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helenephoebe's review against another edition
4.0
Review - I love David Starkey's writing. It's exciting and detailed, and Starkey offers new opinions on all of Henry VIII's wives. Obviously his chapters on Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are the longest, as the most is known about them and most of the interpretation is based around them. However, the chapters on Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves in particular are barely worth having. The Katherine Howard chapter is also short. The chapter on Catherine Parr is a little longer, but I think Starkey could have better used the available information on these wives, particularly Catherine Parr as there is more information on her. I also wish Starkey had gone into more detail about the lives of his wives after Henry, like Katherine of Aragon's time in seclusion after the divorce, Anne of Cleves' life after her divorce, and Catherine Parr's life after Henry.
General Subject/s? - History / Women / Politics / Marriage / Tudors
Rating - 20/20
Recommend? – Yes.
General Subject/s? - History / Women / Politics / Marriage / Tudors
Rating - 20/20
Recommend? – Yes.
kstrev's review against another edition
4.0
The ending was so abrupt after all of the care that was spent on Catherine of Aragon and the earlier wives.
saj_81's review against another edition
5.0
My first journey into the Tudors could not have had a better guide! Starkey's book is informative, interesting, symphatetic of its subjects, convincing and funny. The only time I was in danger of losing interest was the extremely detailed description of the Big Divorce. I suppose that it's a signicant event in English history, but I would have been satisfied with the things that directly involved the Queens.
Starkey is an excellent author, who doesn't forget to mention funny little details or the occasional gossipy story. He also takes great advantage of contemporary letters and other available sources, explaining and illustrating these when necessary. All this makes this an accessible read for someone without a history degree (nor interest in gaining one).
Starkey is an excellent author, who doesn't forget to mention funny little details or the occasional gossipy story. He also takes great advantage of contemporary letters and other available sources, explaining and illustrating these when necessary. All this makes this an accessible read for someone without a history degree (nor interest in gaining one).
sarahbryson's review against another edition
3.0
The moment I opened this book and stared reading I instantly began to feel distain for Starkey. Throughout his introduction he refers to references and sources of materials that he had drawn upon when writing this book, claming that no one in the past when writing about Henry VIII and his wives has ever drawn upon these sources. This I find extremely hard to believe.
He then moves onto Alison Weir’s book “The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ and insults her writing, relating it to a story of legend and overly sentimental and tragic. This absolutely disgusted me as I am a huge fan of Weir and her writing. I felt her book on Henry’s wives was not only informative but very well researched and carefully written. I now understand why I had been told that if I like Alison Weir I would not like David Starkey!
All throughout the introduction I felt as though Starkey was trying to prove that his book on Henry VIII’s wives was better and more accurate than any other previously. Instead of finding this intriguing and making me want to read more, I found it came across as pompous and started to put me off. But I wanted to give Starkey credit, he is an incredible and talented researcher and I wanted to push on and to read and learn more.
The first part of his book, quite obviously, was related to Catherine of Aragon. It was interesting to read a little of the history of Catherine of Aragon’s parents, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. We learn a little about her brother and sisters and how she was educated and raised based on the beliefs and disciplines of her strong and determined mother. As well as getting to know about the lives of Catherine’s family we are shown how their decisions and actions affected England and great Europe.
Starkey not only paints a detailed portrait about Catherine’s personal life, he widens the picture to examine the world around her. He starts with Catherine (of course) and then moves onto looking at her household and her ladies in waiting and all those whom served her. He then begins to look at the wider world – England, France, Spain, Rome and Europe at the time in which Catherine lived. Starkey talks about Catherine’s close family and her relatives and then moves onto the other players on the world stage. We learn a little about the King of France, Ambassadors from all major European countries and even about the Pope at the time. Starkey talks about the thoughts, opinions and how all of these players’ actions – or lack thereof – affects Catherine. This is very clever as all of this builds up a very detailed picture of the wider world that Catherine lived in. At the end of the day Catherine was not just an English Queen – she was a major figure in the greater world.
Through Starkey’s research and writing I am able to see now why Catherine refused to go to a nunnery and fought so hard for her marriage. She was fighting not only for her personal religious convictions, but also for her daughter Mary’s future. Like Anne Boleyn who held her temper and curved her sharp tongue in her famous scaffold speech, Catherine was fighting so hard to save Mary’s right to the throne. Catherine had grown up with the belief that women could claim the thrown and rule effectively – her own mother was the perfect example of this – but of course England was different. If Catherine went to a nunnery she was paving the way for Henry to remarry and have more children (preferably a son), whom would take over Mary’s rightful claim to the throne. Ultimately, just like Anne Boleyn, Catherine was fighting for her daughter’s future.
