The Irish Princess (46 page)
Read The Irish Princess Online
Authors: Karen Harper
Tags: #Ireland, #Clinton, #Historical, #Henry, #Edward Fiennes De, #General, #Literary, #Great Britain - History - Henry VIII, #Great Britain, #Elizabeth Fiennes De, #Historical Fiction, #Princesses, #Fiction, #1509-1547, #Princesses - Ireland, #Elizabeth
Q. What about Gera Fitzgerald especially interested you and made you want to write a whole book about her?
A. I can’t recall exactly where I first discovered Gera, but I believe it was in reading about women who served Queen Elizabeth I during her long reign. Gera stood out to me—Irish (unusual); rebel; red-haired, like the queen, but unlike the queen, a noted beauty. I knew Bess Tudor liked to be the most beautiful woman around. So why would she keep a striking woman like Gera with her over the years? Evidently, not just to keep an eye on someone suspicious, as the Tudors were wont to do. Gera was very intriguing, and as I researched her, I learned the tragedy of her family. I must also admit, I’m always looking for main characters who have a good love story of their own. I, like Gera, am a sucker for swashbuckling sea captains. Also, I had recently been to Ireland and thought the country was lovely; settings are important to me.
Q. You take the stance that the Fitzgeralds were considered the royal family of Ireland and suggest that their downfall marked a profound change in Ireland. What were some advances made under the Fitzgeralds, and how did they affect the lives of ordinary people? How did that change after the Fitzgeralds lost power?
A. As I detail in my Author’s Note at the end of the novel, historians pretty much agree that the “reign” of the Fitzgeralds marked the division between medieval and modern Ireland. The military and political strength of Gera’s family gave the warring factions of Ireland a period of peace during which villages, agriculture, and trade flourished, despite the deep divisions that remained between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Gera’s father began the University of Maynooth in 1518 and managed to keep the English at bay from conquering Ireland earlier than they did. I wonder how long the Irish could have remained fairly independent of English rule, taxation, and interference if Gera’s half brother, Silken Thomas, had not blatantly provoked the English king.
Q. It’s interesting that both Gera Fitzgerald, in
The Irish Princess
, and Katherine Ashley, the focus of your novel
The Queen’s Governess
, married late in life and ultimately had no children. How common was that among women who spent time at the Tudor royal court? How do you think their childlessness shaped their lives?
The Irish Princess
, and Katherine Ashley, the focus of your novel
The Queen’s Governess
, married late in life and ultimately had no children. How common was that among women who spent time at the Tudor royal court? How do you think their childlessness shaped their lives?
A. It was rather rare that married women, let alone those at the Tudor court, were childless in this era, although there are plenty of examples of women, like Gera, whose children did not live to adulthood. Actually, I think that having and losing one’s babies (Catherine of Aragon is a prime example) was even more tragic than being childless. In Kat Ashley’s case, I think her childlessness was sad because she was such an excellent caretaker of children. However, if she’d had her own, perhaps she would not have poured as much love into the young Bess Tudor. In Gera’s case, her lifelong care for her disabled sister Margaret, as well as for her younger stepchildren, probably helped fill that void in her life.
Q. How much about Gera is documented in the historical record and how much did you embellish? And can you tell us more about
The Red Book of Kildare
?
The Red Book of Kildare
?
A. The first part of this question is huge. I am writing faction; that is, I take the facts I can find and fictionalize only the parts of the plot I cannot research. Naturally, this means conversations and some sections of the story are made up, but I try to stay with what logically could have happened from the research. In this novel, the part I could find the least about, and therefore fictionalized, is Gera’s escape from Maynooth Castle. It is unclear where she was between when her mother left for England and when Gera joined her at Beaumanoir. Maybe Gera went with her mother when she initially left for England, but I could not have Gera miss the great initial adventure of her life during the castle siege. However, once her life began to intertwine with the Tudor princesses’, and when she married the quite well-documented Edward Clinton, she became much easier to track.
