Wife of a Duke, Grandmother to Kings

When I told many of my friends that I was going to blog about Katherine by Anya Seton, they all sighed and said it was one of the best historical romances that they had ever read.  Yes, ALL of them sighed and said it was the best.  Why is it so "sighable?"  Katherine was a fourteenth century woman, born in 1350 to a poor family; at a young age she married Sir Hugh Swynford, a rather boorish extremely jealous man.  Because her sister married Geoffrey Chaucer and was part of the court of the Edward the III, Katherine caught the eye of the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt.  After the Duchess of Lancaster's death, Katherine became the mistress of the Duke.  She was called a witch and a whore, but she was with the Duke, through his second marriage to Constance of Castile and after Constance's death, she became his third wife which caused a bigger scandal than when she was his mistress.  Katherine was at the center of the most turbulent times, and she was a strong woman who held the Duke's love and attention for more than twenty-five years.

Anya Seton brings the English medieval times to life, in all the filth, disease, superstition, royal pageantry, intrigue and of course Katherine's love story, mistress and wife to a Duke and the ancestress of Kings.

I read Katherine many years ago and had almost forgotten about it. But then I spied the Mistress of the Monarchy; The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, by Alison Weir.  When I read the introduction and discovered that Alison Weir enjoyed reading Katherine and the book had a large impact upon her, I had to read it again. (Ms Setons's book that is, although I have read Alison Weir's introduction more than once too).  Ms Weir states that she wanted to write Katherine Swynford's biography for forty years. Although Ms Weir enjoyed Anya Seton's book, she said, "Do not forget it is fiction."  Anya Seton wrote accurately but from a twentieth century perspective; this does not lessen the quality of the story, but it might change your vision of Katherine.   I suggest you read Katherine first and then read Mistress of the Monarchy, because sometimes the facts could lessen the impact of this classic romance.  On the other hand why should the facts bother you when you are reading a great love story?