Mistress of the monarc...

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Mistress of the monarchy : the life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster

by Alison Weir

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 1,444 ratings · 213 reviews

In her remarkable new book, Alison Weir recounts one of the greatest love stories of medieval England. It is the extraordinary tale of an exceptional woman, Katherine Swynford, who became first the mistress and later the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

Katherine Swynford’s charismatic lover was one of the most powerful princes of the 14th century, the effective ru...more

Published (first published January 1st 2007)

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Nov 02, 2007 Ascexis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, history, medieval, reviewed

I picked up a book thinking huh, Christmas present for my mother, and then somehow it was gone 1 in the morning and I'm still. reading.it.

I read the Anya Seton book, and I knew it probably wasn't quite like that, so when I saw a book on Katherine Swinford I may have pounced on it. I have mixed feelings about it.

Alison Weir takes a very small amount of cloth and cuts an exceedingly large coat from it. The cultural and political stuff is fascinating -- I remember enough from socio-economic history...more I picked up a book thinking huh, Christmas present for my mother, and then somehow it was gone 1 in the morning and I'm still. reading.it.

I read the Anya Seton book, and I knew it probably wasn't quite like that, so when I saw a book on Katherine Swinford I may have pounced on it. I have mixed feelings about it.

Alison Weir takes a very small amount of cloth and cuts an exceedingly large coat from it. The cultural and political stuff is fascinating -- I remember enough from socio-economic history of the middle ages that this all slots neatly into the hundred years war, the black death and the Lollards.

And of course, there's Chaucer, and Lancaster and it's all good fun with 700 years distance :-). I did get a certain amount of whiplash from her attitude to Froissart -- depending on whether she likes the inferences or not he's reliable ... or not. And the whole business of taking a possibility and then treating it as established fact and relying on it for the next rather flimsy assumption -- and then taking to task other historians doing the exact same thing (such as assuming that every gift to Katherine related to her relationship with John, and then when similar or greater gifts are handed to other women then no, no those aren't evidence of affairs. Except when they are. *sigh*) is annoying and frustrating. Also, dishonest.

The fire which destroyed the Savoy Palace also destroyed key financial records. More importantly, so little remains from the fourteenth century that much of our history of that period is anecdotal and based on accounts never intended for the purposes to which they are now put, and which bear the weight of historical enquiry with varying degrees of success.

Weir makes no real attempt to derive Katherine's character except from the facts, and from a scattering of maybe fewer than fifty points it's hard to really feel that yes, this was the woman who captivated John of Gaunt. I was left fascinated but ultimately unsatisfied.

That said, it's a riveting read. Flimsy fabric and all.
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Mar 03, 2009 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history-and-biography, medieval, anglophilia

This is very readable, and it's a nice overview of the life and times of Katherine Swynford. Her story is fascinating, but I must say that Anya Seton's popular novel Katherine is a more satisfying read, for all its inaccuracies.

Apparently very little is actually known about Katherine, and this biography seems to be mostly derived from the surviving records of gifts that were granted to her and her family by various people, primarily John of Gaunt. The book is a constant stream of guesswork: Kath...more

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Jun 10, 2009 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mary, Clharrop, Meghan

Shelves: 2009, brit-hist, royalty, women, 100-must-read, bio

I am a huge fan of Alison Weir. Her writing style is engaging and friendly, and it is obvious she knows her way around the contemporary historical texts concerning her subjects. However, this biography of Katherine Swynford, née de Roët, Duchess of Lancaster, shows without a doubt Weir's talents as a historical researcher, assiduously checking and cross-checking everything available to her in order to get as close to the truth as possible.

Much about Katherine's life must be construed from a tiny...more I am a huge fan of Alison Weir. Her writing style is engaging and friendly, and it is obvious she knows her way around the contemporary historical texts concerning her subjects. However, this biography of Katherine Swynford, née de Roët, Duchess of Lancaster, shows without a doubt Weir's talents as a historical researcher, assiduously checking and cross-checking everything available to her in order to get as close to the truth as possible.

