Elizabeth's Women: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen

This is a brave book. Brave because it dares to tackle one of the most popular subjects available to historians and try and breath new life or at least create a different context for understanding the remarkable, mercurial and difficult Elizabeth I, "Gloriana."The key to the book lies in the title - the ways in which female friendship, enemies and rivalry influenced Elizabeth's personality, upbringing, loves, and ultimately her reign.Commencing, as many histories of Elizabeth do, with her mother, Anne Boleyn, and father, Henry VIII's relationship, Borman tries to explain how Elizabeth would have understood the mistakes and triumphs of the significant women in her life, the manner in which they handled themselves, found a place in such a patriarchal society, and learned from that. Starting with notorious mother, executed when Elizabeth was so young, and how she would have been represented to and thus remembered by Elizabeth is apt. From her mother's rise in her father's court, the overturning of the Catholic Church to her fall and beheading, the quiet and dignified withdrawal of Anne of Cleaves after her father Henry VIII rejected her, Katherine Howard's flightiness and deadly flirtatiousness, to the independence quiet Catherine Parr achieved as a widow would have all helped to shape the person young Elizabeth was to become.Then there were her governesses and Ladies of the Bedchamber - many who stood by Elizabeth during the fraught times when her older half-sister, Mary, reigned (and Elizabeth stood accused of plotting against the throne and worse) and again, when her brother Edward became king. These women, such as Blanche Parry, Kat Ashley and many more besides took care of Elizabeth's emotional and psychological needs as much as her physical ones, performing the role of mother, sister and family among others. Variously wise and silly, they steered Elizabeth through and sometimes into dangerous waters, but she never forgot their loyalty and trusted many of them implicitly, rewarding them and their families when she came to power. These were her "real" friends, one senses from Borman's words, in ways that many other women were not. In fact, historian Alison Weir (who praises Borman's scholarliness), in her biography of Elizabeth argues that the Queen saw most women as "threat". Borman's book would counter that claim as well as support it - Elizabeth either adored or loathed you - and not just women either.Understanding the subservient role demanded by her sex, Elizabeth nonetheless tried to find ways to exert her authority once she came to the throne - sometimes that involved demeaning her own sex or highlighting her masculine qualities such as she did in her famous speeches - at Tilbury and, at the end of her reign, to parliament. As Borman writes, "Sixteenth-century society was shaped by the Church, which taught the misogynistic lessons of St Paul. Women were the authors of original sin; instruments of the devil. Their only hope for salvation was to accept the natural inferiority to men..." This was not to be disputed but taken as a fact that underpinned contemporary attitudes, including those towards Elizabeth for whom it was thought only a husband could provide necessary qualities to govern England. Elizabeth's elevation to the throne was regarded as simply the first stage in providing England with a male ruler through an auspicious marriage and thus an heir.The way Elizabeth staved off this compromising of her power is explored as well as some reasons for this proffered. Even the men who appreciated her intellect and cunning and were fiercely loyal to her such as William Cecil, Francis Walsingham and Robert Cecil were frustrated by her weak womanliness, the "problem" of her sex, and urged her to wed and resolve the accession issue.It wasn't only the men of Elizabeth's council and court such as William Cecil (later, Lord Burghley), who believed that a male ruler was essential, there were even those who sought to use Elizabeth as leverage for their own climb to power and take her a bride such as Thomas Seymour (a scandal that nearly destroyed a teen Elizabeth and has given source to countless fictive (and factual) speculations about what really went on between them) and, later, Robert Dudley (the same can be said for his relationship with her - something the infamous Leyceter's Commonwealth - published in 1584 - fuelled with its dreadful claims). For the first twenty years of her reign, Elizabeth appeared to taunt her Privy Council by considering very respectable offers (and some not so desirable) of marriage from foreign rulers (and even the local boy, Earl of Arran) before discarding them and remaining a spinster - the Virgin Queen, a title that, twenty years after she took the throne no-one dared dispute but instead, began to embrace. When it came to husbands, the error in judgement of other women around her (in this case, her sister "Bloody Mary" and her marriage to Spanish and Catholic Philip and the problems that wrought for England as well as Mary Stuart's poor choices of men), would have been apparent to her. Borman also speculates a fear of childbirth, though that's to be understood n this period when mortality rates for mothers and infants were high.Taking the reader through all the major stages of Elizabeth's reign, focussing on politics, relationships, scandals, triumphs, dress and pageantry but explaining the importance of the latter to the maintenance of both a royal persona and a façade of control, Borman explores many of the queen's intimate and not so close relationships, including the complex love/hate, friend/rival, threat/promise of Mary, Queen of Scots, Bess Hardwick, the Greys, the Knollys, making it clear that though Elizabeth was whip-smart and a politician par excellence, she was also capable of great loyalty, jealousy, pettiness and cruelty when it came to women - events surrounding her upbringing could not have her any other way.What was also interesting in terms of modern concerns was Elizabeth's paranoia around ageing and her attempts to conceal what's a fact of life from her courtiers and foreign dignitaries - with the exception of the women of her chamber. Wigs, heavy make-up and a rigorous exercise regime were upheld almost to the last, even when small-mindedness and in-fighting was rife in the last couple of years of Elizabeth's rule. Determined to demonstrate her capabilities, Elizabeth appeared to understand that for a female particularly, appearances counted as much as performance (plus ca change!). While a woman was not to be trusted and was seen as inconvenient and incapable, an old woman was worse. In the end, age was a great foe that not even Elizabeth could defeat.An interesting book that is very easy to read and highly accessible - even for those who do not know too much about Elizabeth's reign - though a basic if not sound knowledge does enrich the book and allows the reader to critique some of the claims - which is always a fascinating exercise. It's terrific to be offered challenges to "facts" and think about what might have been and different ways about what was. Thoroughly enjoyed this as a welcome addition to the Elizabeth canon.

