Royal Witches

Witchcraft and the Nobility in Fifteenth-Century England

By: Gemma Hollman

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Until the mass hysteria of the 17th century, accusations of witchcraft in England were rare. However, four royal women, related in family and in court ties - Joan of Navarre, Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, and Elizabeth Woodville - were accused of practicing witchcraft in order to kill or influence the king.

Some of these women may have turned to the “dark arts” in order to divine the future or obtain healing potions, but the purpose of the accusations was purely political. Despite their status, these women were vulnerable because of their gender, as the men around them moved them like pawns for political gains.

In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives and the cases of these so-called witches, placing them in the historical context of 15th-century England, a setting rife with political upheaval and war. In a time when the line between science and magic was blurred, these trials offer tantalizing insight into how malicious magic would be used and would later cause such mass hysteria in centuries to come.

©2020 Gemma Hollman (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Decent performance

Overall decent performance and has a lot of interesting history from almost a span of 100+years and how women are always labeled as “witches” even in royal circles.

Good story horrible performer

The narrator did not understand the material. Horrible performance. Almost couldn’t listen to it. Every sentence was ab unexplainable dramatic declaration

Story is great

I’m having trouble finishing this because of the narrator. I find her speech pattern distracting and it’s unfortunate because this is one of my favorite topics. I’ll buy the paperback.

Fantastic read, great timeline following

I enjoyed this book very, very much. The timeline was properly adhered to, with proper reference points to documents and daily living at the time. It's also a dream for court genealogists

Loved

Love reading about a different side of Tudor women’s lives ! The narrator had a lovely voice.

fascinating story but not great writing & narrator

the story of these women is amazing but poor writing made narration hard to listen to.

Ugggggg. The Narrator

It could just be me BUT the sing-song rhythm of the narrator's speech destroys the book .

Excessive use of "however"

Great story, however the use of the word "however, was too excessive to the point of distraction. However I did enjoy the story.

Great historical record

I loved the history of these British Queens and Kings
I do wish there was more, a continuation

If you like Historical Biographies, try it

The name of this book is misleading, but I enjoyed it anyway. While this book did an amazing job of adding life and context to the histories of four royal women who were accused of witchcraft, very little of the book actually talks about the witchcraft itself. It goes more into who the women were, how they rose to power, and what their lives were like before the charges against them impacted them.

If I had been trying to read this rather than listen to it, I'm not sure I could have gotten through it. As other reviews mentioned, there is a heavy use of "However" and "Moreover" that makes the information a bit cringe-worthy. The "shopping list" style of describing who got what gifts from whom is also a bit clunky.

Despite the clunkiness and misleading title, I still enjoyed this. The book is clearly well researched, well organized, and it was nice to learn more about women's history. The narrator's engaging tones saved the book for me; but as other readers mention, it is a bit sing song. I recommend listening to a sample first to see if you enjoy it or not. If you like historical biographies regarding royalty, especially queens and duchesses, this book is worth a try if only for the rarity of information surrounding women in history.