Guest Post by Heather Darsie

Today I'm delighted to hand over the blog to a fellow Amberley Books author, Heather Darsie, whose new book, Children of the House of Cleves, Anna and Her Siblings, is out today:

Religion in the House of Cleves

by Heather R. Darsie, J.D.

Ah, religion. That sticky subject at dinner parties! The subject of religion was a very tense one in 16th century Germany. Anna of Cleves’ father Johann III of Cleves-Mark and mother Maria of Jülich-Berg did what they could to uphold Catholicism within the United Duhies in the wake of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and the reforms it spawned,

“Johann III was against the spread of Lutheranism within the United Duchies. To … stop the spread of Lutheranism, an edict was issued in March 1525. This strategy worked for the most part, and Lutheranism was put down within Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Johann followed-up with an ordinance in July 1525, demonstrating his desire for reform of the Catholic church within his lands. Although Johann wished to remain on [Holy Roman Emperor] Charles V’s good side, he did not wish to aggressively eradicate Lutheranism. This strategy might be evidence of [Desiderius] Erasmus’s influence. It was not that the Catholic church was perfect, but rather that Luther and his followers were dangerous. …

…The same year as her marriage, 1527, Sybylla’[of Cleves’]s father-in-law John the Steadfast established the Evangelical-Lutheran State Church of Saxony after the Diet of Speyer. John was extremely active in establishing the principles of Reformation within Saxony, much to the chagrin of Charles V.”

The oldest and youngest Cleves siblings, Sybylla and Amalia, wound up being devoted to Lutheranism. Amalia was reportedly so faithful to Lutheranism that it was deemed impossible to find her a husband. Anna was Catholic, although how strong her actual faith was is unknown. Wilhelm, for his part, was Catholic when it suited him.

Even more confusingly, Wilhelm’s daughters were raised as Lutherans due to the influence of their aunt Amalia. Wilhelm reportedly flew into rages more than once at Amalia over her vehement support. Despite this rift in the family, Wilhelm had his poetic revenge on Amalia.

Image from Anna's prayer book: Trogen, Kantonsbibliothek Appenzell Ausserrhoden, CM Ms. 9, f. 12r – Gebetbuch der Anna von Kleve.

If this excerpt piqued your interest, consider reading Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her Siblings, set for release in the UK on 15 June 2023 and in the US/Internationally on 12 September 2023. Can’t wait until September? The US Kindle version is released on 15 June, too! 

Amazon UK (15th June 2023):

Hardback

Kindle 

Amazon US :

Hardback (12th September 2023)

Kindle (15th June 2023)

You might also like to read Heather R. Darsie’s biography on Anna of Cleves, the first researched and written from the German perspective, Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s Beloved Sister. 

Amazon UK

Amazon US

[You can read Annie's review of Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King's beloved Sister HERE]

Heather R. Darsie works as an attorney in the US. Along with her Juris Doctorate she has a BA in German, which was of great value in her research. She completed multiple graduate-level courses in Early Modern History, with her primary focus being the Holy Roman Empire under Charles V. She runs the website MaidensAndManuscripts.com, and is a co-host of Tudors Dynasty podcast.

Sources & Suggested Reading

1. Darsie, Heather R. Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her Siblings. Stroud: Amberley (2023).

2. Darsie, Heather R. Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s Beloved Sister. Stroud: Amberley (2019).

Catch the rest of Heather's Blog tour:

Friday Featured: D

Continuing the new weekly series: Friday Featured. I'm publishing, working from A-Z, a list of authors whose works I think you should check out. Maybe I've read some of their works, maybe I've worked with them on various projects, perhaps their books are on my To-Be-Read pile, or perhaps they are friends of mine who have news that needs to be shared. The only rule here is that it is totally unsolicited. The authors don't know I'm going to feature them, and in that way you'll know that this is simply my honest opinion. If I haven't read their work yet I'll be candid and say so, but at least one book by each of these authors is either on my shelves, or on my Kindle; it might be that I just haven't got to them yet 😊

This week - D  (clicking on the names will take you to the author website; book titles will take you to Amazon)

Heather Darsie This is a wonderful - nonfiction - book about the woman more usually known as Anne of Cleves, or even the Flanders Mare. In Anna Duchess of Cleves, Heather Darsie explains the political and geographical background to the wedding between Anna and Henry VIII and her book makes for fascinating reading. You can see my review of the book here where I had to admit that a lot of what I thought I knew about this fourth wife of Henry was wrong. I had not appreciated that she, much like Katharine Parr, had a good relationship with her stepchildren, and I knew very little about the area of Europe from which she hailed and how the marriage was such a bad political decision for England. Ms Darsie has clearly done a lot of painstaking research and her love for her subject shines through. An educational but also light read.

Cathie Dunn Cathie Dunn's is one of those names that keeps cropping up across Social Media. People have been posting reviews, all of them positive, so I thought it was time I took a look at her work. A quick glance showed me that she writes across genres, with a medieval mystery romance and a paranormal Gothic story in her back catalogue. What caught my eye in this instance, though, was her Highland Chronicles, of which  Highland Arms is the first volume. I took a look at the sample, and bought the book. It's set at the time of the Jacobite rebellion, yes, which piques my interest, but the relationship between Catriona and her brother is clearly important and I like the way it is set up. The first pages are so good that I'm really looking forward to reading on. 

Wendy Dunn  I've read a lot of books about the wives of Henry VIII, but not too many which focus on Catherine of Aragon. Where to start though? Well, this one attracted my attention because of its Amazon reviews which are all, bar one, five star reviews (and that one is a four star). So I carried out my usual procedure, checking out the first pages and then downloading a sample. As with Heather Darsie's book, we get a glimpse of the woman and her life before Henry VIII dominates proceedings. Life in Spain in the court of Isabel and Ferdinand is skilfully depicted - years ago I read Jean Plaidy's series about these monarchs - Beatriz is shaping up to be an interesting character, and I'm relishing the prospect of getting cosy with a long immersion in this series of books.

Dorothy Dunnett Dunnett's books are not 'easy' reads, but nevertheless, are a wonderful reading experience. Two years ago, I was thrilled to hear that I was the winner of the inaugural HWA/Dorothy Dunnett Society Short Story Award, and part of my prize was the full set of Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. I am slowly making my way through them but at the moment my favourite is still King Hereafter. The idea that Thorfinn was Macbeth is not universally accepted, but it completely works and certainly feels more 'real' than Shakespeare's version. The picture here is the new cover, and I prefer my copy, the original 1983 paperback version, but recently all her novels have been given a makeover. If you like historical fiction that makes you think, draws you in and holds you in the moment, and if you haven't come across her work, check it out.