The Grey family was one of medieval England's most important dynasties. They were were on intimate terms with the monarchs and interwoven with royalty by marriage. They served the kings of England as sheriffs, barons, and military leaders. Weaving the lives of these men and women from a single family, often different allegiances, into a single narrative, provides a vivid picture of the English medieval and Tudor court, reflecting how the personal was always political as individual relationships and rivalries for land, power,
and money drove national events.
and money drove national events.
The House of Grey was my second book, and that made it both harder and easier to write than my first, The King’s Pearl. For me, writing about Mary I had been something of a life-long ambition, and whilst I was not oblivious to the difficulties of researching and writing, there were a lot o ‘unknown unknowns’ that only enthusiasm (and a deadline!) carried me through.
The knowledge of how to plan and manage the research and the writing process made the House of Grey slightly easier to manage in practical terms, although there was a time when it did seem that I would never see the light at the end of the research tunnel.
For my second project, the unknowns had turned into scary realities, made worse by the Greys not being royalty, so consequently fewer of the archives associated with them had been unearthed or transcribed.
This was slightly ameliorated by the close relationship some members of the family had with central figures, such as Thomas Cromwell, for whom a whole plethora of correspondence exists. Otherwise much of the information is derived from grants of land or office, or legal disputes, which can give the impression that the mediaeval and Tudor nobility spent a large proportion of their time in litigation.
Even once the archives are unearthed, for me there was the problem reading Tudor handwriting. I struggle with palaeography, partly through lack of formal training (although I went on courses to improve) and partly through poor eyesight. In the end, I selected some key archives to be transcribed by an expert, Dr Lisa Liddy, whose amazing skills made my life easier.
Other sources are, of course, the chronicles and historical accounts written more or less contemporaneously, but these often had to be taken, not exactly with a pinch of salt, but with the knowledge that the writers generally had a point of view of their own, which might be very different from that of the Greys, or even be so biased as to qualify as propaganda either for or against them.
As always, history is written by the winners, so the time a chronicle was written, its sponsor and their relationship with the Greys must all be borne in mind, if there is no primary evidence confirming or refuting the report. The corollary to this is, is the importance of maintaining an unprejudiced stance yourself and not just creating more one-sided propaganda, whilst at the same time, trying to build, if not sympathy, at least understanding for your protagonists’ actions.
Something that fascinates me is the historian’s ability to know more than the people of the time. I can read the letters from Lord Leonard Grey to Cromwell, explaining events in Ireland from his perspective, alongside those written by the men who sought to oust Leonard from office. He did not know the damage they were doing to his reputation, but I do. His execution for treason was more of a shock to him, than it was to me!
Melita Thomas
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