April 2020 Theme: Off With Her Head!

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April 2020 Theme: Off With Her Head!

1This-n-That
Mar 7, 2020, 10:55 pm



Off With Her Head!

This is the image I had in my mind's eye when I originally thought of this theme. In a general sense, this theme includes all queens that have served in a royal capacity throughout history. If that seems too easy or unfocused, then one could certainly focus on reading about queens who were beheaded. This also ties in well with the Wolf Hall trilogy and much anticipated release of The Mirror and the Light.

As CindyDavid pointed out in the general planning thread, this category has other possibilities for different interpretations. One could focus on madness/mental illness, YA fantasy or other females who faced the guillotine for a criminal act. In other words if you would prefer to not read about royal beheadings and have a personal interpretation of this theme, please feel free to use it.

Queens Who Were Beheaded:
Marie Antoinette: Executed 16 October 1793
Mary, Queen of Scots: Executed 8 February 1587
Lady Jane Grey (known as the nine day queen): Executed 12 February 1554
Catherine Howard: Executed 13 February 1542
Anne Boleyn: Executed 19 May 1536

2Tess_W
Editado: Mar 8, 2020, 5:12 am

This is a great category! That being said, I need to be more general that those queens that were beheaded. I've read extensively on the beheaded queens and want to keep my reading in my own TBR. I think I will go with The Poisoned Crown (The Accursed Kings, Book 3). In this book a queen is killed and a lover is exiled so that Louis X of France can have a new wife, Clementia of Hungary. I've read this first two books in the series and this will give me a chance to knock another off.

3DeltaQueen50
Mar 8, 2020, 3:17 pm

I am planning on reading about Lady Jane Grey with Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir.

4marell
Editado: Mar 8, 2020, 6:02 pm

Would a book about WWI nurse, Edith Cavell, be appropriate for this? She wasn’t royalty, or beheaded, but she was tried for treason and executed.

If not, I am thinking about Mary, Queen of Scots.

5Tess_W
Editado: Mar 8, 2020, 8:18 pm

>4 marell: I think that would work! In mine a queen is poisoned.

6This-n-That
Mar 10, 2020, 12:07 am

>4 marell: That book should work fine.

7Familyhistorian
Mar 11, 2020, 1:37 am

Apparently I have The Boleyn Inheritance on my shelves which has at least one beheaded queen in it. Now I just have to find the book.

8LibraryCin
Mar 14, 2020, 8:29 pm

>3 DeltaQueen50: I loved that one!

9DeltaQueen50
Mar 15, 2020, 12:05 pm

>8 LibraryCin: Thanks for letting me know, I don't believe I have read Alison Weir before so good to hear you enjoyed the book.

10LibraryCin
Editado: Mar 15, 2020, 3:12 pm

>9 DeltaQueen50: I will add that I do like Weir, in general (fiction and nonfiction) and I've had an interest in Lady Jane Grey since high school (wrote a grade 10 essay on her). I do believe "Innocent Traitor" made my favourites list the year I read it.

11LibraryCin
Mar 15, 2020, 4:07 pm

A couple that I'm leaning toward for this one:

Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir
Arbella: England's Lost Queen / Sarah Gristwood

12Tess_W
Editado: Mar 22, 2020, 10:58 pm

Searched through my shelves (even dusted!) and found this one: The Tower of London by WIlliam Harrison Ainsworth. The book was old and the pages were yellowed, but still I persevered! This was a historical romance and the book focused on that, and Lady Jane Grey was just a side story, but we did get to her beheading near the end of the book. The book focused on the romance of Cuthbert (a Knight) and Cicely, a fair maiden and eventually lady in waiting to Jane. There of course is the sinister Duke of Northumberland and the three dragons: Og, Megog, and Gog. It had the requisite gaoler who loved to stretch people. This was a fun romp through Tudor England, although much liberty was taken with history. 448 pages 3 1/2 stars I know, I'm early. Was in between books so thought I would start it because it was so long, but it was a very easy read.

13Familyhistorian
Mar 27, 2020, 12:37 am

>12 Tess_W: William Harrison Ainsworth was one of the authors who figured strongly in Murder by the Book which I just read. I didn't know his name before but since I read the book I have seen references to him.

14Tess_W
Mar 28, 2020, 10:25 pm

>13 Familyhistorian: I just looked that book up...did you like it?

15Familyhistorian
Mar 29, 2020, 2:56 am

>13 Familyhistorian: I was expecting it to be more about the crime but it covered what was going on in society at the time as well which slowed things down a bit, but really added to the explanation of why the murder happened. So, yes, I did enjoy it.

