Elizabeth: England's Slandered Queen

England's Forgotten Queens

by Arlene Naylor Okerlund

Elizabeth Wydeville, Queen consort to Edward Iv, has traditionally been portrayed as a scheming opportunist. But was she a cunning vixen or a tragic wife and mother? As this extraordinary biography shows, the first queen to bear the name Elizabeth lived a life of tragedy, love, and loss that no other queen has since endured. This shocking revelation about the survival of one woman through vilification and adversity shows Elizabeth as a beautiful and distraught mother of the two lost Princes in the Tower and an innocent queen slandered by politicians.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, British Literature, Royalty, European History

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Professor Emerita of English, retired after a career of teaching Renaissance literature at San José State University in California. At José State University, she served six years as Dean, College of Humanities and the Arts, and seven years as Academic Vice President. In retirement, she teaches with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and continues her research in medieval and Renaissance studies. The author of scholarly articles on Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, Donne, and Dryden, she also writes for popular audiences, including the newsletter of the Peninsula Banjo Band with which she plays tenor banjo.

http://us.macmillan.com/elizabethofyork

Reviews

[Becks! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This particular British monarch has always been of interest to me. This book is very informative, but drags on for a bit. Quite a long bit in certain chapters.
But overall it gives you a better idea of who this queen really was.
I have to say the saddest part of her story was that she died never knowing what really happened to her sons in the tower.

[Orsolya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Woodville - Queen consort to King Edward IV was basically the prototype to the infamous Anne Boleyn. Although a member of the gentry, Elizabeth was still a ‘nobody’ in comparison to the usual marital partners of monarchial members in England. But, lo and behold, Elizabeth snagged an English King and as a result: every single English monarch in history (including the current reigning Queen Elizabeth II) has Elizabeth’s blood running in their veins. Elizabeth’s marriage caused quite an uproar among the King’s men who were anxious to climb higher themselves; which in effect has vilified and disparaged Elizabeth. Arlene Okerlund attempts to rehabilitate Elizabeth’s image in a text edited by Alison Weir in, “Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen”.

Elizabeth Woodville, interestingly enough, doesn’t have many (if at all) full-biographies highlighting her person, making Okerlund’s “Elizabeth Wydeville” an ambitious piece. Edited by Alison Weir, the text certainly has a Weir-like spin to it for those familiar with Weir’s work and research. “Elizabeth Wydeville” can’t be described as an all-encompassing biography, though, and thus Okerlund missed her mark in that sense. Instead, Elizabeth Wydeville” is more of a look at the macro environment surrounding Elizabeth – her family, marriage, King Edward, politics, etc – in a more subject view than a chronological re-telling. This results in Elizabeth being a bit more of a background figure and doesn’t complete unravel her life and being.

Elaborating on this, Okerlund often goes off on tangents and is heavy on the detail: very heavy on the detail. Okerlund certainly cannot be accused of bypassing research as “Elizabeth Wydeville” is academic in all respects to scope, detective work, debunking myths, and offering backing sources, quotes, and document excerpts. Although hints of biases bleed through; Okerlund overall lays mountains of information on the laps of readers that features both sides of arguments and is new to even those familiar with the Woodvilles and the time period. “Elizabeth Wydeville” is invigorating reading and one of the most revealing looks at the Woodvilles even if not directly about Elizabeth as the book claims.

The major issue with this is the clustered, all-over-the-place execution. The text within “Elizabeth Wydeville” attempts to offer so much information that this isn’t streamlined and is paced like a hyperactive child. Perhaps Weir didn’t do the best editing job. The unfortunate aspect is that this causes difficulty in grasping the material and having it truly resonant. Readability is inconsistent in this manner.

There are chunks of writing during which Okerlund smoothes the tone and find her sweet spot. These moments are when “Elizabeth Wydeville” is the strongest and the most appealing. Not only does she focus on the history but truly debates various perspectives to give a full-portrait view. If the entirety of “Elizabeth Wydeville” was so tampered than the piece would excel on a whole other level.

