Back to Top

Category: Research

Posts in which we talk about research

Nine Days Queen

Updated on by

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  I hope you all had a great holiday last week.  I ate too much junk food and drank too many weirdly concocted cocktails, but I think I have recovered now…

At the moment I am 1) working on a new Regency-set romance for Harlequin.  It’s been a while since I dipped into the Regency world, and this is a new sort of story for me (a marriage-in-trouble plot) so I am enjoying it! and 2) I am researching and plotting the first in my new Elizabethan-set mystery series for NAL! (I have a new pen name too–Amanda Carmack).  The catalyst for the story is the death of Lady Jane Grey.  Even though my story starts in 1557, on the eve of Elizabeth becoming queen, I’ve had to research Jane’s tragedy as well.  And I found out that today, July 10, in 1553, she began her short-lived reign.

Jane was born in 1536 or ’37, the eldest of 3 daughters of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and his wife Lady Frances Brandon (the daughter of Henry VIII”s sister Mary, dowager Queen of France, and her husband Henry Brandon).  Jane was very well-educated, speaking Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as modern languages like Italian and French.  She was a devout and committed Protestant, corresponding with European theologians like Bullinger.  She would prefer to hide away with her books rather than join in her party-loving family’s ways, and often complained about her strict upbringing (like in this letter to Roger Ascham):


“For when I am in the presence either of father or mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it as it were in such weight, measure and number, even so perfectly as God made the world; or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea presently sometimes with pinches, nips and bobs and other ways (which I will not name for the honour I bear them) … that I think myself in hell.”

But her quiet life wouldn’t last.  On May 21, 1553 she was married against her will to Lord Guildford Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland (King Edward’s chief advisor).  Her sister Katherine was also married to Lord Herbert, heir to the Earl of Pembroke, and Guildford’s sister Katherine to Henry Hastings, heir to Earl of Huntingdon.  It was a lavish ceremony, and widely perceived to be a consolidation of power since things were about to change.

In the Third Act of Succession, passed by Henry VIII and Parliament in 1544, Henry restored his “illegitimate” daughters Mary and Elizabeth to the succession, after his young son Edward.  But in 1553 Edward knew he was dying.  He was a devout Protestant like Jane, and his ardently Catholic sister Mary was his heir.  He drafted his will to leave the throne to the descendants of his aunt Mary (ie Frances and her daughters), and it was signed by 102 nobles.  Edward intended to have this declaration passed when Parliament met again in September, but he died July 6.  His death was kept a secret until Jane was told she was queen on July 9 (legend has it she wept and refused), and was taken to the Tower with her husband and officially proclaimed queen to the bewildered public on July 10.

But her claim was weak from the start.  (Legal experts of the time said a king could not contravene an Act of Parliament without passing a new one.  Plus it was pretty clear Henry’s daughter should have precedence over his great-niece).  Northumberland also made a key miscalculation when he didn’t move fast enough to capture Mary.  After years of living quietly (except for bitter quarrels with her brother over religion), she surprised everyone by escaping and putting up a stiff fight.  She was helped by the fact that the public saw her as the rightful heir, and the tide quickly turned against Queen Jane.  Mary was proclaimed queen on July 19 among much rejoicing, she entered London on August 3, and Northumberland was executed on August 22.

Mary at first was merciful to her cousin, and even released Jane’s father.  It was thought that eventually Jane would be released as well, and left to live a quiet country life with her books.  Until the Wyatt rebellion, which used Jane as a figurehead and which her father foolishly supported.  Jane was executed on February 12, 1554, a deeply sad day which sets in motion the plot of my own book…

Jane became a romantic legend after this, a Protestant martyr and “sweet young thing” (though many of her letters show that she was a pretty normal, though very precocious, sulky adolescent).  For more info on her short, complicated life, I really liked Eric Ives’s Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery (2009) and Leanda de Lisle’s The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey (2008).  Jane’s sisters had equally sad lives, trapped by their situations of birth into unhappiness.

Are you interested in Jane’s sad life?  Who are some of your heroines this summer??

Posted in Research | Tagged | 2 Replies

Obsessed by Pinterest

Updated on by

Not even a month ago I signed up for Pinterest. You can see my early days here when I was just dipping my toes in the Pinterest water. Now it has become a bit of an obsession, my place to go when I’m stuck writing, needing a break from writing, or should be writing.

The thing is, it is wonderful inspiration for writing Regency. There is, for example no end of Regency fashion images. I especially like the photographs of real clothing. Somehow I can imagine my characters in such clothes more easily than from a fashion print.

Like this one on the left, originally from the Bowes Museum.

I also liked images of men’s fashions, which we so rarely see in fashion prints.

Another way Pinterest is useful is that it provides visual ideas for setting, whether it be inside or out.

Here’s are images of the drawing room at No. 1 Crescent, Bath and of Keddleston Hall

Then there is art that inspires, like this image from Jane Austen’s World

I’m sure you get the picture (pun intended).

Images are powerful. A glance tells us so much in an instant, not only about the facts of the subject matter but also about color, design. Even lighting can convey mood or emotion.

I know some of you have joined the fun at Pinterest, because you’ve repinned my images and I’ve repinned yours. It is fun to see who likes what.

I’ve never quite gotten the hang of social media beyond blogging until this particular form.
What about you? What is your favorite form of social media? Do you like Pinterest?

By the way, for those of you who cannot wait until A Not So Respectable Gentleman? is released on July 24, it is available now for order at eHarlequin!

Posted in Regency, Research, Writing | Tagged , | 9 Replies

Happy birthday Josiah Wedgwood

Updated on by

It’s the birthday of Josiah Wedgwood, born this day in 1730 (died January 3, 1795) the founder of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Pottery, a company still in existence although it’s now owned by a US company. Here are the UK and US websites.

Now Josiah is a bit of a hero for me. He was smart, hardworking, came from humble beginnings and was an abolitionist. What’s not to love? He was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Yesss!

Also, according to Wikipedia:

Wedgwood is credited as the inventor of modern marketing, specifically direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues.

And it was his marketing acumen that came up with the idea of a logo  and tagline (Am I not a Man and a Brother?) for the ‪Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It became tremendously successful and was reproduced on pottery, jewelry, and other artefacts. (He probably didn’t actually design it himself,  though.) As his friend and fellow abolitionist Thomas Clarkson said,

…ladies wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom…

He was interested in more than business or design, becoming involved with the science of pottery, and was a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of businessmen, scientists and philosophers, so named because they liked to meet on the night of the full moon, thus allowing them more time for talk and less for travel. He was elected a member of the Royal Society after he invented the  pyrometer, a device to measure the extremely high temperatures in kilns during firing.

I could, but I won’t, fill this entire post of pics of Wedgwood’s work although he considered this, the Portland vase, his greatest work. It was a copy of a Roman intaglio vase, made of glass. Here’s his (on the left) and the original (on the right).

Another thing I really love about Wedgwood is how he ties into so much that’s fascinating about the Georgian period. Sir William Hamilton, later husband of Emma, first brought the Portland vase to England. Mrs. Radcliffe’s father managed the Bath Wedgwood showroom and one of her uncles was a business partner of Josiah’s. There are the Darwin and abolitionist connections. Jane Austen  owned some Wedgwood, as she wrote in a letter to Cassandra in 1811:

On Monday I had the pleasure of receiving, unpacking and approving  our Wedgwood ware. It all came very safely and upon the whole is a good match, tho’ I think  they might have  allowed us rather larger leaves, especially in such a year of fine foliage as this. One is apt to suppose that the Woods about Birmingham must be blighted.

So did her brother Edward, and some of his china is on display at Jane’s home, the Chawton House Museum.  For more about Austen and Wedgwood, visit this wonderful post at austenonly.com.

And for a sneak preview of the cover of my next book, Hidden Paradise, go to Facebook!

Do you own any Wedgwood? I have a pair of earrings. I don’t know whether I’d want to own a whole set of his famous designs. They might be a bit overpowering… What do you think?

 

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged , , | 2 Replies

Regency Beach Day

Updated on by

The day after our tour of some Newport mansions, friend and author Gail Eastwood and I enjoyed a day at this lovely Rhode Island beach.

At 65 degrees, the water was brisk but refreshing and we had a nice swim. If this were the Regency, we would still have been able to go in the water. But instead of wearing modern bathing suits and running in (OK, wading in slowly), we would have had to enter using a bathing machine, possibly drawn by a donkey or pony, and we would have worn period-appropriate bathing gowns.

Instead of the sexes mingling freely on the beach, areas would have been dedicated to ladies and to gentlemen. However, some ogling may have occurred, as there are accounts of gentlemen employing telescopes to view ladies entering or exiting the water. Not sure why–perhaps the bathing dresses got a bit clingy when waterlogged?

After our swim, Gail and I went for a walk on the beach, happily barefoot. A fellow Regency writer once pondered the question as to whether a lady might do that during the Regency. I don’t have a definitive answer. I would guess not on a busy beach, since it would entail untying a garter and removing stockings in public. On the other hand, if it were a very private beach, perhaps on the hero’s coastal estate, and hero/heroine were alone… I will leave what clothing might be removed to your individual imaginations.

Some Regency ladies would have collected seashells and pretty stones, as we did. Here’s my trove, including what Gail told me is a “lucky stone”, since it has a contrasting band going all the way around it. Perhaps it bodes well for my mess-in-progress?

I’ve never done anything with my finds but display them in glass jars. But as I started googling around to see what Regency ladies might have done with them, I became intrigued. Although shellcraft become even more popular in the Victorian era, the idea of creating decorative objects or even decorating walls and furniture with shells began earlier, definitely by the Georgian period.

Mary Delany (1700-1788) was an English Bluestocking and artist. Her first marriage was unhappy; she wrote that “Why must women be driven to the necessity of marrying? a state that should always be a matter of choice! and if a young woman has not fortune sufficient to maintain her in the situation she has been bred to, what can she do, but marry?” Her second marriage was happier and she spent much of her time gardening, painting and decorating interiors with shells. Later in life she began to make paper flower “mosaicks” some of which are at the British Museum. I would have liked to have known Mary Delany. Unfortunately, it was hard to find images of her shellcraft in time for this blog.

Jane and Mary Parminter, two spinster cousins, returned from their Grand Tour late in the 18th century. They had a 16-sided house,  A La Ronde, built for them and decorated it with many of the treasures from their travels.  Here is an image of the shell gallery they created.

Regency folk could have indulged in various forms of shell craft, from decoration of glove boxes and trinket boxes to the creation of romantic shell grottoes.

I used to associate shell art with the silly sorts of things you get at tourist shops. But as I googled around this week, I saw many artistic and beautiful creations. I am not personally that excited about some of the extravagant Victorian creations, things like vases of shell flowers under glass domes. Although I appreciate the craftsmanship and time involved, my personal preference is for art that shows off the natural beauty of the shells rather than making them look like something else.

I found some lovely examples of shell art at Fine Shell Art Blog.  Through that blog, I discovered the work of shell artist Peggy Green.  Here’s just one example of her exquisite work.

Through the Fine Shell Art blog, I also discovered a gallery of shell art so tacky that some of it is downright scary. You can check it out here but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

In any case, do check out the lovely items on Peggy Green’s site, www.shellartist.com.

So what’s your favorite thing to do at the beach? Are you into shell collecting? What do you think of shell art?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Replies

Margaret Fuller – Not Quite Regency, but….

Updated on by

I have to thank Carolyn for telling us about Chambers Book of Days. Whenever I’m at a loss as to what  to blog about, I check the Book of Days.

Today’s entry had an obscure Regency connection, but I couldn’t resist.

In 1850 on this day Margaret Fuller died.

Margaret Fuller, who was born in 1810 (my Regency connection), was an American journalist, critic and author, best known for her book, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, the first major American feminist work. She achieved many firsts: The first woman allowed to use the library at Harvard; first woman editor of the transcendental journal, The Dial; first full-time literary critic of the New York Tribune; its first female editor; its first female foreign correspondent.

The story of her life as written in the Book of Days just charmed me. If we wrote a heroine like Margaret Fuller no one would believe her.

Chambers introduces Margaret this way:

“Every student of American society has noted the wide diffusion of intellectual ability, along with an absence of genius, or the concentration of eminent mental gifts in individuals. There is an abundance of cleverness displayed in politics, letters, and arts—there is no want of daring and ambition—but there is a strange lack of originality and greatness. The same is true of the feminine side of the people. A larger number of educated women, able to write well and talk well, it would be difficult to find in any European country, but among them all it would be vain to look for a Madame de Staël, or a Miss Martineau. Perhaps those are right who cite Margaret Fuller as the fairest representative of the excellences, defects, and aspirations of the women of New England.”

I guess Chambers didn’t think a lot of Americans…Or of women.

Here is Chambers’ description of Margaret:

…rather under the middle height, with fair complexion and fair strong hair, of extreme plainness, with a trick of perpetually opening and shutting her eyelids, and a nasal tone of voice. She made a disagreeable impression on most persons, including those who subsequently became her best friends; and to such an extreme, that they did not wish to be in the same room with her. This was partly the effect of her manners, which expressed an overweening sense of power, and slight esteem of others, and partly the prejudice of her fame, for she had many jealous rivals….When the first repulse was over, she revealed new excellences every day to those who happily made her their friend.

Can you imagine writing a character description like that?

There is no doubt that Margaret Fuller was an exceptional woman of any era, but she also had a romance that was at least unusual. When in Italy, she met an Italian count, Count Ossoli, who Chambers says was

“a poor Roman noble, attached to the papal household. Concerning him she wrote to her mother: ‘He is not in any respect such a person as people in general expect to find with me. He had no instructor except an old priest, who entirely neglected his education; and of all that is contained in books he is absolutely ignorant, and he has no enthusiasm. On the other hand, he has excellent practical sense; has been a judicious observer of all that has passed before his eyes; has a nice sense of duty, a very sweet temper, and great native refinement. His love for me has been unswerving and most tender.'”

Although Chambers says she married Count Ossoli, Wikipedia says there is no evidence that they married. Margaret apparently notified her mother of the union when she’d had a child by Ossoli.

Ossoli went on to fight in the revolution for Italian unity and Margaret nursed the wounded, but the rebellion failed and Margaret decided to return to America even though a fortune teller told Ossoli to “beware the sea” and Margaret had a premonition that 1850 would be a year when something dreadful would happen to her.

Chambers writes:

In spite of gloomy forebodings, they set sail from Leghorn in a merchant-ship. At the outset of the voyage, the captain sickened and died of confluent small-pox in its most malignant form. Ossoli was next seized, and then their infant boy, but both recovered, though their lives were despaired of. At last the coast of America was reached, when, on the very morning of the day they would have landed, 16th July 1849, the ship struck on Fire Island beach. For twelve hours, during which the vessel went to pieces, they faced death. At last crew and passengers were engulfed in the waves, only one or two reaching the land alive. The bodies of Ossoli and his wife were never found, but their child was washed ashore, and carried to Margaret’s sorrowing mother.

A sad end to a remarkable woman who led an unbelievable life.

Have you come across any real characters whose lives are more unbelievable than fiction? Do you have any favorite women heroines from history?

Posted in Research | Tagged | 3 Replies
Follow
Get every new post delivered to your inbox
Join millions of other followers
Powered By WPFruits.com