Susan Higginbotham's Blog: History Refreshed by Susan HIgginbotham, page 45

Search Terms

It's June, and that means that it's time for May search terms!

what would happen if a divorce happened in the elizabethan era

Quite possibly, a divorce.

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Just ask her nicely, and I'm sure she'll oblige.

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Let's get down to business, shall we?

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So that's where Henry VIII got that 54-inch waistline from!

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Nothing like getting away from it all.

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That's one way

Meme Time! What Would Your Characters Do?

Thanks to Gabriele, instead of spending lunchtime patiently fact-checking and proofreading the final draft of the Buckingham novel, I'm doing this meme. Pick 10 characters at random, then answer how they will react in various given situations. So here goes, courtesy of my Buckingham novel:

1. Katherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham
2. Anne Neville, Duchess of Gloucester, later Queen of England
3. Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England
4. Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick
5. Henry Stafford, Duke of B

Some Recent Historical Fiction Reads

Here are reviews of mine that appeared in the February 2009 Historical Novels Review:

A Constant Heart
Siri Mitchell, Bethany House, 2008, $13.99 pb, 384pp, 9780764204319

Facing an arranged marriage to the Earl of Lytham, a stranger, seventeen-year-old Marget is reassured somewhat when her betrothed sends her an astrolabe and a romantic sonnet. Yet when Marget meets her husband at last, the earl, still embittered from his first marriage to a beautiful, unfaithful wife, is barely civil to his new co

The Winner of Mistress of the Sun . . .

Is Rachel! I've sent you an email. Thanks to everyone who entered![image error]

In Memory of a Fallen Solider: Edward le Despenser

Edward le Despenser was the second son of Hugh le Despenser the younger and Eleanor de Clare. He was born before November 23, 1315, when Edward II issued a license for John de Cromwell and his wife, Idonia, to grant certain lands to Robert Baldock, who was to regrant them with a life estate to Idonia, with remainder interests for Hugh, his father, and Edward.

Edward’s whereabouts following the destruction of his father and grandfather at the hands of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer are unknown,

Review: Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon

On April 14, 1865, an engaged couple, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris, accepted the Lincolns' last-minute invitation to join them in their box at Ford's Theatre. For the nation, the impact of that night's tragedy would be felt at once; for Henry and Clara, the denouement of their own private tragedy occurred years later.

Henry and Clara follows the titular couple from their childhood in Albany, New York, where Henry's widowed, ambitious mother sets her cap at Clara's widowed father, Ira Harris, w

Three Cheers for the BBC!

I have a Google alert set up for "Edward II," and though I get some things of interest that way, I also get a lot of worthless alerts, mostly to shopping sites. So when I saw my alert today, I thought at first it was another shopping alert. Then I looked closer and gave a great big whoop, for I see that the BBC has reissued the 1970 telecast of "Edward II" on DVD! Finally!

This telecast starred Ian McKellen as Edward II, and is an excellent adaptation of the Marlowe play. My university library of

Q &A with Sandra Gulland--and a Giveaway!

As part of her blog tour to celebrate the paperback release of Mistress of the Sun, the story of Louise de la Vallière, I'd like to welcome Sandra Gulland to my corner of the blogsphere! I read Sandra's Josephine Bonaparte trilogy when I was just beginning to write historical fiction. Not only did I learn quite a bit about Josephine from it, I also learned a great deal about the craft of writing. So I'm particularly pleased she's stopping by here.

SH: What drew you to the character of Louise in p

That's One Way of Looking at It

While double-checking the facts for my Buckingham novel (it will be getting another title), I came across this little gem of a letter in the Calendar of State Papers, Milan (online here). The "enclosed copy" refers to an account of the Battle of St. Albans:

22. The Bishop of Novara, Milanese Ambassador at Rome, to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan.
From England we have the news which you will see by the enclosed copy. Although it is not good for those who are dead, yet it cannot fail to favour our p

A Woodville Meets a Boleyn

One of the fascinating things about doing historical research is seeing how people's paths cross. The William Boleyn who was appointed to a commission with Anthony Woodville in November 1482 was the grandfather of none other than Anne Boleyn:

Nov. 12. Commission to the king's kinsman Anthony, earl Ryvers, Henry Heydon, Westminster. William Boleyn, Richard Suthwell, John Fyncham, Henry Spylman and James Hoberd, certain dissentions having arisen between William Lumnour on the one part and Thomas Br