Blanche Parry

Although Margaret was known to be acquisitive, she also had a reputation for piety. Constant kneeling caused her great pain in later life and she wore penitential hair shirts and girdles under her clothes. After years of marriage, Margaret, with the permission of her fourth husband, took a vow of chastity, though she and Stanley seem to have remained on good terms. She used some of her wealth for charitable works and was a patroness of learning. This included the founding of lectureships in theology at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. She trusted, and was influenced by, (Saint) John Fisher. As a result she favoured Cambridge, founding Christ's College and facilitating the foundation of St. John's College. Such beneficence was not completely disinterested as she did request posts for supplicants in return.

Elizabeth Norton has written a very readable and interesting biography that brings clarity to the convoluted politics of the period. Of necessity, she focuses on the main story, as relationships were so intertwined that anything else would have become a real complication. One problem with this book is the arrangement of the footnotes. These are very difficult to use as they are, unfortunately, placed in continuous paragraphs. Conversely, the list of illustrations, which has additional notes, actually functions as footnotes. The book has an extensive bibliography and a reasonably full index though, again unfortunately, it is separated from the rest of the book by advertisements. This makes for a curious format. The book also has three family trees which would have been more helpful if the print was larger and dates had been added to the names. The extensive quotations would have benefited by transcription into modern English. However, two interesting points do arise from having original spellings. Firstly, Edward IV's daughter, named 'Cecill' or 'Cecyll' has her name modernised to Cecily, but perhaps her name really was Cecille (deriving from Welsh and French). Secondly, the spelling of Margaret's name as 'Margareyte' may suggest it was actually pronounced as Marguerite. Some fascinating detail is included which rounds out the people described. It is ironic that Henry VIII was considered as a future Archbishop of Canterbury if his older brother had lived. No wonder he thought himself an expert in theology.