16CurrerBell
Mar 30, 2020, 2:12 pm

Never read Mantel, so I'm leaning toward Wolf Hall. Doubt I'll finish the entire trilogy in a single month.

17DeltaQueen50
Abr 15, 2020, 1:27 pm

I have completed my read of Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir. This was an engrossing story about Lady Jane Grey and her short, sad life as a pawn to be used by the powerful, including her ambitious parents.

18LibraryCin
Abr 15, 2020, 8:36 pm

>17 DeltaQueen50: Glad you enjoyed it!

19clue
Abr 24, 2020, 10:13 am

I've read The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C. W. Gortner. Though Catherine was not executed, she was a powerful woman for thirty years after the death of her husband, King Henry II of France, and despised by many who would have welcomed such a death.

20countrylife
Abr 27, 2020, 6:22 pm

My reads for this month were:

The Constant Princess (Catherine of Aragon) by Philippa Gregory (historical fiction)
Innocent Traitor (Lady Jane Grey) by Alison Weir (historical fiction)
The Phantom Tree (Mary Seymour) by Nicola Cornick (historical fantasy)

I haven't read much about the royalty, but enjoyed each of these.

21LibraryCin
Abr 27, 2020, 9:32 pm

Mine is 500 pages. I've not had as much reading time with COVID, so I'm probably going to get to it at the start of May (it is checked out from the library, but I have two others I'm trying to finish first!).

22Familyhistorian
Abr 28, 2020, 11:15 pm

Well, The Boleyn Inheritance definitely fit the bill. Not only were there many references to the death of Anne Boleyn, but this was the story of Anne of Cleves (one of the few who kept her head) and Katherine Howard, probably the youngest queen to be beheaded. It was also a good read.

23MissWatson
Maio 5, 2020, 3:01 am

I am a few days late with this. Les années sanglantes was a slow read, a history of the Queens of France in the second half of the 16th century which was a very tumultuous time (think Wars of Religion). It starts with the death of Henri II, his widow and ends Catherine de Médicis steps in to save the crown for her sons – three of them in turns – and ends with the death of her daughter Marguerite. And since one of Catherine's daughters-in-law was Mary Stuart, we even meet one who was beheaded.

24LibraryCin
Editado: Maio 6, 2020, 10:37 pm

Another queen who was actually beheaded...

Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir
3.5 stars

Mary, Queen of Scots was suspected of murdering her second husband, Lord Darnley. Darnley died in an explosion, but it was definitely murder. Many people at the time thought she’d done it, as well as many historians since. Weir looks at many sources to try to sort out whether or not Mary was, indeed, involved. This does pretty much amount to a biography, with a strong focus on events as relating to Darnley.

This is a long book! With lots of detail. That being said, I went back and forth between being really interested and falling back a bit with some of the detail. Now, Weir really was looking at a lot of information to try to sort out who was involved. Boy, talk about “fake news” of the time! And sham trials with a political bent (i.e. predetermined outcome)... Overall, I’m rating it good, but it does take a while to read.

25CurrerBell
Maio 7, 2020, 11:40 pm

Antonia Fraser's The Wives of Henry VIII 4****. Good treatment of the individual wives, who often get overwhelmed by the king. I've grown a bit less interested in Renaissance Europe in the past couple of years and grown more interested in Asia (especially India), but I got this book in a nice hardcover w/dustwrap at a used book store some while back for just five bucks and decided to get to it for this month. Really bought it primarily because of the author.

26cindydavid4
Editado: Maio 26, 2020, 8:29 am

Hi a bit late to the party here, but wanted to suggest Norah Lofts The Kings Pleasure an historical fiction about Katherine of Aragon, not beheaded, but was cast aside after 20 years of marriage to Henry VII. Probably the most sympathetic and complete novel written about her Ive read or watched. She is usually portrayed as an old witch who wont just go off to the nunnery like a good girl; Shows her childhood, her marriage to Arthur and her abuse from Henry's father, to their marriage. Story focuses much more on her and Bolyn is in the background.

Loft is one of my favorite historical fiction writers, 20th-century best-selling British author. She wrote more than fifty books specializing in historical fiction, but she also wrote non-fiction and short stories. If you are into the genre and time period check them out. I especially liked her 'house books' such as Bless this House telling the history of generations of a family who live in the same house.

27marell
Maio 27, 2020, 10:52 am

I read some of her books back in high school (eons ago!) and always liked them. I’ll have to get aquainted with her again.