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Henry VIII: The King and His Court

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~~$28.00~~
$8.95*

Part No:	B0007XAW6W
Manufacturer:
MFG Part:
Customer Rating:	4.0 / 5.0

A history for those of us who usually don't enjoy reading them!

2010-05-14

5 / 5

Okay. I will admit it: I came to this book out of an extended fascination with Showtime's "The Tudors" series. I almost didn't buy Weir's book because I usually do not enjoy reading histories; however, this book is spectacular. You find out all kinds of crazy details about the Tudors: the menagerie of animals Henry and Katherine kept; the amount of money spent on all kinds of items and daily life; the background of some fairly scandalous characters; etc.

Weir's book is history at its most fascinating and readable. I highly recommend this book!!

great read!

2010-03-24

5 / 5

a must read for anyone who loves tudor history...i highly recommend it for my many Renaissance Pleasure Faire friends as a source of understanding the culture behind the Elizabethan Era

Henry VIII: a disgrace for a crown

2010-02-13

1 / 5

This book looks like a fairy tale to me. Are we thinking about the same despotic ruler, good for nothing, remarkable only for his irresponsible rupture with the Church to satisfy his lust and his greed on the lands of the Church? He wasn't even a legitimate king, since his father had been an usurper, and all his children, except Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, bastards.
A humanist? For God's sake, he was totally unbalanced, a mediocrity turned into a bloodthirsty savage who claimed the heads of those who served him well and who actually ruled England, like Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas More. What the hell is this book talking about?

Impressive

2010-02-09

5 / 5

Alison Weir is a fabulous biographer. Her research is very thorough and her writing isn't so bogged down by details that you get lost. She has completely outdone herself with this book. I have read several books about the six wives of Henry VIII, but never a biography of his own life so this was a treat.

I always thought of Henry VIII as some egotistical monster that liked divorcing or beheading his wives so that he could move on to his next catch. Yes, he had an ego, a big one, but he wasn't a monster. He was influenced by so many things, his upbringing, his religious beliefs, and especially that of his personal counselors. I always thought of him as a one man show being king and head of the Church of England after he left the Catholic faith, but it wasn't that way at all. I didn't realize the impact that his counselors had on his decisions until I read this book. Anne Boylen wasn't taken down by Henry, she was taken down by his closest counselor, who didn't like her and wanted her gone. So he made her into an adulterer and a traitor, two things that she was not.

I love how the author puts you into Henry's world by describing how the court worked, what he ate, where he slept, what his rooms were like, what the houses/castles he lived in were like and what he wore. His daily life is very well described and is easy to imagine.

It was also interesting to find out more about what kind of person he was. He was extremely intelligent and talented. He was a marvel at sports of all kinds, played musical instruments, wrote music and poems and was very well educated. He was also a charmer and knew how to put on a good show. He had a big temper as well so everyone around him had to be careful about what they said or did in order to not incur his wrath.

He was very fit and active until he started to have a recurring infection in his legs that would send him to bed for weeks on end and eventually took his life. After the infection began he started putting on weight and it made his condition even worse. They don't really know what happened to him the last few weeks of his life as he was in almost total seclusion and no one let any information out about what was going on. So the cause of death can only be speculated at. His death was kept a secret for two days after he died.

Fabulous book. If you want to understand Henry VIII, read this. Definitely a different perspective than I had anticipated.

Quintessential Alison Weir - detailed yet an interesting read

2010-01-07

5 / 5

I've read several of the Weir biographies chronicling the major players in the court of Henry VIII. All were generally sympathetic to the "King's Majesty" yet looking at the big picture of adultery, beheadings, Catholic defilement blah blah that occurred during his reign, one wonders why. How is it that some individuals are chronicled historically as great leaders yet others with far less crimes are vilified? No judgement here - Just a rhetorical question.

A "lively, interesting read" with good supporting documentation. I especially like that Weir's accounts are consistent from one tome to the next. However, for new fans of the Tudor period, I would start with Weir's "The Six Wives of Henry the VIII". "Six Wives' is almost the equivalent of TMZ for the middle ages and better suited to the shortened attention spans and personality driven media of the 21st century.

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