THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE

[BitTiredNow]

By Philippa Gregory - just finished it - in 2 days - not bad considering I am on my own with 3 under 4 - has anyone else read it? I was GRIPPED

tell us about the Kings of France, then, expat, I've never studied much French history. All I remember being taught up to the Napoleonic wars was a list of battles we won - I expect French children are given a different list of battles they won.

Hell, where to start?

Let's see, Francois I, Henry's contemporary.

Anne grew up in his wife's court, after all .

But the man blew tons of money, particularly on new structures of all sorts - palaces.

I would imagine if a book was written about Mary Queen of Scots, including all she went through, it would be considered unbelievable.

But it would make a cracking story.

And that of her son, who had a particular enjoyment of torturing "witches."

Now there is a mine of resources just waiting!

I hate to say this but if you look at it the Tudors were fairly boring, all that politics

i prefer the French.

all that rampant fucking that went on.

brill!

Three fantastic books. Can't wait for a couple of years to go past so I have the excuse to read them again.

So did the French really do rampant fucking? Were babies out of wedlock not a problem for them?

Some of these king's mistresses would have 6 or more children by the king, Peaches.

Often, the women were of noble birth themselves, as happened often enough here.

I have no idea how they got round this.

I mean, James V of Scotland had several, well-acknowledged male children born to noble women who were married to other men at the time. All you have to do is see their faces in a portrait and it's patently obvious that James fathered them.

Twoifbysea, I studied Stuart history for A-level and have no wish to ever read about James VI and I again - the man was gross. According to contemporary accounts he was forever fiddling with himself and farting.

And his grandfather was just as yucky, too.

His dad was definitely a major skank as well.

See, I thought that was cos they had a standard idea of beauty so a good portrait painter made sure you looked a la mode.

But surely there's plenty of fucking in the English courts, even by the wives, where so long as you'd provided an heir, you were then free to go off and take a lover. Or am I in the wrong century? Certainly that in the days of the Prince Regent.

i don't know how they worked out whose kid was whose in some cases.

the sun king, for example, had one mistress who bore him SEVEN children. but she was also the daughter of a duke and married to some marquis, with whom she also had children.

re whose baby was whose - wasn't it something like the husband of the mistress 'welcomed' the baby - unless the king felt like acknowledging it - in which case he came across with cash and titles (mostly just the titles ) and the husband kept quiet!

I think women had to be bloody careful, though. Certainly in late 18th/19th century some women were abandoned and forced apart from their children for adultery - Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire springs to mind. Her son was permanently affected by the loss of his mother, even though she was allowed back (from the Continent, that useful place for sending ne'er do wells) after the baby was adopted by someone else. She was one of the leaders of society, with a wealthy and well-connected family - if it could happen to her...

I imagine if your child was fathered by the King, your husband had to put up with it, though.