kindly read over the manuscripts of my recent books and offered valuable and constructive comments.
RHRC: What book are you reading now?
AW: Norah Lofts’ Is There Anybody There? She is my all-time favorite author.
RHRC: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
AW: Yes, several, notably Chris Laoutaris, whose new biography, Shakespeare and the Countess, has fully fired my imagination!
RHRC: What are your current projects?
AW: I am writing a biography of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, called The Princess of Scotland; I am completely revising my book The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991), as I want to update it. I am also planning several novels and a series of books on England’s medieval queens.
RHRC: Can you share a little of The Princess of Scotland with us?
AW: Here’s a tiny taste of this work in progress:
“While the eyes of the world had been focused on Anne Boleyn’s fall, Margaret Douglas, now twenty, had been living in her fool’s paradise with Thomas Howard. For a woman of royal blood to indulge in a clandestine romance was to court scandal and disaster—as the world had just so spectacularly witnessed. Margaret was second in line to the throne, and a valuable counter in the intricate game of diplomacy and power politics; her marriage was in the king’s gift, to be made to his advantage. It was not for her to choose the man she would wed. All the same, when the court moved to Whitehall Palace on June 7, 1536 for the opening of Parliament, she dared to enter into a betrothal, or pre-contract, with Thomas Howard ‘in the presence of witnesses.’ ”
RHRC: Do you see writing as a career?
AW: Yes, absolutely—and a full-time one.
RHRC: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
AW: Getting started. The first paragraph is crucial. Once I have that, I’m away!
RHRC: Do you have to travel much in the process of writing a book?
AW: I visit the important sites of historical interest. It’s very important to immerse yourself in the environment in which events took place.
RHRC: Did you learn anything surprising from writing Elizabeth of York? If so, what was it?
AW: When researching a subject in depth, you always learn a lot about them, even if you thought you were conversant with them before-hand. You never know what the sources will reveal or how they enable you to achieve new perspectives. In researching this book I discovered a link in the royal accounts that literally made my jaw drop. It connected Elizabeth of York with Sir James Tyrell, the man who apparently confessed to murdering her brothers, the Princes in the Tower. No one had made the connection before.
RHRC: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in the book?
AW: Not a thing.
RHRC: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
AW: A huge and heartfelt thank-you for buying and reading my books, and for all the lovely messages and letters that you send me.
Questions for Discussion
1. How important was Elizabeth of York dynastically?
2. Why was the fate of Elizabeth’s brothers, the Princes in the Tower, pivotal to her future? What do you think became of them?
3. Do you think that the Buck letter was genuine? What were Elizabeth’s motives in writing it?
4. How far do you believe that the ballad “The Song of Lady Bessy” portrays real events?
5. What do you think was the significance of Elizabeth’s visit to the Tower in May 1502? Was it connected with Tyrell’s confession?
6. Would you agree that the author has succeeded in discounting assertions that Elizabeth lived under subjugation to Henry VII? Was she a more influential queen than has hitherto been assumed?
7. How much influence did Elizabeth have on her son, Henry VIII? Did her early death have lasting consequences for him?
8. Were you convinced by the theory that Elizabeth died as a result of iron deficiency anaemia rather than puerperal fever?
9. Would you agree that Elizabeth’s relationship with Margaret Beaufort was probably much as it is described in this book? Why do you think Margaret Beaufort is often portrayed as a sinister character? Is there any historical foundation for that?
10. Are you convinced by the author’s assessment of Elizabeth’s character? Did you think she was, as one reviewer suggested, “dull”?
11. Did anything you read about Elizabeth, or the events that took place during her lifetime, surprise you?
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