Why did I pick up this book? I don't know, exactly. Sometimes I just want to read something totally foreign to my present experience and I find that there is nothing better for this than history. Most people would probably choose SciFi or something, but to me history is even more amazing because it's (nominally) true. I know humans have never colonized Mars, but Richard III really did lock both of his nephews in a tower and (possibly) murder them.
Life back then was so mysterious. Healthy young people would drop dead for no apparent reason. A king would suddenly go mad. One royal couple failing to produce a boy could change the future of a whole country. And another having too many boys could do the same. Imagine living in a world where anything could happen — death, plague, famine, war — and you'd have no explanation other than God! Now I get mad if the weather report is off by a couple hours.
I love modernity, but I so enjoyed my time with the Plantagenets that I also read books on the War of the Roses and the Tudors. I am now fully caught up on medieval English history! Though they do make things exceptionally difficult by naming every single king Edward, Henry or Richard for 400+ years. I never thought twice about the name Edward, and now I hate it.
My new theory is that Elizabeth made such a mark because everyone could remember which one she was! The thesis of my next dissertation.
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