Interview and Giveaway with Guest Author D.L. Bogdan (The Sumerton Women)

Today on History Undressed, I've interviewed historical fiction author, D. L. Bogdan. She writes compelling Tudor-era fiction, and just this month, her latest novel released--The Sumerton Women (click to see my review).


1. Your previous books, Secrets of the Tudor Court and Rivals in the Tudor Court were based on real historical figures, is The Sumerton Women?  

~No, most of the characters in THE SUMERTON WOMEN are of my own creation, save for a few guest appearances by real historical figures such as the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and some members of Henry VIII’s court.  I was eager to try anew approach to my writing and illustrate the conflict of a very tumultuous era through my own characters to show the dramatic affect such historical events could have on a family.

2. Fascinating! I would have never guessed, they seemed so real. And I think you accomplished your feat! What made you choose to write a bout Lady Cecily Burkhart?

~Cecily was of my own creation, and she was my portrait of endurance, mercy, and humanity during a time when those virtues were very difficult to attain.  With all of my characters, I was hoping to portray common strengths, flaws, and struggles timeless to the human condition.

3. I got that sense, and it resonated with me. Well done! Any interesting/unique factoids you uncovered while doing research for your book?

~I read a brilliant biography of Thomas Cranmer by Diarmaid MacCulloch during my research, which led me to a deeper understanding of the man and all he went through.  I developed a little soft spot for him, along with a new admiration for all he accomplished during such a turbulent era.

4. I will have to check that book out. I love reading about that time period. Your books are always filled with lovely descriptions of the period. How do you put yourself in the scene to picture these things?

~I have alwayshad an over-developed imagination—which is sometimes to my detriment (hence why I rarely watch horror movies).  For me ,slipping into another time and picturing everything around me is a joyous escape—almost like acting.  I have a lot of fun doing it and am so glad those descriptions translate.

5. I rarely watch horror movies either... Paranormal Activity had me up for over 2 weeks... I agree with you on the slipping through time as joyous...  I love history. If I could, I would definitely go back in time! At least for a day or two. What is it that fascinates you most about the Tudor era?

~It is overflowing with conflict, which is perfect for fiction writing (and non-fiction, for that matter), compelling historical figures with real and relatable struggles, and larger-than-life events that never seem to lose their hold on popular culture.

6. It really was filled with so much drama--you really don't have to make much up at all. If you could travel back in time to the court of Henry VIII, what is the first, second and third thing you'd do/see? 

~The first thing I’d do is hire a reliable body guard who could make sure I kept my head!  The second would be to somehow meet the Third Duke of Norfolk and his family to see if I did them justice in my portrayals of them.  The third would be to attend a rollicking feast and joust hosted by Henry VIII. Despite everything, he seemed to know how to entertain!

7. LOL on the bodyguard! So needed! That sounds like a good list. I agree Henry certainly knew how to entertain! What can your readers look forward to reading next?

~My next work will be released in 2013 and though I cannot yet disclose what it is about, I can say it is another historical set in the Tudor era, though it does not center on Henry VIII and his court per se. I am very excited about it and can’t wait to discuss it further as soon as I am able.

And we can't wait to hear about it! Thanks so much for visiting with us today. 


Readers, if you haven't already, check out D.L. Bogdan's Tudor-era historical fiction novels! They are amazing!  


Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of The Sumerton Women!



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

D.L. Bogdan is an ongoing student of history, musician, and avid reader who enjoys travel, the outdoors, and time with her family and friends.  She is a proud wife and mother who makes her home in central Wisconsin.  She is the author of Secrets of the Tudor Court, Rivals in the Tudor Court and The Sumerton Women.

For more information on D.L. Bogdan and her novels, please visit her WEBSITE.  You can also find her on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Orphaned at age eight, Lady Cecily Burkhart becomes the ward of Harold Pierce, Earl of Sumerton. Lord Hal and his wife, Lady Grace, welcome sweet-natured Cecily as one of their own. With Brey, their young son, Cecily develops an easy friendship. But their daughter, Mirabella, is consumed by her religious vocation - and by her devotion to Father Alec Cahill, the family priest and tutor. As Henry VIII's obsession with Anne Boleyn leads to violent religious upheaval, Mirabella is robbed of her calling and the future Cecily dreamed of is ripped away in turn. Cecily struggles to hold together the fractured household while she and Father Alec grapple with a dangerous mutual attraction. Plagued with jealousy, Mirabella unleashes a tumultuous chain of events that threatens to destroy everyone around her, even as the kingdom is torn apart...

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Introducing Debut Tudor-era Historical Fiction Author, Michelle Diener (Giveaway!)

Today I'd like to welcome a special guest, Michelle Diener to History Undressed.  Michelle and I met online a year or so ago through a mutual author friend, Kris Kennedy, and I was excited to meet her this summer in NYC at the Romance Writers of America national conference. Michelle is as delightful in person as she is online, and on top of that, she is an amazing writer. Without further ado, I'll let Michelle take the floor and tell you a bit about her upcoming novel IN A TREACHEROUS COURT and the vibrant historical figures she's written about...

