Why I Love The 17th Century: Guest Post by Andrea Zuvich, Author of The Stuart Vampire

Please join me in welcoming Andrea Zuvich, author of The Stuart Vampire, to Historical Tapestry! Below you will find not only her wonderful guest post on why she loves the 17th century (and why you should as well!) but more information about her wonderful book. So without further ado...

 

Why I Love the 17th Century, Warts and All

By Andrea Zuvich

People often ask me why I love the 17th-century. It’s hard to reply in a succinct manner. So, I’ll go about it in a slightly different manner, if I may…

What do you think of when someone mentions the 17th-century? Does an image of a bunch of moody men in black clothes and funny hats pop into your head? Do you think “that’s that boring period in time after the Tudors”? Well, let’s stop that right now!

The 17th-century has absolutely everything any history lover could want.

Are you a food lover? A chocoholic? A coffee addict? Tea person? What about pineapples? Orange juice? Well, all these things were introduced into parts of Europe or made fashionable during the 17th-century. Are you fond of salads? Well, John Evelyn, an English diarist and author, even wrote a book on salads (Acetaria). Although candy bar chocolate hadn’t been invented yet, they had hot chocolate - which totally rocks.

Are you more interested in warfare and action? Good grief! There were people colonising far away lands, trading with foreign countries - that’s quite exciting already. There were massive wars, such as the bloody, horrific, English Civil Wars; the Anglo-Dutch Wars, meaning a war between England and Holland (Dutch Republic/United Provinces); The Nine Years' War.

If fashion is more your thing, the styles are as varied as you could wish for. In the early 17th-century, clothes were still very much like the Tudor era (Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603), and while there was a time when black and sombre attire was fashionable, that later changed and the well-dressed often wore sumptuous, colourful gowns. Ruffs, lace, stays, high heels for both sexes, periwigs, and ribbons - have a look at the different fashions and you’ll see how interesting the clothing was then. The Baroque was an aesthetic which approves of flamboyant splendour.

Are you well into art? Well, the 17th-century had some of the biggest names in art history. Van Dyck, Rubens, Velazquez, El Greco, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Kneller, Caravaggio, Gentileschi, Van de Velde, are just a few of the great artists who thrived during the 17th-century. They produced truly stunning works of art, the like of which has never been equalled (in my opinion).

Music? Great Baroque composers such as Henry Purcell, Alessandro Stradella, Marin Marais, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Charpentier, Rameau, Albinoni, Allegri, Vivaldi, Blow, Handel, and more gave us such amazing music that continues to be popular to this day. All of us can recognise Pachelbel’s Canon in D, surely? That’s because Baroque music is timeless.

Still not enough for you? Well, perhaps literature and theatre appeal more to you? Perhaps the fact that some of the greatest playwrights in history lived in the 17th-century? In England, we had William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Vanbrugh, John Fletcher, John Dryden. In Spain, we had Lope de Vega, Miguel de Cervantes, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Juan Vélez de Guevara. In France, there was Molière, Racine, and Corneille.

If philosophy and science floats your boat, try 17th-century philosophers & scientists: Descartes, Hooke, Newton, Leibniz, Cassini, Galileo. Seriously, just a small search on the NASA website will show you that many moons, astroids, and other things in space are named after 17th-century scientists. Go on, have a look.

So there you have it. All of the above are just the tip of the very large iceberg of reasons why I love the 17th-century. It’s filled with everything: good, bad, smelly, beautiful, and just plain old fascinating stuff. I’ve been researching this period in time for many years now. Am I bored? Never!

Thank you.

 

Thank you so much, Andrea, for taking the time to share your thoughts on the 17th century! I don't think anyone could call it boring!

 

Readers, continue on below for more information on Andrea's book, The Stuart Vampire!

 

 



 

Publication Date: October 31, 2013
Self-Published
eBook; 215p

Genre: Historical Fiction/Horror/Paranormal


Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest brother of King Charles II is a handsome man with sound principles. When the twenty-year-old prince contracts smallpox in 1660, however, his life takes a decidedly sinister turn. Obsessed with Henry from afar, Contessa Griselda di Cuorenero – one of the Devil’s concubines – turns him into a vampire and plunges him into the world of night. But Henry soon discovers that not all horrors are of the paranormal kind…

In the unnaturally close village of Coffin’s Bishop, Henry encounters a severely abused young woman – a woman who has suffered under humans who are more monstrous than vampires. Could love save them from the evil they have known? And at what cost?

Henry must choose between his humanity and his monstrous, insatiable desire for human blood.

