anne de pisseleu
The Royal Mistresses Series

Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly – The most beautiful among the learned and the most learned among the beautiful

Anne was born in 1508 in Picardy, France, to parents Guillaume de Pisseleu, seigneur d’Heilly, and his second wife Anne Sanguin de Meudon. The family were noble but not particularly wealthy. Anne’s father was married three times, and Anne was one of 23 siblings (though some sources say there were more). After her mother died, [read more]

Anne Boleyn

Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe by Sarah Gristwood Book Review

In sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary set of women created a unique culture of feminine power that saw them run the continent for decades. Despite often being on opposing sides of power struggles both armed and otherwise, through family ties and patronage they educated and supported each other in a brutal world where the price of [read more]