Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

"I can't write a book commensurate with Shakespeare, but I can write a book by me."

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

English courtier, explorer and poet

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Italian painter and sculptor

Interview: Anne Easter Smith, QUEEN BY RIGHT

Anne Easter Smith is the author of four historical novels set in fifteenth-century England. In her first book, A Rose for the Crown (2006), Anne recounts the story of Kate Haute, an imagined mistress of Richard III extrapolated from the historical record. Anne's latest book, Queen by Right, published on May 10, tells the story of Cecily of York, "mother of two kings and one of England's most intelligent and courageous women."

Anne shares some thoughts on Queen by Right and her journey as a writer of historical fiction:

What led to writing Queen By Right?

Thank you for hosting me today, Julianne, and for letting me tell your readers about my new book! I needed a fourth book to fulfill the second part of my second contract with Simon & Schuster and as it seemed I was telling the York-family story during the Wars of the Roses through my three other books, I felt compelled to begin at the beginning of that story with the matriarch of the family, Cecily Neville, duchess of York. Besides, Cecily had "spoken" to me during the writing of Daughter of York and I thought then she would make for a compelling read. She a wonderfully strong woman who was right there with her husband, Richard, with whom, history appears to think, she had an unusual love match.

What research do you do for the books?

Most important for me is doing research by walking in my characters’ footsteps. I travel to those places where history tells us they were associated with. Until I have seen the places they lived, walked, loved and worked, I don’t get a feel for them. At Raby Castle, where Cecily Neville grew up, I was grateful to have a private tour with the present descendant Lord Barnard's executive assistant who showed me to a part of the castle that is not on the usual tour but where the castle historian believes Cecily and her sister, Anne, would have been housed. She also photocopied old genealogy charts from the castle archives that are incredibly detailed. That's just one instance of how kind and helpful historians/archivists are when you approach them for help. I talk to historians and curators, search archives, spend a lot of time in museums and libraries and use the internet to fill in a few gaps (but I don’t rely on that too much! It’s not always very accurate.) And I am proud of the library of resource books I have collected over the years. I research right up until I complete the last page; it is pretty much ongoing.

Do you have any anecdotes worth sharing during the research of Queen By Right?

I would have to say that an afternoon spent with the woman who owns Brancepeth Castle about 12 miles from Raby Castle BTW was the more unusual event of my research for the book. My oldest friend in UK and I traveled north to Yorkshire and Co. Durham for a double dose of research for The King's Grace and Queen By Right. Through a fellow Richard III Society member, who lives in Durham, I was given the phone number of the owner of Brancepeth (it was Cecily’s father’s, the earl of Westmorland, family seat and certainly on my list of places to visit). I called Margaret and asked if I could possibly talk with her about the castle and have a look around. She was very gracious and invited us for tea the next day. The castle is MASSIVE, and we were told to go into the Brancepeth village post office which was housed inside the gatehouse and ring for Margaret. Turns out she bought the castle on a whim--it was going for a song, and began renting bits and pieces of it as apartments. She was also the village postmistress! And if you have ever watched Masterpiece Theater and can recognize an eccentric elderly English lady when you see one, then you will know what an entertaining afternoon we had. We knocked on the huge oak door and were let in by a young man who did odd jobs. He waved us in the direction of Margaret's quarters--through a lofty and very draughty hall--and said she was expecting us. We walked through the open door into another enormous room only to see Margaret coming out of the bathroom still adjusting her underwear. "Oh, do come in!" she enthused, smoothing down her thick wool skirt. "Let's have a cup of tea before I show you around." It was here I learned that second-wife Joan Beaufort had not been welcome at Brancepeth with Ralph Neville's children from his first Stafford marriage, and Margaret was quite disdainful about my interest in Cecily (one of Joan’s brats, she scoffed!). She was an enthusiastic tour guide and I felt so lucky to have been given a glimpse into this private castle.

What are you currently working on?

I have a contract for a fifth book with Touchstone at Simon & Schuster and it will complete the York family series. It's about Jane Shore, one of Edward IV's mistresses.

Where are you based?

I moved to the US with a flatmate in my early 20s to work as an executive secretary in Manhattan. Forty years later, plus two marriages, two children and eight moves to different states and one three-year stint in Paris with the US Embassy, I am now living in Newburyport, MA, an historic seaport on the mouth of the Merrimac River about 25 miles north of Boston with my husband, Scott.

How does it feel to see your fourth book published?

It has been astonishing to me that I have a new career in my sixties. I never aspired to be a writer for the first 58 years of my life, but a desire to tell Richard III's real story (A Rose for the Crown) and a lifelong passion for reading historical fiction led me to believe I could write a book. It was probably very arrogant of me, considering I had had no formal writing training (except for learning to write business letters at secretarial school) until I somehow got hired in my forties to write for a northern New York State daily newspaper and ended up as Features/Arts Editor for ten years. There is something magical about seeing your name on a book jacket next to established authors in the bookshelf.