Much about Katherine's life must be construed from a tiny handful of documents, and without a vast knowledge of the customs and mores of the period, a biographer would be totally at sea. Weir's conclusions are carefully outlined and logical, and she takes pains to address (and refute, if necessary) the conclusions come to by other, earlier chroniclers. Katherine sits at the root of a large genealogical tree, and the influence of her relationship with John of Gaunt had ramifications on late 14th century English culture and continues to influence Anglo-American culture, literature, and politics today. But so little is known of her. Her will does not survive (but we know she made one), no letters in her hand survive (but we know she was highly educated and most likely incredibly literate for her day), and there are no contemporary likenesses of her left to us. Her children, those legitimate from her first marriage and those made legitimate after her marriage to their father, the Duke of Lancaster, played enormous roles in shaping 14th, 15th, and 16th century England, with her blood continuing to run in the veins of the present English monarchs. John of Gaunt has been called the "grandfather of Europe," for the descendants of his three wives married in to practically every ruling house in Europe, from Portugal --- England's oldest standing alliance, thank you John of Gaunt --- to Germany. Ever heard of Geoffrey Chaucer? Say thank you to Katherine: he was her brother-in-law, and attained much of his fame through oblique preferment by John and other members of the royal family who held Katherine in high esteem and sought her favor or the Duke's by promoting her relatives.

And yet Katherine was practically expunged from the rolls of history within a generation of her death, and she is almost a total unknown today. We've all heard of Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon, Elizabeth the First, Mary Queen of Scots, and Isabella of Castile who commissioned Christopher Columbus to sail west from Europe in search of a new route to the Indies; many are familiar with the suspicious death of Richard II, with Henry the Navigator and the Wars of the Roses, or know the significance of the marriage of Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York. But very, very few can name the man and the woman from whom all of this sprang.

It is about time, and I think the culture is right, for such an excellent biography of Katherine Swynford to be brought forward. She was the daughter of a humble Hainaultier knight, but she rose to be the second lady in the land, second only to the Queen of England, and her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to the nth degrees became towering figures of English history, continuing to shape the modern world. The story of her love affair with the powerful Duke of Lancaster is almost exactly the story of another royal love affair, a modern day one, and like Weir I will gracefully avoid pointing fingers, but as Weir does I shall quote the late Queen Mum: Men of title and privilege simply do not marry their mistresses. Such a marriage as John and Katherine had, one made for love after the end of a marriage made for political and dynastic reasons, especially when the groom was such a powerful, wealthy, influential man and a good catch, and the bride relatively low-born though extremely well-bred --- "Even in our own time such marriage would cause comment" if such a man married such a woman, his long-time mistress, for love.(less)

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Jan 26, 2009 Pete daPixie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

So who was Katherine Swynford? Most have never heard the name before. She was the daughter of a page from Hainault who arrived in England under the service of Queen Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III. She was brought up in the royal household of Edward & Philippa, married a knight, one Hugh Swynford.
She became the mistress and later wife of John of Gaunt (Ghent). Here is 14th century scandal. However at the courts of Edward III & later Richard II, she was highly thought of. Geoffre...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

This is biography done the old-fashioned way--tracking down every trace of a record and pursuing every obscure sideline. Weir tells the story of Katherine Swynford (c 1350-1403) who had a long affair with John of Gaunt, a younger son of King Edward III, and ultimately married him when they were both well into middle-age (no pun intended). This was a brazen love match in a century when marriage was strictly for political and financial gain and no one expected it to have anything to do with affect...more

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Nov 22, 2009 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historicals

Apart from her stubborn determination to convict Richard III of murdering his nephews, I love reading Alison Weir!

