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nobodysdoormat's review against another edition
1.0
It was kind of a chore to read. A whole lot of blah, blah, blah.
liziev's review against another edition
4.0
I got this book 2 or 3 weeks ago (oops! Time to renew!) from the library, and it's the first non-fiction book of Alison Weir's that I've read. Each time I sat down to read it, I would get lost in the story. But I had a lot of work stuff going on, so I just wasn't that dedicated to reading in general over the last couple of weeks.
I don't know that I'd call this a biography of Mary Boleyn exactly. It's more of an analysis of Tudor life, with Mary as the focal point. But, as she made clear, there is just not enough factual information available about Mary to really write an entire biography of her specifically. She was able to paint a picture of what Mary's life was like, by looking at the lives of those around her. I appreciated it on that level, just being able to learn more about life during that time period. But I could see how someone wanting to know more about Mary specifically could be disappointed.
One thing is for sure, reading this book definitely made me want to read more of Weir's books!
I don't know that I'd call this a biography of Mary Boleyn exactly. It's more of an analysis of Tudor life, with Mary as the focal point. But, as she made clear, there is just not enough factual information available about Mary to really write an entire biography of her specifically. She was able to paint a picture of what Mary's life was like, by looking at the lives of those around her. I appreciated it on that level, just being able to learn more about life during that time period. But I could see how someone wanting to know more about Mary specifically could be disappointed.
One thing is for sure, reading this book definitely made me want to read more of Weir's books!
natalie75's review against another edition
100 pages in not much was happening it felt like the chapters were dragging on
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Infertility
breakofdae's review against another edition
4.0
Quite an interesting and extensive read. Weir, again, researched the subject thoroughly and thus plausibly backs up her theories. Even though I disagree with her findings from time to time, she makes valid points.
Yes, there is not much known about Mary Boleyn and Weir's book does not reveal exciting new information, but it's well worth reading. It delivers an inside look into what kind of person the surviving one of the Boleyn siblings may have been. Plus, it's always a delight to read about the Field of Cloth of Gold and Ethelreda Malte.
Yes, there is not much known about Mary Boleyn and Weir's book does not reveal exciting new information, but it's well worth reading. It delivers an inside look into what kind of person the surviving one of the Boleyn siblings may have been. Plus, it's always a delight to read about the Field of Cloth of Gold and Ethelreda Malte.
deeclancy's review against another edition
4.0
Having just finished Alison Weir's book The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Ann Boleyn it seemed like a good idea to read this one immediately afterward. Not a huge amount is known about Mary Boleyn, the sister of Ann Boleyn and mistress to Henry VIII prior to his marriage to Ann, but in the hands of somebody who knows a lot about Tudor history and can place the known facts of her life in context, as Weir clearly does, it's still possible to fill a book engagingly.
Much of the book involves speculation, but of an educated nature, and we learn that Mary was considered very much a black sheep within a family whose ambition to achieve favour from the King knew no bounds. Prior to her affair with Henry VIII, she was reputed to have been mistress to the King of France, and many deeply problematic remarks were made about her by French courtiers. Weir maintains, I believe correctly, that these inflammatory comments are more likely to be from people whose advances she rebuffed, as opposed to being an accurate reflection of her personal life at court.
The Boleyn family, it appears, had less of a problem with Mary being a mistress to kings than with the fact of Mary's seeming failure to intertwine her personal relationships with the family penchant for chasing after prestige and material gain. In Tudor times, ambition and relationships were intricately linked for women in society's upper echelons, and indeed for men also.
As Weir points out, it's also impossible to know how consenual these relationships with the two powerful kings were. There was no #MeToo in Tudor times, and it may have been the case that the wisest course of action was to surrender to the wishes of the monarch in personal matters if you wished for a peaceful existence in the long run. This is illustrated in the fact that she was the only surviving child of her parents' marriage to escape execution by Henry VIII. While her sister Ann shone brightly for a while, and was regarded as the more brilliant sister, she seems to have lacked a survival instinct.
Mary was married off by Henry VIII to one of his courtiers, William Carey, with whom Mary had two children: or did she? This question of the paternity of Mary's children is raised and dismissed in Weir's book on Ann Boleyn. However, here, the possibility is seriously raised that, in particular, Mary's daughter, Catherine Carey, was the biological child of Henry VIII. In a serious examination of this theory, she analyses the evidence and it does seem like a possibility, particularly when you see how similar the portraits of Catherine Carey are to those of Queen Elizabeth I. If this were true, it would, intriguingly, mean that many luminaries of today are actually descended from Henry VIII, as Catherine had an enormous brood of children, many of whom survived to adulthood.
