Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Much of the historical fiction set during the Wars of the Roses or the Tudor period are the stories of the main participants – the kings and queens of the time.  You see mention of  the “duke of this” or the “duchess of that” but (with a few exceptions) you really don’t know who these people are.  Memorial to the Duchess is about one of these otherwise nameless and faceless individuals whose lives were at the mercy and whim of whoever happened to be sitting on the throne at the time.

Alice Chaucer was the only child of Thomas Chaucer, himself the son of the great poet Geoffrey and his wife Philippa Roet (the sister of Katherine Swynford, mistress of John of Gaunt).  A clerk and able administrator, Thomas saw that his daughter was well educated and like most fathers, he sought to make a good and useful marriage for her.  After her childhood “husband” died, Alice found herself married to Thomas Montacute, 4^th Earl of Salisbury, a no nonsense kind of guy who didn’t appreciate his wife’s intellect – or her advice.  Knowing that her lot in life could be much worse, Alice settles into her life only for her husband to be killed after a few years during the siege of Orleans.  Alice’s next marriage would be her last – to William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk who would later be elevated to a duke under Henry VI. 

Alice and William seem to be well matched and William finds his wife an insightful ally as he climbs the ladder of success.  William manages to walk a precarious path between the competing factions of power of the late king’s brothers and both he and Alice manage to gain the trust of the young king and Alice later becomes a lady in waiting to Queen Margaret.  But all is not well in the country and as William’s power and influence increase he becomes the target of jealousy and hatred which will again leave Alice a widow. 

Ever mindful of the way the political wind blows, as the houses of Lancaster and York begin their battle for the throne Alice gambles the future of herself and her son by marrying him into the York family.  Under Edward IV, Alice continued to hold a great deal of land and influence and for a while was custodian of Margaret of Anjou.

Such fascinating and interesting material should have made for a fascinating and interesting book, right?  Well, not quite.  Despite the fact that Alice lived quite an exciting life, I did not find her portrayal in this book to be all that interesting or engaging.  There were several times when the book sounded more like a history book than a novel and Alice seemed mostly distant and uninvolved.  Still, I did enjoy learning about these lesser known players in history and when I encounter their names in the future I will now know more about who they are!  

As a side note, the name of Alice and William’s grandson John, Earl of Lincoln, may be familiar to some who have read about Richard III as, after the death of his  only son Edward, John de la Pole was named Richard’s heir (his mother was Richard’s sister Elizabeth).

  

The past is always less enlightened than we are:  "Married to Salisbury, she might as well have been living in the twelfth century”.  Alice’s thoughts after her husband tells her that if she is not in his bed or at his table, he expects her to be in her solar (his polite way of telling her not to meddle in his business).

Way ahead of his time:  “If a woman is a fit creature to begat a man’s heirs, then she is a fit partner for him in every way.”  Thomas Chaucer wondering if he did right by his daughter by making sure she was an educated woman who expected to be a partner in an ambitious marriage in a time when many men were not prepared to appreciate wit and learning in women.

War of the worst kind:  “Perhaps Englishmen had never met such stubborn opponents as when they fought each other.”    Alice as she hears that old soldiers have remarked that they never saw men fight as they did at Towton.