Comments | 50books1year: Allie's # 21

alliebean02 in 50books1year

Allie's # 21

Jul 12, 2009 16:56

Book 21: Elizabeth: Struggle for the Throne by David Starkey
A return to indulging the Tudor-mania I succumbed to last summer. I really enjoyed Starkey's Wives of Henry VIII, and his Elizabeth biography is also great. It basically covers the period from Elizabeth's birth, through the reigns of her siblings Edward VI and Mary I, to her accession, ( Read more... )

allie, history

Comments 4

muffinkath7 July 13 2009, 01:52:08 UTC

Katherine, the second sister, got married, had a kid. She ended up in the tower for it, because she wasn't allowed to get married without Elizabeth's permission, plus the fact that she bore a son freaked Elizabeth out that Katherine could be a figurehead for a rebellion. Weirdly, Katherine had married Jane Seymour's nephew, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hereford. She had two kids by him in the tower. She later died of consumption at 27

The other one, Mary, died without issue, although she was briefly imprisoned when she married a gatekeeper without Bess's permission.

alliebean02 July 13 2009, 07:01:13 UTC

Yeah, Starkey did make some comment about Elizabeth keeping a close eye on them. I get why they would be a threat, but why less (or more) of one than the Stuarts? And again, why did Elizabeth make James her heir and not one of Katherine Grey's kids, when presumably they were protestants?

muffinkath7 July 13 2009, 21:31:23 UTC

I think they were both dead by then. Her sons were in the succession -and one of them married Arabella Stuart, who was also an heiress who caused trouble (I think during the reign of James 1 or Charles 1, can't remember which). And don't forget that Elizabeth refused to name ANYONE until she was on her death bed. The Grey line had mostly died out by then (except for Catherine's Seymour issue...see above). Plus Mary was deformed in some way apparently. And technically the Stuart issue had a better claim, being the descendents of the OLDER Tudor daughter, Margaret. Plus James 1 was raised protestant. I don't think he actually ever saw his mother again after he was small child.

janajoh July 13 2009, 13:58:03 UTC

I think one of the Grey sisters, Mary, had a deformity. Catherine married an Edward Seymour without Queen Elizabeth's permission and gave birth to 2 children in the Tower.

Wikipedia says there's going to be a book I think looks interesting: The Sisters Who Would be Queen: the tragedy of Mary, Katherine, and Jane by Leanda de Lisle.