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"Nothing consumed Henry VIII, England's wealthiest and most powerful king, more than his desire to produce a legitimate male heir and perpetuate the Tudor dynasty. To that end he married six wives, became the subject of the most notorious divorce case of the sixteenth century, and broke with the pope, all in an age of international competition and warfare, social unrest, and growing religious intolerance and discord. Henry fathered four children who survived childhood, each by a different mother. In The Children of Henry VIII, renowned Tudor historian John Guy tells their stories, returning to the archives and drawing on a vast array of contemporary records, personal letters, ambassadors' reports, and other eyewitness accounts, including the four children's own handwritten letters. Guy's compelling narrative illuminates their personalities, depicting siblings often scarred by jealously, mutual distrust, bitter rivalry, even hatred. Possessed of quick wits and strong wills, their characters were defined partly by the educations they received, and partly by events over which they had no control. Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, although recognized as the king's son, could never forget his illegitimacy. Edward would succeed his father, but died while still in his teens, desperately plotting to exclude his half-sisters from the throne, and utterly failing to do so. Mary's world was shattered by her mother Catherine of Aragon's divorce and her own unhappy marriage. Elizabeth was the most successful, but also the luckiest. Even so, she lived with the knowledge that her father had ordered her mother Anne Boleyn's execution, was often in fear of her own life, and could never marry the one man she truly loved. John Guy takes us behind the façade of politics and pageantry at the Tudor court, vividly capturing the greatest and most momentous family drama in all of English history."--Publisher's website.… (more)
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THE CHILDREN OF HENRY VIII is aptly titled. The book is best aimed at readers who need a brief, general overview of just why Henry decided that fathering sons to follow him on the English throne was worth divorcing
Serious Tudorphiles need not apply; the book covers no new ground nor offers any fresh insight. However, focusing on Henry's children rather than Henry's wives or Henry's increasingly tyrannical behavior does offer a little used prism through with to view the Tudor dynasty. And Henry's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy is given almost as much attention as his legitimate sisters and brother. Author John Guy does a decent job detailing the chronology of events between Mary's birth and Elizabeth's ascension to the throne, but the focus is firmly fixed on the offsprings' upbringing. Since the children were mostly kept out of sight in their own households and thus away from the court chroniclers, there's not much for Guy to work with. While I welcome the absence of speculation that usually fills historical biographies, there isn't much more than a recitation of dates and names to fill the remaining space.
Guy does have fun contrasting the various children's education. Mary was educated, but only as a pious Catholic female whose highest aspiration could only be to serve as a consort. Fitzroy and Edward were given princely educations, but they seemed to enjoy sport and hunting more. Elizabeth, who didn't have Mary's strict mother, had an education more like her brothers', and Guy puts forth that Elizabeth's exposure to classical oratory may have saved her life on more than one occasion (as well as prepared her to be a leader in her own right.)
Guy keeps his focus on the dynastic aspirations of the Tudors, even when it comes to Henry's children's adult lives. Since both Fitzroy and Edward died quite young (and probably of the same cause), no hope was ever entertained that they would father children. Guy does not really go into how Mary - perhaps the one child of Henry's who desperately wanted to be married and bear children - was constrained from doing so until she finally became Queen, and by then it was probably biologically too late to procreate. Mary famously had two false pregnancies and died knowing that she had failed in one task both her education and her mother taught her was primary. Elizabeth, on the other hand, avoided marriage and children. Guy does bring up Robert Dudley as the probable reason why Elizabeth emotionally never wanted to marry, but he does not go into detail.
The Tudor dynasty Henry VIII so desperately sought came to an end with Henry's children. The book serves as a brief, general overview of that generation, and is recommended for readers who only know Henry VIII as the man whose wives were "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, lived."
The most
Overall, this was a well written book. It was dry and times, but did seem to be well paced. It contained interesting facts about all of his children throughout. I also loved the chronological nature of the book, the author did not skip around in time.
Letters between the siblings, relatives, and their contemporaries are used to help support the author's depiction. Guy makes a point to offer alternative hypothesis about the causes of events, such as the death of Henry's elder brother, Arthur. Overall presented in order of events, the book does occasionally swap between topics, moving from stillborn children to common views about the likely scientific causes, or discussing the king's first wife's attempts to conceive intermixed with trials Henry presided over. I do wish Guy had put more time into the later events of Henry Fitzroy's life, since his childhood was recounted so fully, while his marriage and death seemed like afterthoughts. The same goes for the middle events in the other children's lives. Yes, those events are perhaps more well known and copiously recounted, but without them the book felt lopsided and shorter than the subject warranted. While interesting, the arrangement of subject matter occasionally distracts the reader from the original topic enough to make flow awkward. Likewise, any formatting issues are likely reflective of the eBook format of the Advance Copy, and will probably be adjusted before printing.
Overall though, I enjoyed this new look at the lives of Henry VIII's children, and dynastic implications for the Tudors. Few of the books I have read previously on the topic include the medical sides of the family's history, or look at the children who didn't live long enough to become king or queen. Guy's style intermingled narrative with conjecture and excerpts from primary sources that made for an interesting and enjoyable read.
