At fifteen years of age, upon the death of her cousin, Edward, Lady Jane Grey was forced to accept the crown of England. She was queen for only nine days, however. Edward's eldest sister, Mary, soon challenged Jane for the throne, with tragic results. This is the true story of a bright and intelligent young woman who was manipulated and betrayed by the ambitious people who surrounded her.
For most, the name of Lady Jane Grey means the 'nine days queen', the child who was used as a pawn in the power politics of the Tudor realm by both her parents, the Suffolks, and Northumberlands. Alison Plowden's new book tells the tragic story of Jane's life, and death, but also reveals her to be a woman of unusual strength of conviction, with an intelligence and steady faith beyond her years. Told with Alison's usual skill and adeptness, this is a story which will stir compassion in the hearts of the hardiest readers. It also gives us insight into the least known of Henry VIII's wives, Katherine Parr.
Published information on Lady Jane is scant and contradictory; here, primary sources including JaneOCOs own letters illustrate the drama of a high-born, high-minded and intelligent young lady sacrificed on the pyre of ambition by her kin. The teenaged Lady"
I had freckles. I had sandy hair. I was too short. Would my feet even touch the ground if I sat on the throne? These are the words of lady Jane Grey, as imagined by celebrated author Ann Rinaldi. Jane would become Queen of England for only nine days before being beheaded at the age of sixteen. Here is a breathtaking story of English royalty with its pageantry, privilege, and surprising cruelty. As she did in her previous novel Mutiny's Daughter, Ms. Rinaldi uses powerful, evocative writing to bring to life a teenage girl caught in the grip of stirring times. Ages 12+
The tragedy of Lady Jane Grey is unquestionably one of the most poignant episodes in English history, but its very dramatic completeness and compactness have almost invariably caused its wider significance to be obscured by the element of personal pathos with which it abounds. The sympathetic figure of the studious, saintly maiden, single-hearted in her attachment to the austere creed of Geneva, stands forth alone in a score of books refulgent against the gloomy background of the greed and ambition to which she was sacrificed. The whole drama of her usurpation and its swift catastrophe is usually treated as an isolated phenomenon, the result of one man’s unscrupulous self-seeking; and with the fall of the fair head of the Nine Days’ Queen upon the blood-stained scaffold within the Tower the curtain is rung down and the incident looked upon as fittingly closed by the martyrdom of the gentlest champion of the Protestant Reformation in England. Such a treatment of the subject, however attractive and humanly interesting it may be, is nevertheless unscientific as history and untrue in fact. An adequate appreciation of the tendencies behind the unsuccessful attempt to deprive Mary of her birthright can only be gained by a consideration of the circumstances preceding and surrounding the main incident. The reasons why Northumberland, a weak man as events proved, was able to ride rough-shod over the nobles and people of England, the explanation of his sudden and ignominious collapse and of the apparent levity with which the nation at large changed its religious beliefs and observance at the bidding of assumed authority are none of them on the surface of events; and the story of Jane Grey as it is usually told, whilst abounding in pathetic interest gives no key to the vast political issues of which the fatal intrigue of Northumberland was but a by-product. To represent the tragedy as a purely religious one, as is not infrequently done, is doubly misleading. That one side happened to be Catholic and the other Protestant was merely a matter of party politics, and probably not a single active participator in the events, except Jane herself, and to some extent Mary, was really moved by religious considerations at all, loud as the professions of some of the leaders were.
The Nine Days' Queen by Richard Davey is a biography of Lady Jane Grey in the form of a personal tragedy. Lady Jane Grey, later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was a teenage English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Excerpt: "The tragedy of Lady Jane Grey is unquestionably one of the most poignant episodes in English history, but its very dramatic completeness and compactness have almost invariably caused its wider significance..."
Mary, Katherine, and Jane Grey--sisters whose mere existence nearly toppled a kingdom and altered a nation's destiny--are the captivating subjects of de Lisle's book. The author breathes fresh life into these three women's lives and provides perspective on their place within history.
Annotation Published information on Lady Jane is scant and contradictory; here, primary sources including Jane's own letters illustrate the drama of a high-born, high-minded and intelligent young lady sacrificed on the pyre of ambition by her kin. The teenaged Lady Jane faced her shocking fate with shocking fortitude; her own performance is inspirational, while some of those around her showed themselves to be the very embodiment of treachery and betrayal. This work is the result of a seven year investigation into the story of Lady Jane. Among the gems that the author uncovered in his research is a collection of letters that William Lane purchased from an unidentified source while he was at the Minerva Press, possibly in 1790 or 1791. Wellrecorded events in history correlate with some of the events indicated in these previously unpublished letters, thus tying them to the figures of the time and providing insight into the turbulent Tudor period. Another tantalizing item is an intimate letter Lady Jane wrote to Queen Mary in August of 1553. Rarely seen and little studied, it is available only in an 1594 Italian translation. Each letter or document has been reviewed at its original source level, translated from another language, or transcribed and presented in that form. The author has indicated the primary source for each document, and noted supporting sources when available. The result is a complete and accurate study of Lady Jane Grey and her short reign, through primary and secondary sources, that will stimulate new questions in the mind of readers and researchers alike. * This is the first in a series of books on Elizabethan figures by James D. Taylor.