**********

I'm grateful to Anne for providing these insights into her research and her writing life. Although I've yet to read her work, her novels come highly recommended by authors I respect and admire. I'm looking forward to reading Queen by Right and learning more about the fascinating world of fifteenth-century England.

You can learn more about Anne Easter Smith and her novels A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, The King's Grace and Queen by Right at her website.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

Engraving by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (1520-86)

"S'il vient à point, me souviendra."

"If it reaches completion, I will be remembered."

Thomas Bohier (1460-1523), French finance minister

Motto carved in various places on the château de Chenonceau

Pasta and Pearly Whites

Check out the blog of translator and editor Lucinda Barrett, A World of Words, for very interesting posts about Renaissance art and life. "Making up the Renaissance! How beauty was perceived and achieved in the Renaissance" summarizes a workshop held this past March in Edinburgh on the topic of Renaissance cosmetics. Be sure to follow the link to Jill Burke's website Making Up the Renaissance for information on Renaissance cosmetics and photos of an actual "Renaissance Makeover"! "On the subject of pasta...and Sir Hugh Plat (1552-1611)" describes the development of extruding machines and one man's advocacy of pasta as a way to solve provisioning problems for the Royal Navy. Thanks to Lucinda for some great reading!

The "Secretive Messages" of Poetry

Were the poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the rumored lover of Anne Boleyn, "a veiled but intimate account of life inside the claustrophic court of Henry VIII"? Nicola Shuman states her case in Graven with Diamonds, a new study of the poet's life and works. Review by Charles Nicholl here.

Review: THE TUDOR SECRET by C.W. Gortner

Novelists necessarily begin with the question "What if...?" C. W. Gornter's THE TUDOR SECRET, the first of his Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles, poses a major "What if?" question about Tudor genealogy and develops it into a riveting tale of intrigue and passion. Readers willing to stretch the bounds of possibility cannot fail to be swept up into the story of the fictitious Brendan Prescott, a foundling who rises from anonymity to become Elizabeth I's devoted courtier and trusted spy.

It's 1553 and John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, is king in all but name. He has sequestered King Edward, ailing to the point of death; Princess Elizabeth, Edward's sister, is determined to see her brother, despite the danger the visit poses to herself. She arrives in London on the same day as Brendan Prescott, a foundling raised by the Dudleys at their country estate. Brendan has been summoned to court to serve Robert, Northumberland's arrogant and ambitious son. In love with Elizabeth, Robert hopes to marry her and uses Brendan to carry his clandestine messages. But Brendan, mesmerized by Elizabeth and sympathizing with her orphaned state, warns her of Robert's machinations and quickly finds himself engaged by Elizabeth's protector, William Cecil, as a spy on her behalf. As Brendan works to keep Elizabeth free of the Dudleys' grasp, he unearths unsettling facts about his own history, facts someone at court has determined shall never come to light. By the time Brendan learns his true identity, he has gained the trust of both Elizabeth and her sister Mary; now he must decide what to do with a discovery that threatens the princesses' claims to the throne.

One of the strengths of the THE TUDOR SECRET is its male protagonist. It is refreshing to read the adventures of a main character who is free to come and go as he pleases and does not have to resort to elaborate subterfuges to escape the ever-watchful eyes of chaperones and parents. Brendan is a likeable and articulate character who has gone to great lengths to educate himself. He loves deeply and loyally and, determined to make his own way in the world, readily adapts to his changing circumstances. The infectious enthusiasm that infuses his voice makes his first-person narrative enjoyable to read.

Memorable characters are a hallmark of Gornter's fiction, and the novel's other characters are equally well-drawn. His young Elizabeth, fragile yet iron-willed, exudes an unrealized potential that captivates anyone in her orbit. She and Brendan share an immediate sympathy that blossoms into an unshakeable trust. Elizabeth's older sister, Mary, a tiny woman distrustful by nature and circumstance, nevertheless commands respect and exhibits a healthy regality. Peregrine, the quick-witted stable boy who becomes Brendan's sidekick, provides both humor and the street smarts necessary to rescue Brendan from his numerous scrapes. William Cecil straddles the moral spectrum; closed-mouthed and enigmatic, he tends his own interests as much as Elizabeth's. The villains, who will remain unnamed so as not to spoil the plot, tend toward the extreme but are given justifiable reasons for their wickedness.

The evocation of sixteenth century England resonates with well-chosen details, from the "tar-boiled heads" mounted on poles at the city gate to Mistress Alice, Brendan's surrogate mother, smoothing animal fat into leather shoes with a wooden spoon. Gortner always lavishes attention on his characters' dress, revealing personality traits through their clothing. Mary Tudor, for example, wears a "gable headdress that look[s] too heavy for her thin shoulders." Smells bring scenes to life, and the omnipresent scents of urine, vomit, and blood, as well as the sweeter odors of flowers, salve and ale, immerse the reader in the robust world of the sixteenth century.

The plot hangs together well, although the reader must pay attention to the details to understand Brendan's complicated origins and the Dudleys' convoluted schemes. It is important to remember that this novel is a mystery rather than straight historical fiction; the events depicted serve Brendan's story first and foremost. Given the power struggles surrounding the succession of Henry VIII's children to the throne, however, Gortner's imagined events are not implausible. As he explains in the interview that follows the story, "While nothing in THE TUDOR SECRET contradicts the known facts of what happened in the summer of 1553, I do mix things up and seek to reveal what might have been transpiring behind the scenes."

I thoroughly enjoyed THE TUDOR SECRET and look forward to the series' next installment. As SECRET closes, Brendan decides to keep mum about his identity for the time being. It will be interesting to see with whom he shares his discovery and how it affects his relationship with those who wield power. Add this uncertainty to the political intrigue he'll encounter as Elizabeth's spymaster and we have all we need for an engrossing and exciting series.

Learn more about C.W. Gortner and his books at his newly redesigned website.

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter!

Pierre II Veyrier, 1560

Enamel and gold on copper

Film: The Princess of Montpensier

The Princess of Montpensier, Bertrand Tavernier's gorgeous historical drama set in sixteenth century France and based on the eponymous novel by Madame de Lafayette, opens this Friday in US theaters. When the film opened in Europe last May, I longed for an American showing. Now I'm hoping to be lucky enough to find it in a nearby theater. If not, I'll have to wait for the DVD, but at least a DVD is assured now that the film is showing in the States. You can view the English trailer here. Film Journal International ran a wonderful interview with Tavernier here. The reviews are uniformly exceptional. If anyone is lucky enough to view the film, please come back and share your impressions! I'm off to see if I can find it in an area theater.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

"Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage."

"Happy he, who like Ulysses, has made a glorious voyage."

Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560), French poet

Les Regrets (1559), Sonnet 31

Forget Me Not

We're nearing the end of the school year and soon students, especially graduating high school seniors, will be begging their friends to "sign my yearbook." Little do the students know that the pithy observations, endearing epithets and codified farewells that they scrawl across endpapers and over and around photos partake in a tradition that dates back to the middle of the sixteenth century.

In medieval and Renaissance times, going to university was a peripatetic affair. Students would travel to various university towns--Paris, Louvain, Oxford, Bologna, among others--to listen to the lectures of the renowned scholars who taught there. Scholars themselves would travel to consult with and debate those at other universities. To record his meetings with academic celebrities as well as the new friendships he forged with fellow students, a student would bring a bound book of blank pages with him on his travels. In this book, the student's new acquaintances would inscribe their names along with mottos and maxims, tributes (often in verse form), and sketches of their heraldic crests or even illustrations of scenes or places to jog memories of shared experiences. The "album amicorum," or "friendship book," became a record of the student's intellectual as well as physical journey and, for modern historians, fascinating record of early modern European university life.

Photo: http://www.kettererkunst.de/kunst/kd/details.php?obnr=410900929&anummer=359

The use of alba amicorum was particularly widespread in Germany and the Low Countries and continued well into the eighteenth century. Literary salons kept albums of the luminaries who participated in the circle's discussions. Women created alba to mark special occasions such as weddings and baptismal celebrations. As pleasure travel became more widespread, travelers filled alba with mementos of the places they visited and inscriptions by their fellow sojourners and those they frequented in various locales. In upperclass and merchant households, visitors inscribed friendship books in tribute to the hospitality they received.

The Koninklijke Bibliotheka, the National Library of the Netherlands located in Den Haag, has a collection of 470 alba amicorum dated from 1556 onwards. It includes eleven alba from the Van Harinxma thoe Slooten family of Friesland. Click on the link at the very bottom of the page to view the collection. Although the descriptions 0f the alba are in Dutch, you can click on any of the covers to view sample pages from the album. This entry, known as "La Dame aux Plumes" ("Woman with Feathers") bears the inscription: "Bon vin, belles Dames et bonne viande / Pendu soyt il qui plus demande" ("Good wine, beautiful women and great food; / Hang him who asks for more").

An infinitely more colorful motto than the ubiquitous "HAGS" (short for "Have a great summer") that fills today's yearbooks!

Sources and further reading:

"Early European Notice of Marbling, and the Album Amicorum," in Marbled Paper: Its History, Techniques and Patterns by Richard J. Wolfe (1990)

"The 'Stammbuch' or 'Album amicorum'" by Martin Hardie in The Connoisseur, Vol. 19: 1907.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

"The readers and the hearers

like my books,

But yet some writers cannot them digest;

But what care I? for when I make a feast

I would my guests should praise it,

not the cooks."

