tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post115233504447891219..comments2023-11-12T09:52:42.825-05:00Comments on Medieval Woman: Blogging with Historical Novelist Susan Higginbotham: Maybe Katharine Hepburn Would Have Helped?Susan Higginbothamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13517907583894026599noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post-1152407861205774112006-07-08T21:17:00.000-04:002006-07-08T21:17:00.000-04:00Oh yes, that's the one. Forgot there was one abou...Oh yes, that's the one. Forgot there was one about John himself and not just the royal women of the time.Sarah Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post-1152404739450447752006-07-08T20:25:00.000-04:002006-07-08T20:25:00.000-04:00Sarah, the Plaidy novel I was thinking of is Princ...Sarah, the Plaidy novel I was thinking of is <I>Prince of Darkness</I> (not to be confused with books by Sharon Penman, Paul Doherty, and what looks like several others by the same name). I've got <I>Battle of the Queens</I> but put it down for something else and didn't get back to it.Susan Higginbothamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517907583894026599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post-1152394549397302882006-07-08T17:35:00.000-04:002006-07-08T17:35:00.000-04:00"One of that family"? Ha, given that Mary was his..."One of that family"? Ha, given that Mary was his first cousin once removed - takes one to know one, I would have said! Although Philip wasn't related to Elizabeth quite so closely.<BR/><BR/>I recall most of the characters in Plaidy's novel (was that <I>The Battle of the Queens</I>?) were on the nasty side.Sarah Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post-1152373961453821192006-07-08T11:52:00.000-04:002006-07-08T11:52:00.000-04:00Will do, Marg!Carla, I really don't know much abou...Will do, Marg!<BR/><BR/>Carla, I really don't know much about John other than what I've read on the Oxford DBB online by John Gillingham. Gillingham writes that there has been a tendency to "rehabilitate" John, but that recently "judgements on John's record as king are increasingly returning to contemporary opinion as voiced in both English and non-English narrative sources," that opinion being negative. Perhaps Goldman's 1979 book represents the fashion at the time. <BR/><BR/>I think Sharon Penman did a good job with John in <I>Here Be Dragons--unflattering but not one-sided</I>. On the other hand, I couldn't finish Jean Plaidy's book about John because he was such a nasty character, and not an engagingly nasty one like Shakespeare's Richard III.Susan Higginbothamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517907583894026599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post-1152370978792363162006-07-08T11:02:00.000-04:002006-07-08T11:02:00.000-04:00I can sympathise with William Marshal there! Not ...I can sympathise with William Marshal there! Not for nothing were they known as the Devil's Brood. It reminds me of a line given to Philip of Spain in the 70s TV series <I>Elizabeth R</I>, when Mary Tudor is dying and his advisors are urging him to marry Elizabeth - Philip reacts with a look of horror and exclaims "One of that family is enough for any man!"<BR/><BR/>John seems to be quite a complex character in several novels I've read. I wonder how much is fashion - authors deliberately reacting against the Robin Hood caricature - and how much is rooted in evidence. Do you know?Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21031350.post-1152347199691251472006-07-08T04:26:00.000-04:002006-07-08T04:26:00.000-04:00I'll be interested to hear what you think of Innoc...I'll be interested to hear what you think of Innocent Traitor.Marghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508430635744720721noreply@blogger.com