European Royalty discussion

Please discuss chapters Bermondsey Abbey, The Hotel de St.-Paul, Poissy and A Marriage is Arranged (1 - 4) here.

I'm so glad we finally read this one!

Katherine's early childhood is tragic! Her mother sounds terrible. It makes me want to learn a lot more about this time period in England and especially in France.

It was an awful childhood and to think that this was not that unusual for a royal child. Katherine even muses that it would have been better not to be born into the royal family. At first I thought it would have been better to at least be a boy but after reading the fate of 2 of the Dauphins I am not so sure.

I love this story (although there are a lot of sad moments)! I've read it twice and am getting my copy from my mom tomorrow so I can re-read it with the group.

Anyone else notice this? (Sorry it's coming in past the deadline for finishing the book, but I'm behind on my reading!) In the chapter The Hotel de St-Paul, when Odette and the kids were talking about the murder of the Duke of Orleans, the author says that "There were one or two people who peeped out. We heard through them that a cobbler's wife opened her window and shouted that murder was being committed. She was told sharply to be silent, and shots were fired at windows where lights appeared. . . " Were guns invented at that time? Just something that struck my attention. :-)

I'm almost at the end of the Queen of England chapter and am really enjoying it. It's my first Jean Plaidy book and I think I'll have to pick up some more!

Tina wrote: "Anyone else notice this? (Sorry it's coming in past the deadline for finishing the book, but I'm behind on my reading!) In the chapter The Hotel de St-Paul, when Odette and the kids were talking ab..."

Ooooh that gun bit is the kind of stuff that would bug me to pieces. Curiosity killed the cat, but I have a hard time squashing mine....

You know, I did wonder the same thing about the gun. This is my third time through reading the book, and I don't remember ever catching that before.

Well, after a VERY quick look online, it seems like guns may have been in England as early as 1375 and were in Italy around 1397, but another post just said 1400s in Europe. This site seemed as reliable as any (once again, after a QUICK search):

http://armscollectors.com/gunhistoryd...

Great question! I can't imagine those early guns were accurate, and I wonder who would even have an early gun?

Btw, you can keep posting here past Jan. 15 - it's all flexible!

I remember reading somewhere that the first bullets to be found on an English battle field date to Towton, 1461.

That said, I interpreted "shots" as meaning crossbow shots when I first read it -- since you can "fire a crossbow".

I had wondered about it maybe being crossbow shots too, or arrow shots, but on the previous page, it says that they fell on him with swords. . . Hmmmm. A mystery. Maybe she was referring to those early guns that Sara mentioned???