Not really a bad book, but the author frequently repeats herself. The same stories, ad nauseum. The editor should have caught this. If you were to remove all of her repetitive stories and comparisons, the book would be 78 pages long.

I really like the writing style of Terry Gorman. She is one of the best writers I've come across for a few years. She is very thorough in her research and puts it all together in a most interesting way. It's a very easy and informative read.

Love the story of Elizebeth's Women. Hidden story. If you love tales of the old royals, this book is for you. It is history.

A very interesting and enjoyable read about the significant and influential women in Queen Elizabeth I's life. One point to mention, however, is the author's identification of Katherine and Joan Champernowne. The Katherine that Tracy Borman believes was Elizabeth's governess was not, in fact, the daughter of Sir Philip Champernowne and Katherine Carew. Their daughter Katherine married firstly Otho Gilbert and then Walter Raleigh senior. With this second marriage she was the mother of Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother Carew Raleigh (obviously named for Katherine's mother). There is, in fact, no record of the identity of Katherine Champernowne's (ie Kat Astley/Ashley) parents. Kat wrote a letter to Lord Thomas Cromwell in 1536 in which she refers to her father as having "much to do with the little living he has". So at this time her father was still alive and not a wealthy man. This cancels out both Sir Philip and his father Sir John (who had died thirty-three years earlier) as candidates to be her father. There are also no records of that time that refer to Katherine Champernowne (Kat Astley/Ashley) and Joan Champernowne (Lady Denny) as having been sisters. Joan Champernowne (later Lady Denny), lady-in-waiting at Henry VIII's court, was the daughter of Sir John Champernowne and his wife Margaret Courtenay, ie she was Sir Philip's sister. She could not have been a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon if she had been Philip and Katherine Champernowne's daughter, as she would have been too young at that time.

