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ellieanor's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a fascinating book. Tracy Borman's writing style remains elegant and sophisticated while at the same time being extremely readable. There are so many interesting facts and I really liked the angle this took on looking at the Tudor Monarchs. I would highly recommend this.
feifeii's review
informative
fast-paced
4.0
A great pleasure to indulge myself into the history of the Tudor with this book.
Borman did a great job in bringing together the historic facts and detail. I enjoyed very much her narrative style by retelling the rise and fall of the Tudor dynasty in chronological order while intervening the minute details of their public and private life which I didn’t think of or knew about before, like what kind of food the royal usually had in a day and how much calories they usually consumed, the ceremony for meal, dressing and undressing every day, the process of labouring and how appalling the medical practices back then, the ridiculously expensive wardrobe of the monarchs as well as their bowel.
I am especially fascinated by the part of Elizabeth I. I was often intrigued by the infamous King Henry VIII and his wives, as often portrayed and focused in the modern time. Yet the feminine ideal of Elizabeth I, the struggle of her role as a woman and a female monarch and the torment she therefore suffered was so well and impressively expressed and presented in here.
I look forward to reading other books by Borman after this.
Borman did a great job in bringing together the historic facts and detail. I enjoyed very much her narrative style by retelling the rise and fall of the Tudor dynasty in chronological order while intervening the minute details of their public and private life which I didn’t think of or knew about before, like what kind of food the royal usually had in a day and how much calories they usually consumed, the ceremony for meal, dressing and undressing every day, the process of labouring and how appalling the medical practices back then, the ridiculously expensive wardrobe of the monarchs as well as their bowel.
I am especially fascinated by the part of Elizabeth I. I was often intrigued by the infamous King Henry VIII and his wives, as often portrayed and focused in the modern time. Yet the feminine ideal of Elizabeth I, the struggle of her role as a woman and a female monarch and the torment she therefore suffered was so well and impressively expressed and presented in here.
I look forward to reading other books by Borman after this.
goodqueenbess's review
4.0
if someone came up to me today and asked about a good started to the tudors - i'd happily point them in the direction of this book. borman makes a watertight introduction to the infamous english dynasty as people-first, politicans-second and how those ideas came into play with eachother. it's a good guide of showcasing the changes each monarch brought with their reign and the affect it had on culture, food, fashion and power within the court. it's also full of wonderful anecdotes and stories that bring these figures and the people who surrounded them to life: how henry viii's underwear would have been laundered, mary i's intriguing eating habits (or lack thereof) and elizabeth i's jealousy over a ladies maid's dress all paint these historical giants as people and gain an insight into how they ruled the country. you're not going to find a lot of politics within this book, nor extensive detail that is typical of biographers like starkey - it's more a casual stride through the reigns and notable moments of each ruler rather than the same political scandals that seem to come to mind whenever we hear 'tudor'.
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sunnid's review
5.0
I savored this book, reading it in between things over a period of time. It gave me a lot to think about and then Google, filling in gaps about the period, the players, the places. So many historical books are filled with war, political strategies, etc. This is not the focus here. It is a peek into what life was like in the palace...what the Tudors ate, what they wore, how they played, loved and more. It also looks at some of the less pleasant things like grooming habits, cleanliness (or lack thereof), illness and death.
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