Raven Queen by Pauline Francis
Teachers’ Notes
Introduction: curriculum context
These notes suggest a number of ways in which teachers might use Raven Queen to stimulate historical enquiry, discussion, reading and writing and drama. The activities and teaching suggestions are most suitable for students in KS3. They may also be used by mature pupils at the upper end of KS2. The novel provides scope for cross-curricular English, History and Drama work. Specifically it links to the QCA topic on the problems inherited by Elizabeth I and her way of dealing with them during her reign. An understanding of this topic requires investigation of the religious conflict stemming from Henry VIII breaking away from the
Catholic religion and the dissolution of the monasteries. The succession on the death of Edward VI is a key event in this history.
The notion of personal freedom is a relevant topic for discussion in PSCHE.
Note: Raven Queen is first and foremost a moving love story and should be read for pleasure before undertaking the following activities. These notes are not a scheme of work and it is not intended that you work through all of the activities, but select those that suit your purposes.
The Book
Synopsis: Raven Queen tells the story of Lady Jane Grey from her parents’ plans for her betrothal to Edward VI to her execution in 1554. The known historical facts about Jane’s life, short reign, imprisonment and death are touchstones interwoven in this romantic story with a fictional strand. As Pauline Francis writes in her author’s note:
‘I have been interested in Lady Jane Grey ever since I was a girl – but she was always just a line in a history book: the unlucky Nine day Queen. How did she feel when her parents beat her? What did she think when she was forced to become Queen through a loveless marriage? How would she have felt if she had met her soulmate and fallen in love? I wrote Raven Queen to try to get to know her better.’
Characters:
 Lady Jane Grey


Ned Kyme
Her father, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk
 Her mother, Frances Brandon
 Her sisters, Catherine and Mary
 Her tutor Dr Aylmer, later Bishop of London
John Dudley 
 Guildford Dudley
 Lady Mary, later Mary I
Setting
 Royal palaces and stately homes
 Charnwood Forest
 Time – 1552 - 1554

Narration
 Dual first person narration. Ned and Jane tell the story alternately. It is left to Ned to tell the final chapter. The dual narration allows the reader to travel in a wider social milieu with the characters.
Structure
 Chronological narrative
Teaching Suggestions
1. Religious Significance and Changes during the Tudor period.
Do not let religion blind you in this way……. P43 (Dr Aylmer to Jane)
The QCA KS3 scheme of work of History suggests that teachers use a vivid story to help students understand the significance of religion on society in the past.
Stories can help develop a deeper understanding by combining thought with feeling and encouraging an empathetic response.
Stated learning outcomes. Students will:
 infer from the sources and the narratives why religious belief was so significant in the sixteenth century
 infer from the sources and narratives that religious beliefs and political structures were linked
Raven Queen can lead to discussion of these issues.
Jane and Ned are both ardent followers of their faith. Ned follows the ‘old faith’,
Catholicism. Jane has been brought up a Protestant.
Ned
My father aged daily as Protestantism crept up on us like the sea, eroding the old faith like the face of a cliff. Everything, everyone that was dear to him was slowly swept away: his brother, a Catholic priest, gone to exile in France; the old
Common Prayer book replaced by a new one encouraging the congregation to take part in the church service, and – the worst thing of all – no longer was the bread and wine thought to transform into Christ’s flesh and blood during Mass.
P35
Jane
“We shall be drinking Christ’s blood in clouds of incense, surrounded by chanting priests and gilded statues.” Her voice becomes mocking. “The mystery of faith will come upon the common people again. They will not listen to the Latin mass.
They will perch no pews like birds longing to be outside…….. they will no longer understand their faith, Ned, and that is the worst thing of all’ P68
The background to Jane and Ned’s respective beliefs, the break from Rome and the relationship of state to religion is interwoven in the story. Faith plays a central part in their lives and, in Jane’s case, death. Jane’s succession to the throne, in accordance with the will of the dying King Edward VI is an attempt to prevent the country reverting to Catholicism, the religion practised by Lady Mary, Henry VIIIs daughter by his marriage to his first wife Catherine of Aragon.

