Victoria Sylvia Evans

This book is a brief history of Henry VIII's six wives, with a little extra attention paid to the Ladies who served them. The first part explains the difference between the various types of servants and the layout of the royal household. My problem is that there isn't much about the ladies, except for names, information that is likely to crop up in just about any history of the wives. The story of the Basset sisters, recounted in the Lisle letters, is often quoted. There isn't much evidence here of digging into more obscure sources to bring new facts to light. Evans tell us that lives of Henry's four English Queens "provide an extraordinary wealth of information about the structure and rotation of servants within their Privy Chamber." It doesn't seem to me that much of that information is here. The information is not terribly well organized, either. I don't know why the Epilogue isn't merged with the introductory material, which it sometimes duplicates. The only possible point of an epilogue is to point out that the importance of the Ladies increased when they were serving during the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, Queens in their own right. In addition, there are no orderly lists of the women who served the various Queens, one must skim the entire chapter for names, or do a search if one knows an actual name. Although it is useful to recount some history in telling the tale, I often became impatient as Evans told the stories of the wives, rather than of their servitors. I think it would be more useful to be able to look up a particular lady and see how many Queens she search and for what years, rather than having the organization by the wives. Further, I'd like to know more about the lives of the Ladies. Did they go home from time to time? Live at court with their husbands, if they were married, or did they stay in rooms near the Queen? We are told that they had great influence, but what are some examples? Did male courtiers' wives live at court, even if they had no official position? Could they have guests with them at court from time to time; children, friends, relatives? Were they all on duty all the time, did some or all of them stand in attendance on the Queen at all times during public appearances, or did they take turns? If I were trying to write a book about the daily life of a court lady, I don't think this would be a lot of help.… (meer)