From the author of “His Last Mistress,” The Stuart Vampire is a dark gothic tale in the vein of The Monk.

Praise for The Stuart Vampire

“An intriguing historical with a darkly gothic twist, I enjoyed The Stuart Vampire and would recommend it to anyone with a taste for period horror.” – Erin Davies.

“Once again Ms. Zuvich brings the setting to life, she paints a vivid picture of the Restoration period – intertwined with drama & romance.” – (Amazon Review)

“A great mix of historical fiction and vampires -what’s not to love?! I really enjoyed this book,I liked the unique blend of fact and fiction!
A fascinating time period anyway,with the added bonus of introducing vampires into the Stuart line it kept me hooked until the end! The author obviously knows her Stuart and 17th Century history and facts were woven in amongst the drama of a secret darker world of evil,all happening during the time of the plague in London.The book was full of great descriptions of this time,I could almost smell it!! Would definitely recommend this book.” – (Amazon Review)

Buy the Book

Amazon US
Amazon UK

 

About the Author

Andrea (aka The Seventeenth Century Lady) is a 17th-century historian, historical consultant, and historical fiction authoress. His Last Mistress – a biographical fiction novella about the Duke of Monmouth and Lady Henrietta Wentworth was published by Endeavour Press, London in 2013. She received double BA degrees in History and Anthropology from the University of Central Florida, and continued her History studies with the University of Oxford and Princeton University. Zuvich has been filmed for NTR television in The Netherlands, talking about William III, and was recently on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour discussing Queen Anne. She was one of the original developers and leaders on The Garden History Tours at Kensington Palace, London. Zuvich lives in Windsor, England.

For more information please visit Andrea’s website. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

The Stuart Vampire Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, October 13

Review at A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, October 14
The Stuart Vampire Launch Party @ 12:00pm-2:00pm EST

Wednesday, October 15

Review at Kinx’s Book Nook
Interview at Flashlight Commentary

Thursday, October 16

Review & Guest Post at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Friday, October 17

Guest Post at Historical Fiction Connection

Monday, October 20

Guest Post at Historical Tapestry

Tuesday, October 21
Review at The True Book Addict

Wednesday, October 22
Interview & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Friday, October 24
Spotlight & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages



 

Andrea Zuvich on Why I Love the Stuarts of the Seventeenth Century

Today we are pleased to welcome author Andrea Zuvich to Historical Tapestry to tell us when she loves the Stuarts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I was growing up, I loved Early Modern history so much, that I knew I wanted to be a historian very early on. As a romantic, shy girl, I loved the tragic story of Henrietta Maria and Charles I, and I swooned when I read about the dashing Cavaliers during the English Civil War. I daydreamed about Stuart men such as Rupert of the Rhine, the Duke of Monmouth, James II, and William III. I would blush at the bawdy poetry of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and laugh with Molière's comedies. I adored The Three Musketeers, novels written by 19th-Century writer Alexandre Dumas. I was thirteen when the Leonardo DiCaprio version of The Man in the Iron Mask came out in theatres, and I was mesmerised by the dichotomy between Louis XIV’s opulent French Baroque court and the hard toil of the peasants.

As Louis XIV was enjoying his autocratic powers in France, across the Channel there was an equally fascinating royal line in England - the Stuarts. This tragic dynasty has fascinated me for years, but I never thought that my passion for their history would lead to my writing historical fiction. At first, writing evolved out sheer frustration. I had been working at a palace in London, and visitors would come up to me and ask questions about the history of the palace and the people who had once inhabited it. They were constantly getting Mary, Queen of Scots completely confused with Mary II, or trying to relate a room’s history to a Tudor, so that is what spurred me to write. I figured that more people want to read a fictionalised depiction rather than an academic study. That being said, I try to keep my work as historically accurate as possible, without bashing people on the head with historic details. But then I ran into the hurdle of the market…

I still find it really sad to get rejections from publishers with the line, “though your story seems very interesting, we cannot be sure we can successfully market a book set in the 17th-century or about the Stuarts” (!) What is it about the 17th-century that makes both readers and publishers go cold? I have asked, and it’s usually the following:


        “The 17th-century is boring. Nothing cool ever happened in it.”


        “I’m happy with the Tudors, nothing else can come close to them.”



Elizabeth I died in 1603, ending the Tudor dynasty and causing the Stuart dynasty in England to begin. No fewer than seventeen of Shakespeare’s plays debuted during the Seventeenth Century, and throughout the period there were massively important political changes. Some of the biggest consequences of the English Civil War were the beheading of King Charles I, the abolition of the monarchy and the Interregnum and Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. Indeed, it is lamentable that the joy in life seems to have been sucked out of England during Cromwell’s time, and this decade of Puritanism has tainted the public’s perception of the whole century. For after Cromwell’s death, everything changed again during the Restoration of the monarchy: this period is full of colour, seduction, the arts flourished once again, and it’s just amazing to learn and write about. Boring? Nothing could be further from the truth!

