Historical Novel Review - "Jane the Quene"
I recently carried out a survey on my website to find out who was the “Most Interesting Tudor Woman”. Anne Boleyn won the crown by a huge margin, proving that even in 2016, she was very much Queen of the Tudor women, definitely “The Most Happy”. This was a great contrast to her successor, Jane Seymour, who did not even get one vote. This result didn’t completely surprise me, especially in a survey where Anne Boleyn, often perceived as a direct rival to Jane, gained the most votes. From many observations I have made from comments others have written over the years on history websites, I would even suggest that Jane Seymour is probably the least popular of Henry VIII’s wives. However, whether she actually deserves that negativity is another argument. One thing that is certain though is that Jane is one of the most controversial women of the Tudor period.
Where does all this controversy come from? The main reason behind it is the alleged role Jane played in Anne Boleyn’s downfall. From what I have read about Jane in non-fiction, however, I do think that Jane’s alleged role has been blown out of proportion and an unrealistic caricature has been created. “Jane the Quene” is a very good attempt at helping people to forget what they already think they know about Jane and see all of the events of 1535 to 1537, the most extraordinary two years of her life, through her eyes. The novel shows two Janes – you see Jane as the courtier who eventually became Queen and you see Jane as a woman.
One thing that came across in the book when looking at Jane as a courtier and the events of 1536 was that Jane was definitely just one small piece in a massive Chess board. Historians to this day still squabble over why it all went so terribly wrong for Anne Boleyn in May 1536. Many of Anne’s sympathisers tend to point the finger of blame at Jane, accusing her of deliberately supplanting her mistress. There is a sense in the book that Jane is willingly going along with the plot to get rid of Anne, but I think the important thing to remember here is that I genuinely don’t believe Jane knew how far things would go. Jane probably thought that the King would just annul his marriage and put her in a convent. I don’t believe that Jane had any idea that Anne would be the first English Queen to be executed and I haven’t seen anything in non-fiction so far to suggest this and this is something that the book did convey quite well. Jane herself was being manoeuvred across this great Chess board by the King who she could not refuse, a court faction of Anne enemies and Jane’s own family the Seymours. When Jane did become Queen, her chosen motto was “Bound to Obey and Serve”; ironically, this also turns out to have been the motto of her life, to have been not just at the service of the King, but her own family and the powerful factions at court. Something greater than her was happening in the background and she had very little control over it.
The book also shows Jane as a woman. By 1535, she was in her late twenties, still childless and unmarried. In today’s society alone, once a woman gets past twenty-eight, she experiences pressure and guilt if she still hasn’t found “Mr. Right”, or still hasn’t got sprogged-up; in Jane’s time, this pressure would have been tenfold. Jane would have been seen as a complete failure, not fulfilling her role as a woman and you definitely feel her sense of failure and desperation in the book. You get the feeling that any man would have done our Jane. Fortunately, Jane does eventually catch someone’s eye – unfortunately, it is Henry VIII. Apart from the fact that she wouldn’t have been able to say no to him anyway, I think her own desperation alone was the motivation behind her willingness to be part of the plot to get rid of Anne – it was either this, or spinsterhood. Jane had spent far too long in the shadow of her own ambitious and successful siblings – for once, this was her chance to shine. Would she have been so willing, however, if she knew how things would truly have ended for Anne? When Jane does become Queen, we see in the story how she is constantly in fear of failing and meeting the same fate as her predecessor. Jane does finally fulfil the ideal of the 16th century woman – but at a price.
In the 16th century, religion dominated the mind-set of many and for Jane and Henry, this would have been no exception, as in the story they both see the marriage as putting to rights the wrongs created while Anne was Queen. Jane is perceived by Henry as bringing him back into the light after living in darkness. She even believes that she is God’s instrument in turning him back to Catholicism. Unfortunately, though Jane does not know Henry as well as she thought she did because as soon as she meddles in his politics, he quickly reminds her of the fate of her predecessor. So, again this helps to show how very little control Jane did have over the greater forces surrounding her and the King’s conflict with the Church was a very powerful force at the time.
Overall, I think “Jane the Quene” is a very realistic portrait of Jane in the most important period of her life. This book does for Jane Seymour what Hilary Mantel did for Thomas Cromwell.
