Uneasy Lies the Head by Jean Plaidy

Copyright: 1982
Pages: 446

This is the first novel in the Tudor series and it begins with Henry VII already on the throne in 1486. As we know, the Tudors took the throne from the Yorks, so Henry spent most of his reign worrying about losing it. Henry VII (formerly Henry Tudor) was born January 28, 1457, he became King in 1485 and died aged 52. He was the King of England for 24 years and was succeeded by his youngest son Henry VIII.

Henry VII's paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor, is said to have secretly married the widow of Henry V, Catherine of Valois. The result of their union was Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, father of Henry VII. Henry's claim to the throne, however, derived from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. His claim was somewhat tenuous. It was through a woman, and based on a lineage of illegitimate succession. Henry's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, claimed royal blood as a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III, and Gaunt's third wife Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. Katherine had been John's mistress for 25 years and they had four children; John, Henry, Thomas and Joan Beaufort, by the time they married in 1396. The throne became Henry's by right of conquest.

In December 1486 Henry married Elizabeth of York, daughter and heir of King Edward IV. They were third cousins. The marriage unified the warring houses and would give Henry's children a stronger claim to the throne. Henry and Elizabeth had 7 children, Arthur their eldest married Catherine of Aragon but died before his 16th birthday, Margaret married James IV (King of Scotland) and they had 6 children, Henry VIII became the King of England, he married 6 times and had 3 legitimate children, Elizabeth (died as a young child), Mary married Louis XII (King of France), Edmond (died as a young child) and Katherine died at birth. Elizabeth of York died as a result of Katherine's birth.

Uneasy Lies the Head is a well told story of the first Tudor King and his family. According to Jean Plaidy he had an over-bearing mother whom he worshipped and adored and was the only person he trusted completely. Elizabeth of York was a passive, well-behaved wife who performed her duty of providing heirs and caused Henry no trouble, despite the fact that most believed he had something to do with the death of her brothers in the tower.

I like to put historical facts in my reviews because I sometimes get so confused reading these books and I have to say that I did with this one. I'm up to book 7 in Jean Plaidy's Plantagenet series and because I haven't read anything about the Yorks I was often confused while reading this book which is the first in the Tudor series. It did give some back information but not enough for me to confidently understand the previous history. So now I'm going to go back to the Plantagenets.

About the Author: Jean Plaidy whose real name was Eleanor Hibbert used 5 pseudonyms and wrote 211 books. The most well known of these pseudonyms being Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt.

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