Anything one would conclude about the character of Mary Boleyn from this book is purely guess work, based on the little that is known and her two remaining letters. But it does seem likely that her final marriage, to a man lower in station than she, was a love match. Mary married Stafford, knowing that it could make her an outcast at court, and appears to have had some happy years in this union, despite some financial worries; unlike her sister, whose meteric rise was accompanied by an equally dramatic fall from grace. This is speculation, but I like to think that at some point Mary decided that life at the court of Henry VIII was not worth the hassle, and she found a way to live in relative anonymity and peace for a time, as well as ensure her head remained attached to her torso. For this survival instinct, she deserves to be saluted.
Much of the book involves speculation, but of an educated nature, and we learn that Mary was considered very much a black sheep within a family whose ambition to achieve favour from the King knew no bounds. Prior to her affair with Henry VIII, she was reputed to have been mistress to the King of France, and many deeply problematic remarks were made about her by French courtiers. Weir maintains, I believe correctly, that these inflammatory comments are more likely to be from people whose advances she rebuffed, as opposed to being an accurate reflection of her personal life at court.
The Boleyn family, it appears, had less of a problem with Mary being a mistress to kings than with the fact of Mary's seeming failure to intertwine her personal relationships with the family penchant for chasing after prestige and material gain. In Tudor times, ambition and relationships were intricately linked for women in society's upper echelons, and indeed for men also.
As Weir points out, it's also impossible to know how consenual these relationships with the two powerful kings were. There was no #MeToo in Tudor times, and it may have been the case that the wisest course of action was to surrender to the wishes of the monarch in personal matters if you wished for a peaceful existence in the long run. This is illustrated in the fact that she was the only surviving child of her parents' marriage to escape execution by Henry VIII. While her sister Ann shone brightly for a while, and was regarded as the more brilliant sister, she seems to have lacked a survival instinct.
Mary was married off by Henry VIII to one of his courtiers, William Carey, with whom Mary had two children: or did she? This question of the paternity of Mary's children is raised and dismissed in Weir's book on Ann Boleyn. However, here, the possibility is seriously raised that, in particular, Mary's daughter, Catherine Carey, was the biological child of Henry VIII. In a serious examination of this theory, she analyses the evidence and it does seem like a possibility, particularly when you see how similar the portraits of Catherine Carey are to those of Queen Elizabeth I. If this were true, it would, intriguingly, mean that many luminaries of today are actually descended from Henry VIII, as Catherine had an enormous brood of children, many of whom survived to adulthood.
Anything one would conclude about the character of Mary Boleyn from this book is purely guess work, based on the little that is known and her two remaining letters. But it does seem likely that her final marriage, to a man lower in station than she, was a love match. Mary married Stafford, knowing that it could make her an outcast at court, and appears to have had some happy years in this union, despite some financial worries; unlike her sister, whose meteric rise was accompanied by an equally dramatic fall from grace. This is speculation, but I like to think that at some point Mary decided that life at the court of Henry VIII was not worth the hassle, and she found a way to live in relative anonymity and peace for a time, as well as ensure her head remained attached to her torso. For this survival instinct, she deserves to be saluted.
silverlotus's review against another edition
3.0
I have read books by Alison Weir in the past and really enjoyed them. This book is just as good in terms of writing ability. But, given the lack of information about Mary Boleyn, I really don't see why it was written at all. The vast majority of the book is actually about the people who were in Mary's life, rather than about Mary herself.
I think that this book could have been condensed and been added as an appendix to, say, a reissue of The Lady in the Tower. But, if you love the Tudors and want to learn more about Mary's husbands, children, the French king, etc than it is worth a read.
I think that this book could have been condensed and been added as an appendix to, say, a reissue of The Lady in the Tower. But, if you love the Tudors and want to learn more about Mary's husbands, children, the French king, etc than it is worth a read.
12roxy's review against another edition
Could not finish this. Painful detail about what is not known along with some information. Unwieldy writing. No fleshing out of people. Lists of place names, landholdings, dry facts. Reads like biblical genealogy.
jsh626's review against another edition
3.0
A very thorough look at Mary Boleyn, considering how very little is actually known of her. Educational? Yes. Page turner? No. Weir's bio of Elizabeth was far more interesting.
lisaalessandra's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
An entertaining read and well researched. Weir is however inclined to jump to conclusions at times with little to no evidence and that was apparent in this book as well. I was taken aback to find Wikipedia cited as one of her sources in her bibliography. I did like some of the theories that she proposed about Mary Boleyn in her book.