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Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen A Novel Six Tudor Queens Alison Weir Books

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Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen A Novel Six Tudor Queens Alison Weir Books

Spoilers ahead.

Alison Weir's book Jane Seymour started out great and was historically accurate until, some liberties were taken with facts. The novel begins with the child Jane who is very religious and wants to be a nun and join an order. The scandal of her brother Edward's wife who becomes involved with her father in law is covered is the first crisis for Jane and her family. Jane Seymour ultimately wishes to be a lady in waiting at the court of Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon and the court intrigues are witnessed first hand by Jane. Jane Seymour is loyal to Queen Katherine but witnesses her being displaced by Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII ultimately takes an interest and Weir describes how Anne is displaced by Jane who becomes the third Queen. The story moves to the ultimate tragic death of Jane Seymour after she gives birth to the future Edward VI. It is a page turner and Weir is excellent at character development. What put me off the book was the depiction of Jane actually becoming Henry's mistress before he starts proceedings to divorce and ultimately execute Anne Boleyn. This development is totally out of character for the real not the fictional Jane Seymour who rejected becoming Henry's mistress and she even returned his gifts. Biographers of Jane did not say she became the mistress and wanted to be wife and rejected Henry's advances. And Weir's Jane is always thinking what if she gets pregnant by Henry--if she did before Henry divorced Anne, she most likely have become another Bessie Blount, who gave birth Henry's son out of wedlock. Her family and advisers had ambitions for her to be wife not mistress.The book also becomes a romance novel once she and Henry go to bed together. . There is also a miscarriage written in for Jane by the author after she marries Henry. THere is no documentation that Jane conceived a child before Prince Edward. The best part of the book is about the family dynamics at Wulfhall, the home of the Seymour family and the court intrigue involving Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. I would have given this book more stars if the story did not take a detour into fiction which totally changes the character of Jane and makes her actually seem unsympathetic. THis is a good Summer Read but I would advise reading biographies about Jane Seymour first.


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Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen A Novel Six Tudor Queens Alison Weir Books Reviews

Alison Weir is back with her latest installment of her Six Tudor Queens series, with the intricate portrayal of Jane Seymour. I’ve been a devote follower of the series and Weir’s other fiction and non-fiction works. Weir has the captivating ability to portray elaborate stories of history that completely engrosses me from the very beginning. Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen was no exception.
Jane Seymour was quite the opposite of her predecessor Anne Boleyn, being docile, pure, and kind-hearted. Like Alison Weir’s insightful Author’s Note indicates, very little personal details were documented known about Jane, in her very short three-year reign.
I enjoyed the pace of the book, beginning with Jane’s home life in Wulfhall, to her life in Queen Katherine’s court, following to her reluctant service to Anne Boleyn, to her winning of King Henry VIII’s heart. The story isn’t rushed and I was astonished numerous times at the scandalous happenings on the era.
I found it commendable the details contained in the Author’s Notes where Weir describes what creative liberties she took in writing Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen and why. I would call her fictional writing “faction”, as it very closely illustrates actual historical accounts.
This book is for anyone interested in historical fiction and Tudor history. I devoured most of the novel in one sitting. The plot is full of scandal, secrets, and innocent deception.
Well...I'm not somebody who usually gets upset when somebody takes a historical figure, and twists a few facts in order to make a good story. But this novel goes too fa in that (and yes I do mean "novel"). I doubt Queen Jane would ever recognize herself in this book! Most people know the basic facts of this story, but it's Weir's interpretation of attitudes and motivations that really doesn't add up. Here are a few of her major inconsistencies that I think most historians would disagree with

1. Jane is extremely religious, and therefore in favor of the old Catholic church, she supports Queen Catherine and Princess Mary against Queen Anne, and deplores the dissolution of the monasteries. (yes, all that's most likely true, and believable. ), But yet she falls MADLY in love with King Henry just for himself, and not his wealth and power--even when he is the very monster at the center of everything she disbelieves, and supposedly abhors. Huh???

