British author and historian
Alison Weir
(
nee
Matthews) is a British author and
public historian
. She primarily writes about the history of English royal women and families, in the form of biographies that explore their historical setting. She has also written numerous works of
historical fiction
.
[1]
Her first work,
Britain's Royal Families
(published in 1989), was a genealogical overview of the British royal family. She subsequently wrote biographies of
Eleanor of Aquitaine
,
Isabella of France
,
Katherine Swynford
,
Elizabeth of York
, and the
Princes in the Tower
. Other focuses have included
Henry VIII
and his family and England's Medieval Queens. Weir has published historical overviews of the
Wars of the Roses
and royal weddings, as well as historical fiction novels on English queens, including each wife of Henry VIII.
Early life
Weir was brought up in Westminster, London. She has been married to Rankin Weir since 1972,
[2]
and now lives in Surrey.
[3]
She described her mother as "a genuinely good person with heaps of integrity, strength of character, humour and wisdom, and has overcome life’s trials with commendable fortitude."
[4]
Weir recalls how, at the age of fourteen, she read
Lozania Prole
's
Henry's Golden Queen
, a "really trashy" novel about the life of
Catherine of Aragon
. She then became interested in the field of history.
[5]
She was educated at
City of London School for Girls
and
North Western Polytechnic
, becoming a history teacher. She opted to abandon teaching as a career after a disillusion with "trendy teaching methods", so she worked as a civil servant, and later as a housewife and mother. Between 1991 and 1997, she ran a school for children with learning difficulties.
[6]
Career
Non-fiction
It has made me more confident in some ways. It has benefited me financially, of course, and enabled me to enrich the lives of others, but most important of all, it has made me feel fulfilled in a creative sense.
[7]
?Alison Weir on her writing career
In the 1970s, Weir spent four years researching and writing a biography of the six wives of
Henry VIII
. Her work was deemed too long by publishers, and was consequently rejected. A revised version would be published in 1991 as her second book,
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
. In 1981, she wrote a book on
Jane Seymour
, which was again rejected by publishers, this time because it was too short. Weir finally became a published author in 1989 with
Britain's Royal Families
, a compilation of genealogical information about the
British Royal Family
. She had revised the work eight times over a twenty-two-year period, and decided that it might be "of interest to others". After organising it into chronological order,
The Bodley Head
agreed to publish it.
Weir would not start writing full-time until the late 1990s. While running the school for children with learning difficulties, she published the non-fiction works
The Princes in the Tower
(1992),
Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses
(1995), and
Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII
(1996). Now writing books full-time, she produced
Elizabeth the Queen
(1998) (published in America as
The Life of Elizabeth I
),
Eleanor of Aquitaine
: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England
(1999),
Henry VIII: The King and His Court
(2001),
Mary, Queen of Scots
and the Murder of
Lord Darnley
(2003), and
Isabella
: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England
(2005).
Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess
followed in 2007, and
The Lady in The Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
in 2009.
Traitors of the Tower
came out in 2010. The following year, she completed
The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings
and
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings
, the first full non-fiction biography of
Mary Boleyn
, sister of Anne Boleyn.
[8]
In 2013 she published
Elizabeth of York ? A Tudor Queen and Her World
, a biography on
Elizabeth of York
, mother of Henry VIII. Weir has written two books on England's Medieval Queens:
Queens of Conquest
published in 2017
[9]
and
Queens of the Crusades
, published 5 November 2020 by
Random House
.
[10]
Many of Weir's works deal with the
Tudor period
, which she considers "the most dramatic period in our history, with vivid, strong personalities... The Tudor period is the first one for which we have a rich visual record, with the growth of portraiture, and detailed sources on the private lives of kings and queens. This was an age that witnessed a growth in diplomacy and the spread of the printed word."
[11]
Fiction
Weir wrote historical novels while a teenager,
[12]
and her novel in the genre of historical fiction,
Innocent Traitor
, based on the life of
Lady Jane Grey
, was published in 2006. When researching
Eleanor of Aquitaine
, Weir realised that it would "be very liberating to write a novel in which I could write what I wanted while keeping to the facts". She decided to make Jane Grey her focus because she "didn't have a very long life and there wasn't a great deal of material".
[12]
She found the transition to fiction easy, explaining, "Every book is a learning curve, and you have to keep an open mind. I am sometimes asked to cut back on the historical facts in my novels, and there have been disagreements over whether they obstruct the narrative, but I do hold out for the history whenever I can."
[7]
Her second novel is
The Lady Elizabeth
, which deals with the life of
Queen Elizabeth I
before her ascent to the throne. It was published in 2008 in the United Kingdom and United States. Her next novel,
The Captive Queen
, was released in the summer of 2010. Its subject, Eleanor of Aquitaine, had been the subject of a non-fiction biography by Weir in 1999.