Two notable characteristics of “Elizabeth Wydeville” jump off the pages. The first being Okerlund’s successful portrayal of all sides to a story. Rather than point fingers and/or bash those who opposed Elizabeth; Okerlund simply explains why these actions may have taken place alongside the effects on Elizabeth and her faction. In the second point, Okerlund discredits and disproves statements made by Weir “calling her out”. This is a gutsy move against an author’s editor and sponsor of a book and adds to Okerlund’s ability to reveal all angles and not constrict without certain compartmentalized bounds.

The final chapters of “Elizabeth Wydeville” are highly spirited and enthusiastic but the conclusion gasps for air and is anti-climatic. Okerlund gives the text a dry, slow death that doesn’t do either the subject matter or writing, justice.

Okerlund supplements “Elizabeth Wydeville” with a section of black-and-white photo plates, genealogical tables, timelines of events concerning the Woodville clan, and notes (not annotated). Satisfyingly, Okerlunds’s biography contains a solid amount of primary material making “Elizabeth Wydeville” quite credible.

“Elizabeth Wydeville” is a remarkable text. Although it doesn’t meet Okerlund’s thesis of rehabilitating Eliazabeth’s image and reputation; it does give Elizabeth the attention and credit she deserves. Or, perhaps, it gives the Woodvilles the spotlight being that Elizabeth doesn’t come completely alive, per se. Regardless, the amount of academia, research, myth-busting, and detail available make “Elizabeth Wydeville” a suggested reading for all interested in Elizabeth, the Woodvilles, and English Royal history; even with its execution flaws.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this is supposedly a biography, Okerlund spends most of her time gushing about Elizabeth’s brother or making wild assumptions about historical figures’ state of minds. I hate when authors pretend they knew the thoughts of people long dead, and Okerlund does it *a lot*. She’s also wildly defensive about the Wydevilles—she spends far more time dissecting the arguments of other historians than making her own case. The book also isn’t organized very well. I was glad to read a biography from someone on the other side of the Wars of the Roses (I’ve studied Margaret of Anjou and of course, Henry VII before), but I wish this had been better.

[me · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, having sought it out because I had heard good things about it. In common with many biographies of medieval people, especially women, there's a good amount about other members of her family and the context of the Wars of the Roses can take up a good chunk of any book about the period.

The main thing is that this book takes a positive view of Elizabeth Woodville and questions the tradition that sees her as greedy and grasping, pointing out (rightly, to my mind) that this is not unsual for the nobility and by the standards of the time the Woodvilles didn't even do that well out of the marriages made after she became queen, and that every one of those must have been at the very least okayed by Edward IV. Elizabeth has been seen through the lens of the propaganda spread by her enemies - Warwick and Richard III in particular and it's good to have an alternative viewpoint offered here.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My prior knowledge of the slandered queen came heavily from Tudor sources. Okerlund has produced a greatly overdue balance in the appraisal of Edward IV's queen.
The author shows that it was not just Elizabeth who was a shining light of the age, but the Wydeville family as a whole produced intellectual, enlightened and chivalric members of the English nobility in the late fifteenth century. Sir Anthony Wydeville (Lord Rivers), being a prime example of this.
Elizabeth lived through these turbulent times, suffering the loss of her father and brother, executed by Neville when Edward was deposed, as well as the execution of Sir Anthony, her brother, after Stony Stratford, and the mystery of her two sons, the princes in the tower, after the coup of Richard III.
She lives to see the birth of Tudor England and to become grandmother to the future Henry VIII. Elizabeth Wydeville must rank alongside Edward III's wife, Queen Philippa of Hainault, as a great queen, faithful wife and loving mother as well as patron of arts.
Brilliant biography.

