Product Description

Born in 1473, Margaret Pole was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, niece of both Edward IV and Richard III, and the only woman, apart from Anne Boleyn, to hold a peerage title in her own right during the 16th century. This biography of one of the most significant female figures in the male-dominated world of Tudor politics presents the life and culture of this propertied, titled lady against the social and political background of late Yorkist and early Tudor Britain. New research on aristocratic life and court politics in the period, including a complete reappraisal of the Exeter conspiracy, is presented.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3100720 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
"A vivid and scholarly evocation of . . . politics in the Tudor period." -- The Catholic Herald

About the Author
Hazel Pierce is a historian and has taught at the University of Wales, Bangor. She is a member of the Royal Historical Society and has published widely on 15th- and 16th-century British history.

Customer Reviews

Too Near the Throne
This is an excellent biography: Hazel Pierce does not speculate, she does not dramatize, she does not invent emotion or try to read her subject's mind and heart. She just tells the story of this magnificent woman's fascinating life.
Link to Plantagenet England, friend and confidant of Catherine of Aragon, godmother and governess to Princess Mary, mother of Reginald Pole, future Archbishop of Canterbury, Margaret Pole was the richest woman in England, with lands and houses in her own name. From being favored by Henry VIII she fell to being imprisoned in the Tower of London, losing all her holdings; one son executed, another son exiled, she was unjustly condemned and horribly executed. She was not even legally tried, and was given an hour's notice of her death.
Winston Churchill summed up Henry VIII's reign with the sad commentary on the failure of the once great promise of the Renaissance prince, noting the executions of queens (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard), chancellors (Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell), a holy bishop (Fisher) and numerous monks and abbots (Richard Houghton and the Carthusians; Richard Whiting and the monks at Glastonbury), and 'almost every member of the nobility in whom royal blood ran'--Margaret Pole was one of those nobles. Hazel Pierce ensures that she is known for more than being one of Henry VIII's victims.

Scholarly and well written, but...,
this is actually more of a group biography of the Pole family than a biography of Margaret. In fact, Margaret disappears for long portions of the text while the focus shifts to the lives of her sons. It seems that Pierce has chosen the poitical dealings of the family during the time of Henry VIII's "great matter" as her main thrust here - which is fine, but I wish the book had been presented as such. As Margaret was, for a time, a major court figure and governess to the Princess Mary, I was hoping for a book that would focus more on those aspects of her life - which are examined only briefly. This is a wonderful book for one who is interested in the history of the Pole family, but less than satisfying for one whose major interest is women of the Tudor era.