There are instances of personal relationship overcoming religious difference. In one scene Mary is allowed to visit her brother, but she must keep the artefacts of her religion hidden. Her preference is to stay in Hertfordshire where she can worship as she pleases. On her accession to the throne she holds an open air ma ss.
Religious persuasion is identified by family name. Doctor Aylmer recognises Ned as a Catholic because of his surname in some parts of Britain people’s religious affiliation presumed on the basis of family name.
Families could be torn apart by religion. Ned’s uncle Thomas Kyme married Anne
Askew, a member of the reformed church, who was persecuted and martyred.
She divorced her husband on the grounds that he was not a true believer.
Ned is more tolerant than Jane. Although he will not renounce his own beliefs, he is willing to accept her right to her own beliefs.
Dr Aylmer introduces Jane to Thomas Moore’s Utopia:
‘Utopia is a place where women are equal to men.” He looked at me carefully.
And where people can believe in whatever religion they choose.” P43
Activity
From reading Raven Queen what do we discover about:

Catholic views of what the church should be like?

Protestant views of what the church should be like?
List the points in a grid using quotations from the book.
Catholic
Pope is the head of the Church and is independent of individual states.
Protestant
Monarch is the head of the Church.
State and Church are viewed as one.
Discuss:

Whether similar religious divisions exist within states today. Where?

Is Britain a religiously tolerant society?

Are people persecuted on the grounds of religion?

Note that in law people in the sixteenth century were convicted and punished on the grounds of treason not because of religious belief.

Encourage students to discuss their views honestly and without censure.
Research
Use other sources, including primary source material to find out whether these views accurately reflect the beliefs held at the time.
Find out about Thomas Moore and Utopia (1515)

2. Who was Lady Jane Grey?
I wrote Raven Queen to try to get to know her better.’
What do we discover about Lady Jane Grey from reading Raven Queen?
Activity
After reading Raven Queen construct a ‘role-on-the-wall’ of Lady Jane Grey.
This technique is used to help you organise your thoughts about the character.

Simply drawn an outline of Lady Jane Grey on a large sheet of paper. If you have some rolls of paper used for lining walls, your outline can be life-size

Add notes to the outline o Feelings are written in the area around the heart o Thoughts are written as thought bubbles o Descriptions e.g. events, interests etc. written around the outline o Any special objects or things known about her appearance can be drawn onto the outline o Images (e.g. portraits) could be displayed around the ‘role-onthe-wall

Alternatively, a blank outline can be displayed on the wall and added to during reading as and when new things are discovered
Research
Locate and research historical sources (primary and secondary) to find evidence for Pauline Francis’ interpretation of Lady Jane Grey.
Discuss:
A portrait of a Queen: To what is extent is Pauline Francis’ image of Lady
Jane Grey based on factual evidence and what is artistic imagination and interpretation? Jill Paton Walsh once wrote that the historical writer should not use material that they knew to be untrue. However, they were free to use whatever was not known to be true. She called this ‘the thrilling quagmire of what might have been.’ Do you agree?
Drama Conventions
Use drama to develop empathy and explore how Lady Jane Grey might have reacted to her circumstances.

Hotseating : invite members of the class to take in turn to occupy the
‘hotseat ‘while other members of the class ask questions e.g. What were your thoughts when you were offered the crown? Did you feel pity for Guildford Dudley? Etc After hotseating, reflect on what you have discovered. Encourage the students to consider what is based on evidence and what is interpretation.

Tableaux – create a tableaux showing Lady Jane being offered the crown at Syon Park.(you could recreate the image in Leslie’s painting: see below). Encourage students to show the dramatic tension in the scene. How would each of the characters be placed. Think about levels, use of hands, gaze etc. When the images have been created, thought-tracking can be used to ask each character in turn to voice

their thoughts, feelings, wishes. Observers can be invited to suggest words to describe the scene (e.g. treacherous, unwilling, eager, impatient). These words can be written on large sheets of paper and placed around the tableaux. Read them aloud as students view the frozen image.
Taking it Further
Look at other artistic interpretations of Lady Jane’s life and compare the representations in these art forms. For example, her depiction in Trevor
Nunn’s 1985 film
Lady Jane Grey or Paul Delaroche’s nineteenth century painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. Can we judge how closely these representations fit the historical evidence?
Older or more able students can be challenged by discussing the following questions:

Is evidence the only source of historical truth?

