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The Queen's Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth's Court, by Anna Whitelock
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From the private world of a beloved English queen, a story of intimacy, royalty, espionage, rumor, and subterfuge
Queen Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen's court lay her bedchamber, closely guarded by the favored women who helped her dress, looked after her jewels, and shared her bed.
Elizabeth's private life was of public concern. Her bedfellows were witnesses to the face and body beneath the makeup and raiment, as well as to rumored dalliances with such figures as Earl Robert Dudley. Their presence was for security as well as propriety, as the kingdom was haunted by fears of assassination plots and other Catholic stratagems. Such was the significance of the queen's body: it represented the very British state itself.
In The Queen's Bed, the historian Anna Whitelock offers a revealing look at the Elizabethan court and the politics of intimacy. She dramatically reconstructs, for the first time, the queen's quarters and the women who patrolled them. It is a story of sex, gossip, conspiracy, and intrigue brought to life amid the colors, textures, smells, and routines of the royal court.
The women who attended the queen held the truth about her health, chastity, and fertility. They were her friends, confidantes, and spies―nobody knew her better. And until now, historians have overlooked them. The Queen's Bed is a revelatory, insightful look into their daily lives―the untold story of the queen laid bare.
- Sales Rank: #762414 in Books
- Published on: 2014-02-11
- Released on: 2014-02-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.21" h x 1.53" w x 6.41" l, 1.58 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 480 pages
From Booklist
Whitelock delves deep into the court of Queen Elizabeth I—in fact, into the monarch’s very bedchamber, where she examines the lives, the roles, and the influence of her most favored ladies-in-waiting. Culled from the aristocracy and much more than glorified servants, these women bathed, clothed, and often shared a bed with the queen. In doing so, they bore witness to the political rivalries, social gambits, and personal scandals that perpetually surrounded Elizabeth. Charged with pampering and protecting the queen’s body, they also zealously guarded her secrets—often with very little thanks or consideration—in the fishbowl environment of the Elizabethan court. This intimate history of Elizabeth’s boudoir and the women who populated it approaches a popular biographical subject from an entirely fresh angle, providing an enlightening peek into her private persona. --Margaret Flanagan
Review
“Unquestionably [Elizabeth] is one of the most powerful women to have ever lived. So is it any wonder that this brilliant, vain, temperamental, wily woman still fascinates centuries later?. . . Elizabethan England was a ribald wondrous realm ruled by an extraordinary woman and Anna Whitelock brings it vividly to life in The Queen's Bed.” ―Robert Collison, Toronto Star
“As Anna Whitelock's The Queen's Bed proves, there is still a new and fascinating vantage from which to consider Elizabeth I. . .” ―Kathryn Harrison, New York Times Book Review
“[The Queen's Bed] is filled with fascinating details of life at her court, with eyewitness accounts from diaries, letters and pamphlets. . . a trove of interesting facts.” ―Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal
“Densely erudite, intriguing take on Queen Elizabeth I's very public private life. . .Especially striking is the author's chronicle of Elizabeth's relationships over the course of her long reign; she was never alone, and she had several (probably consummated) love affairs or infatuations, most notably with her beloved Lord Robert Dudley. . . Whitelock's deep reading into the primary sources of this period proves wonderfully satisfying. This chockablock, scholarly portrait invites further interest in this endlessly alluring queen.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“This intimate portrait of Elizabeth's private life, as refracted through her relationships with the ladies of her bedchamber, will engage any readers wishing for a more balanced portrait of Elizabeth the flawed human being, as opposed to simply another rehashing of the mythical representations of her as Gloriana.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Fascinating glimpses of Elizabeth I's life behind closed doors. . . [The Queen's Bed] is enriched by Anna Whitelock's eye for the curious and engaging detail.” ―TLS
“Anna Whitelock's skillful and detailed history will bring you closer than seems possible to this glittering, infuriating, fascinating woman.” ―Hilary Mantel
“Whitelock's fearless approach to Elizabeth is not unlike that of Essex. She, too, has burst into the bedroom and shown us the Queen in her most private state. This is an intimate history of the court and a brilliant history of intimacy.” ―Frances Wilson, The Mail on Sunday
