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Nov 02, 2007

Ascexis rated it:

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 fr More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2010

Rachel rated it:

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 f More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2009

Jamie rated it:

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 gue More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

Pete rated it:

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...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

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 aff More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Hannah rated it:

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 More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 19, 2007

Lynn rated it:

This biography is based on the life of the namesake of Anya Seton's wonderful novel on 14th Century England, Katherine. In fact, Weir admits she likes the novel - although she doesn't hesitate to let you know what's historically inaccurate about it.

Katherine lived in interesting times - and with an interesting man, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, a younger son of King Edward III. Weir does a nice job of doing a biography on someone that we don't have a lot of actual documentati More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2010

Dana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2008

Jennifer (JC-S) rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2011

Jane rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2010

Kiersten rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2009

Steven rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 08, 2009

Joan rated it:

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 More...

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Apr 18, 2009

Elevate Difference rated it:

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 nov More...

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Jul 08, 2010

Stephanie / seenonflickr rated it:

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 More...

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Jun 25, 2010

Louise rated it:

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 do More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 10, 2011

Jeweleye rated it:

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 loyall More...

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Oct 07, 2011

Tiffany rated it:

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 her More...

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Jul 12, 2011

Suzy rated it:

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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Mar 23, 2011

Caroline rated it:

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:

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:

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 Kath More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 24, 2011

Rahime rated it:

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:

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 dete More...

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Sep 21, 2010

Joy rated it:

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 More...

15 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2010

Chantal rated it:

'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 More...

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Nov 11, 2009

Wealhtheow rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 06, 2009

Kathleen rated it:

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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Jul 31, 2011

Christine rated it:

I thought this book was very interesting. It's a perfect example of how it can be so difficult for historians to learn and write about medieval women. Even though Katherine Swynford is well known in history, there is little information in the surviving records. This meant that Alison Weir had to fill in gaps with her logic and using a bit of her imagination! At times, this book felt a little repetitive, probably due to the lack of information, some parts were also very mundane. However, the book More...

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Sep 11, 2010

Doria rated it:

Alison Weir never disappoints me; she remains one of my very favorite writers of historical biographies, especially those of English monarchs and their relatives. Her latest offering, a carefully-examined life of Katherine Swynford is surprisingly satisfying, given how little we know for sure about this elusive yet significant woman.
Katherine's story is so compelling, that it is tempting to embroider details onto the bare facts of her story. Weir resists this pitfall, and presents us i More...

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