THE SAD STORY OF EDABELLA by Colin Falconer

Welcome back to History Undressed, guest author, Colin Falconer! He's written an awesome piece for us today on Isabella of France... I can't wait to read  his new release, Isabella: Braveheart of France. Enjoy!

THE SAD STORY OF EDABELLA

by Colin Falconer

They are the original glamour supercouple; everyone thinks they are just perfect for each other. He is lean, good-looking, powerful and famous; she is beautiful, elegant and young. These days we would give them one of those cutesy names like Brangella or Bennifer.

Edabella.

But here is the real situation: he has married her because it is expected of him. He needs a wife to shore up his public image and sons to take over the family business. And so he hides his true sexual orientation from her, at least initially.

Here is her situation: she has married him because he is appears a good match and his prospects appear excellent. There was, it is true, quite a bit of pressure from her father, who is accustomed to getting his own way with everyone.

After they are married she finds herself starved of affection, and thinks initially that it is her fault. The fact that her husband may not be straight has, as yet, not occurred to her. She has nothing to compare him to.

But she bears his children and over the years they become quite good friends. But something is missing from their marriage, as she becomes acutely aware.

Now am I describing a situation from which period in human history? If you said: ‘my friend just last week,’ you could be correct. I know one relationship counsellor who tells me that one in every three men that she counsels is ‘on the downlow;’ that is, they are married but don’t want to be - at least, not with a woman. Some are having an affair, or are actively promiscuous, with other men.

But what drew me to write about Isabella and Edward was not only the poignancy of their story - but its sheer timelessness.

What is here, behind the pageantry and the wars, played out in the palaces of Westminster, the lonely abbeys of Northumberland and the battlefields of Scotland, was a tragedy that still takes place every day in this 21st century, though it is rarely openly discussed.

The main difference is that when such a marriage of convenience comes to its sorry conclusion today, it does not bring down the King of England or result in private assassination.

Many historians seem to me to have weighed this tragic story through a prism, searching for a hero and a villain in it - calling Isabella a she-wolf, or labelling Edward a hopeless dandy. But what if there were no villains, except perhaps the same two ageless villains who still wreak havoc today - silence and shame.

It is what I love most about history the fiction that comes from it; it is not about stories that happened long ago with no relevance today. I love it because history has so much to tell us about the conflicts that dog our society, even centuries later.

Edabella were so much people of their time; yet they are so much of our time as well.

ISABELLA, Braveheart of France.

She was taught to obey. Now she has learned to rebel.

12 year old Isabella, a French princess marries the King of England - only to discover he has a terrible secret. Ten long years later she is in utter despair - does she submit to a lifetime of solitude and a spiritual death - or seize her destiny and take the throne of England for herself?

Isabella is just twelve years old when she marries Edward II of England. For the young princess it is love at first sight - but Edward has a terrible secret that threatens to tear their marriage - and England apart.

Who is Piers Gaveston - and why is his presence in the king’s court about to plunge England into civil war?

The young queen believes in the love songs of the troubadours and her own exalted destiny - but she finds reality very different. As she grows to a woman in the deadly maelstrom of Edward’s court, she must decide between her husband, her children, even her life - and one breath-taking gamble that will change the course of history.

This is the story of Isabella, the only woman ever to invade England - and win.

In the tradition of Philippa Gregory and Elizabeth Chadwick, ISABELLA is thoroughly researched and fast paced, the little known story of the one invasion the English never talk about.

 READ IT!

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Trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGBgmrsZLMA

Colin Falconer is the author of over twenty historical novels. See his blog page to see more posts about history and historical fiction.

Colin Falconer Introduces His Novel: HAREM

Welcome back to History Undresesd today, Colin Falconer! Today he's talking with us about a bit of fascinating history behind his re-release, HAREM. Leave a comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of HAREM.  Enjoy!

HARĒM

History Undressed

by

Colin Falconer

The word 'Harēm' conjures an element of fantasy for most people; of women in gauzy veils draped languorously beside steam baths against a background of incense and marble. A cross between a high class bordello and a spa resort.

