Sarah Gristwood

The sixteenth century cannot be addressed without placing the powerful royal women at the center and yet, many scholarly books of the era regulate women such as Catherine de Medici, Anne Boleyn, Mary I and Elizabeth I of England, Mary, Queen of Scots and Margaret Tudor, Isabella of Castile, and Margaret of Austria as companions to the males in their lives. Gristwood challenges the traditionally male-centered narratives of Renaissance power by showcasing these women in their roles as leaders (consort), mentors (regent) and rulers (regnant) during this time of dynastic frays, religious conflicts and national struggles.

Following the themes of dynastic power and religious reformation (the coverage of this topic is saturated in any 16^th -Century text, this reviewer will skip any continued illustration of it via the text), Gristwood explores how these women, in their constrained societal positions, wield power and sovereignty.

While Gristwood continues to use the idea of a sisterhood amongst the contemporary women, this reviewer took some exception to her term, “Game of Queens.” Although the author uses the illustration of a chess match in several instances to discuss the skills in the women (Elizabeth I, Catherine de Medici, Isabella of Castile to name a few), ruling a nation was never a game.

Overall, Gristwood presented a readable text that covered an interesting view of 16^th-Century Europe with the intelligent and ambitious female leaders.  Logistically, keeping track of all the similarly named women with their titles or what history as named them, could be challenging so perhaps a guide would have been helpful for those less versed in this time period.  Also, the ambitious scope of the number of women covered sacrificed some notable rulers’ roles and made the chronological flow a bit confusing as source notes were few and far between. 

Performance:  Gristwood does excel in exploring how the women had to project various images:  humility and majesty; obedience and authority; fertility and modesty; masculine decisiveness and feminine charm.

Sisterhood: Although the author uses the term sisterhood as a positive, cooperative connection between the contemporary rulers, this reviewer sees it in the true sense of sisterhood of affection, rivalry, competition, jealousy, bonding, support, unity….

Motherhood:  Pressure to bear children (male), not only factored largely in these women’s lives (even Elizabeth I who rejected that role) from external sources—husbands and counselors–but also themselves as guaranteed positions of influence. It became a political strategy.