I knew very little about the Lady Jane Grey before picking this book up. The title of the book caught my attention and I wanted to learn more. I am sure I had read short snippets about her life in the various histories of England that I have read, but I could not have told you her story.
The story of Lady Jane Grey reminds me of the famous quote by Danton “Oh, it were better to be a poor fisherman than to meddle with the government of men.”
Tallis notes from the start that she considers Lady Jane to be an official Queen of England whose reign lasted 13 days 9 of which were publicly known.
Tallis presents the story of Lady Jane as the pious young woman who was surrounded by others who wanted to use her place in the line of succession as a means to power. She was manipulated and pushed into a path she would not have taken on her own, which ultimately led to the crown at the age of 17 and her execution.
Tallis does a great job in portraying the religious nature of Jane especially at the end of her life when given the opportunity to convert to Catholicism. She did not show empathy for those around her who converted in an attempt to save their lives. She saw it as a badge of honor to remain devoted to her beliefs.
I enjoyed reading this book and learned more about the time period it examined and the sad fate of Lady Jane Grey. It does make me want to read other books addressing the life of Jane Grey. In this book it was presented as if Jane had no opinion but to become Queen against her will. I would like to see if other historians present it in the same manner.
Overall a good book that I rate 4 out of 5 stars.
William Wilberforce has been called an agitator for his commitment to ending the slave trade. One of his well known speeches on the subject was given on May 12, 1789.
Cardinal Richelieu has been hailed as a great statesman and as a subversive authoritarian. Depending on who you talk to he was a man needed to strengthen the monarchy in France, or he was a tyrant seeking personal power. Next week I will have a book review that may shed more light on Cardinal Richelieu.
When Lenin was working on his major writing projects he would often pace across the room formulating the ideas that he would write down by saying them out loud. Once he had the idea for what he wanted to write he would often repeat the idea to Nadezhda Krupskaya, who would provide feedback. Once this process was complete he would then write the ideas down.
Here is an AI rendering of what that might have looked like when he was drafting What is to be Done.
This month this community will focus on political subversion. What is subversion? When is it justified? What is the interplay between subversion and agitation? These are some of the topics to be discussed this month.
“You get used to the despot’s shortcomings, when they are not great vices, and the change of an autocratic ruler leads to involuntary fear.”
Sergei Trubetskoi