Sir John Harington (1561-1612)

English courtier, author and inventor of

the flush toilet

Epigrams. Of Writers Who Carp at Other Men's Books

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

photo: Nicholas

"There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory."

Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596), English navigator and engineer

Letter to Sir Francis Walsingham, 17 May 1587

Review: DARK MOON OF AVALON by Anna Elliott

One benefit of having writer friends is the opportunity to read their work and discover exciting worlds. Anna Elliott's DARK MOON OF AVALON (Touchstone, 2010) opened up for me a new and thoroughly engaging perspective on the Arthurian legends of sixth-century Britain.

DARK MOON is the second book in her TWILIGHT OF AVALON series and the first I've read. In this novel, Former High Queen Isolde embarks on a dangerous diplomatic mission. She must persuade the rulers of smaller kingdoms from Ireland to Cornwall to ally themselves with King Madoc as he fights to keep Britain from falling into the hands of a ruthless despot, Lord Marche. Accompanying Isolde is Trystan, her childhood friend and unacknowledged true love. The couple's physical journey parallels their emotional one as they struggle to understand their feelings for each other and heal from abusive relationships with Marche, who is Trystan's father and Isolde's ex-husband. Aided by a band of outlaws who once slaved alongside Trystan in the mines, Isolde sets into motion a daring and dangerous plan to turn Marche's allies against him. Although success leads to the usurper's defeat, it forces Isolde to surrender Trystan once again to peril as he sets out on a rescue mission, the segue into the series's forthcoming third installment.

It was a bit disconcerting to jump into the middle of the story without having read the first book, but Elliott does such an excellent job of weaving the backstory into the present action that it didn't me take too long to find my bearings. I soon discovered that Elliott's version of the Tristan and Isolde legend differs significantly from the story familiar to me from my graduate studies. Most readers who come to the book with any previous knowledge of the tale know late medieval versions of the legend that reflect thirteenth century notions of courtly love. Elliott, however, was more interested in exploring the earlier, Celtic origins of the tale. Accordingly, in her novels Trystan is the son rather than the nephew of King Marche--she bases this on an inscription found on a period gravestone. The non-adulterous passion Trystan and Isolde share finds its roots in the surviving fragment of an early Welsh version of the story that has a happy, rather than tragic, ending. Elliott's strategy of molding her novel along ancient Celtic rather than medieval French lines provides an intriguing and refreshing flavor to the telling of the tale.

The supernatural plays a role the novel, but it is not overwhelming. Granddaughter of the sorceress Morgan, Isolde has the gift of the Sight, which allows her to catch glimpses of the future in the scrying waters. She uses this gift when faced with important decisions or in dangerous situations, but the visions she sees are often fragmentary and inconclusive. Of more help to her is her ability to feel others' pain. Isolde is a healer, and her ability to experience others' pain--emotional as well as physical--allows her not only to treat them more effectively but to draw them out of the despair and hopelessness that beset them. She has a harder time healing herself from her own emotional wounds; fears and misconceptions keep her from acknowledging and admitting her feelings for Trystan (tormented by his own feelings of guilt and unworthiness), for most of the book. Isolde impressed me as a compassionate, courageous, noble-minded yet thoroughly human heroine striving to save her soul as well as her country from the ravages of war.

This is the greatest strength of Elliott's writing: her ability to create fully-formed, convincing characters who combine emotional depth with endearing idiosyncrasies. From Madoc, the disfigured and beleaguered British king who dares hope Isolde might become his wife; to Fidach, the flamboyant leader of the outcasts who cultivates the reputation of a man without honor yet lives by the highest standards; to self-effacing Eurig, Trystan's loyal friend, who surrendered his wife to another man rather than cause her unhappiness, DARK MOON is peopled with characters fashioned with a keen understanding of psychology. Trystan and Isolde yearn to be together, but suffer from past trauma that prevents them from reaching out. Only as Britain routs Marche on the battlefield do the lovers break free of his

hold over them and find solace and a future in their love for each other.

The TWILIGHT OF AVALON trilogy is a gripping and convincing foray into the world of sixth century Britain. Start with the first novel, TWILIGHT OF AVALON (Touchstone, 2009)--I can't wait to go back and read it myself. The third book of the series, SUNRISE OF AVALON, will appear this September. You can learn more about the AVALON series at Elliott's website. And there's always the touching post she wrote about writing and motherhood when DARK MOON was published last fall. Thank you, Anna, for breathing new life into this timeless legend.

Elizabethan Compendium

Although it focuses on England rather than France, here is an entertaining website chock-full of information on life during Elizabeth I's reign--a great way to pass some time when you're stuck writing a scene. [wry grin] Thanks to Susan Higginbotham for reminding me of it!