Game of Queens

The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe

Sarah Gristwood

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Year: 2016
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781780749952
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: History

A BBC History magazine Book of the Year and an amazon.com Best Book of the Month

As religion divided sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary group of women rose to power. They governed nations while kings fought in foreign lands. They ruled on behalf of nephews, brothers and sons. They negotiated peace between their warring nations. For decades, they ran Europe. Small wonder that it was in this century that the queen became the most powerful piece on the chessboard.

From mother to daughter and mentor to protégée, Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu through Anne Boleyn – the woman who tipped England into religious reform – and on to Elizabeth I and Jeanne d’Albret, heroine of the Protestant Reformation. Unravelling a gripping historical narrative, Gristwood reveals the stories of the queens who had, until now, been overshadowed by kings.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustration Credits
• Game of Queens: Who’s Who
• Maps
• Chronology
• Preface
• Author’s Note
• PART I: 1474–1513
• 1 Entrance
• 2 ‘Lessons for my Daughter’
• 3 Youthful experience
• 4 ‘Fate is very cruel to women’
• 5 Princess Brides
• 6 Repositioning
• 7 ‘False imputations’
• 8 Flodden
• PART II: 1514–1521
• 9 Wheel of Fortune
• 10 ‘a splendid New Year’s gift’
• 11 ‘One of the lowest-brought ladies’
• 12 ‘inestimable and praiseworthy services’
• 13 The Field of Cloth of Gold
• 14 Repercussions
• PART III: 1522–1536
• 15 ‘Wild for to hold’
• 16 Pavia
• 17 ‘a true, loyal mistress and friend’
• 18 New pieces on the board
• 19 ‘ladies might well come forward’
• 20 The Ladies’ Peace
• 21 Exits and entrances
• 22 ‘Thus it will be’
• 23 ‘a native-born Frenchwoman’
• 24 ‘inclined towards the Gospel’
• 25 ‘to doubt the end’
• PART IV: 1537–1553
• 26 Daughters in jeopardy
• 27 Pawns and princesses
• 28 New winds
• 29 Accommodations
• 30 ‘device for the succession’
• PART V: 1553–1560
• 31 ‘Herculean daring’
• 32 ‘not one year of rest’
• 33 Sisters and rivals
• 34 ‘if God is with us’
• 35 ‘maidenly estate’
• 36 Trouble in Scotland
• PART VI: 1560–1572
• 37 ‘Rancour and division’
• 38 ‘Two Queens in One Isle’
• 39 Challenge and conciliation
• 40 ‘Majesty and love do not sit well together’
• 41 ‘daughter of debate’
• 42 The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day
• PART VII: 1572 onwards
• 43 Turning points
• 44 Prise
• Postscript
• Plate Section
• A note on sources
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• Imprint page