Figures in Silk (aka The Queen of Silks)
This novel brings together the silk business of fifteenth-century London and the personality of King Richard III, suspected throughout history of having murdered his two nephews, the Princes in the Tower. The story begins with silk merchant John Lambert’s decision to marry off his two beautiful daughters at the end of the Wars of the Roses. Elder daughter Jane starts a notorious liaison with King Edward IV – Richard’s older brother - while her sister, Isabel, as the new silkworker to the court, becomes privy to its most intimate secrets. Could the sisters hold the keys to power at this time of uncertainty?
More about this book
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inspiration
Where the idea came from
Richard III and his niece, Elizabeth, the sister of the Princes in the Tower…
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background article
Fifteenth-century England
‘Elaborate manners’ of a feudal society: background to England in the time of the book
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background article, pictures and maps
How the City of London was organised
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background article
Silk
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background article
Silkwomen
All about the women who made the delicate small goods of silk
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background article
London and the Wars of the Roses
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background article
Was King Edward IV illegitimate?
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background article
Jane Shore
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background article
The new chess and the power of medieval queens
In the late fifteenth century, the ancient game of chess, an import from the East, suddenly changed its rules
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background article
Important dates in the medieval calendar
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further reading
Sources and bibliography
On the silk trade The London Silkwomen of the Fifteenth Century, by Marian K Dale. The Economic History Review, Vol
UK cover