[13]
Traitors of the Tower
is a
novella
written by Weir and published on
World Book Day
2010. Working with
Quick Reads
and
Skillswise
, Weir has recorded the first chapter as a taster and introduction to get people back into the habit of reading.
[14]
Weir published
The Marriage Game
, a historical novel featuring Elizabeth I and
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
, in June 2014.
[15]
In May 2016 her novel
Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen
was published,
[16]
the first of a six-book series on the theme of
Six Tudor Queens
, each covering one of Henry VIII's six wives. The final novel in the series,
Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife
was published in May 2021.
[17]
[18]
Writing style
Weir's writings have been described as being in the genre of
popular history
,
[12]
[19]
an area that sometimes attracts criticism from academia;
[
citation needed
]
according to one source, popular history "seeks to inform and entertain a large general audience... Dramatic storytelling often prevails over analysis, style over substance, simplicity over complexity, and grand generalization over careful qualification."
[20]
Weir argues that "history is not the sole preserve of academics, although I have the utmost respect for those historians who undertake new research and contribute something new to our knowledge. History belongs to us all, and it can be accessed by us all. And if writing it in a way that is accessible and entertaining, as well as conscientiously researched, can be described as popular, then, yes, I am a popular historian, and am proud and happy to be one."
[21]
Kathryn Hughes
, writing in
The Guardian
, said of Weir's popular historian label, "To describe her as a popular historian would be to state a literal truth ? her chunky explorations of Britain's early modern past sell in the kind of multiples that others can only dream of."
[22]
Reviews of Weir's works have been mixed.
The Independent
said of
The Lady in the Tower
that "it is testament to Weir's artfulness and elegance as a writer that The Lady in the Tower remains fresh and suspenseful, even though the reader knows what's coming."
[23]
On the other hand,
Diarmaid MacCulloch
, in a review of
Henry VIII: King and Court
, called it "a great pudding of a book, which will do no harm to those who choose to read it. Detail is here in plenty, but Tudor England is more than royal wardrobe lists, palaces and sexual intrigue."
[24]
The Globe and Mail
, reviewing the novel,
The Captive Queen
, said that she had "skillfully imagined royal lives" in previous works, "but her style here is marred by less than subtle characterizations and some seriously cheesy writing",
[25]
while
The Washington Post
said of the same book, "12th-century France could be the dark side of the moon for all we learn about it by the end of this book."
[26]
Personal life
Weir lives in
Surrey
with her husband, son and daughter.
[7]
[27]
She has called "Mrs Ellen", a fictional character from her novel about Jane Grey, most like her own personality, commenting that, "As I was writing the book, my maternal side was projected into this character."
[28]
Weir is a supporter of the renovation of
Northampton Castle
, explaining that the estate is a "historic site of prime importance; it would be tragic if it were to be lost forever. I applaud the work of the Friends of Northampton Castle in lobbying for its excavation and for the regeneration of the area that would surely follow."
[29]
Works
Non fiction
- Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
(1989)
[30]
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII
(1991)
[31]
- The Princes in the Tower
(1992), republished in 2014 as
Richard III and the Princes in the Tower
[32]
- Lancaster and York ? The Wars of the Roses
(1995), published in the US as
The Wars of the Roses
[33]
- Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII
(1996), published in the US as
The Children of Henry VIII
[34]
- Elizabeth the Queen
(1998), published in the US as
The Life of Elizabeth I
[35]
- Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England
(1999), published in the US as
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life
- Henry VIII: King and Court
(2001), published in the US as
Henry VIII: The King and His Court
[36]
- Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley
(2003)
[37]
- Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England
(2005), published in the US as
Queen Isabella
[38]
- Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess
(2007), published in the US as
Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster
[39]
- The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
(2009)
[40]
- Traitors of the Tower
(2010)
[41]
- The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings
(2011), co-authored with Kate Williams, Sarah Gristwood and Tracy Borman
[42]
- Mary Boleyn: The Great and Infamous Whore
(2011), published in the US as
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings
[43]
- Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen
(2013), published in the US as
Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World
[44]
- The Lost Tudor Princess: A Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox
(2015)
[45]
- Queens of the Conquest
(2017)
[46]
- A Tudor Christmas
(2018)
[17]
[47]
- Queens of the Crusades
(2020)
[17]
[48]
[49]
- Queens of the Age of Chivalry
(2022)
[50]
Fiction
- Innocent Traitor
(2006)
[51]
- The Lady Elizabeth
(2008)
[52]
- The Captive Queen
(2010)
[53]
- Dangerous Inheritance
(2012), published in the US as
Dangerous Inheritance: A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower
[54]
- The Marriage Game: A Novel of Elizabeth I
(2014)
[55]
- Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen
(2016)
[56]
- Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession
(2017)
[57]
- Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen
(2018)
[17]
- Anna of Kleve: Queen of Secrets
(2019)
[17]
- Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen
(2020)
[17]
[58]
- Katherine Parr: The Sixth Wife
(2021)
[17]
- In the Shadow of Queens: Tales from the Tudor Court
(2021)
[17]
- Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose
(May 2022)
[17]
- Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown
(May 2023), to be published in the US as
The King's Pleasure: A Novel of Henry VIII
[59]
Notes
- ^
"Alison Weir"
.
