Sex with Kings : 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge

Rating:
Summary: Rollicking romp through royal beds
Review: Eleanor Herman has done a marvelous job of researching European kings and their mistresses over the past half-millennia or so. And as an added bonus, Herman is a fine writer.

There's nothing salacious in this history. Rather, it is a study of the various aspects of a royal mistresses' life. How they became the king's mistress; how they fended off rivals; the rewards and perils of being the king's wnore.

All in all, Eleanor Herman makes this small aspect of history just plain delightful. One can hope she continues exploring lesser known aspects of European history.

Jerry

Rating:
Summary: Compulsively readable
Review: If, you have always been curious about the sex lives of the great monarchs and their mistresses,this book will enthrall you from first page to last. You will encounter the most powerful women in Europe; women whose sexual liasons with kings brought them to the forefront of political life and enmeshed them in the machinations of state. Fascinating and meticulously researched, this magnificently illustrated and arranged volume is compulsively readable--impossible to put down! ALSO I RECOMMENDED SEX AND THE PERFECT LOVER. THE SEX BOOK.


Rating:
Summary: Funny
Review: "Sex With Kings" is a funny and sexy read, with all sorts of details about royal mistresses all through history. All those mistresses are different, since some were just mistresses for money and some were really in love with the men they were with. The kings are kind of obnoxious in general, but some of their mistresses were very cool. And it's very funny in places, like the story of one king who urinated on his mistress's boyfriend, who was hiding from him.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book This Summer!
Review: As a student of history, I thought I knew everything there is to know about the personal lives of European royalty. Eleanor Herman is obviously a researcher and historian of great talents, because I learned more about the great royal courtesans from her book than I had discovered from any other single source. And here is the really great thing about this book: it's wildly entertaining! I wish more historians had such a sense of humor about their subjects--we'd all be more educated about the past. The author treats her subjects with great dignity and respect, yet never forgets that the mistresses were, at their core, entertainers themselves. This is a stylish and comprehensive romp through the bedrooms of kings that I enjoyed immensely and will recommend to everyone I know. SEX WITH KINGS is a breath of fresh air that blows the dust off of history shelves. BRAVA!

Rating:
Summary: Save yourself a few bucks and borrow it from the library....
Review: Because I'm going to be donating it the next time I clear off my bookshelves. This book had a pretty good start, but became increasingly painful to read. I put it down halfway through and haven't bothered to pick it back up.

As someone already noted, the author does not stick to any sort of chronological order. At any given paragraph, expect to be dragged out of the 16th century, plopped down in the 19th century, only to be abruptly yanked back into the 16th century, but in someone else's court. It's confusing, it's annoying, it's infuriating, and ultimately, it's a turn-off. Which is a pity, because she really does seem to have done her research, gathered a lot of racy, delicious, sometimes malicious details, but has managed to turn it into so much air-headed fluff.

I consider this book several hours of my life that I will never get back....



Rating:
Summary: Mistress of all she surveys
Review: Okay, the title is going to make people giggle or cringe. But "Sex With Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry and Revenge" is a genuinely engrossing book, full of funny and tragic stories about royal mistresses through history. From Madame de Pompadour to Camilla Parker-Bowles, Eleanor Hermann studies these controversial -- sometimes fascinating -- women.

There are mistresses of all types: married and single, noble and low-born, beautiful and ugly, smart and stupid. Some befriended the queens, some attacked (and were attacked by) them. Some died alone and unhappy, some became nuns, and some lived in luxury to the end. Some were sweet and pious, and some were nightmares. Hermann studies why the kings got involved with these women, and how brains and sweet natures could mean a lot more than a pretty face. They could (sometimes) influence politics, succession, and their illegitimate children were sometimes better-loved than the king's legitimate kids.

The mistresses themselves are a colorful bunch, from the bratty, grasping Lola Montez, bawdy Nell Gwynn, pious Louise, and the legendary Madame de Pompadour. One of the most memorable is the grasping Madame de Montespan, who used black magic to ensnare the king, only to eventually drive him into the arms of a "batlike" governess.

Yes, it's called "Sex with Kings." But it's not all about sex -- in fact, it becomes clear that sex is only one factor. Hermann does a pretty good job of studying all angles of mistresshood. Sure, a mistress sometimes got the prettiest dresses and jewels, but she could be kicked out on a whim. There were dozens of setbacks, and only a very wily mistress could avoid them. The author also devotes attention to the mistress's children, her lover the king, and sometimes the mistress's husband. Even the unfortunate queen gets a chapter, as well as the occasional mistress who married the king.

