Philippa Gregory’s The Lady of the Rivers (published by Simon and Schuster 2011, ISBN 978-1-84737-459-2) is the third in her series of historical novels about the female protagonists of England’s Wars of the Roses (or Cousins’ War, as it was known). Its main protagonist, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Lady Rivers, was the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV.
Jacquetta of Luxembourg, The Lady of the Rivers
Jacquetta of Luxembourg is in reality a shadowy figure, of whom relatively little is known. Daughter of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, she was married as a teenager to the English Duke of Bedford, joint regent of the kingdom during the minority of King Henry VI. After Bedford’s death she married a second time - without permission, for love – Sir Richard Woodville. Staunch Lancastrians, the family changed allegiance when their daughter Elizabeth caught the eye of the Yorkist King.
The book covers the first part of Jacquetta’s life and its focus is very much upon the positions of women in a medieval society – from the early chapters, which see the trail and execution of Joan of Arc, through Jacquetta’s second marriage and to the destruction of women, both high- and low-born, under suspicion of witchcraft. It ends with the defeat of the Lancastrians at the battle of Towton.
Fact and Fiction
Because so little is known of Jacquetta of Luxembourg (Gregory was forced to do much primary research herself, publishing it in a book which complements the Cousins’ War series) there is plenty of scope for the novelist to play. In Gregory’s own words, ‘historians have to speculate’. But the novelist, unconstrained by fact, is free to make hay.
As far as The Lady of the Rivers is concerned, this is both a strength and a weakness. From what is known, Jacquetta’s life was not, in fact, one of heroism and it can be argued that in herself she achieved little in terms of the great affairs of state, her main role being that of wife and mother. But Gregory is able to invest her with supernatural powers (she was later tried for witchcraft) and a mythical heritage from a water goddess.
Philippa Gregory’s skill lies in her ability to take a framework of facts and weave fiction into it. Where the facts are limited she has more scope. Her biographical note on Jacquetta, for example, offers no evidence that the young girl ever met Joan of Arc, yet their meeting forms the powerful opening section of the novel. Similarly, she introduces the real-life herbalist Margery Jourdemayne (later burned as a witch) to Jacquetta’s household to teach her dangerous skills.
Most spectacularly, she provides an original and striking cause for King Henry VI’s collapse into mental illness – the discovery of his wife in the arms of another man. The problem is that readers with a knowledge of the historical background can find such drama a little hard to swallow.
The Cousins’ War Series
The Lady of the Rivers is the third in the Cousins’ War series. Though equally well-written, it is slightly less satisfactory than the preceding two (The White Queen, about Jacquetta’s daughter Elizabeth Woodville, and The Red Queen, about the Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort) because of its timing: unusually for a trilogy, in ends at the point where the first book begins – removing much of the potential suspense.
In relation to the other two books (in particular The White Queen) The Lady of the Rivers also appears weak, covering much of the same ground and reprising the themes in the tale of the mother which Gregory has already used to full effect in her story of the daughter – most notably, practice and accusations of witchcraft and the story of the water goddess Melusina.
While it is arguable that a historical novel can reasonably be expected to hold no great surprises in terms of its plot, anyone who’s read the books in the order they are written will find very little new in this book, and no suspense at the end of it. Nevertheless, if it seems somehow less satisfying plot-wise, Gregory’s writing style still makes it an excellent and entertaining read.
Further Reading
Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones The Women of the Cousins’ War Simon and Schuster 2011
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