The 16th century was known for its dramatic changes in religious issues. None more so than during the late Tudor dynasty especially during the reign of Elizabeth I. However, France also saw the religious pendulum swing between Protestantism and Catholicism. Many families from all walks of life were caught in religious squabbles, like the Montgomery family. Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery found herself in the middle of the drama and was forced to marry into a prominent Devon family in Elizabethan England, far from her native France. Roberda’s extraordinary story is told masterfully in Rosemary Griggs’ latest novel, “The Dartington Bride.”
I would like to thank Rosemary Griggs and The Coffee Pot Book Club for allowing me to take part in this blog tour with a book review. I thoroughly enjoyed Griggs’ debut novel, “ A Woman of Noble Wit,” so when I heard that she was writing a new novel, it was intriguing to me. I had never heard of Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery before reading this novel, so I was excited to learn more about her life.
Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery was the daughter of Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, Lord of Lorges and Ducey, and his wife Isabeau de la Touche. Her father was the captain of the Scots Guard during the reign of King Henri II of France, but everything changed in 1559, when he accidentally struck the king in the eye with a lance, killing the king. The Montgomery family must make tough choices to survive and fight with Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Conde in the French Wars of Religion and survive the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.
To make sure Roberda is safe and secure, her parents arrange a marriage alliance with Sir Arthur Champernowne. Roberda marries Gawen Champernowne, a rough brute of a man, who is jealous of not only his young wife and how she looks at other men but is jealous of men like Sir Francis Drake who can get all the glory while he stays in the shadows as a spy for Walsingham. Roberda has a difficult marriage, but she gets along with her father-in-law Sir Arthur Champernowne, and her friend Anne Cecil at Dartington Hall. Roberda is a great mother to her growing family and helps Huguenot refugees start again in England. However perfect her life may look on the outside, Gawen remains jealous and decides that the only way to quell his anger is through divorcing his faithful wife.
This is another brilliant novel by Rosemary Griggs highlighting a woman from the Elizabethan age who has for centuries lived in the shadows of the past. I loved how Griggs was able to take a woman who has been a footnote in history and give her a beautiful yet heartbreaking tale of love and tragedy. I cannot wait to see who Rosemary Griggs will write about next. If you want a gripping novel about a lesser-known lady living in the Elizabethan age, you should check out, “The Darington Bride” by Rosemary Griggs.
Blurb:
1571, and the beautiful, headstrong daughter of a French Count marries the son of the Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West in Queen Elizabeth’s chapel at Greenwich. It sounds like a marriage made in heaven…
Roberda’s father, the Count of Montgomery, is a prominent Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion. When her formidable mother follows him into battle, she takes all her children with her.
After a traumatic childhood in war-torn France, Roberda arrives in England full of hope for her wedding. But her ambitious bridegroom, Gawen, has little interest in taking a wife.
Received with suspicion by the servants at her new home, Dartington Hall in Devon, Roberda works hard to prove herself as mistress of the household and to be a good wife. But there are some who will never accept her as a true daughter of Devon.
After the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Gawen’s father welcomes Roberda’s family to Dartington as refugees. Compassionate Roberda is determined to help other French women left destitute by the wars. But her husband does not approve. Their differences will set them on an extraordinary path…
Buy Links:
Universal Buy Link: https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/books/2/The%20Dartington%20Bride/
Author Bio:
Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon’s sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretches far beyond the West Country and loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history – the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters, and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.
Her novel A Woman of Noble Wit tells the story of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother, and features many of the county’s well-loved places.
Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, a passion that complements her love for bringing the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history, and re-enactment. Her appearances and talks for museums and community groups all over the West Country draw on her extensive research into sixteenth-century Devon, Tudor life, and Tudor dress, particularly Elizabethan.
Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours of the gardens at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house and now a visitor destination and charity supporting learning in arts, ecology, and social justice.
Author Links:
Website:https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RAGriggsauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladykatherinesfarthingale
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griggs6176/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@griggs6176
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ragriggsauthor.bsky.social
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Rosemary-Griggs/author/B09GY6ZSYF
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21850977.Rosemary_Griggs
For a woman from the past to leave a mark in history books, she had to have lived an extraordinary life. Some have notorious reputations, or they were considered women of immaculate character. In Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, there was one who was “a woman of noble wit.” She was the daughter of an ancient gentry family who had connections with the court of Henry VIII. Her large family would navigate political turmoil and religious reformations to survive. The name of this wife and mother was Katherine Raleigh, and her tale is told in Rosemary Griggs’ debut novel, “A Woman of Noble Wit.”
A Woman of Noble Wit
Author Bio:
Adventures of a Tudor Nerd 