I have to say that this view gave me a new respect for Catherine of Aragon. As a mother myself I understand what it is like to want the best for your daughter and to fight for that. Although Anne Boleyn will also be my idol, I can understand why Catherine fought so hard for her marriage and her daughter’s future.
The section on Anne Boleyn was by far the longest section within the book and yet seemed to focus the least on one of Henry’s wives. I was severely disappointed with the chapters supposedly about Anne Boleyn. Instead these chapters – over a quarter of the book - talked more about Henry VIII’s ‘Great Matter’ and the ministers, bishops and other influential men at court than he did about Anne Boleyn herself. If Starkey wanted to write a book about Henry’s ‘Great Matter’ I think it would be one of the best Tudor books written. He writes in such great detail about all the details both in England and in Europe surrounding Henry’s great desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon. There is such a wealth of information that Starkey takes up approximately a quarter of his book talking just about the ‘Great Matter’.
Yet… was not this section supposed to be about Anne Boleyn? He does mention Anne, but only briefly, little dot points here and there and much of what he writes is mere suggestions of what Anne might have been thinking or feeling. It was extremely disappointing.
After speaking in such depth about the ‘Great Matter’ Starkey then moves on to speak about Anne Boleyn’s marriage and coronation. After that he seems to skip through the next few years as though nothing important happened. He barely mentions Anne’s two miscarriages or her actions towards Henry or their daughter. There are a few references here and there but nothing in detail. Then suddenly we are thrust upon Anne Boleyn’s fall. There is little to no lead up to WHY she fell, or about her and Henry’s deteriorating relationship or her public slide from political and courtly life. All seems happy in Starkey’s book and then suddenly Henry does not love her anymore because Anne cannot give him sons and Cromwell has turned against her due to their differing political and religious views. Such little detail leaves the reader slightly confused as to what exactly happened around Anne (and through Anne’s own actions) to bring about such a dramatic fall.
Overall I was sourly disappointed with Starkey’s writing about Anne Boleyn’s fall and execution. He dedicates only two chapters, a total of thirty pages, to talk about all the political, emotional and personal reasons surrounding the dramatic fall and finally the execution of Anne Boleyn. The whole section was extremely rushed and Starkey misses out on lots of interesting facts and information. For a man whom seemed in the introduction to take such pride in claiming that he had discovered so much new information about Henry’s wives – he certainly lacked any detail about Anne’s fall and execution. I was utterly disgusted to see so little information and felt as though only the very basic of an outline was penned for the events surrounding Anne Boleyn’s final few months. There was SO much happening at court, so many factors for months and months that all played a role, all were woven together to bring about Anne’s end. So much information that Alison Weir dedicated an entire book to Anne Boleyn’s fall – and yet Starkey seems more interested in writing about Henry’s ‘Great Matter’ than bothering to discuss all of these factors. He gives Anne’s fall only thirty pages and I find this very disheartening and saddening. Anne deserved more recognition and understanding than that.
He then moves onto Alison Weir’s book “The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ and insults her writing, relating it to a story of legend and overly sentimental and tragic. This absolutely disgusted me as I am a huge fan of Weir and her writing. I felt her book on Henry’s wives was not only informative but very well researched and carefully written. I now understand why I had been told that if I like Alison Weir I would not like David Starkey!
All throughout the introduction I felt as though Starkey was trying to prove that his book on Henry VIII’s wives was better and more accurate than any other previously. Instead of finding this intriguing and making me want to read more, I found it came across as pompous and started to put me off. But I wanted to give Starkey credit, he is an incredible and talented researcher and I wanted to push on and to read and learn more.
The first part of his book, quite obviously, was related to Catherine of Aragon. It was interesting to read a little of the history of Catherine of Aragon’s parents, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. We learn a little about her brother and sisters and how she was educated and raised based on the beliefs and disciplines of her strong and determined mother. As well as getting to know about the lives of Catherine’s family we are shown how their decisions and actions affected England and great Europe.
Starkey not only paints a detailed portrait about Catherine’s personal life, he widens the picture to examine the world around her. He starts with Catherine (of course) and then moves onto looking at her household and her ladies in waiting and all those whom served her. He then begins to look at the wider world – England, France, Spain, Rome and Europe at the time in which Catherine lived. Starkey talks about Catherine’s close family and her relatives and then moves onto the other players on the world stage. We learn a little about the King of France, Ambassadors from all major European countries and even about the Pope at the time. Starkey talks about the thoughts, opinions and how all of these players’ actions – or lack thereof – affects Catherine. This is very clever as all of this builds up a very detailed picture of the wider world that Catherine lived in. At the end of the day Catherine was not just an English Queen – she was a major figure in the greater world.