In her latest non-fictional biography of Katherine Swynford, Weir attempts to paint a picture (using very little available factual paint) of the woman who literally changed the course of the British monarchy, and in my opinion, she does a credible job of it. Throughout the 300+ pages, Weir explores the life and times of Katherine Swynford, the daughter of a lowly knight and John of G...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Dana Stabenow rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Feb 16, 2008 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: librarybooks

I read this hoping to get a clearer picture of Katherine Swynford (of 'Katherine' by Anysa Seton fame).

I ended up with a much clearer sense of John of Gaunt, Henry IV and Edward III. Which is fine, but not what was intended.

So, do I recommend it? If you have an interest in this particular period of history, this may either augment knowledge you already have or give a starting point. If you're looking for the definitive story of Katherine Swynford - I doubt that such a book can now be written. It...more

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May 28, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, biography, non-fiction

Piecing this together was a masterful feat, and I think a labor of love on Alison Weir's part. To write a biography of someone of whom almost no information survives is a challenge few historians would relish. Even Katherine Swynford's date of birth is only conjecture, yet Weir manages to recreate an entire life from oblique references, mentions in household accounts, financial transactions, court documents. She reconstructs Katherine's life, her movements, education, family, and skills, and yet...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

I think everyone who has read this, me included, was drawn to Katherine's story after reading Anya Seton's novel. While this book contains a few interesting illuminations into this fascinating 14th-century woman, so little is known--and that fact is reflected in the construction of the book. If you take out all the repetitions, I think it would be a third of its current length (how many times were we told that her petitions for a private altar showed her piety and that the petitions were granted...more

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Sep 21, 2010 Kiersten rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was so frustrating. I felt like I learned hardly anything at all about Kathryn Swynford, even after reading a several-hundred-page book about her. I guess I should have known after the introduction, in which Weir was like, "yeah, there's pretty much no reliable information whatsoever about this woman, but I decided to write a biography of her anyway." I felt much the same way about this book as I did about Weir's biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Weir is so adamant about being 100% ac...more

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Dec 26, 2009 Steven Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is overall a very satisfying book. The author, Alison Weir, takes what scraps of information we have about Katherine Swynford and creates what is at least a plausible tale of her life and times. In addition, we get a detailed portrait of her lover and, later, husband--John of Gaunt, son of a king and father of kings. Indeed their liaison produced several lines of rulers--York, Lancaster, Tudor, and Stuart/Stewart. Indeed, the last paragraph of the book notes the even more remarkable descend...more This is overall a very satisfying book. The author, Alison Weir, takes what scraps of information we have about Katherine Swynford and creates what is at least a plausible tale of her life and times. In addition, we get a detailed portrait of her lover and, later, husband--John of Gaunt, son of a king and father of kings. Indeed their liaison produced several lines of rulers--York, Lancaster, Tudor, and Stuart/Stewart. Indeed, the last paragraph of the book notes the even more remarkable descendants of the two focal figures in this book--Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Princess of Wales, and most monarchs in Europe today, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush, Winston Churchill, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Bertrand Russell, and others.

Weir seems careful to separate what is speculation and what is known about Katherine (e.g., she speculates that Katherine might have been in the royal court and might have met some future associates at that time). The context of the times is well described, so that even thought details are scarce on Katherine, the context in which she lives is richly depicted. Katherine herself comes off well as a character. Weir speculates that she might have been the model for one virtuous woman in Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" (Chaucer was her brother-in-law). Katherine wed Hugh Swynford, who served as a soldier in the king's army and was often away for long periods of time. As were most marriages of the time, this was more of a business deal than an exemplification of "love." Indeed, the record is unclear as to whether or not Katherine was happy with her husband. After having lived at court for a lengthy time, it must have been disheartening for her when she saw the rather plain housing into which she moved upon marriage.

