Book of the Week: She-Wolves

This past week, while I was sick at home, I decided to read a book that I've owned for a while, but never actually finished. I'd bought it at Borders a couple of years ago, because it looked interesting and mentioned Margaret d'Anjou, and I was in the middle of a production of Henry VI. Surprisingly, it ended up to be rather excellent. She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, by Helen Castor, is a book about four queens who ruled England (unofficially) before England ever actually had a queen regnant.

 The first section of the book is about Matilda, Lady of the English. Matilda was the daughter of Henry I of England, a popular king and second son of William the Conqueror, first Norman king of England. After Henry's only legitimate son died in a shipwreck, he decided to make Matilda, who had been married to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, his heir. This was the first time that the idea of female rule had seriously  been considered in England, at least since the Conquest. Henry did his best to bind the nobility to Matilda, but after his death the throne was taken by Stephen, his nephew. Matilda fought against Stephen with the forces of her second husband, Geoffroi of Anjou, but Stephen managed to hold the crown until he died. After his death, the crown passed to Matilda's son, Henry II.

The second queen in the book is Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II. Eleanor was already one of my favorite historical figures, and this book focused on her time as Queen of England, a time period I did not know as much about. Eleanor was actually married to Phillip of France for several years, but divorced him to marry Henry II and become queen of England. Eleanor was the mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John, two of England's best-known kings. While Henry II was still alive, two of his sons, Henri and Richard, started a rebellion against him, which Eleanor participated in. She was then imprisoned for fifteen years, until Henry II's death. During the reign of Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor acted as an advisor and even ruled when Richard went away on crusade. Her court in Aquitaine was lauded as the birthplace of romantic love and classical chivalry.

I haven't finished the book yet, but I will, and will probably write about the next two queens, Isabella and Margaret, next week. The book is fascinating not only because it discusses two very interesting women, but also because it talks about the issue of female rule perhaps even more than some other books I've read that focus solely on the Tudor queens. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in English history or historical feminism.

Placebo Trailer

Placebo- Natalie, Emily O, Maddie P, Sophie

The world was in terrible danger. A horrible disease was killing people off by the thousands, until the government, led by the Surgeon General, found a cure. The cure must be taken four times a day, every day, which seemed a small price to pay for your life. But when Cassandra finds herself without her pills, she will learn that the cure, and the government may not be all that they seem. Cassandra enters the hidden world of underground doctors, forced by the government to hide their trade and serve those that the government will not. An ex-government doctor tell Cassandra a terrible secret, one that, if acted on, will cost Cassandra her life. But is her death the price the world has to pay for freedom?

Capture The Fall- Autumn Walk

Anne Boleyn

This week, I have decided to take a break from my posts about book reviews and history to talk about something that combines both books and history.
As some people probably know, Anne Boleyn is one of my personal heroes. I first learned about Anne from reading various historical fiction books about her daughter, Elizabeth. I never thought much about Anne until I read Doomed Queen Anne, a novel about Anne Boleyn from the author of one of my favorite Elizabeth books, Beware, Princess Elizabeth.
Doomed Queen Anne sparked an interest in Anne Boleyn that has lasted for years. I have read countless fiction and nonfiction books and seen several movies about Anne, and all of them present slightly different portraits of her. For this post, I would like to examine two different fictional portrayals of Anne Boleyn.
First, the basics. Anne Boleyn was born in 1501 at Hever Castle, in Kent. Her father was Lord Thomas Boleyn, a minor English noble, and her mother was Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. She had two siblings, Mary and George. As I will discuss later, the order of birth of the siblings is somewhat disputed, but George was almost certainly younger. Anne was sent to France at a very young age with her sister Mary, and spent most of her youth and early teen years at the court of Francois I. By all accounts, this French education had a heavy impact on Anne. When she returned to England, she eventually caught the eye of Henry VIII, and became his mistress. She convinced Henry to divorce his wife to marry her, and indirectly caused the formation of the Church of England. Unfortunately, Anne was not a popular queen, and when Henry became disenchanted with her following the birth of Elizabeth and the miscarriage of a second male child, the populace easily swallowed stories of her witchcraft and adultery. Anne was arrested on charges of witchcraft, adultery, incest, and treason along with her brother George, Mark Smeaton, a court musician, and Henry Norris. She was executed on May 9th, 1536 at the Tower of London and buried at the church of St. Peter ad Vincula. Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour, eleven days after Anne's execution.

Doomed Queen Anne- Of all the Anne Boleyn books I've read so far, this one presents the most compelling picture of Anne to me. The Anne in this book is intelligent and calculating. She understands that the only way to survive as a woman in a man's world is to secure the highest position, by marrying the most powerful husband. She uses her differences, such as her unfashionably dark complexion and dark hair, to attract the king's attention. Anne's fall at the end of the book is a result of her temper and the king's infidelity, not any actual misdeeds on her part. This portrayal makes her seem clever and strong, and an exemplary role model for any young girl.

The Other Boleyn Girl (The book and the movie)- The Other Boleyn Girl seems to be the most popular Tudor book of late, despite its historical inaccuracy and unorthodox take on Anne and Mary Boleyn. The book actually centers on Mary, Anne's sister, and is the only account I've ever seen that says that Mary was the younger sister. The Other Boleyn Girl makes Anne seem, quite frankly, evil. She is jealous of her sister's genuine love for the king, she flies into a rage for no reason, and at one point she even takes Mary's two children away from her for no real reason. The book also implies that the charges of incest levied against Anne and George Boleyn are true. Needless to say, I do not like this take on Anne's personality.

This Week in History...

