A review by sophronisba
Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster by Alison Weir

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

I really enjoyed this book about Katherine Swynford, who started as the mistress to a king's uncle and ended as the ancestor of most British monarchs and six presidents. I'm impressed that Alison Weir managed to cobble together a 400-page biography of a woman who left behind no recorded words, no papers, no letters, no will, and no personal possessions. 

Weir's tendency to interpret evidence in the way that will make her happiest is as evident here as it is in her Eleanor of Aquitaine biography -- she insists, for example, that John of Gaunt and Katherine couldn't have consummated their relationship while his first wife was still alive because he told the pope they didn't. Because, I guess, no one would ever lie to the pope about sex? Weir seems really invested in the idea that John of Gaunt were a true love match, but it's hard to believe that two apparently savvy and ambitious people engaged in a relationship motivated entirely by romance and not at all by political and financial considerations. But I never met these people either -- maybe Weir is right and I'm just a cynic. Quibbles about Weir's interpretation aside, this book transported me to medieval England and made me add Kenilworth to the list of places I must visit some day and I thought it was well worth my time.