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Henry VIII: King and Court Book

Henry VIII (1491-1547) casts a long shadow over English royalty and biography alike. In Henry VIII: King and Court, Alison Weir takes on this forbidding reputation to produce an admirably detailed, if somewhat cumbersome, biography of a king who married six times and presided over England's cataclysmic split with Roman Catholicism. Weir's main task is to overturn the "caricature" of Henry "as a man who thought of nothing but chasing the ladies, and who threw chicken bones over his shoulder". This seems a rather obvious characterisation to challenge, but Weir proceeds to amass an extraordinary wealth of detail about Henry's cultivated court, from its learning, architecture and political machinations, to how many people handled Henry's bedsheets and the food that his horses ate. The early sections get bogged down in too much detail, and detract from the political drama of Henry's growing estrangement from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, and his fateful marriage to Anne Boleyn in 1532. The second section is much more convincing in tracing how "the young, idealist humanist with liberal ideas about kingship was giving way to a selfish, dogmatic tyrant", as Henry dispenses with Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, Anne and then Cromwell, and the court increasingly sinks into factionalism and intrigue. Weir's biography is a lively recreation of the everyday life of Henry, his court and what he called his "ill-conditioned wives", but it neglects the wider European dimensions of Henry's reign, and sweeps over many crucial aspects of the split with Rome. Detailed and scholarly, Henry VIII: King and Court provides a strangely colourless portrait of the most colourful of English monarchs. --Jerry Brotton Read More

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  • Amazon

    A biography of Henry VIII, set against the cultural, social and political background of his court - the most magnificent court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. It offers an analytical study of the development of both monarch and court during a crucial period in English history.

  • Play

    This magnificent new book is Alison Weir's greatest achievement: a detailed biography of Henry VIII set against the cultural social and political background of his court - the most magnificent court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. Seen from this new perspective Henry VIII emerges as a fully-rounded and realistic personality not the two-dimensional caricature of popular misconception. This book is not just an entertaining narrative packed with colourful description and a wealth of anecdotal evidence but a comprehensive analytical study of the development of both monarch and court during a crucial period in English history. As well as challenging some recent theories it offers controversial new conclusions based on contemporary evidence that has until now been overlooked. This is a triumph of historical writing which will appeal equally to the general reader and the serious historian.'A glittering evocation of the Tudor Court its splendour as well as its vulgarity - a responsive rounded portrait' - "Daily Telegraph".'Weir has used colourful fresh material (much of it from unpublished archives and letters) to recreate early sixteenth-century European life and thought within which she sets the larger-than-life figure of the king - a compelling readable account of the life and times of the king who put England firmly on the map of power politics' - Lisa Jardine "Literary Review".

  • Foyles

    Henry VIII, renowned for his command of power and celebrated for his intellect, presided over one of the most magnificent–and dangerous–courts in Renaissance Europe. Never before has a detailed, personal biography of this charismatic monarch been set against the cultural, social, and political background of his glittering court. Now Alison Weir brings to vibrant life the turbulent, complex figure of the King. Packed with colourful description, meticulous in historical detail, rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir brilliantly renders King Henry VIII, his court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards. 'Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history...her latest offering is a very fine book' - Frank McLynn, Independent

  • BookDepository

    Henry VIII : Paperback : Vintage Publishing : 9780099532422 : 0099532425 : 18 Sep 2008 : Packed with colourful description, meticulous in historical detail, rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir brilliantly renders King Henry VIII, his court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards.

  • Blackwell

    Tells the biography of Henry VIII that is set against the cultural, social and political background of his court - the most spectacular court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. This magnificent biography of...

  • 0099532425
  • 9780099532422
  • Alison Weir
  • 18 September 2008
  • Vintage
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 656
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