January Poll: Who has been the most maligned by history?

Richard III, accused of murdering his two nephews, ran away with this one. It seems unlikely his name will ever be cleared.  The Richard III Society have a good analysis of the case and the suspects.

In second place, Anne Boleyn.  More about her at The Anne Boleyn Files including a post on her reputation and how far she was responsible for breaking up Henry VIII’s first marriage.

Despite the efforts of revisionist historians, King John, who ties for third place with Marie Antoinette, will probably always be Bad King John to most people, but one myth at least should be laid to rest: that the name John was never used again by the British royal family because of its association with him.

Catherine Delors has a great post on Marie Antoinette and cake here.  No, there is no proof she said, ‘Let them eat cake.’  It’s been attributed to various other French princesses, as far back as Louis XIV’s Queen, but there’s not much proof they said it either.  Nancy Barker has written an article I am trying to track down about how this phrase came to be associated with Marie Antoinette: ”‘Let Them Eat Cake’: The Mythical Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution,” Historian vol 55 no 4, 1993 (709-724).  For more about the vilification of Marie Antoinette in general, I highly recommend Chantal Thomas’s The Wicked Queen: The Origins of the Myth of Marie Antoinette, translated by Julie Rose.

In fourth place, Elizabeth Woodville, accused of being a witch and a social climber.  Susan Higginbotham has a page debunking Elizabeth Woodville myths here and recommending sources on her.  Susan also posts on the Woodvilles at her blog.

And last but not least, Edward II.  At the Edward II blog Alianore has a post on why, although Edward II may have been a bad king, he wasn’t a bad man.

Miss Moppet: Why I voted for Marie Antoinette

The cake thing. It will not go away. Although I enjoyed Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, and the film made it clear that MA did not say ‘let them eat cake’ it showed her stuffing cake morning, noon and night. Not one contemporary reports her doing this and at least two comment on her abstemious habits.  Nor was she likely to be found in the early hours passed out drunk:

Yes, she stayed up all night dancing and gambling.  But she didn’t drink.

Lady Moppet of Yorkshire: Why I voted for King John

Why do you think?  Because he would have given me no peace if I hadn’t!

I am not very pleased with John at the moment, due to his lack of concern for my own reputation.  I will say, though, that people fail to set his actions in context.  He executed hostages, including children, but that was (a) a legitimate act of war at the time and (b) part of the job of being a medieval king.  Mercy was all too easily equated with weakness. ( Thus Henry I on one occasion found it necessary to blind his own granddaughters and cut off their noses.)

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If Richard III didn’t kill the Princes, who did?  Vote for your preferred candidate in the February poll!

Breaking news: Belle de Jour is not Lisa Hilton

For the past six years the identity of the blogger-turned-bestselling-author who wrote about her experiences as a London call girl has remained a mystery. Now she has broken her silence. Belle de Jour is Dr Brooke Magnanti, a medical research scientist who turned to prostitution so that she could afford to finish her PhD.

The closest I have got to reading a Belle de Jour book is walking past the bestseller rack at WH Smith in Euston station. I would never read a sex memoir, simply because, while I will read erotic fiction, I don’t want to hear about other people’s sex lives. I find it distasteful.

Not that I mean to criticise Belle. She’s done pretty well for herself, and I can sympathise with her, because I am in the same position she was: a PhD would greatly enhance my career prospects, but I can’t afford to do one. However, I will gladly go to my grave without one if it means I don’t have to work as an escort. So it doesn’t look as if Miss Moppet will become Dr Moppet any time soon.

Belle de Jour, of course, named herself after Catherine Deneuve, who famously played a married woman who works as a prostitute in the film of that name. I finally got around to viewing Belle de Jour the film earlier this year and it was much better than I expected. I had thought that people probably got excited over it in the first place because it was about sex and it had ended up with a much better reputation than it deserved, but I found it an intelligent and fascinating film. I plan to read the Joseph Kessel novel it was based on at some point and do a book-to-film comparison.

Anyway. Now we know who Belle de Jour is, we also know who she is not. One of the suspects was none other than Lisa Hilton, biographer of Athenais de Montespan and most recently, author of Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens.  As someone who wondered if it was impossible for authors to make ends meet without moonlighting as sex workers, I’m relieved to say that it’s just not true.

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Update: Belle has confirmed that she paid tax on her earnings as a sex worker.  Yes, I was curious.