Henry's inconsistent treatment of his children is also very much a focus of this book. How they were treated depended on whether their mothers were in favour (or not) at the time and this changed constantly. But that was Henry all over - he was a very fickle man. Although most of the book is about the children's early years, there is a birds eye view of each reign, again concentrating more on their personal lives.
I was given and ARC copy as a member of LibraryThings' Early Reviewer group. I am a history fan and have taken an interest in the history of English monarchs. This book did not disappoint. I really enjoyed learning about the childhoods of Henry's children.
In my opinion, only the end got a bit dry because there was a lot of information about the political and religious intrigue surrounding Elizabeth's reign and less about Elizabeth herself. The book presents the most information about Elizabeth. I would have liked to learn more about Fitzroy, and Mary, his real legitimate heir. I really felt for Katherine of Aragon and Mary because Henry treated them wretchedly, and poor Mary really had a bitter life because of it. The author presents a theory about why Henry's wives may have miscarried so much, but does not really tell you about the theory, or why this theory is postulated. (Henry is thought to be positive for the Kell red blood cell antigen, which is only present in about 10% of the population and can cause miscarriages and hemolytic disease, leading to infant death. This is similar to what can happen when a mother is Rh negative and the infant is Rh positive.) I had to do some research of my own to get the full story about this theory. The Kell theory was just thrown out there without explanation or evidence, just restated from another source.
Overall this still was an interesting and informative read. If you like the subject but think most history books are too dry and wordy, this book is for you.
This short overview of the last of the Tudors left me a little puzzled. One the one hand, for a reader with knowledge of the Tudors, I felt there was little new information,
I did enjoy learning more than I knew previously about Henry Fitzroy and Henry VIII's older brother, Arthur.
Overall, an interesting book, but not one of my favorites about the Tudors.
I felt there was very little new information concerning the royal family, and some of the information stated as fact has been up for debate or already de-bunked. However, [[John Guy]] did do his research, and
I just want to note that I never received the ebook of this work. I received the information stating that I ha won the the book and then needed to download it from NetGalley. When I went to NetGalley the same day the work had
First, major points off for no bibliography. None.
This is a good overview of the lives of Henry VIII's children, including the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy, and the way his political and religious views affected their lives and their time as
John Guy offers a well-written, easy to follow history of Henry VIII's ascension, his quest for a male heir and the historical (sexist) context for only male heirs, the six wives and the four children caught up in the intrigue.
The relationship and treatment of each sibling is discussed as are the ramifications of such treatment as they assumed the crown. Here is familial jealousy, court maneuverings, religious intrigue and, at the center of it all, an ego-maniacal man determined to make a lasting dynasty of the Tudor name.
When Henry's youngest heir, Elizabeth I, died unmarried, the crown went to the House of Stuart and James I, Elizabeth's cousin's (Mary Queen of Scots) son, thus ending the Tudor dynasty.
I hope this
So, of course, there's a lot information out there about
I also felt like the ending was rushed and Elizabeth I's story wasn't fully explored, which was a bit disappointing for me, especially since a good amount of time was spent on her siblings. And I get that going over a long reign is much more complicated than going over her siblings' histories, but I would have liked a better summary of what she accomplished. Maybe in another book?
In any case, don't get this if you're looking for some sort of dramatic story reminiscent of The Tudors TV show. The Children of Henry VIII is very much based on historical documents. But the great thing about this particular royal family is that it's interesting without any dramatization.
*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This Guy describes by the shifts in fortune that Henry’s children experienced over time. Upon her birth, his first child, Mary, was showered with gifts and given an entourage befitting her status. Yet even at an early age that status was in question, as her illegitimate half-brother, Henry Fitzroy (born three years after Mary) posed a threat simply by virtue of his sex. Catherine’s inability to father a son of her own (likely due, as Guy argues, to Henry’s probably Kell-positive status) made Fitzroy a potential successor; acknowledged by his father, the boy was given a royal education and paraded around as proof that the king could father a son. Anne Boleyn’s emergence and the divorce battle jeopardized both of their statuses, and the new queen exploited every possibility to diminish their status. Boleyn’s own failure to produce a son, however, contributed to her downfall, with her daughter Elizabeth soon on the same roller coaster of status. Edward’s birth finally gave Henry the son he wanted, yet his young age meant that Mary and Elizabeth remained possible successors. After succeeding Mary and Edward, Elizabeth passed on marriage, thus avoiding much of the family turmoil she experienced growing up, though at the ultimate cost of the demise of the Tudor line.
Guy recounts all of this in a book that is both perceptive and clearly written. Drawing upon both the contemporary documents (from which he makes some impressive observations not just in terms of their content but their form as well) and the rich historical literature of the Tudors, he provides a fluent and enjoyably readable account of what was perhaps the dominant political issue in sixteenth century politics. It demonstrates why John Guy stands as one of the leading Tudor historians working today, one whose books everyone with an interest in Tudor England should read for the insights they contain.
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