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A review by doriastories
Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster by Alison Weir
4.0
Alison Weir never disappoints me; she remains one of my very favorite writers of historical biographies, especially those of English monarchs and their relatives. Her latest offering, a carefully-examined life of Katherine Swynford is surprisingly satisfying, given how little we know for sure about this elusive yet significant woman.
Katherine's story is so compelling, that it is tempting to embroider details onto the bare facts of her story. Weir resists this pitfall, and presents us instead with a sort of choose-your-own adventure, leaving it to the reader to imagine plausible scenarios, given what we know and can discern from the lists of royal gifts, endowments, births, deaths and such that made up the tapestry of fourteenth century life for the upper classes.
Weir succeeds in giving us the impression of this medieval matriarch, based on hard facts and sensible inferences, without romanticizing Katherine's life and circumstances. Katherine is not made to conform to modernist feminist notions of women's liberation, but is shown within her own cultural context, where she properly belongs. There's no kirtle burning or defying of male authority, but an extraordinary life is there to be read, and a moving story of an abiding love between two people, which neither religious strictures nor time could dampen. All the cold hard facts in the world can't dull the enduring power of a love affair that literally changed the world.
Katherine's story is so compelling, that it is tempting to embroider details onto the bare facts of her story. Weir resists this pitfall, and presents us instead with a sort of choose-your-own adventure, leaving it to the reader to imagine plausible scenarios, given what we know and can discern from the lists of royal gifts, endowments, births, deaths and such that made up the tapestry of fourteenth century life for the upper classes.
Weir succeeds in giving us the impression of this medieval matriarch, based on hard facts and sensible inferences, without romanticizing Katherine's life and circumstances. Katherine is not made to conform to modernist feminist notions of women's liberation, but is shown within her own cultural context, where she properly belongs. There's no kirtle burning or defying of male authority, but an extraordinary life is there to be read, and a moving story of an abiding love between two people, which neither religious strictures nor time could dampen. All the cold hard facts in the world can't dull the enduring power of a love affair that literally changed the world.