I'm pleased to welcome author Gemma Hollman to The Writing Desk:
Tell us about your latest book
My book is called The Queen and the Mistress: The Women of Edward III and it is a detailed look at the lives of the two women who had the heart of King Edward III: his wife, Queen Philippa of Hainault, and his mistress, Alice Perrers. Edward III was one of medieval England’s longest-reigning kings, and many important things happened under his rule, such as the creation of the Order of the Garter and the start of the Hundred Years War against France.
But whilst there have been plenty of books and articles about Edward himself, the women in his life are often written out. His mother, Queen Isabella, gets a lot of attention because of her role in leading a coup against his father, Edward II, but despite being married to Philippa for over 40 years, I found so many books barely mentioned her!
Although medieval England is seen as a man’s world, women played a central role in the royal court, and I wanted to share the lives of these two fascinating women who had relationships with the king. Philippa was a European noblewoman with links to various royal families, and her marriage to Edward was undertaken as a political contract between Edward’s mother and Philippa’s father. But the couple quickly fell in love and had a very successful marriage.
Philippa followed Edward throughout his many military campaigns and worked very hard to help him in his goals. From visually aiding his propaganda as a rich and powerful king, to drawing upon her European connections to bring him allies for his wars, to being a very popular queen with her subjects for her generosity, Queen Philippa was seen as a model medieval queen.
By contrast, Alice Perrers was a lower-class enigma who was lucky to have ever found herself at the royal court. She joined Philippa’s household as Philippa started to grow sick, and though she was probably over half his age, the king’s eyes soon wandered over to her. Edward had been loyal to Philippa throughout their marriage, but now this goldsmith’s daughter took his affections. Alice and Edward had three children together whilst Philippa was still alive, and once the queen died their relationship became public, despite the moral implications.
Because of Alice’s low status, she could never marry the king, but Edward lavished her with attention, bought her beautiful gowns and expensive jewellery, and made it clear that she was now the only woman in his life. Alice used her heightened position as the king’s lover to build up a landed empire, gathering manors, castles and land across the kingdom to enrich herself. But as Edward’s own health began to fade, Alice became a target at court, hated for her influence and her power as a single woman. She was eventually put on trial and had everything taken from her.
These two women came from completely different stations in life, with completely different upbringings and expectations. But in the end, both of them won the heart of the same man, and both of them used their femininity to exert power at court. Philippa followed traditional roles of women by being a good mother and a loyal wife, whilst Alice used her sexuality.
Both women were wildly interesting, and in The Queen and the Mistress I give each woman her time in the spotlight, exploring their lives and, by placing them side by side, show their similarities and differences and what it meant to be a woman at court in fourteenth-century England.
What is your preferred writing routine?
It can be quite difficult to have a full routine, as I write alongside a full-time job. But generally I try to get all of my research out of the way first, making comments and questions in my notes that I want to come back to explore later. Once I am happy with my amount of research, I use weekends to just sit and write all day! In the mornings I will sit and read over what I wrote in my last session to familiarise myself with where I left off, and also to do any minor edits that need doing.
I then write throughout late morning and into the afternoon, generally finishing by dinner (but when deadlines are close it can be into the evening!). I use weekday evenings to do smaller tasks that I can dip in and out of, such as formatting and checking sources, but again when deadlines near I often try and write a paragraph or two instead!
What advice do you have for new writers?
I would say do your research and be confident in your ideas, and then just sit down and do it! If you think something is interesting or a solid idea, it probably is, and if you want to be the one to share that idea then just think about what it is you want to say with your work. With me, I want to focus on women in medieval England who might not be known to the general public, despite their status and importance at the time.
This means that I am then inspired to focus the story on the women and so it narrows down what I want to say – I try to keep the narrative on the women as far as possibly, trying not to let it wander from them for too long. And don’t be afraid to put pen to paper! Lots of research is good, but we can often use it as an excuse to delay writing – “I’ll just read one more article”. But all that research means nothing if it’s not written down eventually! So just get writing. They always say you can’t edit a blank page. Try not to worry about making everything perfect the first time around, just focus on getting your ideas onto paper and then you can shape it afterwards.
What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?
I think the most important thing is to be open to trying anything! I have my own blog and so have a following there that I can advertise my books to, but I also have a network of other bloggers and podcasters that I know that I can draw upon to share my research with and raise awareness of my books. I have also written articles for magazines and give talks in person. For me, the online community is very important for raising awareness.
People will always find your book in bookshops if they are looking for something to read, so you want to reach out to people who may not know they need your book! And consistency is key – algorithms and the vastness of content online means that people won’t always see your social media posts or will miss you uploading a new blog post. Keep sharing and posting and you’ll find someone new every time. Even now, 3 years after the release of my first book, I still find new people who didn’t know about my book whenever I post about it on Twitter!
Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research
I think for me, it was finding small little interesting tidbits that were most unexpected for me. For example, I found that Queen Philippa is credited with introducing the cultivation of rosemary in England, and that a dress she wore that was decorated with images of squirrels, recorded in the household accounts, is the first known instance of the word squirrel being written in English. It was fascinating that things like this could be pinpointed to a certain point in time, to one particular person. I use rosemary all the time, and would never have thought it would have any connection with an English queen! So definitely an unexpected surprise there that has stuck with me.
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
The hardest was definitely the opening of my section on Alice Perrers where I attempt to explain her origins. That section was rewritten more than any other in my manuscript, and I asked more people to look at it and make suggestions than any other part of the book. Alice has been an unknown figure for centuries, but within the last two decades the work of two historians, Mark Ormrod and Laura Tompkins, has shed ground-breaking light on our understanding of her.
I wanted to be able to explain our changing knowledge of who Alice actually was over time, whilst not being too academic or longwinded. I initially wrote pages and pages which just didn’t work – it was too complicated, with too much back and forth, and a lot of detail that ultimately wasn’t needed for what I was trying to put across. After lots and lots of cutting, which I think probably reduced the section by about two thirds, I was finally happy with it!
What are you planning to write next?
I have a few ideas in the works, so the problem is narrowing down exactly what I want to focus on next! But I have definitely been taken by the 14th century whilst writing this book, and I think my next book is going to take a slightly different twist on my previous work which has focused on medieval women. I want to try something a bit bigger and ambitious, which is equal parts exciting and scary! So keep a look out…
Gemma Hollman
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About the Author
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