Guest Post & Giveaway with Laura Navarre

Today we would like to welcome Laura Navarre here to talk to us about her latest release, Midsummer Magick. Welcome to The Book Pushers, Laura!

What Lies Beneath: Lingerie in Tudor Times

Ever wondered what the Elizabethan lady wore beneath those billowing skirts, petticoats, kirtles, corsets, ruffs and ruffles? When a Tudor hero undresses his ladylove for a night of firelight, hot spiced hippocras and slow seduction, what does he fantasize about finding under all those layers? The modern simplicity of a brassiere and panties is out of the question.

Nay, milady, you’re demurely sheathed in a smock (called a chemise in Regency times and a shift in the medieval era) that slips over the head and grazes the knee, with nothing at all underneath—easy access for your amorous hero! If you’re a well-to-do Tudor lady, your smock is fashioned of sheer linen like cambric or Holland, embroidered along collar and sleeves with flowers or leaves. Incidentally, there’s a Tudor tradition that a husband can’t be made liable for his bride’s debts if she marries him wearing just a smock. That’s a proper romance storyline for you!

In my seduction scenes, I’m terribly partial to silk stockings, gartered at the thigh. Early Tudor women make do with linen or woolen hose, at least until the 1560s, when a Yeoman of the Guard presents Elizabeth Tudor with two pairs of silk stockings (a rather intimate and risqué gift, no?) The Queen promptly declares, “Henceforth I will wear no more cloth stockings!” Soon silk stockings become all the rage. So your Tudor hero can realistically fantasize that his wellbred lover is wearing them, gartered perhaps with crimson ribbons at the thigh, and how much he’ll savor getting her out of them.

Disrobing his Tudor heroine from a bewilderment of skirts, petticoats, sleeves and bodices, farthingale and what lies beneath is a particular challenge for my fallen angel hero Zamiel in MIDSUMMER MAGICK (Harlequin, Carina, August 2013). Unlike the traditional Tudor hero, the Angel of Death is a newcomer to the art of seduction. In fact, his touch is fatal. He can kill with a kiss. That’s a lot of baggage for an exiled angel to overcome—to say nothing of the maddening mysteries of his half-royal Tudor lady’s attire!

Do you know what the Tudor male wore beneath his trunk hose or breeches? If not, take a wild guess! I’ll send three readers who answer (or guess) correctly e-book copies of both MAGICK BY MOONRISE and MIDSUMMER MAGICK, the first two books in my Tudor fantasy romance trilogy. Good Luck!

To be entered to win a digital copy of Midsummer Magick, enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway here:  a Rafflecopter giveaway

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