Scan barcode
eldaaurora97's review against another edition
4.0
"From the accession of Isabella of Castile to the throne in 1784 to France's Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day almost a century later was an Age of Queens. The period saw an explosion of female rule scarcely equalled in even the twentieth century. These years saw the birth of the new Reformed religion as well as the dawn of the world we know today, and for much fo them large swaths of Europe were under the firm hand of a reigning queen or a female regent. This was a sisterhood that recognized both their own bonds as women and their ability to exercise power in a specifically feminine way"
This is Sarah Gristwood's thesis going into this book--while sixteenth century Europe was still clearly patriarchal, the women in play on this chessboard (which becomes a major motif in this book) held a bunch of power on their hands. The book goes into how these players took power and utilized their influence the events within their countries. However, a lot more things have gotten into this particular arc, such as the role of women, naturally; marriage as a political weapon; and religion, the latter which is greatly emphasized with the conflicts of the Reformation.
I am familiar with the Queens of England during this time, partially because I've been exposed to Henry VIII's wives a lot, along with Elizabeth I in media. I recently read Alison Weir's novel on Katherine of Aragon (which is great, by the way), which gave me a lot of information about her personal life and her own exploits. Gristwood puts her into context on how she played a role in this game, and her inability to bear sons contributed to her downfall, and the rise of Anne Boleyn.
Speaking of which, one quote was particularly interesting was one after Anne Boleyn's execution:
"Anne Boleyn was, after all, not born to be a major play in that other game, the Game of Queens. She was a pawn 'queened', who had won for herself the right to move with a queen's freedom. And if she had found that freedom had definite limits, well, who had others, better born than she." (175)
It subsequently mentions no matter what, during the sixteenth century, were at the mercy of whomever was their lord. I find that to be quite interesting.
While I've heard of Catherine de Medici, I've never knew a lot about her or what role she had in terms of French politics. The chapters which showed how she, along with several other French players navigated a realm where Salic's Law (a rule in which only men could take over the French throne), were really intriguing, especially when we get closer to the St. Bartholomew's Massacre in 1572.
As for the book itself, it was clearly well-researched, with all the asterisks to further information. The writing style clearly forms a narrative, but borders on being dry at times. The chapters were short enough to give snapshots of what was going on, but sometimes it felt like it got boring after a few. Nevertheless, I learned a lot about what was going on during that time period.
Overall, Game of Queens represents an interesting look into sixteenth century European history, women, and religion. If you're familiar with some of them, this is a good read to see another angle; for those you don't know as well, it's a good one to get some perspective on them. As Gristwood noted; this game of queens still lingers on with leaders in the modern day. (7/10)
This is Sarah Gristwood's thesis going into this book--while sixteenth century Europe was still clearly patriarchal, the women in play on this chessboard (which becomes a major motif in this book) held a bunch of power on their hands. The book goes into how these players took power and utilized their influence the events within their countries. However, a lot more things have gotten into this particular arc, such as the role of women, naturally; marriage as a political weapon; and religion, the latter which is greatly emphasized with the conflicts of the Reformation.
I am familiar with the Queens of England during this time, partially because I've been exposed to Henry VIII's wives a lot, along with Elizabeth I in media. I recently read Alison Weir's novel on Katherine of Aragon (which is great, by the way), which gave me a lot of information about her personal life and her own exploits. Gristwood puts her into context on how she played a role in this game, and her inability to bear sons contributed to her downfall, and the rise of Anne Boleyn.
Speaking of which, one quote was particularly interesting was one after Anne Boleyn's execution:
"Anne Boleyn was, after all, not born to be a major play in that other game, the Game of Queens. She was a pawn 'queened', who had won for herself the right to move with a queen's freedom. And if she had found that freedom had definite limits, well, who had others, better born than she." (175)
It subsequently mentions no matter what, during the sixteenth century, were at the mercy of whomever was their lord. I find that to be quite interesting.
While I've heard of Catherine de Medici, I've never knew a lot about her or what role she had in terms of French politics. The chapters which showed how she, along with several other French players navigated a realm where Salic's Law (a rule in which only men could take over the French throne), were really intriguing, especially when we get closer to the St. Bartholomew's Massacre in 1572.
As for the book itself, it was clearly well-researched, with all the asterisks to further information. The writing style clearly forms a narrative, but borders on being dry at times. The chapters were short enough to give snapshots of what was going on, but sometimes it felt like it got boring after a few. Nevertheless, I learned a lot about what was going on during that time period.
Overall, Game of Queens represents an interesting look into sixteenth century European history, women, and religion. If you're familiar with some of them, this is a good read to see another angle; for those you don't know as well, it's a good one to get some perspective on them. As Gristwood noted; this game of queens still lingers on with leaders in the modern day. (7/10)
nadiahersh's review against another edition
1.0
**read for class**
Being really interested in the queens of the Tudor era, I really didn’t think this book would be that bad. However, it wasn’t the content as much as the organization of the book that made it difficult to read. The book kept jumping from country to country, going back and forward in time, throwing out random names, to the point I had no idea who was who and was just reading empty words. Eventually, I just ended up skipping entire chapters about France whole reading about England, then went back and read all the chapters on France. Unless you are a history master in this time period, you won’t get anything out of this book.
