Rate this book

Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives Of Katherine Of Aragon And Juana, Queen Of Castile (2012)

by Julia Fox(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0345516044 (ISBN13: 9780345516046)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Ballantine Books

review 1: Really good book but such a sad sad story for both sisters.Katherine of Aragon's story is not new to us. We all know that she got a raw deal from Henry VIII. I did not know that Henry VII also treated her harshly after Arthur's death. She was forced to take out loans for bare necessities. Unfortunately, her father did little to help. She was able to elevate hers self somewhat by playing into politics and becoming an ambassador for her father to the English. When she was finally able to marry Henry, she was happy for some time too. I admit that her treatment @ the hands of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII is sickening. I don't know that I would have been able to stay strong if faced with her problems. At least she had some bright spots in her married life and her daughter was de... moredicated to her. Not so much with her sister. Juana, Queen of Castile inherited Castile from her mother Isabella of Castile. Juana suffered from the beginning, being betrayed by her husband, father, subjects and her kids (all except one). Juana traveled to meet her husband in 1496. He cheated on her and appears to have been indifferent to her until his death in 1506. He tried to declare her legally mad up until his death and her father knew about it! When he died she tried to rule over her lands but was forced/tricked into confinement by her FATHER in 1507...he also put it out that she was mad so that he could rule Castile for when Isabella died, he no longer held power, Juana did. He made sure to keep her down. In a way Katherine also betrayed her because she believed all of the BS her father fed her about Juana. When her father died, her sons counselors and eventually Charles (her son) made sure that she stayed imprisoned because she was a threat to his crown. She had one daughter who really stuck with her through thick and thin. Unfortunately for Juana she lived to be 75 years old, she was imprisoned from 1507 - 1555. What a sad life.Take away from this book? I'm glad that I did not live back then. I'm thankful to be a modern woman.
review 2: I'm giving this book four stars because I believe that if you enjoy reading about the controversial history surrounding Henry VIII's divorce from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, you will enjoy this book by default. It also features a complementary historical comparison to Katherine's sister, Juana of Castile.I first read this book last year when I was ill and having trouble concentrating when trying to read. As a result, I had decided to reread many of the books I first undertook last year, this book being one of them. Unfortunately, even though I had already recommended this book to a few people, the book didn't hold up as well in the second, more thorough, reading as it had initially. Why not? The first reason is perhaps nitpicking, but I find it to be an important detail--the author seems to assign blame to Anne Boleyn for incidents that I am not certain historical sources would bear out to be decidedly Anne Boleyn's fault. I am a huge fan of Anne Boleyn, however, so perhaps it is my prejudice showing. For example, the author seems to imply fault in Anne for being in favor of the dissolution of monasteries--I don't think we really know whether that was the case. That she did like to study and debate religion and wasn't as dogmatic as Katherine, certainly. But that she went as far as that, maybe not, we just don't know. Another thing I began to wonder about, after noticing the discrepancies about Anne, is whether the source material actually bears out much of what is suggested by this book as being definitive history regarding Juana of Castile. On the second reading, I began to see that the author had presented the case for Juana being sane and held against her will by her husband, father, and son in an abusive manner as a fact wrapped in supposition. Then, near the end of the book, she seemingly undercuts her own presentation by listing how many times Juana's family, consisting of children and grandchildren, had actually visited her over a twenty year time span and it seemed rather a lot considering that these were personages of importance in European monarchy. Then, the author relates that "jailer" of Juana (Denia), who had previously been presented as abusive and oppressive, refusing to let her have mail or write letters, is suddenly passing nice and loving messages along to Juana's daughter-in-law from Juana. So, I don't know--I really don't know enough about Juana other than the story of her hauling her husband's corpse around and refusing to bury it but this book did make me want to read more about her.So I do recommend it, but I suggest you possibly take some of it with a grain of salt and explore other sources for further evaluation. It's what I intend to do. I don't like when writers of history put their own slant and present it as fact. I don't mind if they present a point-of-view but it's a no-no in my mind to present p.o.v. as fact. less

Download links for: Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile

Advertising