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12:15 pm
March 12, 2010
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As I have become addicted to this site, I had to ask everyone's opinion on the subject of the book I just read! I just finished “The King's Rose” by Alisa M. Libby. It was a great easy read and it brought me to tears at the end! Though fictional, the novel took a sympathetic view of Catherine Howard as an ill-supervised girl thrown into the vicious cycle of court by her family. Because an heir would have steadied Catherine's unstable crown in the midst of social and religious dissension in the court, Libby's story suggests that Catherine was urged by her ambitious family to take a young lover healthier than the king. As she had loved Thomas Culpeper before she caught the king's eye, he was the perfect candidate. As I said, it made for a great read. It has really sparked my interest in Catherine Howard. Her story could've happened in many different ways and I am eager to learn more about her. What are everyone else's opinions on her tragic story?
8:19 pm
June 20, 2009
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I think Catherine's story is quite sad. She never really knew her mother, and she was sent to some “boardinghouse” for girls with no positive role model. She was so young, and all she wanted was nice things. Maybe if she had a more structured life, things may have been different for her. There was no way Henry would be able to have a child in the condition he was in. I don't think her family had her best interest at heart, but then again, the Howards were not the most thoughtful family.
Let not my enemies sit as my jury
8:13 am
March 12, 2010
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I agree. When I first heard her story, I thought, “How stupid of her!” But now I honestly believe that she was just trying to save herself. I feel a particular interest and sympathy towards her, maybe because she was near my age when she was executed.
8:41 am
October 3, 2009
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HI! I read this book too and had the pleasure of having a little email correspondence with the author! I used to think that Kitty was a silly girl too. But now I just think of her as a young girl who craved attention! she was lavished upon by the richest most powerful person in her universe. She may have even began to believe her own “hype” that she was perfect and infallible. Even if she was a conniving upstart, you've got to admit she reached the highest peak. So she must have done something right. I don't think I will ever believe her to be too naive again!
XO-Gina
1:17 pm
February 16, 2009
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I'd recommend Lacey Baldwin Smith's book on Catherine Howard and also Starkey and Loades have great sections on her in their Six Wives books. She is a very sad character in that she seemed to believe that Henry, as head of the Church, was omniscient and already knew her past etc. and accepted her. We also don't know whether she actually committed full-blown adultery with Culpeper – meetings yes but she may not have “gone all the way with him”. What she was guilty of was robbing Henry VIII of the image he had built up of himself in his head, the image of power, virility and sex appeal. She made a fool of him and opened his eyes to what he had become and she was punished for that.
I too loved Alisa's novel, she really brought Catherine to life and made you empathise with her. Alisa wrote us a guest post a while back:-
/catherine-howard-by-alisa-m-libby/1616/
and I wrote about her fall:-
/the-fall-of-catherine-howard/4343/
/the-executions-of-catherine-howard-jane-boleyn-francis-dereham-and-thomas-culpeper/4357/
I'll be interested to see how “The Tudors” Season 4 portrays her and also Jane Boleyn's role in the whole affair. Jane's role is what I find hard to understand – she'd already seen her husband and sister-in-law executed for treason, what was she thinking?! 
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn
8:45 pm
August 12, 2009
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Claire said:
I'll be interested to see how “The Tudors” Season 4 portrays (…) Jane Boleyn's role in the whole affair. Jane's role is what I find hard to understand – she'd already seen her husband and sister-in-law executed for treason, what was she thinking?!
http://www.theanneboleynfiles……ibby/1616/
I think I'm with the group that thinks she was blackmailed into it by the same faction that pushed KH in the first place. She was somewhat beholden to them and she was a widow in precarious social and financial circumstances. Maybe they threatened to drag her down with them if this queen fell from favor and was replaced because she wasn't pregnant, never mind that Henry probably wasn't very capable by then. He'd have to be a bit capable to believe it was his if she did get pregnant.
And then the queen fell anyway, and the Howard faction left Jane to take the fall. No wonder she went a little nuts in the Tower!
"Don't knock at death's door.
Ring the bell and run. He hates that."
12:52 pm
March 12, 2010
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Baldwin's biography on her is already on my wish list and I'd like to read the others too! I think Katherine was more intelligent and analytical of her amazing circumstances than conventional history gives her credit for. And as for Jane, I just can't decide what I think motivated her! But I can't wait to see her with Katherine and Thomas on “The Tudors” 
3:30 am
May 20, 2010
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I really enjoyed The King's Rose also. It did not read like a YA novel: Alisa Libby's style is so evocative and the research excellent. It seemed very plausible: more so than Ford Madox Ford's The Fifth Queen trilogy (which is also quite good, but Ford's Katherine Howard seems far from her historical prototype). I was crying by the end of The King's Rose, because I thought that she had been so ill-used, and could have had a much better life if Henry had never been interested in her 
By the way, have any of you read Sarah Hoyt's new novel on Katherine Howard, No Will But His? Here is a link to its page on Amazon: http://amzn.com/0425232514. I have not read it yet, but it seems quite fascinating.
Katheryn
(this is my real name, but my parents did not name me after Katherine Howard, although she spelled her name the way I do 
)
Yours as long as lyffe endures, Katheryn
10:32 am
March 12, 2010
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I did the same thing! I remain convinced that she wasn't the emptyheaded wh*re that some historians like to portray her as. I haven't read Ford's or Hoyt's novels, but I'd like to read them all just because. And I love the name Katherine (or Catherine, Katheryn, Kathryn, etc.)!
