Daughter of York (89 page)

BOOK: Daughter of York

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5. How does Margaret feel about her arranged marriage to Charles of Burgundy compared to her former intended, Dom Pedro? Why does Edward assign Anthony Woodville to escort Margaret on her journey to her new home? How is Margaret’s marriage important to the growing political power of England? In what way is Margaret’s wedding night predictive of the nature of her physical relationship with Charles?

6. How does the court at Burgundy compare to Edward’s court in England? Why does Margaret feel especially alienated in her new home? How does her stepdaughter, Mary, help Margaret adjust to her new responsibilities and duties as duchess of Burgundy? To what extent do Margaret’s feelings of unhappiness seem to stem from her inability to bear a child to term?

7. How is literature—and poetry in particular—significant to the characters in
Daughter of York
? With their frequent allusions to Arthurian characters like Lancelot and Elaine, how are Margaret and Anthony able to redefine their largely unrequited romantic relationship?

8. What does the end of the novel imply about Margaret and Anthony’s future together? Why do you think the author chose to end the novel on this note? What do you think sustained Margaret’s interest in Anthony over the course of so many years?

9. Of the many scenes in
Daughter of York
, which did you find most moving or memorable? Why? Which of the characters in the novel did you find most intriguing or compelling? Why?

Q & A with Anne Easter Smith

Q:
How did you first become interested in Margaret of York? What historical details from her life enabled you to envision her as a character in a fictional context?

A: All during my research on Richard III and his family for my first book,
A Rose for the Crown,
I kept finding out little tidbits about Margaret that intrigued me. For instance: that she, even though a useful royal marriage tool, was unmarried for so long; that it was she who commissioned William Caxton to print the first book written in English; that she had a passion for rosepetal jam; and on a more personal note, that she was very tall for her era—something that, at just over six feet, I could relate to.

Q:
Can you describe your process for incorporating historical facts with fictional scenes in your novels?

A: This is the most difficult aspect of my work. I have come up with a method that works for me. I have a large display chart on which I make a grid, running dates down the side and characters along the top. Every time I find a chronological fact about one of my factual characters, I enter it in the grid. That becomes my framework, and then I can weave my fictional characters around those facts.

Q:
You mention in your author’s note that you were able to walk almost all the ground covered in the book. Which historical sites from Margaret of York’s life did you find most fascinating and why?

A: There are so many! I have to say Belgium (Burgundy) was a revelation. Of course, Bruges is special and I especially enjoyed walking through Louis of Gruuthuse’s magnificent house (now a museum) because I could see Margaret there. My traveling companion and I also biked up the canal/river from Bruges to Damme to see the actual house where Margaret and Charles were married. It made her
joyeuse entree
into Bruges from there so real for me. But I think Ghent and Malines (or Mechelen) were the highlights of my footstep-following. What is so sad is how many of the wonderful medieval towns were devastated first by World War I, with artillery fire, and then World War II, with bombs. I’ve saved my favorite place till last: Binche, where Margaret kept her secret boy and which still has an intact city wall—the only one in Belgium.

Q:
You’ve written that no incontrovertible evidence exists of the romantic relationship between Anthony Woodville and Margaret. To what extent might such an extramarital liaison have been likely in that era?

A: Very likely. Most marriages in the medieval period—even in the lower-born—were business arrangements. Finding love outside the marriage bed was commonplace until Victorian times (and even then it went on in secret). The more I read about Margaret and Anthony, the more I think they would have enjoyed each other’s company intellectually and that it could have blossomed into love and an affair. When I suggested this to Christine Weightman, who has written the latest biography of Margaret (upon which I relied heavily), and her friend Ann Wroe, who researched extensively in the Burgundian archives for her book
The Perfect Prince,
they both endorsed my supposition, convinced that “something went on” between the two.

Q:
Margaret’s inability to conceive a male heir does not in any way jeopardize her marriage with Charles. Given the intense focus in that era on the transfer of power through male lineage, why is that the case?

A: To be honest, I don’t know. He enjoyed the alliance with England that his marriage forged to help stave off Louis of France, but I don’t think he cared about having another wife, per se. In all the research I did on Charles, it seemed he was convinced he was invulnerable and believed in his own destiny alone. Mary did succeed him because Burgundy was a duchy and there were no laws against a female inheriting. It does seem odd that he had three wives (the first albeit very brief) and only one offspring. This also led me to believe he was not really interested in women. Of course he should have secured the dukedom with a male heir, but I’m not sure he cared about what happened after he died.