 

 

Most men are disappointed to learn that the Ottoman harēm was in fact run by the Sultan's mother.

 

 

She had assumed the title of 'Valide Sultan' upon her son's ascension and thus became the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. It was the ultimate achievement for a former concubine and slave. She was now head of a palace that had once been her prison, and also wielded enormous influence over her son's political decisions and by extension the Empire that had enslaved her.

 

 

She also regulated the relations between him and his wives and children.

 

 

Do I dare say it? This caused friction.

 

 

Far from the indolent massage parlour of male fantasy, the harēm was in fact a hotbed of intrigue and ambition. All the women were in competition with each other; and every one of them wanted to be the next Valide.

The Sultan was allowed just four principal favourites but an unlimited number of concubines. Far fewer Sultans took advantage of this arrangement than you might think. Most Sultans preferred their favourites to a different girl every night.

 

 

The Australian actor Jack Thompson perhaps explained the reason for this best. He lived with many years with twin sisters. Many men seemed to think this was an ideal arrangement and one reporter questioned him about it. Jack answered: 'You know what it's like coming home after a night out and having to face one woman? Well imagine having to face two.'

 

 

The rank and file concubines were chosen for their exceptional beauty and intelligence. Inside the world of the harēm they were considered the contemporary equivalent to a 'one night stand.' Should she be chosen for this honour and fail to arouse sufficient interest during the encounter, she might never see the Sultan again. But if she was asked back repeatedly she became an iqbal, a favourite.

 

 

But pleasing the Sultan was only part of it; it was also essential to get pregnant with a male child so that she could become one of the Sultan's 'wives'. Then, although technically still a slave herself, she was given her own apartments, slaves, and eunuchs.

 

 

She could now one day become the most powerful woman in the Empire - or finish her days in a weighted sack at the bottom of the Bosphorus.

 

 

But the concubines and kadins were only half the story. Eunuchs were the integral other half of the harēm. There is a myth that once a man has been castrated he loses his desire for women. Sadly, from my research, I learned that this is apparently not the case. It must have been truly torturous for these men to be surrounded by naked and exquisitely beautiful women and still retain their yearning.

 

 

There were two sets of eunuchs; the white eunuchs came from the conquered Christian areas of Georgia, and Armenia, or as prisoners of war from Hungary and Germany. They were only partly castrated.

 

 

(Imagine what happens in lambing season - it was like that.)

 

 

The black eunuchs however were completely 'shaven'. Most of these operations were performed at a Coptic monastery in Egypt. The boys were brought there from the Sudan as young boys. Their average age was eight. The survival rate was ten per cent.

 

 

Enough said.

 

 

Should a eunuch survive this procedure and rise to become the Chief Black Eunuch he would then find himself the third highest-ranking officer of the empire, after the Sultan and the Grand Vizier and functioned as the private messenger between the Sultan and his mother. It was also his appointed task to lead a new odalisque to the Sultan's bedchamber, and was the only "man" who could enter the harēm should there be any nocturnal emergencies.

 

 

Being in control of the Harēm and head of a net of spies in his fellow Black Eunuchs, he was deeply involved in almost every palace intrigue and these men even gained power over the Vizier and the Sultan himself.

 

 

The Chief White Eunuch was the head of the harēm bureaucracy and was supposed to have no contact with the harēm women, but this was not always the case in practice. As they were not completely 'shaven', they sometimes retained the ability to satisfy a lonely harēm  girl. A few years after Suleiman's death they were banned from the Harēm completely as too many of the girls were falling pregnant without the Sultan's assistance.

 

 

Far from being the fantasy place of nineteenth century art, the harēm was in fact a sad and lonely place of intrigue and deadly spite. For young women it must have been a terrible and dolorous place.

 

 

But oh, let me tell you; it was just a fantastic background for a novel!

 

 

COLIN FALCONER is the author of WHEN WE WERE GODS, ANASTASIA and many other books of historical fiction. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. His latest novel SILK ROAD, was published in London last month by Corvus-Atlantic.