“Whitelock makes sparkling use of the eye-witness testimonies of courtiers, who recorded their impressions of the Queen in letters as gossipy and vivid as any tweet or Facebook post . . . The charm of Anna Whitelock's portrait of the Queen and her times is that it shows the monarch and the woman, in all her power and pathos, through the eyes of the people who knew her best.” ―Jane Shilling, Daily Mail
“A great story, told with wit and verve.” ―John Gallagher, The Telegraph
“Engrossing and admirably researched . . . Taking us behind the closed doors of Elizabeth's bedchamber, Whitelock builds up a remarkably intimate portrait . . . [Her] excellent life of Queen Mary was published in 2009. With this dazzling portrait of Mary's successor, she takes her place among the foremost--and most enthrallingly readable--historians of the Tudors.” ―Miranda Seymour , The Sunday Times (London)
About the Author
Anna Whitelock received her PhD in history from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 2004 with a thesis on the court of Mary I. Her articles and book reviews on various aspects of Tudor history have appeared in many publications, including The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, and BBC History. She has taught at Cambridge University and is now a lecturer in early modern history and the director of public history at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Most helpful customer reviews
67 of 69 people found the following review helpful.
Rehashed History
By takingadayoff
The Tudors are an endless source of entertainment and scholarship. I've spent many enjoyable hours reading about them. Anna Whitelock's new book is about the inner court of Elizabeth I, and as the British edition's title calls it, "Elizabeth's Bedfellows." As a new biography of Elizabeth, The Queen's Bed is good, a detailed and readable account. But as a history of the inner court, and in particular, Elizabeth's closest advisors and servants, it falls short.
I am tempted to excuse this failing due to the lack of source material that details the lives and actions of the women closest to Elizabeth. After all, women were often an afterthought in the 16th century -- who would have thought to write about servants, even those of the Queen? But as it happens, someone has already written a book on the topic and found quite a lot of information about the women of Elizabeth's privy chamber. Elizabeth's Women: Friends, Rivals, and Foes Who Shaped the Virgin Queen by Tracy Borman came out about four years ago. It tells a story of the upper class, well-educated women who populated Elizabeth's court and world. They were an influential and politically savvy group, and Elizabeth talked with them about policy and diplomacy. It was quite a revelation to me that these were not just servants who tended to the Queen's makeup and dress. They were intelligent and opinionated advisors who were often targeted by foreign diplomats for inside information.
The Queen's Bed is a fine book about Elizabeth, but if you were hoping for a little more information about the part the women of the Queen's privy chamber played, I'd have to point you toward Borman's book instead.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Great story and compelling history, but skip the Kindle edition
By Cavalry Scout
The Kindle edition of this book gets two stars because the publisher elected to omit all of the wonderful (and important to the story) photographs that are in the print edition. The book refers time and again to portraits of Elizabeth, and they're all there in glorious color right in the middle of the print version of this book. But nope, not on Kindle. Why do publishers keep doing this with their e-books? Do they think we're too dumb to notice that the pictures aren't there?
20 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
Fascinating Portrait of an Extraordinary Queen
By Eileen Pollock
I have never read a biography of Elizabeth I before, and rather than a rehash, I found this a superior work of scholarship and abundant research. The notes and bibliography prove that the author has done wide independent scholarly research.Each chapter captures your interest. The writing is on a high level and I have learned much I never knew of Elizabeth. The title of the Queen's Bed refers to the central theme of the book - England's need for an heir, which the Virgin Queen never provided.
Meanwhile you are given a fascinating backstage view of the world of Elizabeth and her entourage of ladies. The focus is not so much on the ladies who served Elizabeth, though they are given full coverage, as it is on the life of the Queen herself. The biography is full of intrigue, plottings, and above all, the towerng figure of Elizabeth.
As the first biography of Elizabeth I have read, this has proven to be a superior choice, and I recommend it to anyone who is not oversatiated with Elizabethan biography.
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