About five months ago I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Ms Bryson's book The Brandon Men, so when I was offered a review copy of this new (paperback) edition of her book La Reine Blanche, I couldn't resist.
The Brandon Men, of course, contained a great deal of information about Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who was Mary Tudor's second husband, so I thought there would inevitably be some crossover, but no, this book is about Mary, and what a character she seems to have been.
There is some background information provided, so we are given a brief overview of the reign of her father, Henry VII, necessary for context but also because it gives a chance to find out what we can about Mary's childhood.
I don't think I'd realised that she had been betrothed as a young child, perhaps because that marriage never actually took place except by proxy, though I did know about her marriage to the king of France. I enjoyed this section and reading how she established herself at the French court. It might have been daunting, even to one born to such a destiny, to be sent across the sea to marry a much older man, but Mary evidently made the best of it and settled in well.
Some of this portion of her life is detailed in The Brandon Men but Ms Bryson ensures that here the focus is on Mary, whereas in the other book of course it is on Brandon. Apart from a very brief precis of Brandon's career up to this point, there is no repetition. This is where the book really takes off, in my view, because this is where we are given so much information from Mary herself, in her letters. Her clever manoeuvring seems to have been innate, for it's clear that she really didn't have anyone advising her and yet she managed to steer her way out of a great deal of potential trouble, having married a commoner without her brother the king's permission.
The analysis by the author of these and other letters is careful and considered, but Ms Bryson does not examine them so deeply that we lose Mary's voice to detailed explanation or theories. Throughout, the touch is light, which allows Mary to speak for herself.
I was interested to read that Mary and Anne Boleyn did not get along particularly well and it was fascinating to see Henry as a brother, rather than as we usually see him: as king and husband.
It is clear that Mary Tudor was an exceptional woman, with strong opinions but with a shrewd awareness of life at court and her position in it. That she took the chance to marry for love and kept her husband out of the Tower is a remarkable achievement. I wish there had been a happier ending for her but alas, no historian can change that.
A really good read and a book which I highly recommend.
[With thanks to Amberley Books for supplying a review copy]
La Reine Blanche is available at Amberley Books
and all good book shops
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