Contemporary Authors Online, Literature Resource Center
. Gale. 2010
. Retrieved
11 June
2012
.
- ^
GRO Register of Marriages: DEC 1972 5d 1846 PANCRAS Rankin Weir=Alison Matthews
- ^
"Author Biography"
.
Alison Weir: UK historian and author
. Retrieved
19 July
2019
.
- ^
GRO Register of Births: SEP 1951 5c 1617 LAMBETH, mmn=Marston
- ^
"Chat with Alison"
.
Alison Weir: UK historian and author
. Retrieved
19 July
2019
.
- ^
"Alison Weir - Author Biography"
.
alisonweir.org.uk
. Retrieved
8 November
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
Buckley, Emma (2012).
"The 14/4 Interview With Alison Weir"
.
Glow Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on 10 December 2013
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
Conan, Neal (12 October 2011).
"
'Great And Infamous' Mary: The Other 'Boleyn' Girl"
.
National Public Radio
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
Weir, Alison (2017).
Queens of Conquest
.
Ballantine Books
, New York.
ISBN
978-1784701864
.
OCLC
1028818196
.
- ^
Weir, Alison (5 November 2020).
Queens of the Crusades Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Successors
. Random House.
ISBN
9781473523326
. Retrieved
5 November
2020
.
- ^
"Our exclusive interview with Alison Weir"
. On the Tudor Trail. 28 August 2010
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
Williams, Wilda (15 January 2007).
"Q&A: Alison Weir"
.
Library Journal
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
"Alison Weir on historical fiction and Eleanor of Aquitaine"
.
CBC.ca
. 9 August 2010
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
"Skillswise taster of
Traitors of the Tower
including a reading by the author"
. bbc.co.uk. 2010
. Retrieved
17 July
2011
.
- ^
"Leicester Book Festival to showcase"
.
Leicester Mercury
. 5 June 2014. Archived from
the original
on 3 April 2015
. Retrieved
28 June
2014
.
- ^
Weir, Alison (2016).
Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen
.
Headline Publishing
, London.
ISBN
978-1472227515
.
OCLC
1062309827
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
"Alison Weir ? Books by author"
. AlisonWeir.org.uk
. Retrieved
29 April
2019
.
- ^
Weir, Alison (2021).
Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife
.
Headline Publishing
, London.
ISBN
978-1472227829
.
OCLC
1184683279
.
- ^
Wagner, Vit (30 July 2010).
"Alison Weir: The true story of a fiction writer"
.
The Star
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
"Writing Resources"
.
Hamilton College
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
"Alison Weir - Author Biography"
.
- ^
Hughes, Kathryn (3 September 2005).
"French mistress"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
26 May
2013
.
- ^
Hilton, Lisa (11 October 2009).
"The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, by Alison Weir"
.
The Independent
.
Archived
from the original on 12 October 2009
. Retrieved
26 May
2013
.
- ^
MacCulloch, Diarmaid
(20 July 2001).
"Defenders of the faith"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
Johnson, Sarah (13 August 2010).
"A queen for all seasons"
.
The Globe and Mail
. Retrieved
26 May
2013
.
- ^
See, Carolyn (16 July 2010).
"Alison Weir's "Captive Queen," a novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
26 May
2013
.
- ^
"About Alison Weir"
.
Random House
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
"One Minute With: Alison Weir"
.
The Independent
. 9 April 2010.
Archived
from the original on 15 April 2010
. Retrieved
28 May
2012
.
- ^
"Author and Historian Alison Weir supports Northampton Castle"
. NorthamptonCastle.com. 4 March 2012
. Retrieved
31 May
2012
.
- ^
"Books by Alison Weir"
.
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Gerard DeGroot (31 October 2020).
"Book review: Queens of the Crusades by Alison Weir"
.
The Times of London
. Retrieved
5 November
2020
.
- ^
"Books by Alison Weir"
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Weir, Alison (2020).
Katheryn Howard, The Tainted Queen
.
Headline Publishing
, London.
ISBN
978-1472227775
.
OCLC
1101774665
.
- ^
"Books by Alison Weir"
.
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