Periodically, I like to read about an era I know nothing much about. I recently read The Women of the Cousins’ War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King’s Mother by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, and Michael Jones to get a feeling for some of the more important females during the Wars of the Roses between the Yorks and Lancasters in England. Apparently, the book is a nonfiction companion to Gregory’s fictional accounts of the three women written about – Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford; Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV; and Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII.
Here is an excerpt of a summary of the book from the publisher’s website:
In her essay on Jacquetta, Philippa Gregory uses original documents, archaeology, and histories of myth and witchcraft to create the first-ever biography of the young duchess who survived two reigns and two wars to become the first lady at two rival courts. David Baldwin, established authority on the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the first commoner to marry a king of England for love; and Michael Jones, fellow of the Royal Historical Society, writes of Margaret Beaufort, the almost-unknown matriarch of the House of Tudor.
In the introduction, Gregory writes revealingly about the differences between history and historical fiction. How much of a role does speculation play in writing each? How much fiction and how much fact should there be in a historical novel? How are female historians changing our view of women in history?
The book is divided into three parts – each part about a different woman by one of the authors. Nearly half of the book is devoted to Jacquetta and is written by Gregory. Baldwin writes about Elizabeth Woodville in the second part of the book and Jones finishes the book with writing about Margaret Beaufort. I believe all three parts are well-written and contain more information than I ever knew about the role these women played in shaping English history. read more »