[Fergie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The War of the Roses is one of the most intriguing times in England's history. Okerlund does a more than admirable job defending Elizabeth Wydeville (Woodville), Queen Consort to King Edward IV, the first York King who reigned in the mid-fifteenth century. The author points out the unfair slander that has occurred through the years against this Queen Elizabeth which has labeled her as an overly ambitious woman, bent on power and control no matter what the cost. Okerlund, with her meticulous research, defends Elizabeth's honor by pointing out the sources of the slander which, for too long, has masqueraded as truth. Okerlund’s Elizabeth is painted as an honest, pious queen, one devoted to scholarly and charitable efforts; an intelligent woman who was raised in, and then in turn raised a close knit family -- a family that understood the value of education, culture, trust, and loyalty. This is made ironic by the fact that her legacy has been tainted by the men of her husband’s -- the king’s -- family – men not of honor, but of the very ruthless ambition that they leveled against the queen.

Elizabeth Woodville was a Lancastrian widow with two young boys when she first met the new King Edward to ask for his dispensation to obtain the lands of her deceased husband. History tells us that she and the king fell in love and soon married in a secret ceremony. Oakerlund does not debate this fact. The slander of this queen most likely began when she married Edward. King Edward obtained his throne, in large part, through the support of his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warick, who helped him defeat King Henry VI’s Lancastrian forces. Warick, the Kingmaker, felt that the king should be indebted to him for his patronage and support. He resented Elizabeth from the start, especially in light of the fact that he was working on a marriage between Edward and a French princess at the time of the wedding. With Elizabeth’s ascension, her family was placed in a position of power at Edward’s court, a circumstance that was deemed unacceptable by Warick and the king’s family. Okerlund painstakingly points to the documented records of the Wydeville/Woodville services to the King. The family was untruthfully labelled as non-royal (a lie based on the Queen’s mother’s royal Burgundy connections), as well as ruthlessly ambitious (an exaggeration based on the fact that most of the family profited little financially with their new connection to the King. For the sake of fairness, Okerlund acknowledges the well-matched marriages that occurred between the Queen’s siblings and royalty after her own marriage to the King, but Okerlund is just as quick to point out that this was considered a common practice). In fact, Okerlund points to historical fact when discussing the merit of the service and loyalty each of Elizabeth’s family members provided to the King throughout his reign. The accusation of ruthless ambition and other offences placed at the feet of the Queen is systematically challenged by Okerlund. Her research is flawless and deep, a feat most notable due to the lengths in which she needed to delve.

Okerlund suggests that Elizabeth Woodville’s unjust treatment in history could be placed squarely on the shoulders of the York men who surrounded her husband while he sat on the throne of England – most notably, Warick and the king’s brothers, George and Richard. The propaganda and slander they began with their rumors and lies have unjustly been considered fact and, in turn, history. Based on Okerlund’s research, she suggests that Elizabeth was nothing of the wicked Queen the Yorks painted her to be. Okerlund also relies on evidence that the common people of England loved their Queen and supported her throughout her reign – in good times as well as in times of tribulation. At Warwick’s, George’s, and Richard’s hands, Elizabeth would not only be slandered, but would be grieved. Okerlund details the murders of Elizabeth’s father and brother, John, at the hands of Warick and George during their grab at the throne. Richard (the infamous Richard III) would later murder Elizabeth’s son from her first marriage, along with her beloved brother, Anthony, in his own, more successful attempt at the throne. Once these men of Elizabeth’s family were removed, Richard famously turned on his nephews, the famed Princes in the Tower. In all, Elizabeth not only had to endure the almost constant attacks against her character by these men (which results in her slandered name to this day), but as just stated, Okerlund points out that her father, two brothers, and three sons were all murdered by the same men. It is perhaps one of the greatest examples of personal tragedy and of historical injustice.

These York men of her husband -- the King’s family -- would each accuse her (and her mother – for which her mother would be formally charged) with sorcery and witchcraft – Richard going so far in accusing Elizabeth of using witchcraft to ensnare the king into marrying her, one of the reasons and bases for discrediting her marriage to Edward after Edward’s death.

