Sharon Kay Penman's Blog, page 112

INTERVIEW WITH ANNE EASTER SMITH

I am sure many of my readers are familiar with the books of Anne Easter Smith, who has written several well-regarded novels about the Yorkists, beginning with her first, A Rose for the Crown, about Richard III.  Her newest book is about a woman I always found very sympathetic, Edward’s mistress, Jane Shore.  Jane always reminded me a bit of Charles II’s favorite, Nell Gwynn, and I am sure that Anne will do justice to Jane.  Anne has also provided a brief biography.  Sadly, I could not put up a photo of the Royal Mistress book cover as my blog has been rejecting them for some time now and we’ve yet to resolve the problem.  But you can see the cover on Amazon here.  http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Mistress-Anne-Easter-Smith/dp/1451648626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374334120&sr=1-1&keywords=anne+easter+smith+royal+mistress       So read the interview below and enjoy!
short bio:
A native of England, Anne spent some of her childhood in Germany and Egypt and the rest at boarding school. She came to the US in the late ‘60s for two years and is still here, living in Newburyport, MA with her husband, Scott. Anne is the author of five novels about the York family in the Wars of the Roses, all published by Touchstone at Simon & Schuster. Her third, The King’s Grace, won the 2009 Best Historical Biography award from Romantic Times Book Review. Royal Mistress tells the story of the rise and fall of Jane Shore, King Edward IV’s favorite and final mistress. The book arrived in bookstores on May 7th.
Q. How did you chose Jane Shore as your latest protagonist?
A.  The one important member of the York family who I had only written about as a peripheral character to the main ones in my first four books was King Edward IV. I felt he needed fleshing out (although he did that himself rather well!). After all, Edward became the first Yorkist king at 19 after some thrilling victories in battle, like Towton and Tewkesbury. I had dealt with his early years as king in A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York, as seen through the eyes of his brother, Richard of Gloucester in the first book and his sister, Margaret, in the second. As I have consistently told the York story during the Wars of the Roses through a different woman’s eyes in each book, I searched for a compelling protagonist to focus on Edward’s character. I suppose I could have chosen Elizabeth Woodville, his queen, but as  Philippa Gregory had only just released her book about Elizabeth, I did not want to be accused of being a copycat! (Although my take on Elizabeth would have been quite different.) I knew Jane Shore’s story from reading Jean Plaidy’s The Goldsmith’s Wife(pub. 1950) long ago, and when I found out that Plaidy’s research was now not up-to-date, I decided to retell Jane’s story with the new information we have about her early life.

Q. Tell us a little about who Jane was.
A.  Elizabeth (Jane) Lambert was a daughter of John and Amy Lambert of the London parish of St. Mary-le-Bow. John was a wealthy mercer, or silk merchant, and had been Master of the Mercers’ Guild (or Company or Mystery), the largest and most important guild in the city. Before we meet Jane in Royal Mistress, he had been an alderman and sheriff of London. We believe Jane was one of six children, although a couple of them disappeared from the records. The exact date of her birth is unknown. However, we do know she lived a fairly long life as Sir Thomas More describes a meeting with her, somewhere between 1516 and 1519, and used the word “septuagenarian.” I think he was probably guessing, and that the penury she found herself in at that time may have made her appear older than she was. Jane became Edward’s mistress sometime in the mid 1470s, not long after she married another mercer, William Shore. The marriage was not successful and Jane filed for annulment not long after. Whether it was through the king’s influence that she was freed from her marriage vows, we don’t know, but she was granted an annulment (“divorce” was a word not used in those days) on the grounds of impotence–very unusual and hard to prove. We know that Jane was beautiful, and later portraits of her always depict her with long fair hair and large eyes. She was described as rather small, even for her time, and one can imagine the picture she and Edward made together as he was 6ft. 3 1/2 inches! Edward is to have declared that Jane was the wittiest of his mistresses, and those who chronicled the goings on at court also mentioned that “of all women, he loved her the most.”

