I have had a copy of The Spanish Match (Brennan Pursell, Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, NH, 2011) on my shelf since it came out five years ago. I jumped at the title since I had been reading other books of that same time period. I knew that Charles I of England had been dethroned and executed by the Puritans. One of my knitting books has a picture of the tunic he wore on the day of his execution. I also knew that St. Claude de la Colombiere fit in there somewhere with one of the monarch's, whose wife was Catholic. I had heard that James I was homosexual, and yet I also knew he had children. I also knew some of the Spanish royalty through my reading on Isabelle and Ferdinand, Catherine of Aragon and Philip II. At any rate, you get the idea of what made me snatch up the book when it was published.
I give The Spanish Match a low rating for two reasons. First, if a person is familiar with history, he already knows how the book ends, so there is no real suspense to the story. Second, unless a person is very well versed in the controversies surrounding this royal courtship, it is too difficult to determine what in the book is real, and what is an entire work of fiction, in spite of the author's disclaimer at the end of the book.. I had to go back to my reference book on the kings and queens of England to get a grip on the time period and the personalities, and to be able to distinguish at least in small part between truth and fiction. The up side of the book might be that he does not sugar coat the self serving behavior of the royals or the courtiers. Philip IV's French queen is portrayed as a cold, selfish wife, and the Duke of Buckingham as the lecher he apparently really was (I do not think he was bisexual in the sense of having a real attraction for men, but rather that he acted out of political expediency). Philip is portrayed as having affection and consideration of the Infanta, his sister Maria. The one thing in the book which made me pause was the picture of Catholic Spain at a time when meat was not allowed during the entire season of lent. Talk about penance! For the peasantry who probably did not have much variety in food to begin with, this would have limited choices even further. For those who were better off who were accustomed to meat, this would have been a great sacrifice. Just another example of how weak we are today in comparison to our forefathers.
If this book had been better I would pass it along to one friend or another. As it is, I will either donate it to the Treasure Chest, or leave it at Catholic Charities for someone to pick up for free.
On another note, I purchased the new, numbers stamps and framelits from Stampin' Up. I have to make an anniversary card for a friend, so I will get to use that set this week. I am not sure why it took Stampin' Up so long to come out with a set like that. I am guessing that it will be a big seller. It will work for graduations, anniversaries, and birthdays. Adding numbers is a great way to personalize a card.
I got my three shelves put up in the basement for my stamping supplies. I can't say that it makes it much easier to get at my stuff than the old system of plastic bins and baskets which I had upstairs, I still have to open almost every bin whenever I go to make a card, and then I have to haul everything upstairs. At least it is not as difficult to dig through my stamp sets. I can get to my punches a little bit easier, too.
Got my three thrift store skirts altered and mended. I am looking forward to wearing the wool wrap, although it would be more exciting if it were -40 as it was in Minnesota winters gone by. It has to get ironed first, however. No telling how long that will take!
My wardrobe is almost exclusively in my autumn palette now. I discovered that I prefer the darker oranges, rusts and terra cottas to the lighter pumpkin color. I was thrilled to find an orange dress blouse at Saver's, but after spending all kinds of time altering it, the color is not as rich as I first thought. Oh! Well!
