Crown of Aloes

by Norah Lofts

Book Overview

Isabella of Spain was a great woman, a great Queen. "Crown of Aloes" is presented as a personal chronicle. Within the framework of known fact and detail drawn from hitherto unexploited contemporary... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038503220X
• ISBN13: 9780385032209
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Crown of Aloes (Paperback) by Norah Lofts

Ordered for wife she loved it . Fast Shipping and in perfect condition excellent seller .Crown of Aloes (Paperback) by Norah Lofts

Very enjoyable story of Isabella's life

I wanted to read this story because I found the author's portrayal of Isabella in the early chapters of "The King's Pleasure" so interesting. Nora Lofts is very good at creating a good story around mostly historically accurate details. I learned a lot I did not know about this time period and this royal family, having focused mostly on the Tudors in my reading. Isabella is shown as a very stoic, logical person, who shoulders huge responsibility as a monarch, but also a mother who cares deeply about her children. It's typical to see rulers in these times lacking in true emotional attachment to their offspring, who are pawns in political games, as well as being raised separately from the parents almost from birth. The author creates a wonderful character in Isabella; I was impressed by her concern for the welfare of her soldiers, and how she did without luxuries out of respect for their hardships in the field. There were many instances where she really learned from mistakes she had made, as with her first child's early upbringing, and she was always realistic about her own motives. It's not a particularly upbeat story, but she's a very admirable character overall.

Crown of Aloes

Crown of Aloes is a book based on Queen Isabella's reign over Spain. This book is largely factual and states many of Spain's significant events, that occurred from 1454 to 1504. The war between the Moors was a vital part of the queen's experiences. This war went on for years, until finally Spain won over Granada. Even Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World involves Queen Isabella. The persecution of non-Christians was an event that brought many to dislike Queen Isabella and others to approve. In my opinion the persecution of non-Christians was a bigger sin itself than not being Christian in the first place. Nevertheless, all the blame should not be brought upon one person. Back in Isabella's time, most countries and cities did not accept women as their queen. Castile was an exception and Isabella took the opportunity. She was clever yet cunning and showed her fierceness in war, as she showed her leadership skills. Isabella didn't just sit on a throne with a grand dress and crown on her head all day. Being a woman gave Isabella disadvantages but she didn't use it as an excuse, instead, she took it as a challenge. One important aspect of this book is that it comes from the queen's point of view, it gives her side of the story. She was sometimes accused of evils she did during her reign, but in Crown of Aloes it is all explained. The details of the reason of why she did such things are given, which changed my mind of the idea I had about Queen Isabella. To me she was always thought of as an evil tyrant who wanted every thing her way. Reading this book helped me realize that all great women have flaws and no one is perfect. For example, the persecution of non-Christians was not Queen Isabella's idea, it was brought upon by someone else while others agreed and pushed the idea. Queen Isabella was a strict Christian but never really completely agreed to the idea of persecutions, she, in fact, never bared to see an actual persecution. Although, she did commit some faults as queen, Crown of Aloes shows she was indeed a great queen.