I saw the BBC documentary first - which was excellent - and promptly became Helen Castor groupie, since I love the combination of her passion, knowledge, intelligence and beauty. So it wasn't long after seeing another documentary made by Castor that I decided to actually read her books - the fact that I had already seen the documentary (and was vaguely familiar with the story) didn't discourage me at all - the book is far more detailed and it was joy to read, with Castor's warm personality echoing trough the pages.
Some authors have recognisable voice and Castor is blessed with one - she also has extremely likable personality, compassion for her characters and understanding how their destinies were shaped by historical circumstances. Never patronising or condescending, she makes it all extremely readable and exciting, while making it clear that she knows the subject inside out. It is quite a feat to balance all these facts, dates and documents without sinking into dry academic language (many have slipped on this one, emphasising their research to the point of monotony), or to resist taking sides - when facing gossips and hearsay, Castor refuses to indulge into guessing and simply states that we have no evidence to believe what chroniclers wrote down. Since the history is written by victors, no wonder contemporary chroniclers criticised 12th century Empress Matilda (who, as only surviving child of deceased king had all the rights to the crown) for being arrogant and authoritative - something nobody would dare to mention in front of her father, because she didn't won her battle. "Matilda was facing the challenge of becoming queen of England not in the conventional sense of a king’s partner, but in the unprecedented form of a female king. And kings did not deport themselves with a ‘modest gait and bearing’. Instead, they were – and were required to be – supremely commanding and authoritative, as her father and her first husband had been." On the other hand, Eleanor of Aquitaine showed no meekness or submissiveness whatsoever - she was wealthy, adventurous lioness - but longevity made her outlive almost all the opponents so chroniclers were forced to grudgingly admire her strength and influence. (Its interesting to note that her power became truly established once she became elderly woman and was accepted as a mother figure rather than young unruly wife who couldn't be controlled by husband)
Eleanor's adventurous life is hard to surpass but the next two ladies come very close to match her in almost mythical, white heat of excitement - Isabella of France dared to overthrow her husband from the throne (and served as potential inspiration for character of Hamlet's mother) just to end her days in relatively comfortable house prison, while the spectacle of fierce Margaret of Anjou (the force behind "Wars of the Roses" that is so complex that is almost impossible to follow) finally losing the battle and being driven in a carriage like some ancient Roman prisoner in a triumphal procession, stone faced and grieving for a dead son is impossible to forget. Rounding the omnibus, Castor eventually finishes with Tudor women who clawed their way to the throne and neatly connects the dots, explaining how Elizabeth I avoided the destiny of her famous predecessors by not allowing any husband or son to eclipse her power. While the book is fascinating in its scope, it actually gave me a taste for reading more about "Wars of the Roses". How anybody actually lived and survived trough those times is really a miracle.
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