Thank you to Eliza for inviting me to blog! I thought I'd talk about the heroine of my Tudor-set historical as I count down to the release of my debut novel, IN A TREACHEROUS COURT, which is set in the court of Henry VIII.

The main characters in IN A TREACHEROUS COURT are based on real people. My heroine, Susanna Horenbout, was trained in her father's studio in Ghent (in modern day Belgium), and art historians are sure she was sent over to Henry's court ahead of her father and brother. The hero is John Parker, one of Henry VIII's 'new men', courtiers who were not noblemen, but in the meritocracy Henry began to establish, loyalty, and usefulness, could definitely overcome a lack of blue blood. They are both outsiders, but talented enough, and intelligent enough, to find a place for themselves in the world they find themselves in.

And what a world it is! Aside from the fact that historians know Susanna was sent to London before the rest of her family, and that she worked for her father in his studio, and that her work was highly praised by one of the most eminent artists of the day, Albrech Dürer, there is no record of what she did for Henry VIII as an artist that remains. This gives me a lot of leeway in my work, which is a great plus, but it saddens me that there are no records or works that remain that can be attributed to her. There is a brass plaque in All Saints Church in Fulham, London, which commemorates her mother, and art historians think it is likely the piece is by her, but that is the only thing we have of hers left. We know she was given a gold cup at Christmas by Henry on two occasions, something he gave to those who had rendered him great service during that year, but we don't know what that service was. I have made up something full of intrigue and danger, of course :) .

However, if she did work for Henry as a painter, which seems the obvious conclusion to draw, then she would have been one of only three women who did work personally for Henry at the time - the other two were Anne Harris, who did his laundry, and Mrs Cornwallis, who made the King's puddings. There were four other women employees, but they worked in the laundry as well, and washed the Queen's clothes. Everything else was done by men. It puts into perspective the kind of attitudes and prejudices Susanna would have encountered. And on top of that, she was a foreigner.

All of this, of course, leads me to another mystery, and that is how Susanna and Parker came to meet and marry. The way art historians were able to work out that Susanna preceded her family was a record of her marriage to Parker, which pre-dated the time when her brother entered Henry's employ. How did she come to marry a courtier who, as the Keeper of the Palace of Westminster, held the King's personal purse? Parker was also Yeoman of the Crossbows, and was later promoted to Yeoman of the King's Robes. Henry would usually marry off the daughters of his courtiers to other courtiers, manipulating and balancing the power of his court through these connections. So for Parker to marry an artist from Ghent, with no connection to court? Very intriguing!

As you can tell, I had a great deal of fun writing the books, and loved how much real history I could use to do so. To celebrate the upcoming release, I'll be giving away a copy of IN A TREACHEROUS COURT to one lucky commenter, and I'd love to know, what is your favorite historical period?


Michelle Diener is the author Tudor-set historical fiction. Her debut, IN A TREACHEROUS COURT releases August 2011 and the second book in the series will release in early 2012. Ms. Diener was born in London, raised in South Africa and now resides in Australia. Visit her website for more information on her books (pre-order available!) her writing and her!  http://www.michellediener.com/

The Queen is With-Child...er Not?

To think one is with-child seems a relatively easy situation to figure out--just take a pregnancy test right? See a physician? Well, yes, today, that is what people generally do... unless you are one of those women on that show about never knowing you're pregnant until the baby happened to pop out... sigh...

But in Tudor times, there were no pregnancy tests. For a queen, noble, or any other lady, she had to keep track of her menses. If she missed two or three in a row, she was most likely preggers.

For Mary Tudor, aka Mary I of England, aka "Bloody Mary," the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, defining one's self as pregnant would not be so easy.

Poor Mary suffered terribly with her menses from the time of her youth until the time of her death. Horrible cramps (dysmenorrhea), missed periods, megrims (migraines), mood swings, etc... If a GYN doctor were to take a look at her today, she may have suffered from endometriosis and maybe uterine fibroids. It is documented that stress can make a woman's menses more severe--and Mary was under A LOT of stress.

At long last, after suffering for decades at the hands of others, at aged 37, Mary was proclaimed Queen of England and it appeared that all of her dreams may be coming true. She was even going to get married to a handsome Spanish prince, Philip (whom the English had not taken a fancy too). Young Philip was eleven years her junior and a recent widow. His age did send Mary into a bit of worry, having her say, he was "likely to be disposed to be amorous, and such is not my desire, not at my time of life, and never having harbored thoughts of love."

And why would she be amorous? She'd been threatened with death and pain for nearly her entire life? Beginning when she was about 9-12 years old (exact year is questionable) and her father met the infamous Anne Boleyn.

But now, being betrothed to a handsome young prince, and being Queen of England, life was starting to finally look good to Mary. While she still suffered from her menses, she was also still having them which meant she was fertile and could potentially, with much prayer and sex with her new husband, conceive. Philip and Mary were married on July 25, 1554, and by September her physician's announced that she was with-child.

