Court Lady and Country Wife: Two Noble Sisters in Seventeenth-Century England

by Lita-Rose Betcherman

Book Overview

The lives of two dazzling aristocratic sisters, Lucy and Dorothy Percy, present a perfect window into the world of political unrest and social intrigue in seventeenth-century English society. The sisters' breeding, beauty, and cunning made them among the most influential women of their time.

Born during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Percy sisters came to prominence at the court of Charles I in the 1630s. Lucy, the Countess of Carlisle --...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060762888
• ISBN13: 9780060762889
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Story of two fascinating sisters

This was a wonderful book that highlighted yet another tumultuous time period in English history. The author did a great drop researching her subjects but never did I feel I was just reading a tedious recounting of historical facts. She did a very good job portraying these girls/women's personalities as they were recorded in history and capturing the captivating essence of Lucy Percy. As the daughters of the "Wizard Earl", or Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, one would think they would cower under a man's presence and be the 'seen, not heard' type of woman men tended to gravitate towards for wives. However, with the Earl's incarceration in the Tower for the majority of their formative years, the girls blossomed into strong, independent and free-thinking women who became determined to make their own decisions. Dorothy Percy would become the Duchess of Leicester and produce twelve (!) children while her sister Lucy would marry Lord Hay, Duke of Carlisle and would play important roles during the fall of the monarchy under Charles I of England. If there ever was a family that had their finger in every seditious pie, was irascible and over-proud, thy name be Percy. That family had had a long history of being on the wrong side of things and thinking themselves kings of their lands in the far north of England, a tradition that Lucy carried on with pride. They might not have made their father proud, but what great, exciting lives they led. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a bit of excitement and verve in English history between the death of Elizabeth I and the rise of the Commonwealth under Cromwell and a woman's role during that time.

I had to pick something

I had to choose a biography for my history college class. She gave us a list of people and books to look at and this was one of them. I would not read this book on my own but having to do it for a class, it's not that bad. I find it hard to look at as a biography but my teacher swears it is. I give the book a 7 out of 10. Its not what I usually read.

Fascinating and Readable

This was an excellent scholarly work, while yet imminently readable. Betcherman follows the vastly different lives of two sisters during 17th century England, with one being immersed in Court life while the other centers her life around home matters. It is a fascinating read and very enlightening for those interesed in social history, women's history, 17th century British history, or any combination. I highly recommend it to the casual historian as well as to the more serious scholar.

Eye opening read!

This book was very good and although I cannot say I devoured it, I certainly had trouble putting it down. It was eye opening in the way that many modern readers may find their ideas of life and marriage in the seventeenth century shaken up a bit. It is amazing to see just how influential these women could be in their own circles.

Better than history class

This tale of two sisters in the Baroque Court brought me back to my 11th grade history class. A chronic truant, it was one of the few classes I considered it worth my while to attend because it was the first time I learned that history was a panoramic drama to rival anything I could find in books or teenage gossip. Similarly, the lives of Lucy Percy, the Countess of Carlisle, and her sister, Dorothy, a mother of twelve in the Leicester countryside, is both a page-turning story and a unique perspective on the English Civil War.