Q. Your previous books are told in third-person personal narrative but for Royal Mistress you use omniscient narration. Why did you change your structure?
A.  I am glad you noticed! In case the terms are unfamiliar to anyone, the difference between the two forms of narration is that in third person personal, you must pretty much hang out in your protagonist’s head. This means it’s hard for you to go into battle if you have a female protagonist; she needs to hear about it from a letter or from someone who was there. Because Jane was the king’s mistress, there were too many scenes where Jane would not be present but that would be key to the story, so by using the omniscient voice, I can be inside other people’s heads and certainly in other places where Jane was not present. It was confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it, I found it very freeing.

Q. Whose heads in particular did you want to be in other than Jane’s?
A.  For the first time, I braved the inside of male brains! I still am not sure how men think, but I gave it my best shot. So, Edward IV was an obvious target, as were his chamberlain, friend and Jane’s champion, Will Hastings, Jane’s husband, William Shore, and most important to me, Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III. In my other books, my pro-Richard stance comes through loud and clear. But in Royal Mistress I had to look at him through other people’s eyes–notably my protagonist Jane’s and her protector Will Hastings’s, both of whom Richard punished severely after Edward died. But, by also being able to jump into Richard’s head, I could temper what other people were saying or thinking by showing Richard’s motivation for some of his more controversial actions. Richard was driven by a strong sense of duty, morality and loyalty, and woe betide anyone who did not measure up.

Q. Although Jane was a concubine and rose and fell because she used her body, did you find her a sympathetic character to research and write?
A.  Oh yes. Jane was witty, kind and loyal. She was doomed as soon as William Hastings set eyes on her and marked her out as a lover for either himself or for his friend and master, King Edward. Once her marriage was annulled, she was at the mercy of any man who fancied her. In those days, a woman’s path was defined by the men in her life: father, brother, husband or lord. I had to find the person that won the love and admiration of three of England’s most powerful men in 1470-1480s: Edward IV, William Hastings and Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset and oldest son of Queen Elizabeth Woodville (by her first marriage). And Jane’s story was full of enough drama to inspire poets, playwrights and prose writers to retell it through the centuries. Royal Mistress is just latest of many efforts to do justice to this intriguing, almost-forgotten woman in history.

Thank you so much for sharing this with your many and faithful readers, Sharon. Anyone who loves your Sunne in Splendor will recognize most of the characters in Royal Mistress.
Thank you, Anne, for agreeing to this interview.   It was a pleasure to “chat” with you.  I am sure Royal Mistress will be a great success and I am also sure that somewhere, Jane Shore is smiling.
July 20, 2013

Love

Many of you probably saw this photo last year when it went viral. It showed a man and his arthritic, 19 year old dog, whose aching joints eased when he was floating in water. His owner thought he was near death and wanted one last photo. But so many people then donated to the dog’s care that his master was able to afford treatment that prolonged his life by another year. He has just died and I thought my fellow dog lovers would like to see the photo again, for it is the very essence of love. Now back to that very hungry dragon.
http://www.today.com/pets/dog-picture...

The Deadline Dragon, the sequel

Well, the good news—actually the great news—is that my editor really loves Ransom. The not-so-good news is that Putnam’s is keen on publishing next February, which means that they will need my Author’s Note, Afterword, Acknowledgments, maps, cast of characters, and my responses both to the edited and copy-edited manuscript all before I leave for England in early September. So this means yet another epic struggle with the Deadline Dragon. And it also means, of course, that my Facebook time will be hit-or-miss for the rest of the summer. I know I can count upon you guys to carry on in my absence. I don’t anticipate any problems on my personal page, but you’re a livelier bunch on the fan club page, so please don’t cause too much mischief or stage a coup.
I will pop by whenever I can. Meanwhile, I want to express my admiration for Queen Elizabeth’s action in approving the parliamentary bill that will now allow same-sex marriage and give all British citizens the right to marry those they love. I see this as a basic civil liberty and I am very sorry that only twelve or thirteen states in my country have legalized it. New Jersey would have been one of them had our governor not vetoed it; he ought to be ashamed of himself.
More later, I hope. I also hope that all in the path of this scorching, deadly heat wave now afflicting both sides of the Atlantic will somehow keep cool. The heat index here is 105 degrees F.

