Mary Boleyn
Mistress of Kings
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3.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn, seduced by two kings, she was an intimate player in one of history’s most gripping dramas. Yet much of what we know about Mary Boleyn has been fostered through garbled gossip, romantic fiction, and the misconceptions repeated by historians. Now, in her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first ever full-scale, in-depth biography of Henry VIII’s famous mistress, in which Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncovers the truth about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age.
With the same brand of extensive forensic research she brought to her acclaimed book The Lady in the Tower, Weir facilitates here a new portrayal of her subjects, revealing how Mary was treated by her ambitious family and the likely nature of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters. She also posits new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary’s mother, Elizabeth Howard, who was rumored to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII.
Weir unravels the truth about Mary’s much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I. She offers plausible theories as to what happened to Mary during the undocumented years of her life, and shows that, far from marrying an insignificant and complacent nonentity, she made a brilliant match with a young man who was the King’s cousin and a rising star at court.
Weir also explores Mary’s own position and role at the English court, and how she became Henry VIII’s mistress. She tracks the probable course of their affair and investigates Mary’s real reputation. With new and compelling evidence, Weir presents the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of Mary’s children, long speculated to have been Henry VIII’s progeny. She also explains why there is barely a mention of Mary in historical records at the time of Anne Boleyn’s notorious fall in 1536.
Alison Weir has drawn fascinating information from the original sources of the period to piece together a life steeped in mystery and misfortune, debunking centuries-old myths and disproving accepted assertions, to give us the truth about Mary Boleyn, the so-called great and infamous whore.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mistress of Henry VIII and his rival Fran ois I, Mary Boleyn has often been romanticized and misrepresented in histories and in popular novels like Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, argues historian Weir (The Lady in the Tower) in this fresh take on Anne Boleyn's sister. Weir's rigorous reassessment makes the case (long debated by historians) that Mary was likely the elder sister, based on her grandson's written assertion of this. Mary was never the great, infamous whore described by papal representative Rodolfo Pio; her liaisons with both Fran ois and Henry "were conducted so discreetly that not a single comment was made about them at the time," and she probably had little choice in becoming their mistress. Mary's first husband, William Carey, was not an insignificant courtier on whom Mary could be palmed off as "soiled goods"; he was the king's cousin and a rising star. Despite rumors that both Mary's children were Henry's, Weir cites evidence that her son was Carey's. After Anne's fall, it is highly unlikely that Mary tried to intercede for her or was even at court at the time. This nuanced, smart, and assertive biography reclaims the life of a Tudor matriarch whose illustrious descendants include Elizabeth II, Churchill, and Princess Diana. 16 pages of color illus.
