Secrets of the Tudor Court Boxed Set

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

I chose to end Anne Bassett’s story on a happy note. Sadly, she did not live long after her wedding. In common with many sixteenth-century wives, she bore her husband two sons who died young and was dead herself sometime before June 7, 1557, the date of Walter Hungerford’s remarriage.

For those who want “the real story,” it is to be found in M. St. Clare Byrne’s excellent six-volume edition of The Lisle Letters. I have drawn my own conclusions about certain events in Nan’s life and about Lord Cromwell’s involvement in the Botolph conspiracy, but overall I have worked within the historical record. I did choose to omit a number of details of the Botolph conspiracy simply because they made the scheme too preposterous for a modern reader to believe.

Maids of honor may have waited on the queen in shifts, with two on duty for each eight-hour period, but since no one knows for certain, I often have all six in attendance on the queen at the same time. The identities of these “damsels” are also open to question. Many more women are said to have held the position than is possible, even with a great number of them marrying and leaving the ranks. Some young ladies, like Elizabeth Brooke, as the daughters or sisters of courtiers, lived at court without having any official position.

For more information on the real people who populate this novel, see the Who’s Who section that follows this note. You will find more mini-biographies of Tudor women at my website, KateEmersonHistoricals.com. The only characters in Between Two Queens who are entirely products of my imagination are Nan’s maid, Constance; the midwife, Mother Gristwood; Jamie and his adoptive parents; and Ned Corbett’s violet-eyed wife.