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by Suzanne Buchert
Elizabeth the Great by Elizabeth Jenkins
“When Henry VIII died in January 1547, the most remarkable beings left in the realm were three pale and close-lipped children. One was his daughter Elizabeth by his second wife Ann Boleyn, another was his son Edward by his third wife Jane Seymour, the third was his great-niece Jane, granddaughter of his sister Mary and eldest child of Lord Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset. Elizabeth was fourteen, Edward nine and Jane eleven.”
Elizabeth the Great, the biography of Elizabeth I by Elizabeth Jenkins, is the kind of book I can’t resist. I love biographies, I love history, and I love Tudor England. (Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor family to rule England). And, I found it for free on the book shelf at Badger Brothers Coffee in Platteville, where I work part-time. Being there approximately 5-6 mornings a week (two for work and three with my coffee group), I have plenty of opportunity to scope out the recent arrivals on the book shelf and to scoop up the plum offerings before anyone else has a chance. Of course, I have to admit, there probably wouldn’t be all that many others ready to get ecstatic over “Elizabeth the Great”. I hesitated a second or two due to having read other books on the same subject, but then tucked it into my bag and took it home. The book languished on my shelf for a few months and then, after the Public Television Masterpiece Theater special on Elizabeth piqued my interest, “Elizabeth the Great” was selected. I sometimes wonder how I came by my interest in history. My Dad read pulp westerns; Louis Lamour was his all time favorite author. My Mom read romance novels. They both amassed vast collections of their favorite genres. Dad had boxes of paperback copies of books by his favorite authors and Mom once bought more than 100 Harlequin romance novels at a crack through an ad in the paper. I loved to read from an early age and remember weekly trips to the grade school library a short block from our house during the summer (can you believe it was open during the summer!) to trade in last weeks books for a new stack. Some memorable titles were “The Box Car Children” “Pegeen” and “Poppy Seed Cakes”. Tasha Tudor’s delicate drawings led me to look for her books. Sitting in my room, reading “Little Women” and crying over Beth’s death made me read all of Louise May Alcott’s books. I’m not sure when my interest in history actually started, but by the time I was in high school, it was my favorite subject. Popular films of the time surely played a part in my interest. I first saw the movie “Young Bess” and then read the book. From there I branched out to the rest of the Tudor dynasty, going up and down the ladder of English monarchs through the centuries. English history, European history, Russian history, and Canadian history were added to American history as part of my college curriculum. I was rewarded for my coffee shop selection with a supremely readable, fascinating (to me anyway) account of the life of Elizabeth. Even though I had read about her in the past, I found I had either forgotten aspects of her life and reign, or there were facts that I had never encountered before. Jenkins delves into the motivation for some of Elizabeth’s behavior with reminders of her early childhood when her father had her mother beheaded. More than enough to give a girl pause when considering marriage to know that a husband had the power of life and death over his wife. In spite of her caution, Elizabeth was not immune to the charms of men and was always interested in attention and flattery. Lets just say she was not about to lose her head over them. She had managed to keep her head about her through the tricky reign of her half-sister, Mary Tudor, who succeeded their brother Edward after his early death from tuberculosis. To Mary, Elizabeth was a bastard and a protestant bastard at that. Elizabeth was always mindful of the fact that one false move and she could meet her mother’s fate. Instead, she survived Mary, inherited the throne, and went on to become “Elizabeth the Great”, a name and title still held in her country and abroad. As for the other child mentioned in the opening lines, Jane Gray went to the block for trying to usurp the throne from Elizabeth. Mary Queen of Scots met the same fate, beheaded for treason after numerous plots to take over the English crown and do away with her cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had proved to be a survivor in the mold of her father, Henry VIII. Even if you don’t usually read biographies or history, you could enjoy this book as a rollicking story of a truly remarkable woman. Tristate women should relate to that! Keep reading……
Suzanne Buchert and her husband, Keith, own several restaurants.
sbuchert@hotmail.com
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