I have the pleasure of having Katherine Longshore on Simply Books. Katherine is the 2012 debut author of Gilt and today she will be discussing one of my favorite subjects, the Tudors!
Thank you, Megan, for having me on your blog! It is always such a joy to connect with other
people who love books, but more so when I find someone as obsessed with Tudor
fiction as I am.
Why do we find the Tudors so fascinating in general? And Henry VIII and his succession of
ill-fated wives in particular? I have my
theories, and thanks to Megan, I have a place to share them:
The Tudors are opulent.
Dazzling. Gorgeous. All those rich fabrics – velvets and silks
and brocades. The sumptuous colors –
crimson and midnight blue, gold and silver and deep purple. The gowns with long, luxurious trains,
sleeves of flowing silk, all decorated with gold braid, pearls and jewels. Those doublets with cinched-in waists and
broad shoulders. And jewelry. Coronets and rings, brooches, bracelets,
necklaces and diamond collars.
The Tudors are sexy.
Even before Showtime gave us Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Henry Cavill, the
historical period grabbed the collective prurient curiosity. A King with six wives? Half of whom he left/divorced/beheaded so he
could marry the next one? A royal court
in which flirtation won popularity and acclaim and sexual innuendoes were
tossed like golden coins to those not clever enough to think of them? Men in tights! And codpieces. Let’s not forget codpieces. The very quintessence of sexual suggestion.
The Tudors changed the world. They changed religion. They changed political geography (Virginia,
anyone? Named after Elizabeth, the
Virgin Queen). They changed the very
idea of marriage and relationships between men and women. Whatever else we can say about him, Henry
married for love more times than not.
This was virtually unheard of – previously, marriage in the sixteenth
century was based entirely on political/economic alliance. For commoners as well as kings.
The Tudors remind us of ourselves. They were selfish, ambitious, ill-tempered
and cruel. They were generous,
beautiful, diligent and thoughtful. They
loved music, theater, sports and games.
They enjoyed the out-of-doors.
They created heart-breaking poetry.
They spent a great deal of time at war.
But I think what has always fascinated me most about the
Tudors is how they are viewed by history.
And I have always wondered, what if that isn’t true?
Historians describe Catherine Howard as a promiscuous,
empty-headed flirt. They use words like
harebrained and frivolous, bubbly and silly.
I looked at contemporary accounts and saw a girl who wore a new dress
every day, was showered in jewels by her husband, insisted on court parties and
plays and (horror of horrors) had relationships before she married the
king. I didn’t see harebrained and
silly. I saw myself as a teenager. I loved clothes and shoes. I went to parties. I fell in love more than once.
I asked myself what if Catherine Howard was a cunning,
ambitious, sensual girl? And then I
asked: what if she was the Queen Bee before she became Queen?
And that is how GILT was born.
The opulence and the sexiness and the changing social mores
and the similarities to the modern world just made it that much more fun to
write.
Thank you so much for visiting, Katherine. I'm really looking forward to reading your new book. Don't forget to follow her on Twitter!
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