What truths are these artists expressing?
The following suggestions can be used to construct your role-on-the wall:
2.1 Appearance:
Jane says in comparing herself to her younger sister Catherine:
She is two years younger than me, and her skin is like cream – not one sunspot dapples its surface. And there is no Tudor red in her hair. p. 28
This suggests that Jane had a freckled complexion and red hair. These were
Tudor characteristics also possessed by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I
Research

What images exist of Lady Jane?

Search the internet to find contemporary portraits of Jane. Are some disputed as being portraits of Lady Jane Grey?

Can you find any descriptions of her appearance for contemporary witnesses?

There are some useful contemporary quotations at this website http://www.geocities.com/jane_the_quene/portraits.html

How have descriptions of her appearance changed over time? Why do you think that?
2.2 Education and Reading
She has not experienced the world as you have, Ned. She has learned everything from books.
Lady Jane Grey was recognised for her superior intellect and ability. Unlike her parents, who preferred hunting and outdoor pursuits, Jane enjoyed reading and conversations with her tutor.
In Raven Queen, Ned and Jane have a mutual interest in books.

I had to know what he was reading. So I asked him as he slipped the book into his pocket
The body is the only place where our soul is held,” he said in Latin. “The body is a cage and the soul is like a bird inside it, trying to escape and fly home.
When the body dies, the soul is released from its prison and goes on living.”
“Plato,” I whispered. Tears filled my eyes at the beauty of the words. (p.47)
In contrast to her love of reading, she is shown as having an aversion to the hunt.
They made me hunt. It was my punishment p 76
Reread these hunting scenes:
Jane’s mother is out with the hunt when she stumbles upon them in a  clearing. Jane and Ned freeing a raven from a snare pp.63 – 64
 Hunt scene Jane on her father’s horse pp. 77-78 This scene ends with a beheading of a deer, which foreshadows Jane’s execution
2.3 Family Life
Is this how parents greet their daughter when they return home? p.30
My life was organized for me into a strict routine: rise at five, prayers, breakfast, lessons, dinner, music lessons, supper, prayers and bed at nine. To the many visitors who came to the house, my life must have seemed happy. But nothing could quell the fear inside me, not even Ellie’s herbs. I was trapped – and as I struggled like a bird inside my trap, fear consumed me: fear of becoming a woman, fear of my parents, fear of the hunt, fear of marrying.’ P.41
There are some glimpses of motherly emotion and pride in her daughter:
 Jane’s mother’s reaction to the woman and her baby and Jane’s reaction to the event.
Her comment that Jane would make a fine Queen 
However, she does not plead for Jane’s life, only for her husband
Research

What evidence exists to indicate that Jane was chastised by her parents?
 In Roger Ascham’s The Schoolmaster, he recalls a conversation with
Jane in which describes her parents’ cruelty. Was their abuse of her exceptional for the age? Lady Jane’s treatment has often been cited as evidence that parent/child relationships during this period did not love.
Revisionist historians have disputed this. More able students might research some of these historical theories of childhood (see Philippe
Aries, (1965) Centuries of Childhood ; Morag Styles et al. (1997)
Opening the Nursery Door , Hugh Cunningham (2006) The Invention of
Childhood )

3. Lady Jane’s Letters
The picture we have of Lady Jane Grey is partly derived from the surviving letters that she wrote. Famously she wrote to Queen Mary in 1554 protesting her innocence in the succession plot. A copy of the letter can be viewed at this website http://englishhistory.net/tudor/prijane1.html
Writing
Imagine that you are Lady Jane Grey. Write a letter to one of the following:

Ned from the Tower of London after you have seen him enter the
Tower with Mary on her accession to the throne