Being really interested in the queens of the Tudor era, I really didn’t think this book would be that bad. However, it wasn’t the content as much as the organization of the book that made it difficult to read. The book kept jumping from country to country, going back and forward in time, throwing out random names, to the point I had no idea who was who and was just reading empty words. Eventually, I just ended up skipping entire chapters about France whole reading about England, then went back and read all the chapters on France. Unless you are a history master in this time period, you won’t get anything out of this book.
ejwilf98's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
fast-paced
5.0
I learned so much about such an interesting topic!
rhaenyratargaryen's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Está muy bueno el libro. Ojalá goodreads se pusiera las pilas de una vez y habilitara las medias estrellas, pero bueno.
Básicamente cuenta la historia de Europa alrededor del siglo VI y va desde Isabel de Castilla hasta la muerte de María Estuardo.
Este fue un período no sólo marcado por conflictos religiosos sino también por muchas mujeres ejerciendo el poder, ya fuera por derecho propio o desde la regencia.
No hay demasiado que contar porque es todo historia. Mucho conflicto político, problemas de sucesión, matrimonios, muertes, guerras, católicos vs protestantes, etc.
Puede que a lo último se haga un poco pesado. la verdad que las últimas 2 partes, relativas casi enteramente al conflicto entre Isabel Tudor y María, con un poco de Catalina de Médici, me empezó a aburrir bastante… Quizá fuera porque conocía más del asunto o la autora se fuera por las ramas, no sé.
En general es bastante entretenido y, si bien la escritora no es historiadora sino periodista, el libro no es cualquier cosa y todas las fuentes están muy bien explicitadas.
Tantos nombres pueden marear, sobre todo si se repiten (y en la traducción al español son todos iguales) y hay puros Isabeles, Marías, Margaritas, Enriques y Carlos…. Pero por suerte hay una guía de personajes al principio y se van turnando todos en distintos períodos, más o menos.
En fin. Una lectura bastante recomendable y satisfactoria.
Está muy bueno el libro. Ojalá goodreads se pusiera las pilas de una vez y habilitara las medias estrellas, pero bueno.
Básicamente cuenta la historia de Europa alrededor del siglo VI y va desde Isabel de Castilla hasta la muerte de María Estuardo.
Este fue un período no sólo marcado por conflictos religiosos sino también por muchas mujeres ejerciendo el poder, ya fuera por derecho propio o desde la regencia.
No hay demasiado que contar porque es todo historia. Mucho conflicto político, problemas de sucesión, matrimonios, muertes, guerras, católicos vs protestantes, etc.
Puede que a lo último se haga un poco pesado. la verdad que las últimas 2 partes, relativas casi enteramente al conflicto entre Isabel Tudor y María, con un poco de Catalina de Médici, me empezó a aburrir bastante… Quizá fuera porque conocía más del asunto o la autora se fuera por las ramas, no sé.
En general es bastante entretenido y, si bien la escritora no es historiadora sino periodista, el libro no es cualquier cosa y todas las fuentes están muy bien explicitadas.
Tantos nombres pueden marear, sobre todo si se repiten (y en la traducción al español son todos iguales) y hay puros Isabeles, Marías, Margaritas, Enriques y Carlos…. Pero por suerte hay una guía de personajes al principio y se van turnando todos en distintos períodos, más o menos.
En fin. Una lectura bastante recomendable y satisfactoria.
mangela_28's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting and not overly dry. It's not the easiest gistory book to read, but it's definitely easier than most. Sarah Gristwood sprinkles in a bit of humor. There are a lot of people, many with the same or similar names, but there are family trees and little summaries about most of them at the start. The writing style bugged me sometimes; I could have used more commas or a way to help me clarify what pronoun or adjective goes with whom. When I read with a Prince Charles accent, the flow was better and I could focus more.
It seemed like most chapters ended with a comparison to Anne Boleyn even though she doesn't show up for a while and she is not the main character (all the women are equal main characters). I learned a lot and want to keep digging into the histories of queens.
It seemed like most chapters ended with a comparison to Anne Boleyn even though she doesn't show up for a while and she is not the main character (all the women are equal main characters). I learned a lot and want to keep digging into the histories of queens.
jmagno's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
beginning and end kind of lost me, but I was drawn in in the middle; dense reading
emilyinlalaland's review against another edition
5.0
I FINALLY FINISHED IT (literally a year later but what can you do).
It wasn’t perfect (a LOT of ground covered and so some little details missed, but also I know it’s my bias in favour of some women who weren’t really covered speaking) but I’m rounding it up to 5 stars because I love this book. I love the way Gristwood writes history, like she’s telling a story and interjecting her own little comments here and there. I didn’t come to this book for a straight academic viewpoint. I wanted to have fun and read about a subject that I love! It’s a complicated read thanks to all the people and countries and events covered, and it took me a year, but the fact that I kept going back to it speaks for itself.
It’s awesome and I highly, highly recommend, especially if you’re into early modern Western European queens. I just want Gristwood to keep writing books on this topic forever!
It wasn’t perfect (a LOT of ground covered and so some little details missed, but also I know it’s my bias in favour of some women who weren’t really covered speaking) but I’m rounding it up to 5 stars because I love this book. I love the way Gristwood writes history, like she’s telling a story and interjecting her own little comments here and there. I didn’t come to this book for a straight academic viewpoint. I wanted to have fun and read about a subject that I love! It’s a complicated read thanks to all the people and countries and events covered, and it took me a year, but the fact that I kept going back to it speaks for itself.
It’s awesome and I highly, highly recommend, especially if you’re into early modern Western European queens. I just want Gristwood to keep writing books on this topic forever!