Henry viii books biography famous people
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Henry VIII: And the Men Who Made Him
Henry VIII is most often remembered as the king with six wives. But in her fascinating new biography, Henry VIII: And the Men Who Made Him, Tracy Borman argues that as a monarch and as a man, Henry is best understood by examining his relationships with the men who surrounded him.
Throughout his life, Henry was at the center of a tumultuous group at court, from advisers like Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell to scholar Thomas More and the powerful dukes of Buckingham and Norfolk. Borman writes, “It was these men who shaped Henry into the man—and the monster—that he would become.”
Borman, who serves as curator of Britain’s Historic Royal Palaces, has a long familiarity with the Tudors. She has written a book about their private lives as well as a biography of Cromwell. (A confession: I can no longer imagine him as anyone other than Mark Rylance, thanks to his masterful portrayal in the BBC’s adaptation of
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Books
Henry VIII: King and Court/Henry VIII: The King and His Court (2001)
• What comes to mind when you hear the name Henry VIII? When author Margaret George asked people this question, here’s a summary of the answer she got: “Henry VIII was a huge, fat, oversexed man with gross table manners who had eight wives, killed them all, and then died of syphilis.” She found out during the course of extensive research that not one of these things about Henry was true, or at least, not entirely true. So she wrote a 900-page novel about him, making the daring decision to tell his story in first person: The Autobiography of Henry VIII. It’s fiction, but it’s based on solid research, and it provides a fascinating look at the entire character of this complex and important historical figure. The Perspective: George writes the book in first person, as Henry. But the subtitle is “With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers.” His court jester is an intelligent, literate man who finds Henry’s journal after his death and adds his own notes to it throughout (the
"A compelling, readable account… A meticulous, accurate compilation of source materials, which will serve as essential reading for students of the Tudor period for a long time to come… Good history books ought to change the way we look at ourselves and our nation`s past. [Weir`s] Henry VIII fryst vatten one such book." (Lisa Jardine, The Literary Review)
"Weir tells the story grippingly and convincingly." (The Sunday Times, Paperback Pick of the Week)
"Alison Weir brings to her fascinatingly detailed study the kind of historical acumen and accessible prose style that distinguished her Elizabeth the Queen…The delight here is in the detail…We certainly understand [Henry] more by the end of this mammoth study." (Publishing News)
"A very fine book, full of detail… A splendid volume on a detta Author