Elizabeth of York

October 21, 2013
Best known as the mother of Henry VIII, Elizabeth of York (1466–1503) is also the ancestor of the English, Scots, and British monarchies that commenced in 1509, 1513, and 1603, respectively. Weir (Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings) conveys how, as a royal princess, Elizabeth was a pawn in the dynastic ambitions of England’s rulers: her father, Edward IV; her uncle, Richard III; her mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort; and her husband, Henry VII, whose claim to the English throne was inferior to her own. Betrothed to the Dauphin of France at age 11, Elizabeth was—after the death of her father in 1483—even rumored to be a possible match for Richard III, usurper of Edward V’s throne and responsible for the murder of Elizabeth’s two younger brothers. Weir, an authority on 15th- and 16th-century English history, revises some of her previous thinking regarding the fate of the princes in the Tower of London, but the major focus is Elizabeth’s life, portrayed in great detail, from marriage ceremonies and royal itineraries to the food, books, gifts, and clothing of her day. Weir argues her positions clearly and, in balancing the scholarly with emphases on Elizabeth’s emotional and psychological life, she should reach a wider audience than traditional histories. Illus. Agent: Julian Alexander, Lucas Alexander Whitley (U.K.).

October 1, 2013
Prolific, best-selling author Weir (Mary Boleyn: Mistress of Kings, 2011, etc.), who specializes in female royalty, presents another popular biography, a serious work definitely not aimed at a bodice-ripper audience. This Tudor Elizabeth (1466-1503) lived a century before her much better-known granddaughter, but she was important: the daughter, wife and mother of kings, including Henry VIII. England's bloody War of the Roses seemed to end in 1461 when Edward of York defeated his Lancastrian enemies and took the throne as Edward IV. This proved illusory when he offended powerful allies by marrying an obscure subject, Elizabeth Woodville, and promoting her family. When he died in 1483, no law prevented Edward's 12-year-old firstborn, Elizabeth of York, from inheriting the throne, but no one considered women fit to govern if men with reasonable claims could be found. There were plenty at the time--and none a century later when Henry VIII's son died, allowing his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth I, to rule. There followed two chaotic years during which her uncle, the Duke of York, murdered Edward's two sons, threatened his widow and daughters, seized power as Richard III, and fended off rivals until killed in battle in 1485 by Henry Tudor, who married Elizabeth, uniting two families whose factions had fought bitterly for 50 years and launching the modern British monarchy as Henry VII. "Elizabeth of York's role in history was crucial," writes the author, "although in a less chauvinistic age it would, by right, have been more so." Admitting that she was not a dynamic figure, Weir portrays Elizabeth as a passive observer or victim and often ignores her entirely as she delivers an intensely researched, opinionated, almost blow-by-blow political history of Britain during the turbulent last half of the 15th century.

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November 1, 2013
The subject of the popular British historian's latest plunge into the fertile Tudor ground she has so successfully tilled in many previous books is the wife of the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, who dethroned the last Yorkist king, Richard III, in a pitched battle and assumed the crown himself. The marriage of Elizabeth of York, the last surviving Yorkist heir, to the new Tudor king had the intended effect of settling any controversy as to who rightfully sat on the throne. Despite some bothersome initial bumps in the narrative roadnamely, Weir's tendency early on, in the face of scant documentary evidence specifically about Elizabeth, to say, She would have done this, she would have seen that this bracing biography reveals a woman of integrity, who, while honoring her Yorkist heritage, grew to love her husband, became a kind and generous queen consort, and helped him lay strong groundwork for the success of the new Tudor dynasty. As always in a Weir book, the tenor of the times is drawn with great color and authenticity. High-Demand Backstory: Given Weir's universal appeal as a popular historian, especially of the very popular Tudor era, her publisher has an extensive ad campagin planned for the release of her new book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

June 15, 2013

We know all about Henry VIII's famous wives and daughters. But what about his mother, who legitimized the new Tudor dynasty as the only living descendant of Yorkist King Edward IV? The popular Weir, who has tackled many of England's great royal women in biography and fiction, here takes on Elizabeth of York in what appears to be the only biography currently available for lay readers.

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