Red Roses Quotes

“Because she would go on to prove herself brave, determined and ambitious, challenging contemporary notions of submissive womanhood, slurs were also directed at her sexuality. Women who chose, or were forced, to defy such conventional gender roles often drew accusations of promiscuity or lewdness to discredit them as enemies.”
― Amy Licence, Red Roses: Blanche of Gaunt to Margaret Beaufort

“Politics and government were the jurisdiction of men. Contemporary manuals advised against the lines being blurred, citing women’s propensity to gossip as damaging to male business, and women who formally wielded power were relatively unknown. However, this must have varied as much as personal relationships did and, as Chaucer’s writings make clear, intelligent women must have been influential where circumstances allowed,”
― Amy Licence, Red Roses: Blanche of Gaunt to Margaret Beaufort

“Help! Put a plaster On my heart For when I remember it To be sure, I am overwhelmed with sighs I am so full of melancholy She as young and pretty when she died About twenty-two years old Gay, joyous, frolicksome, frisky Sweet, simple, modest of mein The excellent lady was called Blanche.”
― Amy Licence, Red Roses: Blanche of Gaunt to Margaret Beaufort