Posted by Lale on 21/5/2012, 8:25:40, in reply to "Re: preparatory reading for Wolf Hall"
99.240.131.249
: The politics of the 16th Century were
: marvelously complex and the personalities just as
: interesting.
Yes, amazing, and quite addictive. I couldn't do anything else until I read about the last minor character of the times. My husband kept saying "are you still reading that, aren't you finished already."
In Turkish we have a saying: "you mus never say that you had a good life until you see your last day." This is more true for the people in power of the16th century England than for anyone else. One day they are on top of the world, making decisions that affect the whole of Europe, and the next day, hop, off with their heads.
It is not unlike the intrigue in the Ottoman palaces. The women in the harem fought a lot to be the favourite of the sultan and to have their sons become the next sultan. The favourite wife had a lot of influence. Sultans and sultans' sons were committing infanticide, patricide all the time. Noone was safe. They could never eat or drink comfortably. It was tough to be born into the palace.
Lale
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