ELEANOR and RICHARD

Josephine Wilkinson's RICHARD, the Young King to Be, arrived this week
and I've been reading it. Alas, she says on page 171, "In November
1469, he [Richard] was granted the castle and manor of Sudeley in
Gloucestershire. This estate had been removed under duress from its
owner, the old lord Ralph Butler and his daughter, Eleanor, by Edward
[IV]. Eleanor was a former mistress of Edward IV ..."

Now having just finished John Ashdown-Smith's ELEANOR, the Secret Queen,
it seem pretty clear that Eleanor was not Ralph Butler's daughter, but
his daughter-in-law. Since this is the only mention of Eleanor in
volume 1, but Wilkinson is working on volume 2, and if this is just a
typo, it should be easy to correct. Anyone know how to get in touch
with her?

L.P.H.,

Ann

--- In , "Sharp, Ann (GT&D)" <axsc@...> wrote:
>
> Josephine Wilkinson's RICHARD, the Young King to Be, arrived this week
> and I've been reading it. Alas, she says on page 171, "In November
> 1469, he [Richard] was granted the castle and manor of Sudeley in
> Gloucestershire. This estate had been removed under duress from its
> owner, the old lord Ralph Butler and his daughter, Eleanor, by Edward
> [IV]. Eleanor was a former mistress of Edward IV ..."
>
> Now having just finished John Ashdown-Smith's ELEANOR, the Secret Queen,
> it seem pretty clear that Eleanor was not Ralph Butler's daughter, but
> his daughter-in-law.



You are correct. She was the daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, by his second wife, Margaret Beauchamp.



Since this is the only mention of Eleanor in
> volume 1, but Wilkinson is working on volume 2, and if this is just a
> typo, it should be easy to correct. Anyone know how to get in touch
> with her?
>
> L.P.H.,
>
> Ann


It is not just a typo. Just a typo would be misspelling her name, not giving her the wrong father. (Even if it was a typo, a conscientious author would have caught it upon reading the galleys.) It's sloppy research and/or sloppy writing. Eleanor Butler nee Talbot is not exactly a minor character in the slice of history we concentrate upon. I'm afraid that, to me, things like this lead me to wonder what else the author screwed up, and to mistrust all her facts.

At any rate, you can usually contact an author through the publisher, which is Amberley Books. They have a nice web site with a convenient box into which you can submit comments.

http://www.amberley-books.com/contactus.html

Katy


http://www.amberley-books.com/contactus.html