 

 

HAREM for Amazon US

 

 

HAREM for Amazon UK

 

 

Colin Falconer's blog

Colin Falconer's website

Cleopatra Undressed with Guest Author Colin Falconer

Today on History Undressed, I'd like to introduce you to a new guest, Colin Falconer, author of historical fiction. Mr. Falconer is going to tantalize us by stripping away some layers on the history of Cleopatra, the main character in his fascinating re-release, WE WERE GODS ONCE. Prepare to enjoy yourself... I most definitely did!

CLEOPATRA UNDRESSED

by Colin Falconer

If it wasn’t all true, it would be hard to believe: thirty years before Jesus, an eighteen year old princess tries to take over the world? Outrageous. But that's what happened.

She was Queen Cleopatra the Seventh but really - there is only one. She has been variously portrayed as virtuous suicide, exuberant lover, professional courtesan, scheming manipulator, and femme fatale. Shakespeare made her a cruel and lazy siren, (his genius was drama not history!) George Bernard Shaw’s made her a man-eater and Elizabeth Taylor convinced everyone she was her.

Hollywood has certainly never had any doubts about who Cleopatra was. In the thirties Cecil B de Mille offered the role in the movie to Claudette Colbert with the words: "How would you like to play the wickedest woman in history?"

Was she history's wickedest woman? Probably not. But she was certainly a woman with what we would call today - cojones. She took on Roman military and political power at the apogee of its power. If she had succeeded – and she very nearly did – the world today might look a very different place. God might really be a woman - called Isis.

It is true that she scandalized the Roman world, but much of what was said about her at the time was mostly misinformation used by her enemy, Augustus, to rally his fellow Romans against her. He used her to turn the tables on Anthony, who was his rival for power in Rome, leaking rumours about her bathing in asses’ milk and having sex with her slaves in order to make Anthony look ridiculous. And it worked; worked so well in fact that his propaganda still informs most popular opinion about her, even today.

She was certainly not the sexual virago of legend. I hope you're not too disappointed but she did not copulate with crocodiles, (it's dangerous and probably not that much fun) or with her slaves (beneath her dignity). In fact, it seems she only slept with two men all her life, and both of them were husbands. Well, not her husbands, admittedly - but in fairness, she did marry them later.

The real Cleopatra was a consummate political animal, a woman far ahead of her time; she had the marketing acumen of Lady Gaga, the ruthlessness of Margaret Thatcher and the charm of Lady Diana. Extraordinary.

Yet we don't really know what she looked like. But surely, you say – she looked like Elizabeth Taylor? With a bob, and a beauty spot, reclining on an antique sunbed?

Well, no.

Some historians speculate that Cleopatra may have even been blonde. As she was part Macedonian, there's a fair chance, so to speak. I toyed with the idea of having Cleopatra as a blonde in WHEN WE WERE GODS, to show that I had done my research and to distance myself from the movie. (Also so that Scarlett Johanssen could play the role in my film. Or, at least, in my fantasies.) But my publisher said to me: you can't do that. (Have a blonde Cleopatra, not have fantasies about Scarlett Johanssen.) They said: Cleopatra is now far too deeply ingrained in our consciousness as a bobbed brunette, it will jar in a reader's imagination.

She may not even have been that beautiful. There are few existing likenesses of her extant. (A coin from the period shows her in profile, and it’s a pretty terrifying image too, not unlike Mike Tyson.) There are only two ambiguous accounts from her contemporaries; Plutarch was at pains to describe her 'pleasing personality' - which is damning with faint praise - and only Cassius Dio lauded her looks, but did he say that because he had to?

And anyway, does it really matter? In the context of her story it was her spirit not her looks that really mattered. Despite overwhelming odds, she almost became ruler of the entire western world using her intelligence and her daring. In the end she scandalized the Romans not because of her sexual conquests but because a woman almost beat them at their own game. She was truly one of the most extraordinary women in history.


WHEN WE WERE GODS, is now re-released on Kindle US, Kindle UK and for all other formats on Smashwords for $2.99. For free excerpt click here.


Colin Falconer has been published widely in the UK, US and Europe and his books have been translated into seventeen languages. He invites you to join him at http://www.colinfalconer.net/