Q:
You portray Margaret as a savvy politician in her own right. To what extent is this characterization based on historical evidence?

A: Mostly because Charles left her in charge so many times when he went off to war trying to add to the Burgundian lands. And I gleaned from Richard Vaughan’s excellent biography of Charles that after Charles’s mother died, he turned to Margaret for advice. It was Margaret’s tireless work, after the shock of Charles’s death and the uprisings culminating in the terrifying executions of Humbercourt and Hugonet, that finalized the marriage between Mary and Maximilian, bringing stability back to the Lowlands.

Q:
You examine the feud between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians in
Daughter of York.
To what extent does Margaret feel her first and most powerful allegiance is to the house of York?

A: I loved the fact that Margaret would often sign herself Marguerite d’York before she signed herself Marguerite de Bourgogne! It spoke volumes to me. After Bosworth, Margaret funded two attempts to unseat the Tudors and put a Yorkist king back on the throne: Lambert Simnel in 1487 and Perkin Warbeck (who will be a focus of my third book) in the 1490s. She never let Henry forget that there was still a Yorkist ready to oust him from the throne until the day she died in 1503! No wonder he called her “this Diabolicall Duches” (sic).

Q:
How much of your book is fact and how much is fiction?

A: What is difficult, for a novelist, is being able to tell the reader which is fact and which is not. No footnotes for us! But I would say that, if we had them, almost all the pages of my book would have a surprising number of footnotes.

Q:
If
Daughter of York
were produced as a film and you were its director, whom would you choose to play some of the principals?

A: What a delicious dilemma! Even though she is dark and Margaret had fair hair, I would like to see Emily Blount play Margaret, Damien Lewis as Edward and Alfred Molina as Charles. As for Anthony, he lives only in my dreams! But it would
not
be Brad Pitt.

Q:
Why did you decide to end your chronicle of Margaret of York’s life where you did?

A: Had I been writing a biography, of course it would have ended with Margaret’s death and included all the sad things that happened to her after her visit to England in 1480. Would you, as a reader, have liked to wallow in her misery over dear Mary’s untimely death, Anthony’s execution (not counting the devastation she might have had upon learning of his marriage to Maria Fitzlewes not three months after her departure), Edward’s unexpected death, and the demise of the House of York at Bosworth? Margaret’s life, after her return to Burgundy, was actually one of quiet piety and charitable works, coupled with caring for her step-grandchildren. Not exactly exciting novel reading! I wanted the reader to take away a picture of a vibrant, joyful Margaret full of hope for the future. And that’s how we should remember her!

Q:
Do you expect to explore any more of Margaret’s life in future novels?

A: Margaret will feature as a peripheral character in my next novel about Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne, and in my fourth one about Cecily of York, in which Margaret will be a young girl again.

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Would you like to know more about Anne Easter Smith, the author of
Daughter of York
? Visit her official website,
http://www.AnneEasterSmith.com/default.html
, to learn more about her commitment to both the performing arts and historical fiction. If your book club is interested in connecting with Anne for a telephone conference call, send her an email at [email protected] to check her availability, or just to let her know your thoughts about
Daughter of York.

2. When Margaret returns from her years in Burgundy and is received at her brother’s court, Edward arranges for a royal feast that includes some of the family’s favorite foods, including his mother’s beloved oysters, flampaynes, and porpoise—not forgetting Margaret’s own favorite rosepetal jam. What foods would your family reunion include, and which dishes would especially satisfy the most finicky members of your family? Your book club might want to discuss favorite family recipes and share them at a future gathering.

3. Are you intrigued by the lavish region of Burgundy described in
Daughter of York
? Did you know that the lands encompassed by Burgundy in the medieval era now include France, Belgium, and the Netherlands? If you’re considering making a trip to tour medieval Burgundy, you will want to visit
http://www.inenuitmechelen.be/en/
to read more about Mechelen (Malines), the city where Margaret of York lived following Charles’s death, and where she died in 1503.

4. If you would like to research further into Margaret’s family and the people and events around the Wars of the Roses, visit the Richard III Society’s website at:
www.r3.org
.