Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge
11 journalers for this copy...
Certainly a catchy title. And Herman's spirited history of royal "mistresshood" is certainly a catchy read. Her book is not a collective biography of mistresses of European kings through the ages, although she does pay relatively brief but nevertheless trenchant visits to famous ones and some not so famous. No, her book is more an accounting of the "art and science" of being a royal mistress, ranging in time from the "departing mists" of medieval Europe (before which "royal sin" was kept from public knowledge) to the present day (namely, Prince Charles' girlfriend, Camilla Parker-Bowles). Her treatment is a royal-mistresses-for-dummies look at male monarchs having sex on the side. She establishes a basic chronological history of the institution and assigns it a set of general characteristics (for instance, the paramour is "never to be tired, ill, complaining, or grief-stricken"). The author explains what mistresses got out of their relationships, and she looks into the issue of how mistresses traditionally got along (or didn't) with queen wives. History made as buoyant as fiction.
Released 15 yrs ago (11/16/2008 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
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Traveling to Kiri in Santa Rosa, CA to restart this bookring. Enjoy!
USPS DC# 0308 0070 0000 7892 3780
pm sent 5 Jan 09 (no response -- didn't go through?)
pm & email sent 11 Jan 09
My favorite mistress had to be Nell Gwynn - she seemed like she had such a great attitude and sense of humor. I'd like to learn more about her... maybe I'll do a search to see if there are any books about her life.
Thanks so much for sharing - I have darkpunkangel's address and will be sending this off tomorrow.
This is now on its way to Canada :)
The book is now on its way to Wandering-B.
And thanks, Perryfran, for sharing it!
I am looking forward to reading it.
Eva
Thanks for sharing, and sorry for the delay!
Eva
And this goes up to Camilla Parker-Bowles, not yet married to Prince Charles when this book was published.
My favourite? Nell Gwynn, who had a remarkable sense of humour (see pic).
One quote:
"We can only wonder how women's lot in Western society would have improved during the past four thousand years had Genesis blamed seductive Adam for tempting innocent Eve with a banana. But since it was Eve who gave Adam the apple, Sinful Woman became a fair target for tempting Virtuous Man from the straight and narrow path with her sexual wiles."
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Kalise; it makes for a fascinating read.
Thanks for sharing it, Perryfran, and once again sorry for keeping it for too long!
Eva
Released 14 yrs ago (1/14/2010 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
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Sent to Kalise, in Austria, who is next in this bookray.
Enjoy!
Eva
Since I love reading about Louis XV and his court, my most favorite mistress, of course, has to be Mme Pompadour (see left)! She never ceases to fascinate me. Not only was she amazingly beautiful but witty, intelligent, creative, and versatile in her many activities and business ventures (she founded the Sevres porcellain factory in France, which still exists today)-- and, can one believe it -- that most famous mistresses of mistresses was frigid??? That's an amusing tidbit if ever there was one... Since I'm living in Austria, I was also delighted to read about Katharina Schratt, mistress of Emperor Franz Joseph. Her house near Bad Ischl, the famous Schratt-villa, is now a fancy restaurant, where I have also had the occasion to eat once.
I couldn't help but wonder, though, what all those beautiful and intelligent women saw in those kings in the first place. I mean, let's be honest: many of those fellows were fat, ugly, oldish and suffered from all sorts of illnesses. We all are aware of Henry VIII's waist size. I can't think of Louis XIV as a handsome man with those fat lips of his; Louis XV had a tendency to "look yellow," (indicative of liver problems?); Napoleon was short and suffered from epilepsy - just to name a few. All of them had serious problems with faithfulness! And here you have Europe's most beautiful women scratching each other's eyes out to be their "maitresse en titre," this totally insecure position which they could lose any time, any day to a younger, more beautiful woman! Can one really understand this, I wonder?
So I find that Herman totally hits the nail on the head when she ends her book with: "Those who tread the earth wearing crowns - and we the crownless - all worship at altars of greed, ambition, and desire." Absolutely!!! In the end, it all comes down to the very animalistic urge? instinct? desire? to hang out with the Alpha male. Not only 'cause he has the power, but also the cash.
I find that our society hasn't changed much in that respect.
I feel now inspired to check out some of the books that are listed in the bibliography. And I will also keep a look-out for the companion novel: Sex with Queens! It will be fascinating to read the other side of the story. :-D
Thank you, again, perryfran for sharing this book with me! I have already pmed next participant and will try to get the book out ASAP.
Sent the book out to voveryte yesterday. Enjoy!!
Very interesting and informative read, but a bit dry sometimes. Thanks for sharing anyway!
Thanks everyone!
Thanks for the book everyone! I'll pass it on as soon as I can.
Released 14 yrs ago (4/18/2010 UTC) at Christchurch, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- New Zealand
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In the post!
PMing next in line.