The wonderful world of research

Being a chartered librarian, who specialised initially in Local History, research is a passion and joy. For years, if asked, I would have told you that my ideal job would have been Local Studies librarian in Shrewsbury, not just for the Cadfael era history, but that area of the Midlands has a history that any interested researcher finds mouth-watering.

So, what is it about the history that is so beguiling for a writer of mysteries? Let me give you an example. At the moment, I am considering the lives of two powerful women, both Queens of England and both, not that well known. The first is Elizabeth Woodville, Queen to King Edward IV, the second Anne Neville, Queen to Edward's brother, Richard III, or, as Eric Morecambe used to call him Richard the hundredth and eleventh. The two women had a lot in common. They were married to brothers, both were second wives, both were quite strong characters who influenced their husbands. Anne was daughter to Richard, Duke of Warwick, known as Warwick the Kingmaker. Her sister was married to another brother, George, Duke of Clarence - still with me??

When Anne's first husband died, George took her into 'protective custody', which is another way of saying he wanted his hands on the entire Neville fortune and with one sister as his wife and the other as his ward, this was the easiest way to get it. Now enter Richard of York, later Richard III. Anne escaped from George and, legend has it, sought refuge in a cookshop disguised as a servant. Richard tracked her down and escorted her to sanctuary, so that George could not get his hands on her. A year later, Anne and Richard were married. He was said to be distraught when she died 15 years later. A few months after her death, Henry Tudor defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth Field, declared himself Henry VII and promptly married Edward IV's daughter by Elizabeth Woodville. They were the parents of Henry VIII.

Elizabeth herself had no easy ride. She was said to be the most beautiful woman in England with heavy-lidded eyes 'like a dragon' - which just shows how standards of beauty have changed. She was the mother of ten, including the Princes in the Tower. Rapaciously ambitious for her family, she garnered a nice little fortune before Edward IV's sudden death in 1483. A few weeks later, her marriage to Edward was declared bigamous, due to a previously unknown contract between Edward and Lady Eleanor Butler. All her children, including the boy-king, Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, were declared illegitimate. Richard III seized the throne.

I hope you followed all that. It can appear a bit complicated. Now look at it with a writer's eye and there are plot conflicts aplenty. I especially like the legend about Anne escaping to the cookhouse. In reality, the confusion about the fate of the two young princes in the Tower, provided Henry VII with numerous headaches when Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck turned up proclaiming themselves to be Richard, the young Duke of York. At one point, the threat from Warbeck was so serious that Henry VII sent his Queen and the young Henry VIII into sanctuary at Westminster, part of the reason I believe Henry was so determined to have an undisputed male heir. And what makes this history chime so stridently today, and I mean today, Sunday August 22nd? Because the Battle of Bosworth Field and the day the Tudor era began with Henry VII winning the crown was exactly 525 years ago.

Think what mayhem I can bring to Henry VIII's fictional son by Anne Boleyn, simply by visiting history and playing 'what-if'.