Alison Weir > Quotes

“I prefer to be left alone with my books.”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“If only they would all just leave me alone with my books and my letters, I would be content to let life, and the world pass me by”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“You must pray to God for forgiveness because I can give you none”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“She had already decided that, when she grew up, she was going to do whatever she pleased and not let anyone order her about.”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth

“I cannot go with you all the way on your journey, but I would go as far as I might”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“It did not do to give your heart to a man so entirely, she thought. Men did not value what they came by easily. Once you loved, you laid yourself open to pain.”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth

“I steel myself to ignore his taunts and his coarse language. I no longer care what he says or does. It doesn't matter anymore. I am detached, contained in my own private world where he cannot reach me. It is my last refuge.”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“In this martial world dominated by men, women had little place. The Church's teachings might underpin feudal morality, yet when it came to the practicalities of life, a ruthless pragmatism often came into play. Kings and noblemen married for political advantage, and women rarely had any say in how they or their wealth were to be disposed in marriage. Kings would sell off heiresses and rich widows to the highest bidder, for political or territorial advantage, and those who resisted were heavily fined.

Young girls of good birth were strictly reared, often in convents, and married off at fourteen or even earlier to suit their parents' or overlord's purposes. The betrothal of infants was not uncommon, despite the church's disapproval. It was a father's duty to bestow his daughters in marriage; if he was dead, his overlord or the King himself would act for him. Personal choice was rarely and issue.

Upon marriage, a girl's property and rights became invested in her husband, to whom she owed absolute obedience. Every husband had the right to enforce this duty in whichever way he thought fit--as Eleanor was to find out to her cost. Wife-beating was common, although the Church did at this time attempt to restrict the length of the rod that a husband might use.”
― Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life

“How sad it was not to know how happy you were until it was too late.”
― Alison Weir, Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen

“The Burgundian chronicler Philippe de Commines thought the English a choleric, earthy, and volatile people, who nevertheless made good, brave soldiers. In fact he regarded their warlike inclinations as one of the chief causes of the Wars of the Roses. If they could not fight the French, he believed, they fought each other.”
― Alison Weir, The Wars of the Roses

“Court life for a queen of France at that time was, however, stultifyingly routine. Eleanor found that she was expected to be no more than a decorative asset to her husband, the mother of his heirs and the arbiter of good taste and modesty.”
― Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life

“I will never give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he has wounded and enraged me. In my silence lies my strength.”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“We want men to admire us for our courage, our characters, and our intellect, not just our beauty.”
― Alison Weir, Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession

“Katherine of Aragon was a staunch but misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves a good-humoured woman who jumped at the chance of independence; Katherine Howard an empty-headed wanton; and Katherine Parr a godly matron who was nevertheless all too human when it came to a handsome rogue.”
― Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII

“I waste so much time sleeping. And time is of all losses the most irrecuperable, for it can never be redeemed.”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth

“When these with violence were burned to death,
We wished for our Elizabeth.”
― Alison Weir, The Children of Henry VIII

“What she loved was being admired, being wanted, being pursued—but she did not think she wanted ever to be caught.”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth

“But what use was the semblance of power without the substance?”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth

“At six o'clok the young King's terrible sufferings finally ended. After his eyes had closed for the last time, the tempeste raged on. Later, superstitious folk claimed that Henry himself had sent it, and had risen from his grave in anger at the subversion of his will.”
― Alison Weir, The Children of Henry VIII

“His handsome face is suffused with rage. He stands before me shaking, then to my disgust, bursts into noisy tears; "I shall tell my mother of you!" he sobs and crashes out of the chamber”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“But I wish you to know that, were I just Edward and you just Jane, I would prefer to marry you. We accord well together, and have similar views… Kings cannot make their own choices. I wished you to know that”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“There are too many Dudleys already in this world”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“From whom but the Devil did this advice come under which you are acting? Those who are urging you to repeat your former wrongdoings against an innocent person are seeking in this not your honour but their own convenience. They are clearly the enemies of your crown and the disturbers of your realm.”
― Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life

“A husband or wife did not have the right either to demand sex from his or her spouse or to refuse it, and there was a catalogue of forbidden sexual practices, notably homosexuality, bestiality, certain sexual positions, masturbation, the use of aphrodisiacs, and oral sex, which could incur a penance of three years’ duration. Nor were people to make love on Sundays, holy days, or feast days, or during Lent, pregnancy, or menstruation. People believed that if these rules were disobeyed, deformed children or lepers might result.”
― Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life

“They inhabited a lost world of splendour and brutality, a world dominated by religious change, in which there were few saints.”
― Alison Weir, Six Tudor Queens: Writing a New Story

“I must bear it well as I may. As my sainted mother used to say, we never come to the kingdom of Heaven but by troubles.”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth

“My lady, for your virtue and goodness, God would receive you in rags.”
― Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor

“If only the Fates had granted him a longer stay in this”
― Alison Weir, Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen

“As their forces broke, the Yorkist cavalrymen raced to the horse park behind their own lines and mounted their steeds to give chase. As they thundered past, the King and Warwick, flushed with victory, yelled, ‘Spare the commons! Kill the lords!’ Their words went unheeded.”
― Alison Weir, The Wars of the Roses

“Often, little brother, there is no smoke without fire.”
― Alison Weir, The Lady Elizabeth