Book Review: Elizabeth of York, a Tudor Queen and Her World by Alison Weir

Alison Weir joins the ranks of such historical biographers as David Starkey and Sir Francis Bacon, even quoting them in her latest book Elizabeth of York. Having honed a reputation for exposing audiences to a wide scope of information about the royals that reigned in Medieval England before, during, and after the War of Roses, Weir’s books canvass the British Monarchs from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth I. She explains that this is a time of intense struggle and warfare within England’s borders as the House of Plantagenet established by William the Conqueror in 1066 had been split by his descendents who formed the House of Lancaster initiated by Henry III and the House of York established by Edward III.

Her research shows that a succession of Monarchs attempted to unite the polarized houses through marriage beginning with Elizabeth of York’s parents, Edward IV, a Yorkist king who married an impoverished Lancastrian royal Elizabeth Wydeville. A second attempt was made when Henry VII, a Lancastrian royal, ascended to the throne in 1485 and married Elizabeth of York. It is this second attempt which set the country on its present course resulting in Elizabeth and Henry’s sole surviving son, Henry VIII, to ascend to the throne and become the scion of the Tudor dynasty, Tudor being the namesake of Henry VIII’s grandfather Edmund Tudor.

Weir’s investigation into the Houses of York and Lancaster and her analysis of the conflicts, conspiracies, and duplicity which plagued the nation during medieval times gives audiences a deep understanding of the political climate and prevailing etiquette of this period. She delineates the players in the House of York from the families and supporters of the House of Lancaster. A very complex and confusing time in England when royals may be stripped of their title and demesnes at any moment and alliances vacillate daily. Weir sifts through the web of fabrication intermingled with facts purported through the ages to give audiences a clear picture about what was going on within the Monarchy and the families of the English lords.

The biography is littered with such phrases as “must have,” “likely,” “probably,” “one possibility,” and “would have surely,” which lead up to a host of suppositions, conjectures, and speculations made by Weir. Although many of the stipulations which Weir presents can be argued and refuted by contrasting evidence supplied from entries cited in documents and journals penned by English lords at this time, Weir suspects that some of these entries may have not reflected the truth but a tale needed to be espoused in order to maintain one’s favors with the presiding sovereign.

Weir gives the reader intelligible evidence to show how one’s words could be easily misconstrued to be inferred as treasonable or worse a form of witchcraft and sorcery, which such rumors ran rampant through medieval times to influence public opinion. She asserts it was a matter of survival for people’s private correspondence to advocate falsehoods if necessary to survive, a climate which can be observed in contemporary times showing that Weir infuses a modern mindset into the account.

Prodigiously researched, thoroughly detailed, and intelligently written, Alison Weir presents an astute account of Elizabeth of York’s life and times. Her investigation of Elizabeth’s social settings is informative and her analysis of tragedies and pivotal events which come into Elizabeth’s world provide readers with a microscopic view of what Elizabeth endured and struggled through in order to win over the English people’s compassion and devotion. A insurmountable accomplish after her uncle Richard III had Parliament pass Titulus Regius in 1484 which declared Elizabeth and her siblings illegitimate. Intentional or not, Weir’s book shows that fate worked in mysterious ways back then.