The Red Book of Kildare
is still extant and is housed in the British Museum. Therefore, I must admit that the English finally got their hands on it, though I am not sure when or how. Its most recent translation from Latin, as far as I know, was edited and explained by Mac Niocaill in the 1964 publication
The Red Book of the Earls of Kildare
. Originally, it was compiled by the scholar Philip Flatsbury for Gera’s father. Records in it begin from around 1503 and include maps, lists of important people, title deeds, and the wealth of the Kildares: pewter plates, silver saltcellars, etc. It was also a rental book with names of those loyal to the family, which is why the Tudors wanted it. I do not know that Gera kept and hid it during her life, but I do know it strangely disappeared around the time of the siege of Maynooth, then reappeared approximately when Gera’s brother Gerald returned to Ireland as earl.
The Red Book of Kildare
is not to be confused with the legendary lost Book of Kildare from the 1100s in Ireland, which was supposedly dictated by an angel.
is still extant and is housed in the British Museum. Therefore, I must admit that the English finally got their hands on it, though I am not sure when or how. Its most recent translation from Latin, as far as I know, was edited and explained by Mac Niocaill in the 1964 publication
The Red Book of the Earls of Kildare
. Originally, it was compiled by the scholar Philip Flatsbury for Gera’s father. Records in it begin from around 1503 and include maps, lists of important people, title deeds, and the wealth of the Kildares: pewter plates, silver saltcellars, etc. It was also a rental book with names of those loyal to the family, which is why the Tudors wanted it. I do not know that Gera kept and hid it during her life, but I do know it strangely disappeared around the time of the siege of Maynooth, then reappeared approximately when Gera’s brother Gerald returned to Ireland as earl.
The Red Book of Kildare
is not to be confused with the legendary lost Book of Kildare from the 1100s in Ireland, which was supposedly dictated by an angel.
Q. You present Gera Fitzgerald as a passionate, strong-willed woman who was able to express herself even within the strictures of the Tudor court. How unusual was she?
A. Much of Gera’s character I took from the very telling detail that she was once sent to the Tower for “plain-speaking to the queen.” It reveals so much about her and about the queen that Gera was soon released and back in Elizabeth’s good graces. In my years of studying and writing about Elizabeth Tudor, I find that she was wise and clever enough to listen to and be advised by others. Despite some of the things that could have made Elizabeth angry at or jealous of Gera, the queen must have seen their similarities—including, perhaps, their childlessness. I believe Elizabeth leaned for advice on both Lord High Admiral Clinton and the Irish Fitzgerald.
Q. Was Edward Clinton really as dashing as you portray him? It’s wonderful to hear that he and Gera had a long, happy marriage, but if he was frequently off on the queen’s business, how much time did they really get to spend together?
A. Evidently, with Edward and Gera Clinton, absence did make the heart grow fonder. To draw from my own family history, my great-grandfather was a pilot on Great Lakes vessels, was gone much of the year, yet he and my great-grandmother had a good marriage. It is true that Edward Clinton was absent a great deal and Gera was at court with the queen for long periods of time, but they seem to have been a very happy couple. Perhaps the fact that they had both been wed before—in arranged marriages—made their marriage of choice really work. As far as I can tell, their marriage to each other was set up by no one but themselves. And, maybe it’s just me, but as I mentioned before, sea captains—and the Lord High Admiral of the navy, no less—seem very dashing. My own love of the sea and ships is probably reflected in Gera.
Q. I’ve read other novels about Elizabeth I in which Robert Dudley is presented in a more positive light than you present him here and in your other novels. Do you really believe he was a blackguard who cared more for his own advancement than for Elizabeth? Did she love him more than he loved her?
A. I used to have a much rosier, more romantic view of Robert Dudley, the queen’s “dear Robin,” than I do now. (The same can be said about my changing view over time of Henry VIII.) I do believe Robert was more in love with the princess and queen than with the woman. But that’s a question she could never answer; nor can I. That is the price one must pay for fame and fortune—just exactly what is the lover in love with? I am, however, continually amazed by the crazed ambition of the Dudleys, as with other Tudor-era families—including the Tudors. I keep coming back to the quote, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” which, sadly, seems as true today as in the Tudor era.
