Sarah Gristwood - Game of Queens. The women who made sixteenth-century Europe

Asreligiondividedsixteenth-centuryEurope,anextraordinarygroupof womenqueens,consortsandthinkersrosetopower.Despitefinding themselvesonopposingsidesofpowerstrugglesbotharmedandotherwise, throughfamilytiesandpatronagetheyeducatedandsupportedeachotherina brutalworldwherethepriceoffailurewasdisgrace,exileorevendeath. Theirswasauniquecultureoffemininepowerthatsawthemrunthecontinent fordecades.Andyet,asthesixteenthcenturywanedtheVirginQueenof Englandfoundherselfvirtuallyaloneasaruleraqueensurroundedby kingsoncemore. Frommothertodaughterandmentortoprotge,SarahGristwoodfollows thepassageofpowerfromIsabellaofCastileandAnnedeBeaujeuthrough AnneBoleynthewomanwhotippedEnglandintoreligiousreformandon toElizabethIandJeannedAlbret,heroineoftheProtestantReformation. Unravellingagrippinghistoricalnarrative,sherevealstheunorthodox practicesadoptedbythesewomeninthefaceofchallengesthatretainanall toofamiliaraspecttoday,andassessestheirimpactontheerathatbeganthe shapingofthemodernworld.Epicinscale,thisgameofqueensisa remarkablespectacleofskillandingenuity. Formyeldestniece,EmilyWest Thankyoufordownloading fromKindle Books Toreceivespecialoffers,bonuscontent, andinfoonnewreleasesandothergreatreads, signupforournewsletters. Orvisitusonlineat https://myfreekindle.blogspot.com/ Contents IllustrationCredits Game of Chess, 1555, Anguissola, Sofonisba (c.15321625): Museum Narodowe,Poznan,Poland/BridgemanImages.

Isabella of Castile, Ms 604/1339 f.64v King Ferdinand II of Aragon and IsabellaofCastile,fromtheDevotionaryofQueenJuanatheMad,c.1482 (vellum):MuseeConde,Chantilly,France/BridgemanImages. AnnedeBeaujeu,detailoftherightleafoftheTriptychoftheVirgininglory, 14981499,byJeanHeyorHay(ca.1475ca.1505),knownastheMasterof Moulins, sacristy of the church of Notre-Dame in Moulins, France: DeAgostini/GettyImages. TheFieldoftheClothofGold:WikimediaCommons. MargaretofAustria,c.1490(oilonoakpanel),MasterofMoulins(JeanHey), (fl.c.1483c.1529): Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA/BridgemanImages. Manuscript miniature showing french queen Louise of Savoy: PVDE/BridgemanImages. Marguerite of Navarre, c.1527, by Jean Clouet (c.14851541), found in the collection of Walker Art Gallery: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images.

MargaretTudor:SirFrancisOgilvy/TheNationalLibraryofScotland. Anne Boleyn, 1534 (oil on panel), English School: Hever Castle, Kent, UK/BridgemanImages. KatherineofAragon:UniversalHistoryArchive/GettyImages. Elizabeth I when a Princess, c.1546, attributed to William Scrots (153753): RoyalCollectionTrust/HerMajestyQueenElizabethII2016. Queen Mary I (151658) 1554 (oil on panel), Mor, Anthonis van Dashorst (Antonio Moro) (c.15191576/77): Prado, Madrid, Spain/Bridgeman Images. An Allegory of Tudor Succession: The Family of Henry VIII: Wikimedia Commons.

Mary of Guise (15151560), 1537, found in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images. Mary of Austria (a.k.a. Mary of Hungary), c.1520 (oil on vellum on panel), Maler, Hans or Johan (fl.15101523): Society of Antiquaries of London, UK/BridgemanImages. Margaret of Parma: Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft, Netherlands/LessingImages. JeannedAlbret:PeterHorree/AlamyStockPhoto. Catherine de Medici (151989) (oil on panel), French School: Musee Conde, Chantilly,France/BridgemanImages.