2. Inexplicably she has a lot of sex with Henry while he was with Anne (even if Jane doesn't technically recognize his marriage to Anne, and considered him single, this is still fornication, which with her Catholic beliefs would lead directly to hell, along with (since she's unmarried with no husband to be a cover) TOTAL disgrace for herself and her family if she fell pregnant and he didn't recognize the child. The other thing is she's a very plain woman, no wit or real charm, late twenties, with negligible family connections and wealth, and yet she gets a King eventhough she's already providing him sex? I don't think so. Without the withheld sex (the luscious forbidden), or any advantages for the kingdom, what's the attraction?

Most historians agree she and the Seymores simply used Anne's playbook against the Howards when Anne couldn't produce a boy. (That is--Dangling a younger woman who can give him a son and heir, but she doesn't sleep with him as a mistress, and instead holds out for marriage and a crown). In a world where Kings only married for foreign dynastic advantages, the idea he just happens to marry two nobody's in a row without a lot of manipulation from his trusted agents with vested interests for their own families and bloodlines behind the scenes is a little hard to believe.
It's like we are supposed to believe Jane said, "Ooops, dear me. I just happened to trip and somehow a crown fell on my little old head."

3. Jane was supposedly NOT scheming with her brothers for the crown, but was sweet and innocent and true to her sincere love for Henry. In this book, she felt scared by becoming Queen, and felt sorry for Anne. Huh??? In a ruthless place like the 16th century English court--this is extremely hard to believe, and very laughable. Yes--this attitude makes her a more sympathetic protagonist--but it is pretty ludicrous when you look at the facts, and the history of the times where upper class women ALWAYS married for the advantage of their families. Period.

Jane herself may not have concocted the scheme to take a crown, but the ambitious men in her family certainly did. And of course she didn't have a lot of choice but to follow them--but THAT kind of realistic tug of war--your family's advancement where you are bound to obey them, or your principals and dislike and fear of your future husband the King who is not only excommunicated, but is starting to act totally coo coo (murdering all of his best friends along with Queen Anne and Katherine) , and who will most likely behead you or worse if you don't have a son. That conflict of interest would be much more realistic and true to history.

Anyway, read this book if you are just interested in a novel about the court, but please keep in mind that it's most likely rubbish about how it really happened, and the true motivations that would realistically be involved.
Spoilers ahead.

Alison Weir's book Jane Seymour started out great and was historically accurate until, some liberties were taken with facts. The novel begins with the child Jane who is very religious and wants to be a nun and join an order. The scandal of her brother Edward's wife who becomes involved with her father in law is covered is the first crisis for Jane and her family. Jane Seymour ultimately wishes to be a lady in waiting at the court of Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon and the court intrigues are witnessed first hand by Jane. Jane Seymour is loyal to Queen Katherine but witnesses her being displaced by Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII ultimately takes an interest and Weir describes how Anne is displaced by Jane who becomes the third Queen. The story moves to the ultimate tragic death of Jane Seymour after she gives birth to the future Edward VI. It is a page turner and Weir is excellent at character development. What put me off the book was the depiction of Jane actually becoming Henry's mistress before he starts proceedings to divorce and ultimately execute Anne Boleyn. This development is totally out of character for the real not the fictional Jane Seymour who rejected becoming Henry's mistress and she even returned his gifts. Biographers of Jane did not say she became the mistress and wanted to be wife and rejected Henry's advances. And Weir's Jane is always thinking what if she gets pregnant by Henry--if she did before Henry divorced Anne, she most likely have become another Bessie Blount, who gave birth Henry's son out of wedlock. Her family and advisers had ambitions for her to be wife not mistress.The book also becomes a romance novel once she and Henry go to bed together. . There is also a miscarriage written in for Jane by the author after she marries Henry. THere is no documentation that Jane conceived a child before Prince Edward. The best part of the book is about the family dynamics at Wulfhall, the home of the Seymour family and the court intrigue involving Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. I would have given this book more stars if the story did not take a detour into fiction which totally changes the character of Jane and makes her actually seem unsympathetic. THis is a good Summer Read but I would advise reading biographies about Jane Seymour first.