I
have a collection of Tudor historical fiction but in my collection, I
don’t have much about Jane Seymour. You see her in passing in other
books so when I saw Carolly Erickson’s ‘The Favored Queen’, I didn’t
hesitate to add this to my Tudor collection.
‘The
Favored Queen’ gives you the Tudor world in Jane Seymour’s eyes. She is
the devoted maid of honor to Queen Catherine of Aragon and is special
to the Queen because of Jane’s calming effects. This calming effect seems to be one of the factor why Henry VIII chose her.
The
story begins as Queen Catherine loses another baby. After unable to
produce another heir, King Henry names his bastard son, Henry Fitzroy as
heir. During Jane’s storytelling, she witnesses the fall of Queen
Catherine of Aragon, the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, the destruction
of the monasteries, her rise to becoming Queen Jane and finally the
birth of Prince Edward.
Throughout
the book, Jane mentions the mystery surrounding Jane Popyngcort’s
sudden departure to Flanders (with a chest full of coins) only to
suddenly die. Jane Seymour learns the truth from Queen Catherine of
Aragon. Not much is known about the real Jane
Popyngocort but this is an interesting scenario to her departure of King
Henry VIII’s court (with the king’s blessing).
· If
you want a different story line about Jane Popyngcort, I suggest you
read author Kate Emerson’s ‘Secrets of the Tudor Court: Pleasure
Palace’.
Carolly
Erickson told a great story about Jane Seymour but there were a few
inconsistencies that I noticed as I was reading. Maybe it’s because I’ve
read so many historical fiction and went online to read more details
that I think, “That didn’t happen”. Also, author Carolly Erickson didn’t
include at the end of the book of any historical notes or what she
changed to go along with the story (like some of the books I’ve read).
She does give a note to the reader that true and imaginative events
occurred in writing the book but I always like to read about the real
events in the historical notes by the author. It makes the historical
individuals much more real.
Here are some inconsistencies that I found:
1. Jane
mentions that Anne Boleyn entering the Queen’s room at the palace in
Greenwich during the sweating sickness. To my recollection, Anne Boleyn
escaped to her family estate (Hever Castle).
2. Jane
describes King Henry VIII having leg pain during his courtship with
Anne Boleyn. I thought that during this time, he was still a robust man
and didn’t have an injured leg till after his accident during his
marriage with Anne.
3. King
Henry VIII asks Jane to ask Queen Catherine on her death bed to agree
to enter a convent (so that when his marriage to Anne Boleyn was
dissolved, there wouldn’t be any hindrance of an earlier marriage when
he married again). To my recollection, I’ve never heard of him asking
this to the Queen before she died but it may be possible.
4. There is no mention of Jane’s other brother Thomas Seymour. It makes you think that there was only the two of them.
5. As
Will Dormer writes the last entry, he mentions that King Henry VIII
started sending ambassadors to find him a new wife (a week after Jane’s
passing). To my recollection, he mourned her death with great sadness
and wasn’t looking for a wife till after a few years.
Despite
the inconsistencies, ‘The Favored Queen’ gives you a different
perspective about plain Jane Seymour. Maybe there was more to her then
meets the eye. After being a maid of honor for Queen Catherine of Aragon
and Queen Anne Boleyn, she had an idea of what she was getting into
when she married King Henry VIII.
This is what I found interesting as I was reading ‘The Favored Queen’:
1. When
Jane tries to convince King Henry VIII to spare St. Agnes church, she
is yelled at for meddling. I later learned that she may have had
opinions for political issues but due to King Henry VIII’s experience
with Anne Boleyn, he would remind Jane of Anne’s fate. Who would want to
argue after that?
2. I
thought that the Seymour clan helped Jane to catch the King’s eye when
Anne Boleyn was going out of favored. In the book however, it didn’t
seem that way. Being the person that you can trust helps a great deal
plus being the total opposite of Anne Boleyn. In the book, King Henry
VIII didn’t propose to Jane Seymour till after he couldn’t have Madge
Shelton.
3. Jane
was ridiculed for not being pregnant right away. It’s interesting to
read how this disturbed her, especially when King Henry VIII’s mood is
darkened and the question about his manhood true. You can imagine the
relief of everyone, including Jane, when it was announced that she was
pregnant.
4. Earning her the name of Good Queen Jane, Queen Jane Seymour gave alms to the poor and downtrodden.
5. Even
though King Henry VIII mourned her death severely, he didn’t do much in
caring for Jane Seymour after the birth of Prince Edward. Even when she
was dying, King Henry VIII didn’t stay by her bedside till the end. His
fear of death and illness always plagued him. You would think that
after finally giving the son that the king most wanted, the king would
have done anything to get her well.
As
an interesting side note, I follow the blog ‘On The Tudor Trail’ and
there’s an interesting article this month about why Jane Seymour should
get a second look. You can read the article through the link below:
Overall,
I thought that the book was good to read. Considering that there isn’t
much known about Jane Seymour’s life, author Carolly Erickson did a good
job in telling Jane’s story. The book is only 25 chapters so you can probably read it in a day or two. I
hope to find more books about Jane Seymour. With Carolly Erickson’s ‘The
Favored Queen’, this is a good start.