Then, there is the twinned story of John of Gaunt. He was an important figure in royal circles. He married Blanche of Lancaster, and--odd enough for the time--they were truly in love with one another. His story details his role in English politics and international politics as well as his life with Blanche. One of their sons became Henry IV, succeeded by Henry V and the hapless Henry VI. Upon Blanche's untimely death, he married Constance of Castile; their daughter later married the King of Castile. After his marriage to Constance, and after the death of Hugh Swynford, Katherine became his mistress for some time (they may have separated at one point). She bore him, out of wedlock it goes without saying, four children--from those children came the Stuart kings (Scotland), the House of Tudor, and the Yorkist kings (Plantagenets--Edward IV and Richard III). In an extraordinary twist of history, one of the daughters of Edward IV, Elizabeth, married the first Tudor King, Henry VII.

After Constance's death, Katherine wed John and they lived as husband and wife for the few year together left them.

This is a fast moving story, covering an important part of English history. Weir, as best she can given limited information, brings the different characters to life as much as possible under those circumstances. I found this a fascinating book; it is well sritten. And, the genealogical tables at the end were absolutely vital for keeping the players straight (the notables include: The Roet family (Katherine's ancestors and her siblings), the descendants of Edward III (including John of Gaunt), the House of Lancaster, the Swynford family, the Chaucer family, and the Beauforts (descendants of John and Katherine, including Stuarts, Tudors, and Plantagenets).
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Jul 08, 2009 Joan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I actually 'read' the audiobook, starting it on the trip back through upstate New York after dropping a child at camp. I don't know that I would have enjoyed reading this book as much as I appreciated hearing it. The narrative is a summary of the life of Katherine Swynford, who was the 3rd wife of John of Gaunt. They lived during the 14th century. At times the narrative seemed tedious, full of details of the comings and goings - and boy, did they move around. Back and forth between England and t...more

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Apr 18, 2009 Elevate Difference rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mistress of the Monarchy is a biography of Katherine Swynford, the Duchess of Lancaster. Swynford was the long-time mistress and eventual third wife of John of Gaunt. She also became the ancestor of every English monarch since 1461 as well as such notable personages such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, Princess Diana, Sir Winston Churchill, and George Bush.

Author Alison Weir is a prolific historian who has authored many books, non-fiction and novels, about...more Mistress of the Monarchy is a biography of Katherine Swynford, the Duchess of Lancaster. Swynford was the long-time mistress and eventual third wife of John of Gaunt. She also became the ancestor of every English monarch since 1461 as well as such notable personages such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, Princess Diana, Sir Winston Churchill, and George Bush.

Author Alison Weir is a prolific historian who has authored many books, non-fiction and novels, about members of the royal family. Weir did a meticulous job in researching this book, but despite her efforts, little information about Katherine has survived. So she describes those who surrounded Katherine, including her brother-in-law Thomas Chaucer, and the particularities of the time.

The most interesting aspect of the book is the insight she provides into life in the 1300s. The cultural trends she describes, from the tendency to marry young (Katherine married between twelve and thirteen years of age and had her first child one year later) to the debilitating effects of the Black Death gives readers a vivid insight into the challenging environment people lived in at that time. Weir describes the vast wealth and luxury of the noble class, the resentment of the common people, the difficulties of battle, relations between states and high-ranking people, moral codes, lawlessness at the borders, the importance of religion and the roles of women.

The main details readers can infer about Katherine is that she was beautiful, intelligent, accomplished, discreet, good with children, didn’t abuse her influence and kept on good relations with people. While the book opens with an intriguing scene in which John of Gaunt rode around estates with mistress, holding her bridle in public (a public sign of his possession of her) and in the presence of his own wife, Weir doesn’t return to this sense of confrontational scandal later in the book. Besides the fact that the affair and the later marriage were scandalous, the focus remains on Katherine’s discretion and devotion.

Given the lack of information available about Katherine, the title used in the UK version, Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess, gives a more accurate impression of the book. The figure of John of Gaunt comes through more clearly than does Katherine, as do his first two wives and his dealings with various heads of state. Readers see his love for his first wife, his propensity toward promiscuity, his religious repentance and renewed devotion to his second wife, his bravado in battle, his relations with his relatives and children.