To your sister, Catherine, before your execution

To Dr Aylsham

To Queen Mary before your execution

To your mother or father

To Guildford Dudley during your imprisonment
Once you have chosen who you will write too, consider what you would write about. What would your feelings be towards the person you are writing too? How would this be expressed in your letter? Discuss this with a partner before writing.
Note the form of address and signing off used in letters by Lady Jane
Grey. And imitate it in your letters.
4. Tudor life
Social rank. England reeked with it. p.84
In Raven Queen we learn a lot about life in Tudor Britain. The dual narration of the novel allows the reader to develop a sense of Jane’s inner feelings and life in the claustrophobic environment of the court and royal circles. Ned’s narration provides a wider view of Tudor Britain his work at Bradgate Park brings him into contact with labourers. His escape brings him into contact with
Ned talks about the problems faced by the woodmen due to the enclosure of land.
There are references to the brutal suppression of rebellion in Norfolk.
The recreational activities of the rich are described: bowling, hawking, hunting.
Activity
What do we learn about the rich and the poor in England from reading Raven
Queen? Record your thoughts on a concept map.
Research
Use the concept map to develop a KWAL Grid.
What I know about life for the poor in Tudor
England?
Questions I would like answered
What I have found out

Use the KWAL grid to find answers to your questions using a range of sources including books, encyclopaedias, online resources, painting etc.
When you have located answers to your questions, write a report called The poor in Tudor England. This will be a non-chronological report. Revise the structuring of non-chronological reports before writing.
5. Places and People
Build the context for this story by researching people and places mentioned in the book.
Activity
Find out about the people and places mentioned. Collect images and create a collage wall . This can be done prior to, during or after reading. Create a display of related books and materials in the classroom, or library.
Research can be conducted as a jigsaw activity.
Small groups undertake to research a specific place or person –this is the expert group. When the research has been conducted, groups are reformed, constituted with experts from the different groups. Each ‘expert’ provides written or verbal feedback on what they have found out about their subject.
Suggested places and people for investigations:
Places
 Tower of London
 Whitehall Palace
 Bradgate Park


Durham House
Syon House
 Framlingham Castle
 Charnwood Forest
People
 Heinrich Bullinger
 Hans Holbein
 Dr Aylmer
 Mary I
 Robert Kett
 John Feckenham


Sir Thomas Wyatt
Anne Askew
 Edward VI

6. Writing/Symbolism
A flickering shadow catches my eye and I look up. It is the fledgling raven, smooth beaked and as black as midnight, his feathers gleaming. Beneath him is a rowan bush drooping with berries. The raven leans forward and dangles upside down to pluck them with his beak. He does not wait for them to fall as some birds do.
Reading Activity
The Raven
Consider the appropriateness of the title Raven Queen.
When does the raven appear in the story and what is its significance?
Reread these passages:

p.60 It was a raven caught in a snare

the fledgling raven ( rowan bush also traditionally a symbol of new life)

pp 156-
7 Jane’s marriage
 p190 Jane’s confrontation with Dudley
 p 239 / p243Jane’s execution

Discuss the effect that the raven has in each of these scenes.
Is it significant that Dudley wears a black feather in his hat?
Find out about symbolism associated with the Raven in mythology (e.g.
Greek, Norse)
Find out about the legend of the ravens of the Tower of London.
Foreshadowing
What clues does Pauline Fran cis include to foreshadow Lady Jane’s fate?
Imprisonment

Peacock Royal p.66
 Mary’s Skylark p 75
Execution
 Ned’s ‘hanging’ p.9

Killing the deer p77

The ruby necklace given to Jane by Lady Mary (rubies also traditionally symbolise royalty and love)

Teachers’ Booklist
Loades, D (2006) The Church of Mary Tudor Ashgate
Loades, David (2006) Mary Tudor: The Tragical History of England’s First Queen
The National Archives
Plowden, Alison (2004) Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen Sutton Publishing
Stevenson, Joan & Squires, Anthony (1999) Bradgate Park Kairos Press
Taylor, J D (2004) Documents of Lady Jane Grey Nine Days Queen Algora
Publishing
Weir, Alison (1997) Children of England: the heirs of King Henry VIII Pimlico
Editions
Weir, Alison (2006) Innocent Traitor Hutchinson
DVD
Lady Jane Grey (1985) Director Trevor Nunn Paramount Home Entertainment
Art
Engraving of Lady Jane Grey by Magdalena van de Passe and Willem van de
Passe, published 1620
Lady Jane Grey Preparing for Execution by George Whiting Flagg, 1835
Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche
Lady Jane Grey and Roger Ascham By John Horsley, 1853
Lady Jane Grey’s Last Missive By G. R Ryley, 19 th century
The Offer of the Crown to Lady Jane Grey Leslie 1870