The New Murrey and Blue blog

Jacquetta of Luxembourg’s story through her eyes….

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This link https://tinyurl.com/4wwhj6ns is to an in-depth review of The Lady of the Rivers, Philippa Gregory’s novel of the life of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, as seen through the eyes of Jacquetta herself.

Jacquetta isn’t a great favourite with Ricardians, for she is the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, and we all know how much trouble resulted once Edward IV clapped eyes on Elizabeth. I haven’t read any of Philippa Gregory’s books, not because I don’t like them, but because as an author myself I never read other people’s fiction. The thought of unwittingly plagiarising someone else’s work is one to keep me awake at night. It’s bad enough watching a movie or TV drama and thinking “Oh, that gives me an idea….”

But the fact that Philippa Gregory is clearly at the very top of her class is proof that she knows how to write well! So I can only refer to you the above link to learn all about this book.

The book is obtainable here https://tinyurl.com/5ehcr7kp.

Just one thing. The COUSINS’ War?????? Oh, spare me! I absolutely loathe the renaming of the Wars of the Roses!

by viscountessw

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3 responses to “Jacquetta of Luxembourg’s story through her eyes….”

  1. gracefullydream8082aa7f2c Avatar
    gracefullydream8082aa7f2c

    I thought Wars of the Roses was coined by Walter Scott, centuries after the conflict, so what would the people living through those have called them?

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  2. je clarke Avatar
    je clarke

    would they have called it anything or just viewed it as a series of intermittant outbreaks of violence? its probably with hindsight that it looks like a ‘war’. maybe for quite a lot of the time most people just got on with their lives – with a few comments in the ale house along the lines of ‘ i heard there was a right old punch up at st albans last week….”

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  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Maybe it’s the romantic in me but of the many mismatched marriages (ok legions of these marriages) throughout history and certainly in the 15thc the attraction between Bedford’s young wife, Jacquetta, and one of his own retinue, would have been filled with enough drama to keep a Provencal minstrel falling over himself for material. Quite possibly it was more than physical attraction, and even if it was, for Jacquetta to literally go against convention and the will of her brothers (after Bedford’s death) and marry Wydeville (FAR below her social and political standing) strikes me as intriguing; Richard Wydeville must have been more than just ‘well made’ and ambitious. Maybe, and forgive me here, it was that rare thing, ‘love’ ? (Not unlike Cecily of York, who once widowed, married an equally low status man, Thomas Kyme, enraging the ever delightful Henry VII, apparently to the point of apoplexy. Love does happen, even for those cursed with annoying relatives!)

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