Game of Queens - Softcover

Sarah Gristwood

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786071002 ISBN 13: 9781786071002

Publisher: Oneworld Publications, 2017

Synopsis

A BBC History magazine Book of the Year and an amazon.com Best Book of the Month

As religion divided sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary group of women rose to power. They governed nations while kings fought in foreign lands. They ruled on behalf of nephews, brothers and sons. They negotiated peace between their warring nations. For decades, they ran Europe. Small wonder that it was in this century that the queen became the most powerful piece on the chessboard.

From mother to daughter and mentor to protégée, Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu through Anne Boleyn – the woman who tipped England into religious reform – and on to Elizabeth I and Jeanne d’Albret, heroine of the Protestant Reformation. Unravelling a gripping historical narrative, Gristwood reveals the stories of the queens who had, until now, been overshadowed by kings.

About this title

Review

An Amazon Best Book of December 2016: When chess was first played, all the human figures were male. Only around the eight century did the Queen appear and not until the sixteenth century did the Queen become the most powerful piece in chess. Credit for this development is given to Isabella of Spain, the “warrior queen,” herself a skillful and enthusiastic chess player. Coincidentally, from Isabella’s accession to the throne in 1474 through the next hundred years, an Age of Queens flourished to a degree not seen before or since, with women on the thrones of many European countries. Both the influence of chess and Isabella of Spain feature heavily in Game of Queens. Though few of the female regents met one another, the passage of power and influence (including strategic chess plays) flowed from mothers to daughters and from mentors to protegees, across borders and across generations. The stories of some of the greatest (and hated) queens are told here (in an amusing author’s note, Gristwood points out that in a story with sixteen protagonists, eight of them are named either Mary or Margaret and she absolves herself of responsibility for any confusion that may result). Against a backdrop of religious reformations and the innovations of the new age, Gristwood deftly shows how the explosion of female rule came about, the machinations and power plays behind the thrones, and how the Age of Queens ultimately played out; unsurprisingly, fidelity and fertility were used to create scandals that threatened to topple each Queen. From Isabella of Castile and her granddaughter Mary Tudor, to Catherine de Medici, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth Tudor, what could be a dry examination of policy and power becomes, in Gristwood’s hands, a lively, accessible, occasionally hilarious, absorbing account of an astonishing era. --Vannessa Cronin, The Amazon Book Review

About the Author

Sarah Gristwood is a regular contributor to many London publications as well as a commentator on royal and historical affairs. The author of several previous books, including Blood Sisters, Gristwood splits her time between London and Kent, United Kingdom.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1786071002
• ISBN 13: 9781786071002
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416