The House of York would eventually turn on itself; their own blood lust for power would prove to be the root of their ultimate destruction after King Edward’s death. Warick, George, and Richard would each turn on the king – the first two plotted and attempted to dethrone Edward through revolt while Richard chose to wait until after Edward’s death to seek his own power and glory – separating Elizabeth’s & Edward’s two sons from Elizabeth, imprisoning the young princes in the Tower of London, claiming Elizabeth’s marriage to Edward null and void (officially naming all ten of their children as illegitimate), and finally, and most cruelly, killing the princes as they most likely slept in their imprisoned Tower rooms. It is beyond comprehension how there are those who still attempt to defend Richard’s honor. At the very least, he robbed his nephew’s birth right to be king, discrediting not only the rule of succession, but disavowing his own brother’s wishes to protect his family after his death. Richard systematically disinherited the two princes’ royal rights (along with their sisters), separated the princes from their mother, and ultimately placed them in the position to be murdered. It is no wonder why Elizabeth would work out an arrangement with the Yorkist enemy, Henry Tudor, betrothing her eldest daughter to him in marriage before he even won the throne from Richard. Henry defeated and killed Richard at Bosworth, effectively making him the new king of England – the first of the Tudor reign. By marrying Elizabeth’s & Edward’s daughter Elizabeth, Princess of York, the Houses of Lancaster and York were formally combined, formally ending the War of the Roses.

Okerlund should be commended for her research and efforts in defending the memory of this most maligned queen, slandered unjustly at the hands of the royal tyrannical villians of her day. Their propaganda, rumors, and lies have been made to stand as truth for too long. Okerlund compiles a more just description of this queen and her family. Okerlund perhaps puts it best when she proposes that Elizabeth and her Wydeville family were born in the wrong period. She and her family were women and men of the Renaissance before the Renaissance came to England. They were up against the medieval system of their time, and unjustly slandered as a result. It is up to the informed reader and student of history to search for the true history of this period and give this Queen Elizabeth the due she so rightly and justly deserves.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a book that does not portray Elizabeth as a horrid woman.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mother of the Princes in the Tower, the minor gentlewoman who became the queen and wife of Edward IV, the first English-born queen since the Conquest, the enemy of Richard III, the mother-in-law of Henry VII – Elizabeth Woodville was a fascinating woman. And yet because of those things, she has rarely been served well by history, particularly in the light of the Ricardian movement which has tended to demonise her and her family to justify Richard III’s actions in seizing the throne, murdering her brother, declaring her marriage invalid, her children bastards and imprisoning her sons (who were presumably murdered, though their murderer and fate remain a mystery).

Elizabeth: England’s Slandered Queen is a biography of Elizabeth Woodville (here spelt Wydeville) by Arlene Okerlund and was also the first book in Alison Weir’s short-lived and now long-abandoned series, England’s Forgotten Queens.

Okerlund’s goal in this book is to address Elizabeth’s reputation as an overambitious, scheming woman and also work to rehabilitate her image. Frankly, this is more than welcome – as I’ve mentioned above, Elizabeth has become a scapegoat for Richard III’s actions and this desperately needs redress (I am not Ricardian so feel free to ignore me if you are). Okerlund in some ways seemed to be cutting through the past interpretations of historians (including Weir, her editor) and returning to the original sources to build up a more honest picture of Elizabeth and her kin.

I wasn’t, however, entirely happy with this biography – which I suspect because it was meant to be a Weir-like popular history and thus was written and/or edited to be Weir-like. I know some people do genuinely like Alison Weir but her reputation as a historian is terrible and I’ve been hugely disappointed by the work of hers I read. I found that while Elizabeth: England’s Slandered Queen was a quick, easy read, it was oversimplified and often seemed to be written with an agenda in mind rather than being more interested about the history. Okerlund’s academic biography of Elizabeth of York is apparently much better.

