A review by pearl35
Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey by Nicola Tallis

3.0

Like a lot of the new Tudor stuff, this is an attempt to use modern methods on the available sources and break loose from Victorian assumptions about the motivations of Early Modern women. Tallis, who is a protegee of Alison Weir in the for-profit Country House tourism game, is looking at Jane Grey, and the world in which Tudors were two generations rooted, it was reasonable to try for a throne grab because it had worked before, and where religious differences could both be irredeemable gulfs between people OR minor blips in existing social networks. Tallis fills in unknown pieces with information from similar Tudor households, and does a good job breaking down sources like the single piece that alleges Jane's parents beat her (probably not), and gives fuller credit to Princess Mary for having built a base of support among Catholics and Protestants as a landowner in East Anglia prior to Henry VIII's death. This is popular history, with a lot of explanations and repetition annoying to pros, and with just enough new interpretation to make it worth the investment of time.