The strength of the book lies in the detailed historical research, the sense of place and time and the resurrection of a forgotten matriarch. Occasionally, the voice loses its vigor, descending into extensive genealogical information or architectural descriptions. Since Katherine’s main contribution to history was her romantic liaison and her descendants and the available details of her personal life are few, there is little narrative arc or tension to propel readers through the book. For those with an interest in the middle ages or in royal history, this is a valuable reconstruction of an overlooked woman and a fascinating historical period.

Review by Jessica Jacobson(less)

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Jul 08, 2010 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, from-library, new_read

I have read Anya Seton's Katherine (and appreciated Weir's discussion of it at the end of this book) and am happy to have read both. Weir is a great scholar and tracker-downer of obscure records and facts. However - there is so little of Katherine Swynford in the historical record that the Weir book became a bit tedious at times with all of the "probably", "possibly", "likely", "it appears that", or similar; I know there aren't many sources and Weir has to cover her ass, but it was still very fr...more

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Jun 23, 2010 Louise Leetch rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mistress of The Monarchy is the actual title of this book.
Alison Weir's historical follow up to Anya Seton's 1954 book which introduced us to the mistress/wife of John of Gaunt. Weir is such a brilliant, thorough historian, I have no doubt this will bring to Katherine Swynford her historical due. She was raised at the court of Edward III and became mother of the Beauforts, the seed of generations of English Kings and Queens as well as seven American presidents (the Bush's included-but don't let...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Jeweleye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While I enjoy reading Alison Weir's historical biographies (biographical histories?), I still get bogged down in some of the detail. I appreciate that she backs up her statements with the facts, though.

Katherine Swynford was the mistress, and later wife, of John of Gaunt, one of Edward III's sons. Even though the Black Prince (heir to the throne) died before Edward III, John (Duke of Lancaster) was not in line to the throne; rather the Black Prince's son, Richard II, was. John loyally supported...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Amerynth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, british-monarchy, nonfiction, read-2011, tudors

I've read all of Alison Weir's biographies (after stumbling upon "The Children of Henry VIII" while looking for information on Lady Jane Grey and enjoying it thoroughly.) "Mistress of the Monarchy" is my least favorite from this otherwise really fine author... mainly because there are so few records relating to Katherine de Swynford that she is relying on really dry source material, including household records and rental agreements. The more salacious, and admittedly unreliable accounts, are few...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Tiffany rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As always with Alison Weir, Mistress of the Monarchy was well-written and captivating. As Weir herself notes, there is very little evidence of Katherine's life so the biography of Katherine is often flimsy with much conjecture. The text also jumps around alot and I found myself paging back several times to remind myself what year the events took place, etc. I was also very disappointed that Weir, usually a champion for often maligned female historical figures (including Katherine Swynford hersel...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Suzy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So far, a little bit dry but not bad. There is very little to go on in terms of written records of Katherine Swyneford, so a lot of the book is based on conjecture and circumstantial evidence. Still, she is such an intriguing character. I was tickled to read in the introduction that the author, Alison Weir, first heard of the Duchess of Lancaster in Anya Seton's historical novel Katherine. I have a particular fondness for the novels of Anya Seton, and Katherine is one of my favorites. Condensed:...more

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May 03, 2013 Eva rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Giving his book 3 stars, but for those of you who enjoy strickly fact based historical biographies incorporating the historical biographies of those(i.e. men) around them also, 4 stars. Granted, there is little concrete documentation for Katherine except false religious damnation, but I found the book more a biographical description of all the men in her life, not on Katherine.

