Review: Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford

[megwrites]

Title: Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford
Author: Alison Weir (AlisonWeir.org.uk)
Genre: Non-fiction
Page Count: 406
Publisher: Ballentine Books




Basic Plotline Premise: Weir follows along the life and times of Katherine Swynford, who became the mistress and later wife of John of Gaunt. Set in the time of the plague and before the Renaissance, through her children Katherine would become the ancestress of centuries of English monarchs, five U.S. presidents, and many other famous people. While her affair was considered scandalous in her own time, Weir takes a look at the woman and what she did, rethinking the view of her as either a amoral temptress or a romantic heroine.

The Positives : I'm a fan of Weir's and I devoured this book. Her great talent is for being detailed and balanced when laying out her biographies and historical theories. I appreciated here that she takes a very moderate middle path when weighing her sources. She doesn't entirely discredit sources like Walsingham who spread vicious rumors and told out and out lies about John of Gaunt and Katherine, but she does, when mentioning that source, take into consideration what is actually possible given known facts (such as dates and times from John of Gaunt's personal register) and the plausibility of the accusations. There are times when she uses Walsingham to prove or bolster her narrative and other times when she deftly shows that while he was hardly an unbiased source, even broken clocks are right twice a day.

I appreciate that Weir takes historical women - many of whom have little or no direct documentation to give evidence about their lives - and does the detective work of piecing together what they did, who they were, and what, by virtue of the evidence that she does have, must have gone on. There are times when Weir admits she has absolutely no source to give her any clue as to what Katherine was up to or where she went during certain time periods, but she uses previous sources and common sense to give the reader a feel for what her life could very plausibly have been like.

Mostly, I'm quite happy that Weir makes it clear what made Katherine extraordinary - not just in the fact that she was the matriarch of a line that would include some of the most powerful men and women in Europe and even the U.S. - but that she endured heavy censure and hate from those around her, managed her affairs deftly, acted with grace and dignity even in difficult situations (like being given in a marriage of convenience and becoming responsible for two manors so devalued as to be considered worthless) and eventually won over many who would have been happy to go on hating her just by dint of how she conducted herself wisely.

Given that other women in English history have had far more advantages and not managed to do so well, Weir makes it clear that Katherine was made of stern, sturdy, and steadfast stuff not to mention being the very soul of prudence.


The Negatives: I can't say much negative about this book. There are times when the info dumps describing the physical locations and how they changed and evolved over the years got a bit tedious, but those bits are easily skimmed if one isn't that interested in knowing how many people have, for instance, owned Kettlethorpe and what bits of castles or landmarks survive and whether they were burned or rebuilt in the 1700's or what not. It doesn't really take away from the main narrative itself.

Other than that, I found this a fascinating read.

CoC Score: 5/10. There are mentions of brief state-level interactions with non-European historical figures. Given the text and it's content, I wouldn't expect for there to be too much concentration on non-European people.

Gender Score: 10/10. Gender is one of those things that Weir always gets right. While recognizing that women had to deal with limited autonomy and a very patriarchal, misogynistic system that deplored them as the root of evil and the cause of men's downfalls, she shows how women navigated it and were as important as their male counterparts even if they weren't as well recognized. She also makes sure to show that even with these limitations, women often did many of the most basic and important tasks in life, from the most common farmer's wife to the daughters, wives, sister and mothers of royalty and nobility.

GLBT Score: 5/10. She mentions the fact that Edward III was very likely (and with good historical proof) either gay or bisexual and that he had both male and female lovers. I don't like how the story turns out because it does feed into a lot of the sinister narratives about gay relationships being inherently corrupt and evil, especially since I don't think one can really say it's about the sexual orientation of the monarch in a book where they talk about Alice Perrers who's very heterosexual relationship with the king was so obviously a scam on her part that there's nothing one can say that's more amoral about her than about Edward III's lover de Vere. I guess I wish a more delicate narrative touch had been used.

Ablism Score: 0/10. I'm not sure how to rate this. Infirmity is mentioned many times when people become injured or ill, and several main figures eventually become disabled. However, when it comes to mentioning that some lords and previous monarchs were not mentally well, I wish a slightly more nuanced touch had been used. It's a small thing, but it's one of those things that always pricks at me when I read a book.