But Hermann keeps it funny and light as well. One particularly funny story is of a plain German princess and a French transvestite prince -- both of whom ask how they can possibly sleep with the other. But she doesn't avoid the touchier issues of mistresses either, like the religious or political angles. Nor does she cater to double standards by blaming either the kings or mistresses.

Hermann finishes up the book on a promising note, pointing out recent marriages between royal men and the title-less women they love. But even if mistresshood is a thing of the past, the unique story of these women is well mapped-out in "Sex With Kinds." A fun and unique read.

Rating:
Summary: The Royal Bed Warmers
Review: Sort of embarrassed,I stood in line with my "Sex with Kings" book for all to see in the hands of this prim prime-timer, hoping the transaction would go quickly.

Worried about the outside, I soon learned I had nothing to fear from the inside. "Sex with Kings" has no sexual details unless you consider one mention of a king's foot fettish sexy, but, oh is it rich with life details.

I discovered amazingly interesting history from the Biblical mistress Bathsheba to today's Camilla Parker Bowes. Some main mistresses ruled both the kings and their kingdoms for years while some along with their children nearly starved. One mistress was so hated for marrying her prince that the king ordered assassins to rip her to shreads in her own garden.

And, the author has an obsession with Madame Pompadour who appears throughout the book as if the icon for a king's mistress.

One mistress went to war with her king. Most mistresses were constantly at war with those who would unseat them.
Out in our Wild West one Bible studying Lola, King Ludwig's mistress who broke his heart, chased, caught and horsewhipped a man.

Can you imagine what one former mistress lectured about in 1857 at 37 in America and Europe and was well paid for it and attracted crowds?

Find out about the tossed aside mistress whose jealous and insane husband announced he was a tulip, planted his feet into the ground, and ordered his servants to water him, which they did. Learn the fates of the cast aside mistresses who went crawling back to their husbands.

All of this intrigue, gossip, backbiting, sabbotage, murder, poisoning, potions, betrayal, espionage among mostly stinking, dirty, flea-infested, lice-covered people who rarely bathed, except one mistress who insisted on a bath at least three times each week and put up with the stench of her king, makes the book a hard-to-put-down read.

The detailed life of a mistress: no peace, no rest, always at your best and subject to loss of royalty's attention at the drop of a petticoat. Yet, famous paintings of Agnes Sorel (Charles VII) grace some of the most famous museums in our time.

I learned what country's mistresses were the most powerful and which were the least, in general. What mistress who married after she was let go by the king told her sons that they have to take it on the chin if people call them sons of a whore because they are, but told them never to allow anyone to call them bastards because they were legitimate, unlike the king's children she birthed.

And wait until you hear about their financial rewards during and after their tour of bed duty, including the one who absconded with her booty and had it confiscated. Fascinating is the best word for this book.

Rating:
Summary: History of Women from a Woman's Viewpoint
Review: This book is about history from a woman's viewpoint. And it is mostly about a time when marriages were arranged in order to accomplish affairs of state. Knowing that this is what was going to happen to you, and with the public and rest of the court also knowing, there is little surprise that royal mistresses were an accepted fact of life.

One of the many surprising points brought up in the book is how difficult it was for a mistress to keep her position. It was not an easy job as the competition was severe and numerous. Also, it appears that the relationship between King and mistress was more like a true marriage than an affair of state. Conversation, companionship are repeatedly mentioned as the important parts of the relationship, sex yes, otherwise there would not have been a chapter on Royal [...].

This book is Europe centric. There is no mention of Jack Kennedy/Marilyn Monroe, or of Bill/Monica. I'm reminded of Henry Kissenger's comment that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Perhaps Ms. Herman will follow this with "Sex with Presidents."

Rating:
Summary: O my god
Review: This book is amazing it has things that i never realized i mean it so funny,true,and very helpin in school it teaches you more about those time you guys should read it!!!

Rating:
Summary: The king's mistress
Review: This is a breezy telling of the somewhat spotted history of royal mistresses, from King David & Bathsheba down to Prince Charles & Camilla. There's a rather light-hearted approach to the subject, but it does go into detail of the lives of the women who seduced, or were seduced by, various monarchs. Interwoven in the tale is much of European history, and a lot of diplomacy which was occasionally (mis)managed by politically ambitious mistresses. The ends of mistresses varied greatly, from death in childbirth, to dismissal with pensions or not, to long lives with their husbands, to early death from illness, to being murdered. The story of the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor is particularly interesting, for it puts a different slant on that affair than I had ever considered, and for that bit of information alone I consider the book well worth reading.