The Tudors were indeed a fascinating lot, but their stories have been told – repeatedly. There are so many other interesting royal dynasties to read about, and the Stuarts are definitely one of them. The Stuarts – or Stewarts – were a Scottish dynasty, but my favourite part of their line is from James I-Anne I, and these people ruled during the Seventeenth Century. In these Stuarts, we see a great deal of family in-fighting: daughter against father, uncle against nephew, and they circled each other warily, and cruelly, at times. The ebullient Charles II is probably the most well-known of the Stuarts, and with good reason. His lust for life was rather endearing, and he is most famous for the many mistresses he had and the debauched court he presided over.

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth
Image credit: Philip Mould and Company

In my debut novella, His Last Mistress, I chose to tell the lesser-known tale of Charles II’s eldest son, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, and the relationship which was to be his greatest, and last. The focus of his affections, Lady Henrietta Wentworth, has been almost completely forgotten by us all, and I wanted their tragic love story to be remembered. Monmouth, or Jemmy as he is affectionately referred to, was a larger-than-life character, brimming with boundless energy like his father, devastatingly handsome, lascivious, reckless, passionate, and doomed. Compelled into rebellion against his uncle, James II, by his own ambition and manipulation by dangerous exiles, he led Monmouth’s Rebellion, which ended not only his life, but also the lives of the men who followed him. Those who were not executed, faced deplorable lives in the West Indies, enslaved.

I recently gave a speech about the Duke of Monmouth at the site of his execution on Tower Hill, London. It was the 328th anniversary of his horrifically botched execution, and those who joined me were fascinated by this man’s colourful yet woeful story. I lay flowers upon the site of his execution and also upon his tomb inside the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London, where he rests beside the remains of Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn. As I waited to go inside the chapel, some tourists asked why I had flowers. “For the Duke of Monmouth,” said I. “Who’s that?” they replied. Again it hit me how few people have even heard of Monmouth, of the Stuarts, of the people who helped shape the world we live in today.

Lady Henrietta Wentworth
Image Credit: National Portrait Gallery London

The Stuart period is simply too full of action, adventure, passion, chaos, violence, beauty, tragedy, superstition, reason, and monumental changes to the socio-political pattern of the United Kingdom, to be ignored. If through my books, and those of my colleagues, more people will become interested in the 17th-Century, that would be wonderful!

I will be releasing a historical horror novel for this Halloween, entitled, The Stuart Vampire, and hopefully in December or in 2014, my novel, William & Mary. Once those are completed, I will write about Rupert of the Rhine, and get back to dear Monmouth in a full-length novel prequel of His Last Mistress, which I hope to name, Jemmy.

If you’d like to learn more about this time and discover its rich music, history, literature, art, and more, please visit my website, The Seventeenth Century Lady.

Tour details

Link to Tour Schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/hislastmistresstour/
Twitter Hashtag: #HisLastMistressTour
Andrea Zuvich's website - 17th Century Lady
Andrea Zuvich on Twitter
Andrea Zuvich on Facebook

About the book

Set in the tumultuous late 17th Century, His Last Mistress tells the true story of the final years of James Scott, the handsome Duke of Monmouth, and his lover Lady Henrietta Wentworth.

As the illegitimate eldest son of King Charles II, the Duke is a spoiled, lecherous man with both a wife and a mistress. However, this rakish libertine is soon captivated by the innocence of young Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who has been raised to covet her virtue. She is determined to spurn his advances, yet she cannot deny the chemistry between them. Will she succumb? At the same time, the Duke begins to harbour risky political ambitions that may threaten not only his life but also that of those around him.

His Last Mistress is a passionate, sometimes explicit, carefully researched and ultimately moving story of love and loss, set against a backdrop of dangerous political unrest, brutal religious tensions, and the looming question of who will be the next King.

His Last Mistress by Andrea Zuvich

It is no great secret that I love to read about the court of the Merry Monarch, Charles II. I wouldn't have wanted to be married to him, or to even have been one of his inner circle, but I love reading about his court, about him bringing back colour and joy and merriness to the court after the much more restrained rule of Cromwell. I find the idea that as a man he was full of passion and energy and life completely fascinating, especially when you contrast it with the trials he faced as a young man, and even during his reign, particularly in relation to the religious turmoil that played a large part in the issues around who his heir would be.

