Saturday, May 30, 2015

A Tale of Margaret Pole

The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory

I have read all of the books by this author in her Cousin's War and Tudor series because I love her work. She thoroughly researches her subjects, and I'd like to believe that things happened fairly closely to the way she wrote them.

This particular book is about Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. Margaret is a Plantagenet, which means that just being herself could put her in danger during the Tudor rule. At the beginning of the book, she is in charge, with her husband, of overseeing Arthur, Prince of Wales. When Katherine of Aragon comes to England, she befriends her, and they remain friends until Katherine's death. She sees Henry VIII come to the throne, and is the one who is responsible for breaking the news of his children's births. She is also the governess of Mary Tudor, until she moves to Hatfield to serve Elizabeth.

As I said, just being who she is, she and her family are always suspected of treason. At the end of her life, two of her sons and she herself are sent to the Tower of London. Her oldest son and heir is executed for treason. Margaret herself is executed, even though no charges were ever brought against her. Her execution, of itself, was fairly interesting. The executioner was inept, and did not behead her on the first try. She got up, ran and had to be chased, all the while the executioner is hacking at her. It took about ten blows to finally cause her death.

Margaret led an interesting life, and I am glad this book gave me insight into said life.

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