Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Chadwick really knows how to make history personal and alive. She makes you feel what was at stake for the people involved, know their losses and fears, and she fills in the gaps between the known facts so plausibly.
Lady of the English tells the story of two women very close to power but ultimately unable to wield it in a man's world. The two women are very different. King Henry I's wife, Adeliza, is soft, empathetic, and physically weak. She is just looking for peace and stability, but is very loyal. She is one of the few characters who finds moments of happiness and peace. Although there is sadness too, she is a welcome break from the darker struggles of the succession that consume the rest of the kingdom. Her story provides a strong contrast with Henry's daughter, Matilda, and her never-ending railing against everyone.
Matilda should have been Henry's heir but he passes her over because she is a woman. Her struggles against men throughout this are so frustrating, and the contempt that they show for her as a woman is horrifyingly accurate for the time. She was apparently considered a termagant, but Chadwick brings a different perspective, that of a woman fighting with everything she has to be strong for her son and her country against the mold placed on her by society. She takes quite a beating along the way, and sacrifices pretty much everything. This one quote gets right at the heart of it: “Do you think you are the only one with a pile of ashes in your hearth? I burned my dreams to build my nightmares.”
It was not always easy to read, and my hopes for Matilda to find some happiness in something were not met. I suppose that's what happens when the story is history. You can't invent happiness without leaving the facts behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment