Elizabeth’s Women: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen by Tracy Borman

Elizabeth’s Women: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen by Tracy Borman lands on the shelves of my shop.

Jonathan Cape, 2009, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Colour Plates;

From the cover: Elizabeth I was born into a world of women. As a child, she was served by a predominantly female household of servants and governesses, with occasional visits from her mother, Anne Boleyn, and the wives who later took her place. As Queen, she was constantly attended by ladies of the bedchamber and maids of honour who clothed her, bathed her and watched over her while she ate. Among her family, it was her female relations who had the greatest influence: from her sister Mary, who distrusted and later imprisoned her, to her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who posed a constant and dangerous threat to her crown for almost thirty years.

Despite the importance of women in Elizabeths life, most historians and biographers have focused on her relationships with men. She has been portrayed as a mans woman who loved to flirt with the many ambitious young men who frequented her court. Yet it is the women in her life who provide the most fascinating insight into the character of this remarkable monarch. With them she was jealous, spiteful and cruel, as well as loyal, kind and protective. She showed her frailties and her insecurities, but also her considerable shrewdness and strength. In short, she was more human than the public persona she presented to the rest of the court.

In this original chronicling of the life of one of Englands greatest monarchs, historian Tracy Borman explores Elizabeths relationships with the key women in her life. Beginning with her mother and the governesses and stepmothers who cared for the young princess, including her beloved Kat Astley and the inspirational Katherine Parr, Elizabeths Women sheds new light on her formative years. Elizabeths turbulent relationships with her rivals are examined: from her sister, Bloody Mary, to the sisters of Lady Jane Grey, and finally the most deadly of all her rivals, Mary, Queen of Scots, who would give birth to the man Elizabeth would finally, inevitably, have to recognise as heir to her throne. These are the servants, friends and flouting wenches who brought out the best and the worst of Elizabeths carefully cultivated image as Gloriana, the Virgin Queen, in the glittering world of her court.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Leans otherwise a very well presented copy.

Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. [XIII] 450 pages. Index. Bibliography. 9½” x 6¼”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!

Nostradamus: Prophecies Fulfilled and Predictions For the Millennium and Beyond by Francis X. King & Stephen Skinner

Nostradamus: Prophecies Fulfilled and Predictions For the Millennium and Beyond by Francis X. King & Stephen Skinner lands on the shelves of my shop.

Carlton, 1997, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Colour Photographs; Black & White Drawings;

From the cover: NOSTRADAMUS the sixteenth-century astrologer came to prominence at the French court of Catherine de Medici, when he correctly predicted the time and unusual manner of the death of her husband, Henry II, in a jousting accident. As well as astounding his contemporaries with the accuracy of his predictions, this remarkable prophet and seer made a series of predictions for the next two thousand years. These were recorded in collections of four-line prophetic verses collectively known as the Centuries that have amazed scholars and occultists ever since.

This book analyses the prophecies of the first three hundred years after Nostradamuss death as well as predicting a series of cataclysmic events that are to take place towards the end of the millennium: friction between Albania and Greece the formation of a new Arab superpower the arrival of the King of Terror from the skies water and red hail covering vast areas of the Earths surface the coming of the third Anti-Christ the arrival of alien beings from outer space and the final terrifying conflagration.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Price Clipped. Previous owners’ inscription to the first blank.

Matching Pictorial boards. 176 pages. Index. 11¼” x 9¼”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!