Crown of Blood
The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
‘Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same’.
These were the heartbreaking words of a seventeen-year-old girl, Lady Jane Grey, as she stood on the scaffold on a cold February morning in 1554. Her death for high treason sent shockwaves through the Tudor world and served as a gruesome reminder to all who aspired to the Crown that the axe could fall at any time.
While the story of ‘the Nine Days Queen’ has been told, the human and emotional aspects are often ignored. The recent trend of trying to highlight her achievements and her religious faith has, in fact, further obscured the real Jane, a young religious radical who saw herself as an advocate of Protestantism, and who ultimately became a martyr for her faith.
This is an important and significant retelling of an often misread tale, examining evidence that has never before been published. Following Lady Jane Grey’s journey from the deadly intrigues of her childhood that led inexorably through to her trial and execution, historian Nicola Tallis unravels the grim tapestry of her life along the way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British historian Tallis portrays nine-day queen Grey (1536/1537 1554) as a determined, devout, and clothes-loving teenager whose intellect, youth, and religious fervor perpetuate her mythologizing centuries later. During the dawn of English Protestantism, Grey vigorously discussed religious tenets with both Catholic and Protestant theologians, garnering praise for her understanding and later inspiring her inclusion in John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Tallis humanizes Grey, showing her willfulness she refused to corule with her husband, whose father placed her on the throne as well as her desperation to please her remarkably unwise parents, whose ambition cost Jane her freedom and life. Popular myths and earlier historical interpretations of key events receive fresh analysis aided by diligent research (a minor complaint is an odd reference to Henry VIII's "divorce" of Anne of Cleves it was technically annulled). Tallis's clear writing and well-paced narrative heighten the story's climactic and tragic ending. She also pays careful attention to the relationship between Mary I and Grey, noting warm, long-standing family ties and similarities in religious fervor albeit for different denominations and key differences in how each approached her claim to the throne. Tallis successfully champions Jane's reign as legitimate and elucidates her role as a key player in the battle for England's official church. Illus.