Last Wednesday, the 24th of October, marked the anniversary of the publication of the first comic strip in an American newspaper. The strip, called 'The Yellow Kid', appeared in the New York Journal on October 24th, 1897.
Although cartoons had been around in various forms since almost before the American Revolution, 'The Yellow Kid' was the first comic strip with a continuous set of characters to be published in a newspaper as opposed to a magazine. Although the strip has of course not survived this long, it began the   practice of publishing comic strips in newspapers that has certainly continued to this day.

Pogo (Walt Kelly)

Comic strips have always had a large part in my life, for several reasons. Every morning for as long as I have attended school, I have read the comics with my breakfast. I have favorite comic strips in the paper (Zits, Candorville, Pearls) and comic strips I refuse to read (Prickly City and that sports one). Half a shelf next to my desk is devoted to comic books, from vintage Pogo books to brand-new Zits books. I also have every volume of the Cartoon History of the Universe and Cartoon History of the Modern World books, which are the source for eighty percent of my historical knowledge (and I highly recommend them to anyone, interested in history or not).
Each of the comic strips I read in some way represent an aspect of my character.
 Pogo is a nod to my roots, to my father's side of my family and to my general philosophy. It is funny, whimsical and strange.

Cartoon History of the Universe
(Larry Gonick)

Foxtrot, by far my favorite comic strip for pure humor, is unbelievably funny and imaginative.
Cartoon History of the Universe, although not technically a comic, is incredibly intelligent and also very funny. Almost everything I know about history is from that cartoon.

But I can only have one favorite comic strip. And that comic strip will always be Calvin and Hobbes. I own the complete Calvin and Hobbes, of course, and I read it often. Calvin and Hobbes was the first comic I ever read, and certainly the one that had the most impact on me. It combines the most basic forms of physical and visual humor with discussions of things that in any other comic strip would seem out of place. Calvin is childish and immature, but also shockingly intelligent. Every element of Calvin and Hobbes just makes the strip more powerful and more funny, and it will always be my favorite.

This Week's Book

(Side note- I will be alternating between "This Week In History" posts and "This Week's Book" posts to try and show that I am interested in things other than history. Not many things, but still.)

This week, I will be reviewing one of my favorite books of all time (although, unusually, not by my favorite author of all time, Terry Pratchett)- The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

The Shadow of the Wind can probably best be described as a noir mystery with elements of a classic gothic novel. It takes place in Barcelona in 1945, after the end of the incredibly violent Spanish Civil War. The wounds left by the civil war, and the country's struggle to face the atrocities committed,  provide a noir backdrop for an incredibly convoluted and dramatic plot. The main character, Daniel Sempere, is the son of a book dealer and grows up surrounded by books. After his mother dies, his father takes him to a mysterious and fantastical place called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where hundreds of thousands of rare books are stored and kept safe. Daniel finds a mysterious book called The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax and is tasked with protecting it and making sure it never disappears, as patrons of the Cemetery are required to do.   He gradually discovers that the copy of the book he owns is the only one left in existence- the rest have been destroyed by a mysterious figure that calls himself after the villain in The Shadow of the Wind. Daniel becomes trapped in a dangerous web spun by someone bent on erasing every shred of evidence that proves Carax ever existed, and discovers that Barcelona is hiding secrets even darker than those he already knows.

The Shadow of the Wind's finest feature for me is its dialogue. The exchanges between Daniel and various other characters, most notably his jaded, broken and consistently humorous side-kick Fermin Romero de Torres, add a dash of cynical humor to what would otherwise be an incredibly dark book. The descriptions in the book are also stunning, and the beautiful vocabulary and elegant descriptions make me think that if books loose something in translation, then the original Spanish version must be a masterpiece. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a deep, beautifully written mystery to completely absorb them.

This Week in History...

Tomorrow, October 12th, marks the 475th birthday of Edward VI of England. It is fitting to start off my series of posts about historical events and book reviews with a topic that I am extremely interested in: Tudor history.

The Basic Facts:
As some people might know, Edward VI was the third legitimate child of Henry VIII, and the only son who survived past infancy. He was born to Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, at Hampton Court in London. Popular opinion seems to dictate that Edward was a weak and sickly child because of his death from tuberculosis at age 16. Reports from various ambassadors at Henry's court show that in fact, despite a spate of illnesses, Edward was no weaker than a normal boy. He ascended to the throne in 1547 at age 10 and was ruled by a Lord Protector for the rest of his reign. The main point of interest in Edward's reign was the changing of the Act of Succession left behind by Henry VIII so that the throne would pass on to Lady Jane Grey, Edward's Protestant cousin, rather than his half-sisters Mary, a Catholic, and Elizabeth. This change was part of a power-play on the part of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, Edward's protector. After Edward died, the English public rejected his choice of Lady Jane Grey, and raised Mary to power as Queen Mary I.

In My Opinion:
The most interesting thing about Edward VI is that he was the first king to be a firm Protestant. Henry VIII, although renowned as the king who brought about the Protestant Reformation in England, was actually a staunch Catholic in his early life and was given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope for his criticisms of Martin Luther and the Lutherans.  Edward was never raised Catholic, and grew into an incredibly devout Protestant. His Protestantism is interesting, because it shows a striking counterpoint to his two half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. One of his sisters, Mary, was also deeply religious, while Elizabeth was not. Neither Edward nor Mary was nearly as popular during and after their reign as Elizabeth was. I believe that it was in part due to their firm religious beliefs that Edward and Mary were not popular, and that Edward's short and tumultuous reign shows what happens when a monarch is not flexible on issues of religion.