As I’ve said in other reviews, I’m not the biggest Wars of the Roses buff so I wasn’t able to catch many errors in the text. However, when Okerlund talked about the time preceding the Wars of the Roses, I did pick up some errors and grandiose, oversimplistic statements. Perhaps this is unfair as Henry VI’s minority isn’t Okerlund’s focus of study but one error was just flat-out bizarre as she stated one thing and then contradicted herself immediately below. In a brief discussion of Eleanor Cobham’s trial of witchcraft, Okerlund tells us that after her 1441 trial and public penance, Eleanor “was then imprisoned until her death sixteen years later”. Two lines below, Okerlund correctly tells us Eleanor died on 7 July 1452 which is eleven, not sixteen, years after her trial. Given that my edition was not the first edition, it’s kinda bizarre that such an obvious error is still there. But maybe that’s the publisher’s fault – The History Press doesn’t seem to proofread anything they publish.

Other reviewers have noted that Okerlund’s focus is broad. Perhaps this is due to a lack of evidence to flesh Elizabeth’s queenship out, especially in a way that lends itself to a conventional biography as this is aiming to be. I would personally prefer to read something that is more academic and thematic in approach if more information about Elizabeth could be teased out.

In the end, I don’t regret reading this but I wish it could have been so much more.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars rounded up
I quite enjoyed this.
This is scholarly light and written for casual readers of history.
This is well sourced, well written and easy to read.

[Lynsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Queen Elizabeth Wydeville, the slandered Queen of England has spent centuries judged to be a greedy and horrid woman, characteristics written by her many enemies. In this volume, Okerlund delves into the preconceptions in order to shed light on the truth - was she truly a vile woman or was she a strong individual who endured where others crumbled?

It does appear that Elizabeth Wydeville was indeed a much more complex personality than sources have made out in the past. A deeply pious woman, Okerlund determines that the marriage of Elizabeth and Edward IV was truly a love match and not a result of witchcraft.

Here, Elizabeth is described as a pious and charitable woman who rewarded those loyal to her and not the greedy upstart that she is generally seen to be. Indeed, there appears to be much loyalty and respect towards her as a Queen; and Okerlund does present her through her trials and experiences as someone adaptable and strong who survived two husbands, the unjust executions of members of her own family including a son from her first marriage, the disappearance her her two sons the princes in the tower.

Upon reading this biography I gained much respect for the woman often deemed a witch, whose reputation has been marred through time, and only recently gaining a more respectable reputation in the light of a reviving interest in the wars of the roses.

Elizabeth Wydeville played a key role alongside Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII who has enjoyed a more respected reputation in history; she was the grandmother of Henry VIII, and her blood still runs through the veins of the British royal family to this day. There is likely truth within tales of vanity, as a Queen she represented an image to the people and many nobles were envious of her position and her family's rise to power that this image of vanity and greed has superseded the many other aspects of her life that made her a captivating and admirable woman for her day.

I admit that Okerlund's view is biased in favour of Elizabeth, but it is a refreshing view compared with that of historians who decree that she was nothing more than an arrogant, greedy upstart; a view that often translates into fiction as well.

It may be time to give Elizabeth Wydeville more credit for her numerous good qualities and strengths that helped her endure in a world ruled by men. This biography offers a good starting point.

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a very clear objective - to cleanse the name of Queen Elizabeth. Throughout the centuries her name has been slandered, especially in her one lifetime when she was made out be an adulterous woman with 10 bastard children. Arlene Okerlund's method was solid, using both contemporary sources and moderne onces. I feared that, with the goal she had, the book would be one sided, but Okerlund took sources from all sides and debated their credibility. It was refreshing and easy to get into.

[Diane Dreher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about the dramatic life of Elizabeth, the mother of the two princes believed to have been murdered in the Tower of London by Richard III. Okerlund offers a look back in history in this well-researched account of Elizabeth's life. As a Renaissance scholar, I value this important contribution. As someone who loves reading historical biography, I recommend this book highly.

