This week I wrote a blog about Louise de Savoie’s remarkable Journal. The Journal is a short document that has left me with many questions. Susan Abertnethy published it on her excellent Freelance History Blog. I have substantially changed my views about Louise’s Journal since I last posted about it. I will be writing more …
What do Countess Louise, Astrology, and January 1 have in common? Readers of the Journal de Louise de Savoye, duchesse d’Angoulesme, d’Anjou et de Valois will know the answer. For the rest of you, let me explain. Three crucial events In the 20 years between 1496 to 1515, three crucial events in Countess Louise’s life …
Marguerite de Rohan, Countess d’Angoulême was the grandmother of King François I of France on his father’s side. I care about her because, in my new novel The Importance of Sons, (Release date, April 2022) she plays an important role since she’s the mother-in-law of Louise de Savoie, François’s mother. She was Breton, daughter of …
What clothing did French Renaissance Noblewomen wear? As a writer, I ask myself this question each time I need to describe a woman. I focus on noblewomen because courts set the fashion. People of every class copied the one above it as closely as their finances allowed. Styles varied from one country to another and from …
I began this website with facts not fiction about the women of 16th Century France. It was too limiting. , I posted historical content about the women I was fictionalizing. It was too limiting. Now my site is more eclectic. I have lots about my fiction, the blog posts with historical content about the women …
The Women of 16th-Century France: Fact and Fiction Read More »
Ready for some fascinating 8th-Century heroines? In Saxon Heroines: Women of Determination and Courage you will meet several active during the years from 624 to 706. The first character and narrator is Hildeburg, a princess of nine, unhappy that a new queen is about to replace the recently deceased aunt she loved. Women’s issues—girls as …
The Poison Keeper—original fast-paced & vivid. Set in the dangerous period of early 17th-century Renaissance Naples Deborah Swift’s novel begins a new series. Unique Characters Tell Original Stories The novel tells the story of the actual historical woman Giulia Toscana. Her life takes many terrible twists from almost the first page. She longs to learn …
The strong-willed Jeanne de Navarre, destined to become Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572, showed her mettle from earliest childhood. So, it isn’t surprising that Jeanne d’Albret defied the powers that be to make Navarre the centre of Huguenot resistance during the early wars of religion. These included: her uncle, King François I; her …
You’ll find my brief history of the life of Princess Renée de France, a stanch Huguenot, at The Freelance History Writer. I recently wrote a guest blog post there to celebrate the launch of my novel The Importance of Pawns. In the post, I give an overview of the tumultuous life that Princess Renée lived. …
A Brief History of Princess Renée de France: Staunch Huguenot Read More »
In France, Mary Tudor ranks as the French Queen, not the English Princess. She wasn’t queen long. As third wife to the feeble King Louis XII, she reigned as queen consort from 9 October 1514 when they married in Abbeville to 1 January 1515 when the king died. But from then until the end of …
Discovering the Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle startled me. Since she is one of my favourite authors of Renaissance fiction, I was puzzled by the surprising hype. So I bought the book. It was not what I expected; it was much better — a genuine pleasure to read. Fremantle’s Katherine Parr Queen Katherine Parr, the …
Born on 25 October 1510 at the Château de Blois, Renée de France’s life did not begin as difficult. She was the second daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany. Blessed with a Golden Infancy Unusually for the times, Louis stayed in the queen’s chambers during Renée’s birth. Even though they had …