Tracey Borman concentrates on Elizabeth's personal and political relationships with the important women throughout her life and how these relationships helped to shape her character. Overall it is a wonderfully written book, informal in style, and ideal for one not well read on Elizabeth.If you are well read on Tudor history you may find parts of the book tiresome and maybe better served by current books dedicated solely to these subjects. Here I am thinking of the political relationships with the female members of her family; her mother and step-mothers, most notably her time with Katherine Parr after Henry VIII's death and the Thomas Seymour scandal, the danger posed to Elizabeth during Mary Tudor's reign and how Elizabeth unsympathetically and ruthlessly dealt with the many female claimants to her throne; Mary, Queen of Scots, the younger Grey sisters, Margaret, Countess of Lennox and Arbella Stuart. The full title of the book is a little misleading as Elizabeth's relationships with the women in her family have never been hidden and Borman offers nothing new of value here.However, where the book comes into it's own is when Borman touches on how the treatment of her step-mothers, most notably Katherine Howard and her half-sister's disastrous and humiliating marriage helped to mould her own view never to marry. This leads to the most interesting aspect of the book; Elizabeth's relationships with the wealth of attendants surrounding her before and after she became queen. Refreshingly Borman does not shy away from painting a more negative picture of Elizabeth's character, suggesting her decision never to marry caused jealousy and bitterness toward these attendants when they wished to do so. Littered throughout Elizabeth's reign are many examples of these attendants marrying in secret and the revenge exacted by the queen afterwards, most notably when Lettice Knollys married the queen's long-standing favourite, Robert Dudley. Elizabeth expected complete loyalty from these attendants and those that were very close to her; Katherine Astley and Blanche Parry in particular, enjoyed huge favour. Despite women being barred from political office, Borman suggests that these attendants did in fact have huge political influence as the men of the court used them as effective go-betweens with the queen.Despite feeling positive on finishing the book I would have much preferred Borman to have written a book solely concerning Elizabeth's decision not to marry, in my opinion the key theme of her reign.

This is a very well researched book, which is also very easy to read. Tracy Borman's has the great gift of being able to impart facts in a way that makes the book very, very interesting and you feel you are reading a novel. I appreciated that she didn't jump back and forth over time but concentrated on each woman from the start of her relationship with Elizabeth to the end. This book made me at times feel very sorry for Elizabeth but at others I felt she was a tyrant and her behaviour to these women was dreadful. A wholly engrossing book, well written and researched.

I believe this is a book the first of its kind to delve into the power relationships between the women who directly attended to their queen's personal needs and the overwhelmingly male court of Elizabeth the First. Never before, because of the gender of the English monarch, had women of this social class found themselves wielding so much political influence. Elizabeth I's early life was fraught with very real danger because she remained the least cherished of Henry VII's children. She was lucky to have found solace from her wise and learned stepmother, Katherine Parr; but almost was undone by the scheming of her governess, Kat Champerowne and her ruthless stepfather who had designs on making her his wife should anything happen to Queen Katherine. The one complaint I had about this book was that the author seem to repeat verbatim the very biased pro-Catholic sources about Anne Boleyn without further scholarly investigation. Rather than spending any time on examining correspondence between her ladies in waiting, the Queen and various petitioners, Borman seems content to repeat how Elizabeth dealt with various claimants to the English throne, namely Mary, Queen of Scots, and the hapless Arabella Stuart. Interestingly, the women who served Elizabeth the longest chose NOT to use their influence to obtain favors for friends and family members. Overall, this book presents an original and fresh take on the court surrounding Elizabeth I but this topic could do with more thorough research.

One of the best historical biographies yet. It gave a really detailed picture of Elizabeth and those around her, from a young to old age, and was well written and easy to follow

This is a different view of Elizabeth and, as usual with this author, VERY readable. The best chapter for me was the one on Mary, Queen of Scots. I'm usually aware of some author bias, and maybe Tracey has a liking for Elizabeth, but the clear, concise detail in one chapter is what I would really recommend to any student of the period. Excellent read. Her research is great and it shows in the bibliography.