After finding out she was with-child, Mary went gangbusters on the English people, and set about returning the realm to Catholicism, and heresy laws were returned to parliament. No way did she want her unborn heir to grace the earth on the day of his birth if it were not in a Catholic realm. And so the burnings began with the swell of her abdomen.

In April of 1555, Mary went to Hampton Court for her lying-in, also called confinement (a period of 1-2 months where a woman is confined to her rooms to prepare for the birth of her child). Nurses for the unborn child were hired--some for feeding, some for rocking, some for cleaning--a whole slew of ladies who would take care of this long awaited prince of the realm.

Apparently there was some speculation within the court that Mary could not possibly bear a living child--she did not eat enough, her belly was not large enough, she was not healthy enough, she was too old... on and on they went, but no one actually made these specualtions to the queen or the people outright, just little rumors here and there. But her belly did swell, apparently she did have emissions of milk from her breasts, she no longer had her monthly women's curse, all signs of being with-child.

Late in April a rumor broke out that Mary had given birth to a son, some even going so far as to describe the child's robust figure--but these were quickly quelled as rumors only.

The child who should have been born no later than June, still did not arrive, and physicians and midwives told the queen they must have miscalculated, perhaps the child would arrive in July or August. By September there was still no babe, and Mary and her courtiers realized that she was in fact not with child at all, that it had simply been a phantom pregnancy, conjured up by the intense desire to have a child. It is believed that she may have been pregnant and either miscarried or the child died and was not properly expelled. Signs of her pregnancy soon disappeared. The subject was never to be brought up in the queen’s presence.

Philip left then for Spain that early fall of 1555 and did not return until spring of 1557 and only for a few months this time before he left once more and did not return. At the age now of 42, Mary was again declared to be pregnant. She went into confinement in February of 1558. After what happened with her first pregnancy many around her had doubts as to this one's validity. On March 30th she wrote her Will in which she made it clear she was pregnant. After a month past her due date, in April, and no baby, Mary realized she was again mistaken. Her pregnancy symptoms dissipated, but her health declined until she died later that year, some say from stomach cancer--a large tumor within her abdomen. Her phantom pregnancies and the symptoms she had along with them included lactation and temporary eyesight loss, were indicative of a hormonal disorder or a tumor in her pituitary gland.

It is a sad end for a woman so devoted to her religion, to her God. She was pious, devout, and suffered so very much--and because of this, I think she wanted others to suffer too. Perhaps she'd grown quite mad. I wouldn't blame her for it.

What do you think?

Tudor Fun Facts

Ready for some fun facts about the Tudors?

• Elizabeth of York (mother of Henry VIII) had the good fortune to be the most royal English queen of all queen’s. How so? She was daughter to the King of England (Edward IV), sister to the King of England (Edward V), neice to the King of England (Richard III), wife to the King of England (Henry VII), and mother to the King of England (Henry VIII). It’s no wonder Henry didn’t want anyone to think he was only king by marrying her.


• Before marrying Edmund Tudor at the age of 12, Margaret Beaufort, aged 7 married John de la Pole, the son of her guardian William de la Pole. The union was later dissolved when Henry VI deemed she should marry his half brother Edmund.


• Despite being married four times (the first of which was never consummated) Margaret Beaufort only had one pregnancy and one child, Henry VII, who she bore at the tender age of 13.
  Prince Arthur was named after King Arthur of Camelot.
  To listen to a clip of Anne Boleyn’s song “Oh Death Rock Me Asleepe,” which she supposedly wrote while in the Tower of London, visit: http://www.nellgavin.com/boleyn_links/ODeath.htm


• Despite the fact that Henry VIII was having Anne Boleyn executed, he did decide not to have her burnt at the stake, and instead of an axe allowed her to die by a sword, which she was also allowed to choose her own executioner.


• Anyone who disobeyed the commands of Henry VIII was arrested for treason and executed…supposedly he executed 72,000 people during his reign. Yikes!


• Henry VIII’s nickname was Sir Loyal Heart, which he came up with early in his marriage to Catherine of Aragon after she gave birth to their son who only lived a short time. He toted the name in tournaments.


• Henry VIII was somewhat of a hypochondriac and extremely scared of contracting disease.


• Henry’s waist went from a lean 32 inches in his prime to 54 inches at his death…He was weighing in at over 300 pounds.


• In her late teens Mary I, was sent to attend her half sister, infant Elizabeth in her household.


• Mary I did not want to execute Lady Jane Grey (nine days queen) and in fact refused to do so for about 7 months until her council pressed her hand.


• Even though she never got married, Elizabeth I did have 26 different marriage proposals to consider (some were repeat offenders :)

If you love the Tudors and want to learn more about this epic dynasty, I am teaching a workshop beginning May 4th. The workshop runs for one month. Visit www.elizaknight.com/workshops.aspx to register.

Cheers!

Eliza