Calling dog lovers in Alabama and Florida

My friends in Echo Rescue are trying to get a beautiful girl named Sophia from Alabama to start a new life in Haines City, Florida. Here are the legs still open. If any of you live in the area she’ll be passing through or have friends who do, please consider volunteering an hour or so to drive her. Here is the contact information and the legs still needed.
Echo Dogs Transport
Sunday July 20nd
“Sophia”, White German Shepherd
Tuscaloosa AL to Haines City FL
ECHO DOGS TRANSPORT SHEET - PASSENGER INFORMATION
Passenger(s): Sophia
Breed: White German Shepherd
Age: 6 years
Sex: Female
Neutered/Spayed? No
Size/weight: 90 pounds (should be about 70)
UTD on shots, including rabies: Yes
Overall health? HW positive, irritated ears but have been treated
Housebroken? Unknown
Does he get along with other animals? Yes to dogs, unknown to cats
Does he get along with children? Yes
Does he get along with Men?/ Women? Yes
Any behavior problems? No
Is a crate optional or mandatory? Not necessary
If so, is one provided and what size is it? Extra large
Items traveling with: medical papers, collar and leash
Reason for transport: Going to Rescue Foster home
***************************
Route
Saturday July 20th, 2013
Leg 4: Brundidge AL to Campbellton FL
63 miles, 1 hr 10 min
Time: 12:15 pm to 1:25 PM
*** Needed ***
Leg 5: Campbellton FL to Tallahassee FL
88 miles, 1 hr 20 min
Time: 1:40 pm to 3:00 pm
*** Needed ***
Leg 6: Tallahassee FL to Live Oak FL
80 miles, 1 hr 10 min
Time: 3:15 pm to 3:25 pm
*** Needed ***
Leg 7: Live Oak FL to Gainesville FL
65 miles, 1 hr 10 min
Time: 3:40 pm to 4:50 pm
*** Needed ***
Leg 8: Gainesville FL to Leesburg FL
74 miles, 1 hr 20 min
Time: 5:05 pm to 6:25 pm
*** Needed ***
Leg 9: Leesburg FL to Haines City FL
55 miles, 1 hr 10 min
Time: 6:40 pm to 7:50 pm
*** Needed ***
Amy Lusty
Echo Dogs White Shepherd Rescue, Transport Coordinator & Foster Home
http://echodogs.org
email: amylusty@comcast.net

Happy Birthday, Alexander, RIP Anne of Cleaves

July 16th was the date of a horrific massacre of the Jews in Jerusalem by the victorious crusaders. I could never write about the First Crusade; I don’t have a strong enough stomach. July 16th was also the date of death of one of the great popes of the MA (though I don’t like him much) Innocent III in 1216, and the death date in 1557 of probably the luckiest of Henry VIII’s wives, Anne of Cleaves (whom I do like) Most importantly, July 16th is the birthdate of Stephanie’s son Alexander, who is sort of an unofficial godson of mine!

If it is a girl?

Am I the only one hoping that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, gives birth to a daughter this week? I love the idea of a daughter finally being able to claim the crown instead of being bumped off center stage by younger brothers. Think how different English history would have been if Elizabeth of York, first-born of Edward IV, had been his heir when he died rather than her younger brother. And if this comes to pass, I am sure that somewhere the Empress Maude will be smiling.

An amazing video!

Happy Bastille Day, everyone. What…..you all don’t celebrate the storming of the Bastille? How strange.
Here is an amazing video. It was taken by astonished tourists at Kruger National Park in South Africa. A herd of impalas suddenly scampered across the road in front of the tourist caravan, with two cheetahs in close pursuit. One impala was in danger of being caught—until he dove gracefully through the window of an SUV. When the tourists recovered their wits, they opened the door and he calmly exited out the other side, leaving the baffled cheetahs looking as if they could not figure out where their dinner had gone.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/11/travel/...

PS And on this date in 1223, Philippe Capet, the King of France and Richard I’s bitter foe, died just shy of his 58th birthday. He lived long enough to resurrect his reputation, which was in tatters when he abandoned the Third Crusade and suffered some serious hits once the Lionheart was uncaged and took to humiliating him militarily on a regular basis. But he found John to be a much easier adversary and because of the huge territorial gains he made at John’s expense, French historians now rate him as one of the best and most successful medieval kings. Not a man I’d ever mourn, though. At least his death liberated his much abused Danish queen, Ingeborg, for his son and grandson treated her very kindly.