Through Starkey’s research and writing I am able to see now why Catherine refused to go to a nunnery and fought so hard for her marriage. She was fighting not only for her personal religious convictions, but also for her daughter Mary’s future. Like Anne Boleyn who held her temper and curved her sharp tongue in her famous scaffold speech, Catherine was fighting so hard to save Mary’s right to the throne. Catherine had grown up with the belief that women could claim the thrown and rule effectively – her own mother was the perfect example of this – but of course England was different. If Catherine went to a nunnery she was paving the way for Henry to remarry and have more children (preferably a son), whom would take over Mary’s rightful claim to the throne. Ultimately, just like Anne Boleyn, Catherine was fighting for her daughter’s future.
I have to say that this view gave me a new respect for Catherine of Aragon. As a mother myself I understand what it is like to want the best for your daughter and to fight for that. Although Anne Boleyn will also be my idol, I can understand why Catherine fought so hard for her marriage and her daughter’s future.
The section on Anne Boleyn was by far the longest section within the book and yet seemed to focus the least on one of Henry’s wives. I was severely disappointed with the chapters supposedly about Anne Boleyn. Instead these chapters – over a quarter of the book - talked more about Henry VIII’s ‘Great Matter’ and the ministers, bishops and other influential men at court than he did about Anne Boleyn herself. If Starkey wanted to write a book about Henry’s ‘Great Matter’ I think it would be one of the best Tudor books written. He writes in such great detail about all the details both in England and in Europe surrounding Henry’s great desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon. There is such a wealth of information that Starkey takes up approximately a quarter of his book talking just about the ‘Great Matter’.
Yet… was not this section supposed to be about Anne Boleyn? He does mention Anne, but only briefly, little dot points here and there and much of what he writes is mere suggestions of what Anne might have been thinking or feeling. It was extremely disappointing.
After speaking in such depth about the ‘Great Matter’ Starkey then moves on to speak about Anne Boleyn’s marriage and coronation. After that he seems to skip through the next few years as though nothing important happened. He barely mentions Anne’s two miscarriages or her actions towards Henry or their daughter. There are a few references here and there but nothing in detail. Then suddenly we are thrust upon Anne Boleyn’s fall. There is little to no lead up to WHY she fell, or about her and Henry’s deteriorating relationship or her public slide from political and courtly life. All seems happy in Starkey’s book and then suddenly Henry does not love her anymore because Anne cannot give him sons and Cromwell has turned against her due to their differing political and religious views. Such little detail leaves the reader slightly confused as to what exactly happened around Anne (and through Anne’s own actions) to bring about such a dramatic fall.
Overall I was sourly disappointed with Starkey’s writing about Anne Boleyn’s fall and execution. He dedicates only two chapters, a total of thirty pages, to talk about all the political, emotional and personal reasons surrounding the dramatic fall and finally the execution of Anne Boleyn. The whole section was extremely rushed and Starkey misses out on lots of interesting facts and information. For a man whom seemed in the introduction to take such pride in claiming that he had discovered so much new information about Henry’s wives – he certainly lacked any detail about Anne’s fall and execution. I was utterly disgusted to see so little information and felt as though only the very basic of an outline was penned for the events surrounding Anne Boleyn’s final few months. There was SO much happening at court, so many factors for months and months that all played a role, all were woven together to bring about Anne’s end. So much information that Alison Weir dedicated an entire book to Anne Boleyn’s fall – and yet Starkey seems more interested in writing about Henry’s ‘Great Matter’ than bothering to discuss all of these factors. He gives Anne’s fall only thirty pages and I find this very disheartening and saddening. Anne deserved more recognition and understanding than that.
sophronisba's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.25
Starkey has done a formidable amount of research and it shows. Having said that, I did not care for his tone and thought he came across as both arrogant and misogynistic throughout the book. Early on, for example, he describes Agnes Strickland's methodology thusly: "She charmed (she was very pretty, especially for a scholar) her way into the national archives of both Britain and France." Another example: his complaint that Catherine of Aragon became "uglier and duller" as she approached middle age (not for nothing, but have you ever compared young Henry VIII to older Henry VIII?). I also didn't care for his entire treatment of Catherine Howard's life, in which he holds a young teenage girl more responsible for her actions than countless adult men. Bleh. His research may be useful to historians, but I don't recommend the book as a whole to the average reader.