The turbulent Tudor Age never fails to capture the imagination. But what was it truly like to be a woman during this era? The Tudor period conjures up images of queens and noblewomen in elaborate court dress; of palace intrigue and dramatic politics. But if you were a woman, it was also a time when death during childbirth was rife; when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, and the education you could hope to receive was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful and dynamic women in a way that no era had been before. Historian Elizabeth Norton explores the life cycle of the Tudor woman, from childhood to old age, through the diverging examples of women such as Elizabeth Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister; Cecily Burbage, Elizabeth's wet nurse; Mary Howard, widowed but influential at court; Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of a controversial queen; and Elizabeth Barton, a peasant girl who would be lauded as a prophetess. Their stories are interwoven with studies of topics ranging from Tudor toys to contraception to witchcraft, painting a portrait of the lives of queens and serving maids, nuns and harlots, widows and chaperones. Norton brings this vibrant period to colorful life in an evocative and insightful social history.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ...to Highgate. "It was enough," he exclaimed, "to make a sound man sick, to be carried in a bed as she had been, much more her, whose impatient and unquiet spirits heapeth upon her far greater indisposition of body." It was agreed that she must tarry at Barnet till better able to bear the journey, and on April 1 she was removed to the mansion of Thomas Conyers, Esq., at East Barnet, at a rent of twenty shillings per week. There was paid at her removal from the inn at Bamet three pounds for broken glasses and rewards to the meaner servants and divers persons who took pains in waiting on her company. There was also paid to the servants of Mr. Conyers' house, and sundry persons who helped to make clean the house for her reception, three pounds fifteen shillings. There was also paid to Mathias Milward, one of the Prince of Vales's chaplains, five pounds for his pains in attending the Lady Arabella to preach and read prayers to her during her abode at East Barnet. This was two months and seven days, and the sum of two hundred pounds was paid into her own hands from the king for furnishing herself with all things necessary, in contemplation of her long journey to Durham.1 The Bishop of Durham had departed towards his own diocese, leaving Lady Arabella in the care of Sir James Crofts. She continued to write humble petitions to the king for her liberation, and also to the lord of the council.' She sent Dr. Mountford to represent her unfitness to travel, and at last procured another month's respite. 1 Declaration of the accounts of Nicholas the removal of the Lady Arabella Stuart. ' Pay in the Audit Oflice of the expenses of 2 Harlelnn MS., No. 7000, fol. 79. All this time she was in correspondence...

Sisters of the infamous 'Princes in the Tower', the daughters of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV survived the reign of Richard III and even thrived into the Tudor Age. This is their story.