[Abel Guerrero · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author throws away any pretence of objectivity whilst cattily criticising the perceived subjectivity of the rest of the world. The result is a volume lionising Elizabeth Wydeville and her family to the extent that I began to wonder whether she was a descendant of the 'slandered queen'.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okerlund throughout sticks to her subtitle of "slandered queen," digging into the historical record and following, who, exactly, said certain nasty things about Elizabeth, and pointing out the political/economic agenda her detractors had, the hypocrisy of the Nevilles to talk about "marrying up" and how the Yorks were much more acquisitive than any Woodville. Leaning more into psychological analysis than unearthing new facts, she does a great job getting into various people's heads and pointing out how many were probably lying.

She does an excellent job showing the achievements of both Elizabeth and the rest of her family, and most of the criticisms against her and them can, and should be, dismissed. There is some padding as the book spends far too much time praising Elizabeth's oldest brother Anthony (to the point that its almost as if the author had a crush on him) but overall does an great job putting Elizabeth back in her deserved place as an excellent queen of England.

My major complaint is her theory that Elizabeth's youngest daughter Princess Bridget was not neurotypical, based simply on the fact she went to a convent at age 10. (I'd love to read an analysis about convents as dumping grounds for those on the spectrum, but haven't seen anything on that in general or with Bridget). My personal theory is, based on the fact Bridget was given a name of a famous saint and also a name not used by the royal family before, she was "tagged", so to speak, as a "thank you" gift to Jesus-Christ-Our-Lord-and-Savoir, and that Henry VII, eager to have one less bloodline to worry about, was more than willing to honor that idea.

Still, overall this is a great biography giving Elizabeth Woodville her proper due.

[sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting description of one of the main characters at this time who is often either neglected in histories of this period or denigrated. The later is often due to past writers (contemporary with Elizabeth and more recent) who have looked at her life, mostly through the writings of men in England, who distrusted strong and powerful women and painted them in a bad light. Arlene cuts through this to portray Elizabeth in a fascinating tale.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about Elizabeth Wydeville (Woodville), wife of Edward IV, and her family that puts to bed some of the unfair press she has received from various historians over the centuries. If you are interested in the Cousin's Wars (Wars of the Roses) with particular emphasis on the Wydeville family then this is a must read for any amateur historian.

[Alaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable for writing my senior thesis paper on Elizabeth Woodville. I just wish it would have been easier to "borrow" the author's sources to use as my own primary sources. She had to travel and/or get translations, and I wasn't going to be able to do that. But I was still able to use it as a secondary source.

[Tracy Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that I thought this book would be much different then it was, I look forward to stories weaved into the actual facts and history. I made it about half way through chapter 3 and ended up not being able to go any further.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is valuable to get a book devoted to the point of view of the Wydeville family, a clan allied with the Lancastrians, then the Yorkists, and finally, the Tudors. These changing allegiances have led to the Wydevilles being portrayed as opportunists hungry for power, and in this book, Okerlund aims to rehabilitate the family's image, focusing ostensibly on Elizabeth, Queen Consort to Edward IV, though her brother Anthony comes across as perhaps the book's main star. As far as rehabilitation goes, Okerlund convincingly writes of Anthony's scholarly and religious pursuits; he was by any reasonable assessment a rather well-rounded knight. Elizabeth's own efforts as a patron of knowledge is discussed in even more depth, though while she is often praised for her piety, the evidence of this in the book is somewhat less convincing. Okerlund argues that Elizabeth's religious endeavors are shown to be greater than the average wealthy patron, and perhaps this shows through a bit, but the evidence for religious support doesn't match that of her scholarly patronage. As a case in point, Okerlund approaches Elizabeth's retirement to Bermondsey Abbey as a religiously motivated move, quickly dismissing the question of whether or not it was her own decision or that of Henry VII.

