Amy Licence

The life of Honor, Lady Lisle, follows a dizzying narrative arc. Born into a West Country family, her second marriage propelled her into Anne Boleyn''s court, as the new step-aunt to Henry VIII. Her husband, Arthur, was the illegitimate son of Edward IV, bearing the dangerous surname Plantagenet, one of a few survivors of the old regime. At his side, Honor witnessed tumultuous change in England, before heading out to run the Tudor enclave of Calais. Her surviving letters speak of a happy family, domestic arrangements, clothes and food, as well as including snippets of news about Henry''s love life and the unfolding Reformation. A devout Catholic, Honor found herself in a difficult position when instructions arrived to carry through religious reforms in a reluctant, rebellious town. As the pressure increased upon the couple, and one by one, the giants of the Tudor court fell, did Honor ever fear that she may suffer the same fate? What exactly caused accusations to be made against Honor and Arthur? What role did Honor''s faith play? Just how close did she come to dishonour? This is the first complete biography of Honor, presenting the story of a significant Tudor woman against the backdrop of immense political change.

This retelling of the sixteenth century introduces the reader to a gallery of amazing women, from queens to commoners, who navigated the patriarchal world in memorable and life-changing ways. Amy Licence has scoured the records from Europe and beyond to compile this testament to female lives and achievements, telling the stories of mistresses and martyrs, witches and muses, pirates and jesters, doctors and astronomers, escapees and murderesses, colonists and saints.Read about the wife of astrologer John Dee, the women who inspired Michelangelo, the jester who saved the life of Henry IV of France, the beloved mistress of the Sultan Suleiman the Great, the wife of Ivan the Terrible, whose murder unleashed terror, set against the everyday lives of those women who did not make the history books.Introducing a number of new faces, this book will delight those who are looking to broaden their knowledge on the sixteenth century and celebrate the lost women of the past.