When I was offered this book to read as part of a blog tour, I must confess that the main reason why I said yes was because it was about Charles' oldest, albeit illegitimate, son James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. Monmouth has often been mentioned in the books I have read as a secondary character, so the chance to get to know him a little better was welcome.

The Monmouth that we initially meet is a spoiled young man, favoured by his father, rich, handsome, celebrated soldier but he is also very much his father's son. He was married at a young age to a suitable woman, but he has no issue with whoring or taking mistresses. He drinks too much, has been known to get into violent arguments, at least one of which lead to a fatality and generally is a pretty unsavoury character.

In short, the duke is the kind of man that virtuous young women should avoid, as Lady Henrietta Wentworth is warned when they first cross paths. She is quick to show her disdain to the Duke with the terrible reputation. Fast forward five years and Henrietta is engaged to be married, but the Duke is still intrigued by her beauty (in his eyes at least), her virtue and her character. Henrietta knows that she shouldn't be attracted to him at all, but there is a definite chemistry between them. She also knows that she needs to create an additional level of distance between them so she begs her fiance to bring forward the wedding, but the man instead steps aside, leave the way clear for the duke. Henrietta flees to her home, but when he follows her she knows that she is lost and the two soon become lovers.

If you had of read this part of the story in a romance then you might have thought that they were a cliche bought to life. A good woman who captures the heart of a reprobate libertine and makes him into a faithful and loving man. The added interest to this story is that it is a true story and was considered to be one of the great love stories of the 17th century. This is however not a happily ever after style romance. History tells us a different story.

If it wasn't for the political machinations around them, James and Henrietta could have lived together in seeming happiness for many years but alas it was not to be. Monmouth is exiled to Holland after being involved in a plot to assassinate his uncle, the man that King Charles prefers as his heir. When Charles dies, James comes to the throne and the duke is once again drawn into a conspiracy to make himself the king. After all, there have been rumours that his father had married James' mother (unsubstantiated of course) and even if he was illegitimate, it would be much better to have a young, handsome, successful and most importantly Protestant king of the throne rather than the Catholic King James. Of course, the incumbent disagrees and so the battle lines are drawn.

I am kind of torn about how I felt about this book, or rather, novella. I loved that it was about lesser known figures from history and that the story was based on actual history. I loved that there were bits of poetry that came from the Duke's own diary. At the begining I found the writing a little bit clunky but by the end I was invested in the story. And oh, what an ending. The description of the duke's fate is compelling and gruesome, not one to be reading while you are eating your breakfast! I found myself saying "can't someone get the man a sharper axe" to the book! There were times where I felt that the fact that there was a restricted page count very much counted against the story. I would have liked more exposition about Monmouth's past, rather than just telling us what a terrible man he was. Many of the secondary characters weren't given enough time to develop and as a result were a little one dimensional. There were a couple of other things that through me out of the text. At one point, James starts calling Henrietta Harriet and I found myself wondering who the heck Harriet was. I had to go back a couple of sentences and reread it before the penny dropped.

In closing, I would say that I was very excited to read in an interview at one of the other tour stops that Andrea Zuvich is planning to write a novel about Prince Rupert of the Rhine. This is another of the Stuart princes that I find totally fascinating and I will very much be looking forward  to reading that when it comes out. Her next book is going to be about Mary and William of Orange, another royal couple who haven't had much attention in historical fiction circles. I love that Zuvich is taking this period of history which is kind of known and fleshing it out a bit more for her readers.

Rating 3.5/5

Tour details

Link to Tour Schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/hislastmistresstour/
Twitter Hashtag: #HisLastMistressTour
Andrea Zuvich's website - 17th Century Lady
Andrea Zuvich on Twitter
Andrea Zuvich on Facebook

About the book

Set in the tumultuous late 17th Century, His Last Mistress tells the true story of the final years of James Scott, the handsome Duke of Monmouth, and his lover Lady Henrietta Wentworth.

As the illegitimate eldest son of King Charles II, the Duke is a spoiled, lecherous man with both a wife and a mistress. However, this rakish libertine is soon captivated by the innocence of young Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who has been raised to covet her virtue. She is determined to spurn his advances, yet she cannot deny the chemistry between them. Will she succumb? At the same time, the Duke begins to harbour risky political ambitions that may threaten not only his life but also that of those around him.

His Last Mistress is a passionate, sometimes explicit, carefully researched and ultimately moving story of love and loss, set against a backdrop of dangerous political unrest, brutal religious tensions, and the looming question of who will be the next King.