Speaking of Henry VII, Okerlund goes to great pains to assure readers that there was no ill-will between him and Elizabeth, refusing to entertain the possibility that she could have been complicit in the Lionel Simnel business. Perhaps she wasn't involved in that affair per se, but the notion that she may have had hope that one of her sons was alive and/or otherwise opposed Henry VII could have been explored in more depth. The fact that Henry VII didn't cut her off from finances completely in later years doesn't neccessisarily mean that he didn't desire to keep her at bay. Okerlund seems to be writing from a strongly Tudorist point of view once Henry VII enters the picture, when ideally the focus would be on the Wydevilles.

The focus on the Wydevilles as protagonists sort of excuses the vehement anti-Richard III sentiment. Whether one argues that Richard III was a saint or a demon, he did work strongly to extract the Wydeville family from power, and in a book dedicated to the Wydeville point of view, he would naturally be the antagonist. While Okerlund never directly accuses Richard III of the most heinous crimes attributed to him, she nevertheless quotes extensively from obvious propaganda that repeats such tales (with careful disclaimers absolving her from making the accusations directly). If Richard III was a villain as far as the Wydevill family was concerned, why not at least consider that the Tudors were as well? Okerlund's main claim is that Elizabeth Wydeville is a slandered claim due to the terrible effects of the porpoganda directed to her and her family from the likes of Richard III and the Duke of Clarence. It is true that these two Yorkists spent considerable effort discrediting the Wydevilles, but both of these men have since been subjected to centuries of efforts to discredit their own careers. Okerlund notes that Henry VII was too busy solidifying his own Tudor legacy to worry about restoring the good name of his wife's family (although he had huge motivation to do so, as his wife's family lineage was vital to establishing his throne). However, Henry VII spent considerable effort to tarnish the legacies of Richard III and Clarence whenever possible, and he did, out of his own political necessity of course, repeal the Titulus Regius that had perhaps been the greatest blemish on the reputation of Elizabeth Wydeville. Other than this necessary step to legitimizing Elizabeth Wydeville's daughter that he married, why did Henry VII allow the legacy of his mother-in-law to remain defined by the enemies he spent his life trying to discredit?

The Wydevilles were an interesting family, and Okerlund's book ultimately provides a fascinating look into this clan and its influence in English politics. She argues that they were a family of well-meaning scholars who were not merely in the hunt for profits. It does seem as if they were not nearly as concerned with striking it rich as detractors might claim, but I'm not certain that they were not ambitious. They married well and accrued power, enough political might that they very well could have ended up ruling the nation under Edward V had things worked out differently. Okerlund does not seem to want to acknowledge the power the Wydevilles were perhaps seeking, though I do not see it as a knock against the family. Everyone was vying for power in those days; political ambition was not a horrid thing to possess. The Lancasters, Yorkists, smaller families... Everyone wanted more clout. The Wydevilles seemed to desire it as well, but they were a unique clan with a scholarly bent who managed to claim up the ranks quicker than many others. That's a point in their favor to be sure.

This was an intriguing book that highlights an interesting queen and her family. Perhaps I may have seemed criticism in my comments, but this was overall an enlightening read.

[Ember · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, interesting however tends to wander from the subject.

[Fallon Burner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author (Arlene Okerlund) makes some very passionate, very well researched arguments defending Elizabeth. She's got some great quotes in here, too. Okerlund attacks some myths and topics about Elizabeth that I have always wondered about - things that other historians seemed to have been overlooking for centuries, taking at face value the propaganda of the Warwick era, and not examining the vast hypocrisies on the other side.

In the middle of the book, we don't hear about Elizabeth herself as much any more. yes, these are all things that affected her and the people closest to her, but I'm interested in knowing the author's conjecture about how this all affected our subject.

There is an entire chapter on Anthony Woodville, which I admit, seemed a little out of place or unnecessary at first glance. But I did read the chapter, and it had some interesting information about the wider goings-on of the era, which I am interested in as I am studying the whole story, not just Elizabeth.