Franois Dubois (15291584) St. Bartholomews Night, August 24, 1572: DEA/G.DAGLIORTI/DeAgostini/GettyImages. Elizabeth I: His Grace the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates,fromtheWoburnAbbeyCollection. Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots by Franois Clouet (15101572): World HistoryArchive/AlamyStockPhoto. GameofQueens:WhosWho SpainandtheHabsburgEmpire IsabellaofCastile(14511504) Queen Regnant of Castile from 1474, Isabellas marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon (14521516) united the two main Spanish kingdoms. They famously ruledtogetherasthemightyCatholicmonarchs,producingonlyashort-lived sonbutseveralinfluentialdaughters.OnIsabellasdeathCastilewasinherited by their eldest surviving daughter, Juana the Mad (14791555), but Ferdinandprovedreluctanttolosehispowerinthatkingdom.

MaximilianI,HolyRomanEmperor(14591519) AfterhismarriagetoMaryofBurgundy(14571482),rulingduchessofwhat wouldlaterbe knownasthe Netherlands,Maximiliansambition wastounite as much of Europe as possible under the hands of his Habsburg family. The marriage of his son Philip of Burgundy (14781506) to Ferdinand and IsabellasdaughterJuanaproduced(amongotherchildren)thefutureCharles V. MargaretofAustria(14801530) MaximilianandMaryofBurgundyalsohadadaughter,Margaret.Contracted totheyoungFrenchkingCharlesVIII,shewassentasatoddlertoberaisedin thatcountry.WhenthatalliancecollapsedshemarriedIsabellaandFerdinands sonandheirJuanandthen,afterhisearlydeath,theDukeofSavoy.Butwhen hetoodiedshereturnedtotheNetherlands,whichsheruledasregentformany yearsonbehalfofhernephewCharles;thetwelve-year-oldAnneBoleynwas oneofhermaids. CharlesV(15001558) CharlesinheritedtheAustrianlandsofhispaternalgrandfatherMaximilian,as wellastheelectivetitleofHolyRomanEmperor,whichMaximilianalsoheld, theBurgundianinheritanceofhisfatherPhilip(theNetherlands),theCastileof hismotherJuanaandtheAragonofhismaternalgrandfatherFerdinand,tosay nothing of lands in the New World. He found the inheritance personally wearingandultimatelycededtheAustrianlands,powerinEasternEuropeand eventually leadership of the Holy Roman Empire to his younger brother Ferdinand(15031564).Thisconcentrationofterritoriesintothehandsofone familyestablishedtheHabsburgdominanceofthesixteenthcentury. MaryofHungary(15051558) AnothersiblingofCharlesVandFerdinand,MarywasmarriedtotheKingof Hungary until the Battle of Jarnac made her a youthful widow.

She then held Habsburg power on Ferdinands behalf against the advance of the Ottoman Turks.ThenieceofMargaretofAustria,whobroughtherup,shethenbecame Margarets successor as Regent of the Netherlands. Marys three sisters all became queens consort: Eleanor (14981558) first of Portugal, then of France,Isabella(15011526)ofDenmark,NorwayandSwedenandCatherine (Catalina,15071578)ofPortugal,whichshelaterruledasregent. ChristinaofDenmark(15211590) Daughter of Isabella and her husband King Christian of Denmark, after her fatherwasdeposedChristinawasraisedbyIsabellasauntMargaretofAustria and sister Mary of Hungary. Married first to the Duke of Milan and then the Duke of Lorraine, she was considered as a possible bride for Henry VIII of England. She was a determined player on the European political scene, attemptingtoregainherfather sScandinaviankingdoms,andakeynegotiator oftheimportantPeaceofCateau-Cambrsis. MargaretofParma(15221586) The illegitimate daughter of Charles V, Margaret was also raised by Mary of Hungary, whom she in turn succeeded in 1555 as Regent of the Netherlands, ruling on behalf of her half-brother Philip of Spain.

Her son Alexander Farnese,DukeofParma,wasPhilipsgreatgeneral. PhilipII(15271598) Philip of Spain was also hereditary ruler of the Netherlands, as well as the increasinglyimportantNewWorldterritories.Earlyinhislife,hismarriageto Mary Tudor made him King Consort of England; late in it, he inherited Portugal, through his mother. He is of course famous, or infamous, for the ArmadahesentagainstElizabethofEnglandin1588. France AnnedeBeaujeu(AnneofFrance)(14611522) TheoldestdaughteroftheFrenchkingLouisXI(14231483),Anneactedas regent of France in all but name during the minority of her younger brother Charles VIII (14701498). A powerful and influential figure, author of a manual of advice for noblewomen that has been compared to Machiavellis