Katherine became the third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, a son of King Edward III. Their descendants were me...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, english-history, medieval-history

Katherine Swynford is a bit of enigma. She's arguably one of the most important figures in British history; she's the ancestress of every monarch since Edward IV, no less than five US presidents and Winston Churchill, among others; and yet most people, if they know of her at all, have only heard of her because of an historical romance, Anya Seton's Katherine. That's largely because so little is known of her, and Alison Weir does a good job piecing together what few fragments of information can b...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Justine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can't fault Alison Weir for trying. Katherine Swynford is an interesting figure whose role in history had far-reaching consequences, and her story deserves more notice. I've always felt that Weir has a knack for historical speculation--for taking what historical evidence is available and discussing how it could fit into the broader interpretation. But with Katherine Swynford, all she has to go on are some of John of Gaunt's surviving household records, speculative geographical connections, and...more

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Nov 04, 2009 Joyce rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read quite a few biographies by Alison Weir, but this one was very disappointing. Weir is clearly an exhaustive researcher, but what can one do with a personage whose life is largely speculation and gossip in the first place? In a sense, I give the author credit for producing a book in excess of 300 pages based on so few verifiable facts. After a while, I felt annoyed that Weir was only able to write things like: Katherine must have spent that Christmas with her children, or Perhaps Katheri...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Rahime rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

More like 4.5. I really enjoyed this - I had never read Anya Seton's Katherine and had never heard of Katherine Swynford, so it was very interesting. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that there were a lot of random asides about tangential figures that I found confusing (especially with chronology). Things like 'Later in 1396 So-and-so (someone just mentioned in connection with the main story of the book) would go on to do blah blah blah' that were interesting, but not connected to Ka...more

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Apr 03, 2010 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once again, Alison Weir is determined to place female historical figures at center stage, even though the historical record is relatively quiet about them. The result is another book that purports to be about a medieval matriarch, but spends more time on her father, husband, and children (see also her book on Eleanor of Aquitaine).

Despite that it is eminently readable and engaging.

My other complaint (about Weir in general but seems especially true with this book) is her determination to tie up e...more

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Sep 21, 2010 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alison Weir was thorough in her search for material on Katherine Swynford. Most of her facts come from financial rolls, since she dismisses contemporary accounts of Katherine, as written by John of Gaunt's many enemies. As Weir shows, this is a reasonable attitude, because of the many demonstrations of love towards Katherine from the royal children for whom she was governess. Clearly she was a woman who attracted good feelings from the people who genuinely knew her.

As Weir recounted the historie...more

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Oct 24, 2010 Chantal rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, history, non-fiction, historical-medieval

'Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.' This is as germane for John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford as it is for Banquo in Macbeth, perhaps more so. From the children they had between them was founded the royal lines of Lancaster and York, the Tudors, kings and queens in Spain, Portugal and Scotland (as a result the Stuarts too.)

Fascinating book which would have merited 4 stars if it weren't for my idealised image of the pair being thoroughly hammered by reality. Seems as though John of Gau...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Wealhtheow rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british-history, historical, non-fiction

We don't know when Katherine Swynford was born, how many siblings she had, what she looked like, what she wrote or spoke like, what her seal looked like, or why she died. In fact, she is a complete cypher to the 21st century. Weir does the best she can to piece together what few documents and sketches of long-gone monuments that are left to give us clues, but there is very little to work with. Katherine was the mistress, and then third wife, of John of Gaunt (son of King Edward III, uncle to Kin...more

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Mar 06, 2009 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had really been looking forward to reading Alison Weir's latest medieval biography because like many women of my generation I have read Anya Seton's Katherine, several times. Weir does her usual complete job-unfortunately she is rather hampered by the the fact there isn't much to be complete about. The majority of the book deals with the political events and social mores of Katherine Swynford's times rather than any new and exciting info about her life-as Weir constantly points out-the primary...more

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About Alison Weir

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Alison Weir (born 1951) is a British writer of history books for the general public, mostly in the form of biographies about British kings and queens. She currently lives in Surrey, England, with her two children.

Before becoming an author, Weir worked as a teacher of children with special needs. She received her...more

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