The King’s Mistress
Campion is the foremost scholar on the subject of Alice Perrers, who is primarily – and notoriously – known as the young mistress of an aging King Edward III. Was Perrers the beautiful, manipulative widow of a merchant who raised herself above her class, or was she a sympathetic, complex woman caught in the class, political, social and economic turmoil of her times?
Fourteen-year-old Alice is married off by her father to a wealthy merchant, Janyn Perrers. Thankfully for Alice, Janyn is sweet, wise and loving. She adores him and the life she builds with him. Unfortunately, Alice learns that the Perrers family is the keeper of a most deadly secret that ties them inextricably to Queen Isabella, mother of Edward III. Campion promulgates a theory about what that secret is – and it is devastating, indeed. As the Perrers family’s protectoress, the aging Queen Isabella is also owed obeisance for her substantial largesse.
After Janyn disappears on a trip to Milan and Isabella dies, Alice is taken into what can only be described as protective custody by Edward and his wife, Philippa, a woman who Alice grows to adore as Philippa loves her. Campion’s theory about how Alice becomes Edward’s mistress is fascinating, if not a bit “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.” Alice then spends years looking after and loving the king, nursing him through life’s tragedies and being his soul mate. She pays the price for her loyalty, however, when Edward’s kin orchestrate a forfeiture and worse after his death.
Campion’s Alice is mostly to be pitied, a pawn in a man’s world. The one constant friend in Alice’s life is Geoffrey Chaucer, and his Troilus and Criseyde forms a backdrop against the perils Alice faces. A well-written, comprehensive view of the period in which women were marginalized, their glittery, gem-laden gowns reflecting the corruption of the times.