The Sunne in Splendour

Here is today's Facebook Note. Unfortunately I cannot share the new Sunne in Splendour hardcover jacket here, but the curious can see it on my Facebook pages or on Amazon.com.uk. As a totally unbiased observer, I think it looks spectacular!

July 13th is a slow medieval news day; the only thing that comes to mind is the death of Hubert Walter in 1205, who was the Bishop of Salisbury and then the Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as Richard’s justiciar and John’s chancellor, wielding considerable influence in the reigns of both kings. He was a character in Lionheart and also appears in A King’s Ransom, where he proves to be a very good friend to Richard.
Here is the new jacket cover for the hardback edition of The Sunne in Splendour, which is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. I know a few of my readers think it looks “too French,” but I think it is wonderful.
I mentioned before that I was given the opportunity to make some changes to the new edition, mainly to the dialogue. Sunne was my first novel and was in some respects a learning experience; I subsequently concluded that when it comes to constructing medieval dialogue, less is more. I was also able to correct some typographical errors in the original hardback edition, and I have written a new Author’s Note, so this truly is a “new and improved” Sunne. And my British publisher is even going to issue a new e-book edition of Sunne that will incorporate these changes. This ought to please my British readers, for the current e-book of Sunne has American spelling and that apparently can be jarring to British sensibilities. I should mention that the current Sunne e-book is not the new one, even though Amazon is showing it with the new cover. It will be available in September. I am, of course, delighted to see Sunne getting a rebirth after thirty years. Yet another reason for me to be grateful to Richard III, who freed me from a lifetime of legal servitude as an unhappy lawyer.

