Expert Talk – Jane Shore by Lauren Browne

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   R March 3, 2018 at 6:01 am

   A very interesting look at the afterlife of Elizabeth Lambert, “Jane” Shore, who was indeed a sympathetic figure, especially if she was made to do penance by King Richard iii, who did disapprove somewhat of his brothers alleged life of free love. It is easy to see how she is taken as a warning and a moral tale and the ballards give us a glimpse into the anxiety of Tudor popular social culture. I very much doubt any other woman but Elizabeth Woodville had any real influence on the decisions taken by Edward iv no matter how long “Jane” was his mistress. Because she is only called Jane in the near contemporary history of Thomas More, who is maybe suggesting that she had influenced Hastings against Richard and used witchcraft, with the colourful description of his arrest (invented withered arm) as she is living with him, there has also been a confusion between Jane and another invented mistress, Elizabeth Waite who does not exist in contemporary records. “Jane” in fact may not have been Edward’s mistress for very long and probably only took up with either Hastings or Grey for shelter after she was thrown out of the palace after Edward’s death. The information given by Bishop Morton has to be taken with a pinch of salt as he had a personal agenda as he was locked up for a short period after his own arrest at the Tower Council on 13th July 1483. He was also locked up by Henry Vii so he really must have been trouble and I can imagine him filling young Thomas More’s head up with all kinds of nonsense as he grew up in his household. His unfinished history of Richard iii is more political satire and criticism than history, and while I greatly admire More as a statesman, his agenda here went a bit too far. I believe that Elizabeth Lambert is wrongly made a scapegoat for what was wrong with Edward personally, that is he fancied anyone who came near him and neglected his duties as he did so. It is good to see her voice used to explore moral anf social questions in a more positive way in the later Tudor period.

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      R March 3, 2018 at 6:02 am

      Should read and not anf

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