THE WAITING GAME

Women of the queen’s chamber illuminate Tudor England.

British historian Clark takes a fresh look at the well-known history of Henry VIII by focusing on women chosen as ladies-in-waiting to each of Henry’s wives. These women, enmeshed in intrigue, secrets, tensions, religious upheaval, and political machinations, serve as “intimate and underused witnesses to one of the most tumultuous periods of pre-modern history.” The women’s ranks corresponded to social status: “the ‘ladies’, usually peeresses; the ‘gentlewomen’, who might be the wives of knights or gentry; and the ‘chamberers’, the lowest status and most menial position, usually women of gentle but not aristocratic status.” For most of the young women—such as María de Salinas, devoted lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon—their goal was to make a good marriage. For some, it was dealing with the lascivious attentions of the king. While a queen’s ladies could be a comfort, “they were also a danger,” Clark notes, when, “towards the end of a wife’s pregnancy, the king’s eye went roving.” Functioning “as a connection between the queen and the world outside her privy chamber,” they became astute observers of alliances and conduits of gossip. Some became proficient in spycraft, such as Elizabeth of Norfolk, who secreted a letter to Catherine under the peel of an orange. As Henry changed wives, the queen’s ladies were pressed to choose sides. In Anne Boleyn’s case, disloyalty proved fatal. The most noteworthy pieces of evidence about her adultery, Clark reveals, “were those provided by women.” Clark conveys the sumptuous richness of Tudor life—banquet tables groaning under platters of meats, halls hung with costly tapestries, crimson gowns of velvet and satin—and also the risks—pestilence, miscarriage, childbirth, arduous travel, and betrayal.

An authoritative and entertaining history.