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The Tudors: History of a Dynasty by David Loades (view source)
Revision as of 14:27, 14 February 2012
, 14:27, 14 February 2012no edit summary
For several years David Loades has written and published extensively about the Tudors, individually and collectively, from almost every angle possible. This title is not a chronological biography or history of the five monarchs whose reigns gave their name to the era. As he and his publisher make clear in the preface, it is rather a study of Tudor policies.
The first three chapters fit a biographical template, being devoted to a concise account of the family from the secret marriage of Henry V's widow Katherine of Valois to Owen Tudor in or around 1430 and their status as allies of the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses, to the victory at Bosworth and subsequent events, culminating in the death of Elizabeth in 1603. The various episodes such as the Yorkist pretenders to the throne, the ever-familiar saga of Henry VIII's six wives, the break with Rome and his problems with establishing the succession, and Mary's phantom pregnancies, are all dealt with in turn. Those who wish to read about these in further detail will need to look elsewhere, but thanks to Loades' other titles, plus the works of [[:Category:Alison Weir|Alison Weir]], [[:Category:Chris Skidmore|Chris Skidmore ]] and [[Category:David Starkey|David Starkey ]] to name but three, there is no shortage of appropriate material readily available.
The greater part of the book is given over to individual chapters on specific aspects of 16th-century England. One looks at the sovereigns' relations with Parliament, which in the simplest of terms if nothing else was a useful body to ask for more money in order to fight the next war. There is an analysis of the functions of Parliament itself and of the King's Council, a body which existed to carry out decisions rather than make them. Another examines the status of the medieval nobleman, and especially the manner in which the crown reduced once-mighty magnates to the status of subjects, who now saw their chief honour in service to the crown.