A city's surrender and an unhappy Tudor queen

I am really sorry that I can only manage these hit and run visits, but I still feel that deadline dragon’s fiery breath on the back of my neck. While he is taking a break, though, I wanted to mention that July 12th, 1191 saw the surrender of Acre to Richard I and Philippe Capet, and it was also one of the Tudor Bluebeard’s many wedding anniversaries. Below is the scene from Lionheart about Acre’s surrender, pages 320-321, and below that are some snarky comments about the Tudors.
* * * * *
Friday, July 12th dawned hot and humid. Joanna, Berengaria, and their women passed the hours restlessly, unable to concentrate upon anything but the meeting taking place in the pavilion of the Templars, where Acre’s commanders, Sayf al-Din al-Mashtub and Baha al-Din Qaraqush, were conferring with Richard, Philippe, Henri, Guy de Lusignan, Conrad of Montferrat, and the other leaders of the crusading army. Berengaria kept picking up her psalter, putting it down again, while Joanna tried to continue Alicia’s chess lessons, but her gaze was roaming so often toward the tent entrance that the young girl managed to checkmate her, much to her glee.
“They will yield, yes?” Anna asked at last, giving voice to the question uppermost in all their minds. Her grasp of their language had improved in the six weeks since her world had turned upside down, and she continued in charmingly accented French. “Or they will all die, no?”
“Most likely,” Joanna confirmed, too nervous to put a gloss upon the brutal reality of warfare in their world—that a castle or town taken by storm could expect no mercy. Whether there would be survivors depended upon the whims of the victors or upon the ability of the defeated to raise ransom money. There had been a bloodbath after the Christians had seized Jerusalem in 1099, almost all of the Muslims and Jews in the city put to the sword. But Saladin had spared the Christians of Jerusalem four years ago after Balian d’Ibelin persuaded him to let them buy their lives; Joanna was proud that the money her father had sent to the Holy City over the years had kept thousands of men and women from being sold in Saracen slave markets.
Glancing over at Anna, she amended her answer, saying, “That is why they will accept our terms. They know their fate will be a bloody one if our men seize the city. By yielding, they can save themselves and those still living in Acre.”
Anna looked from Joanna to Berengaria, back to Joanna. “Why you fret, then, if outcome is certain?” Before either woman could respond, she smiled, dimples deepening in sudden comprehension. “Ah…I see. You fear for Malik Ric.” This was how the Saracens referred to Richard, and Anna had begun to use the name, too, much to Richard’s amusement. “He would be healed for another….” She paused, frowning as she sought the right word. “Another attack…that is it, no?”
“Yes, that is it,” Joanna confirmed, exchanging silent sympathy with Berengaria. While Richard was regaining strength with each passing day, he was by no means physically up to taking part in a battle, and yet they feared he would want to do just that; he’d been very frustrated at not being able to join his men in yesterday’s assault. Although they felt confident that Henri and the Bishop of Salisbury and Richard’s friends would not permit him to risk his life so foolishly, they well knew how stubborn he could be, and so both women were praying that today would end the siege.
They were about to send one of Joanna’s household knights back to the Templars’ tent to learn how the negotiations were proceeding when they heard it—a sudden roar, as if coming from thousands of throats, even louder than the sound Greek fire made when it streaked toward its target, trailing a flaming tail. Mariam darted toward the entrance and was back in moments, smiling. “Either they’ve come to terms or the whole camp has gone stark mad, for men are shouting and cheering and all the whores are hurrying out to help them celebrate!”
Joanna and Berengaria were on their feet now, embracing joyfully, determined to ignore the fact that this was but a respite, that Acre’s fall was only the first in a series of bloody battles on the road leading to the Holy City.
Within the hour, the noise level suddenly increased, alerting them that Richard must be approaching. He was flanked by Henri and the Earl of Leicester, with friends and lords following jubilantly in his wake. He still looked like what he was, a man recently risen from his sickbed, his cheekbones thrown into prominence by his weight loss, his complexion unnaturally pale for one with such high coloring. But his smile was dazzling and he appeared as happy as either woman had ever seen him.
“It is done,” he said huskily. “Acre is ours.”
* * * * *
Saladin had not been willing to accept the terms offered and had planned to send a swimmer after dark to tell the trapped garrison not to yield. But he was too late and they surrendered before he could send such a message. This would have dire consequences for the men later on, but that is a story for another day, one I told at some length, of course, in Lionheart.
Meanwhile, July 12th was the date of the last marriage of Henry VIII. For on this day in 1543, he wed Catherine Parr. It must have been a very unhappy day for her; she was in love with another man—Thomas Seymour—and she could not have been reassured by Henry’s marital track record. And indeed, she almost ended up in the Tower herself. Margaret George once sent me a cartoon showing Henry and an unhappy queen entering the tube (London’s subway to my American readers) and asking for two tickets to the Tower, a round-trip and a one-way. I think we can be sure that Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn were very happy on their wedding days. Jane Seymour? Maybe, but she remains an enigma to me; I am never sure if she was a pawn of her ambitious family or a willing conspirator. I don’t doubt that Anne of Cleaves was not a happy bride, certainly not as happy as she’d be when her marriage was later annulled. Foolish little Catherine Howard? She may have fancied being a queen, but surely not wedding the man Henry had become by then; he must have seemed downright elderly and unattractive to this shallow, silly teenager. But I think Catherine Parr’s wedding day was probably the saddest of all. What is truly tragic is that worse was still to come, for her marriage to Thomas Seymour brought her little joy and much grief.
Well, once again those pushy Tudors have crashed the party. Not surprising. For a dynasty that ruled only 118 years, they have managed to get the lion’s share of attention, both of historians and the public in general. So I’ll let them have the last word.

A legend, a fire, a battle, and a tragedy

I was hoping to catch up on some of the historical events I missed while I was fighting the dragon, but July 10th turned out to be a very busy day in its own right. According to one of the more famous medieval legends, on this date in 1040, Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry after her husband, the Earl of Mercia, dared her to do it if she wanted him to lessen the taxes imposed upon the townspeople. (Sounds like they had a very interesting marriage, doesn’t it?) We get the phrase “Peeping Tom” from the legend, for supposedly Lady Godiva warned the citizens to stay indoors during her ride, but a tailor disobeyed her, watched her naked ride, and was struck blind as a result. There really was a Lady Godiva, but historians discount the legend, which dates from the thirteenth century. Too bad; it’s a good story. Also on July 10th, 1212, much of London burned in a terrible fire; just about every medieval city suffered tragedies like this, which was why fire was so greatly feared in the MA. On this date in 1460, the Yorkists, led by the Earl of Warwick, won an important victory over the Lancastrians at the battle of Northampton and captured the king, Henry VI. And on July 10th, 1553, a reluctant Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England. She ruled for nine days and would eventually pay for her family’s sins with her own life. Susan Higginbotham’s novel, Her Highness the Traitor, deals with this episode of English history.