Q. Was Henry VIII’s treatment of the Fitzgeralds typical of his treatment of other powerful families? Was he harsher toward families of his outlying kingdoms, such as Ireland, Scotland, and Wales?
A. I’ve recently been reading a great deal about Henry VIII’s father, King Henry VII. Under him, the Tudors took the English throne in battle, although they had some royal blood in their veins. The horrors of the War of the Roses were only one generation back from Henry VIII, so the Tudors were paranoid about others threatening their claim to the throne. Henry VIII’s consistent but unspoken policy was to get rid of anyone who challenged his power, usually by charging him or her with treason. This could include his English relatives (such as the Earl of Surrey and his father, Norfolk), leaders of rebellions foreign or domestic, or even just severe critics. He also turned on once-intimate friends such as Sir Thomas More. In short, Henry VIII was an equal-opportunity destroyer.
Q. You have obviously done a tremendous amount of indepth research on the Tudor period. Can you describe the process you use? How do you keep track of all your sources and make choices when your sources provide contradictory information? And when do you know it’s time to stop researching and start writing the book?
A. All good questions. I have studied the Tudors and their times for about thirty years and have a good-size library about them. However, each new novel demands additional research, which I keep filed in folders with headings such as—for this book—Ireland, Characters, Culture, Ships, etc. Sources do often disagree: Sometimes I’m forced to take my best guess by relying on surrounding evidence. When I hear the characters start “talking to one another,” I know it’s time to actually begin to write. I always look for a grabber beginning to propel the plot, but I like to deal briefly with my heroine’s early life, because I feel we can usually understand a personality best if we see the family from which that person came. When I was teaching school and had a problem student, I always tried to schedule a parent conference. How often, the moment I met one or both of the parents, I said to myself,
Oh, now I get why their child acts that way!
Oh, now I get why their child acts that way!
Q. Was there any fascinating new information you uncovered during your research for this book that never made it into the story?
A. Fascinating, yes, but no real bombshells. As I mention in the Author’s Note, Gera and Edward had a long marriage and she served the queen far into her reign, so their story does not end where I end it. But this book needed to conclude when Gerald and Gera finally returned to Maynooth and their beloved Irish people. Of course, her hopes for Ireland’s independence from England under her family’s guidance were not realized. I will add one thing about this question that interested me and seemed so modern. When Edward Clinton’s will was read, so much of his property and decision making was passed on to Gera that her stepson, Ursula Dudley’s son, was pretty upset about it.
Q. Have any comments about your work from reviewers and readers particularly surprised you?
A. Of course, all authors love good reviews. Just last week I spoke to two readers’ groups at the Toledo Public Library in Toledo, Ohio, who had read
Mistress Shakespeare
. I was really touched to hear several of the women say that the novel had inspired them to take a look at Shakespeare again—as a person as well as a writer. And, as a former university instructor and high school English teacher of British literature, I’m always thrilled when a reviewer or reader says something like, “I hated history in high school, but your book made it really come alive.” That is always a double payoff for me besides someone just liking the love story or the adventure.
Mistress Shakespeare
. I was really touched to hear several of the women say that the novel had inspired them to take a look at Shakespeare again—as a person as well as a writer. And, as a former university instructor and high school English teacher of British literature, I’m always thrilled when a reviewer or reader says something like, “I hated history in high school, but your book made it really come alive.” That is always a double payoff for me besides someone just liking the love story or the adventure.
Q. You also write contemporary suspense for another publisher. What are the challenges and rewards of combining historical and contemporary writing? And how do you remain so incredibly prolific?
A. The challenges include keeping the two very different narrative voices for modern and historical stories separate. The sentence structure, as well as word choice, of course, is quite unique to each era. That said, all good writing is suspense writing and needs in-depth character development, so there are many similarities. As for being prolific—I love being a storyteller and having my readers learn something while they are entertained and challenged. I try to take my readers into a different world, even in my contemporary books. Drawing a reader into the Elizabethan world is not so very different from drawing him or her into the unique world of the Amish, Appalachia, or the Everglades.
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