But golly, is this a useful book! The appendix sections alone are reason enough to own a copy. Okerlund has done her research, for sure - but beyond that she has created a thoughtful and helpful study guide for the reader. There are multiple genealogical tables, including not only some obscure information that has been difficult to find for me so far, but also making clear certain familial connections. She also has included a timeline of Edward IV & the Woodvilles leading up to Elizabeth's marriage to the King, and a Cousin's War timeline that's not JUST the battles, but includes the information someone studying Elizabeth's place in all of that would want to know to follow along. She also has listed by birth some brief biographical information about all the Wydeville children and all of Elizabeth's children as well. It's so handy to have all of that in one place. I've been scouring the internet for that information for over a year and I still learned some new things reading her notes! This is by far one of the most valuable historical biographies I've ever read.

Even with its quirks, this is one of the best-written biographies I've ever read. Extensively and thoroughly researched, Okerlund shows us what it is to be passionate about history, and its relevance to the wider human experience.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this book; mostly it made me want to re-read The Wars of the Roses, a historical event that takes up about half of this book, and quite honestly the more interesting half. The parts that are actually about Elizabeth are ultimately doomed by the author stopping quite frequently to defend Elizabeth's reputation; While these parts do sound convincing to me, I had barely heard of Elizabeth before reading this book, and the author introducing arguments against Elizabeth to then refute them started turning into a real drag. I appriciate the author's attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of "England's Slandered Queen", but I'm afraid it doesn't make for terribly interesting reading, and I'd probably recommend steering clear of this one.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title "Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen" tells you immediately the view of the author Arlene Naylor Okerlund. She believes Queen Elizabeth Wydeville to have been slandered and this book is her argument against that. She does a fine job doing so. I've read a bit about Elizabeth Wydeville and have never personally believed all of the negative things reported about her. Okerlund does a magnificent job refuting the gossip and lies. She has given us a well-researched, well-written account of the life and times of the very first queen of England with the name Elizabeth. This book is not only a biography of Elizabeth, but a thorough chronicling of the medieval times in which she lived.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the author would've done better to draw her focus out to the Woodville clan overall rather than just Elizabeth, as the material covered doesn't really do much to flesh her out in any significant way (she does a much better job with Anthony, of all people, who she would clearly much rather be writing about). Also, the book goes too far out of the way to pointedly discredit Richard wherever possible--which on the one hand I philosophically don't care about (I like Richard as a character but am no devout Ricardian), but on the other hand, leads to some pretty sloppy leaps in logic. The whole thing doesn't hang together terribly well. Alas.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written but sometimes verges on the naive. I am certain that the Woodvilles were not guilty of being as grasping as they are generally portrayed but equally I am also certain that Elizabeth Woodville was not some saint. I expect that she may have had bad qualities as well as good and the writer doesn't seem to explore this possibility.

She also tends to be quite derogatory about other biographers of Woodville if they have written anything that she considers vaguely slanderous. A good read but could perhaps have done with a bit more balance. Nobody is a saint after all.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thorough analysis of Elizabeth Wydeville, the much maligned wife of Edward VII. Okerlund lays out plenty of research defending the woman who might have been ahead of her time and definitely wasn't the coniving shrew she's been depicted as. If anything, she was a survivor and her tragedy is having so many people around her die, including her young sons (the Princes in the Tower).

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Commissioned by me at Tempus Publishing (now the History Press) as part of a series I set up with Alison Weir called England's Forgotten Queens. I also published the paperback whilst I was working for Tempus and took the opportunity to change the title to Elizabeth: England's Slandered Queen.

[Susan Abernethy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Link to my review of this book:

https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2017/...

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched, this book does a great job rehabilitating Queen Elizabeth. I especially liked reading about her life since I found out I am one of her descendants.

[Therese]

$2.51