The Children of Henry VIII
Summary (from the publisher): At his death in 1547, King Henry VIII left four heirs to the English throne: his only son, the nine-year-old Prince Edward; the Lady Mary, the adult daughter of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon; the Lady Elizabeth, the daughter of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and his young great-niece, the Lady Jane Grey. These are the players in a royal drama that ultimate led to Elizabeth's ascension to the throne--one of the most spectacularly successful reigns in English history.
Review: This novel picks up largely where Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII leaves off and covers the years 1547 through 1558. It covers the brief reigns of King Henry's son Edward, his daughter Mary and his great-niece Jane Grey and ends with his daughter Elizabeth assuming the throne to embark on her 45 year reign.
As always, Weir does an excellent job of covering her subject matter in an in-depth yet relatively succinct matter, and the evidence of her deep historical research shows. Her writing makes it possible for the cruel woman that history remembers as 'Bloody Mary' to be seen in an empathetic light; her grief, shame, and bitter disappointment over her apparent phantom pregnancy is poignantly summed up by Weir by saying, "Mary's desperation is revealed in the tear blots in her prayer book on the page entitled 'A Prayer for a Woman with Child'" (313). Weir also incorporates interesting tidbits from her research such as this little nugget of trivia about Suffolk, who was beheaded at Mary's command: "His head fell into sawdust that had become impregnated with tannin, which preserved the head perfectly for 400 years. It was shown as an object of curiosity until the Second World War, but after that it was buried in St Boltolph's Church, Aldgate, London" (250).
Although the preface asserts that this book begins where Weir's earlier book left off, it did backtrack some, as the novel details the early life and childhoods of Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward, and spends significant time detailing the scandal between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour while Elizabeth was under the care of her stepmother, Catherine Parr, a scandal that was also detailed in her earlier work. However, this slight overlap gave context and background for readers who had not read the earlier work and provided insight behind the prudence Elizabeth continually displayed after this event.
Additionally, the title of this work is a bit misleading, as this historical biography also covers the sad, short life of Jane Grey, the nine-day queen, who was not a child but a great-niece of Henry VIII, and at his death became the fourth in line to the throne. In reality, it's more accurate to call this book an account of the rather tumultuous period between Henry VIII's death and Queen Elizabeth I's rise to the throne rather than strictly a look at Henry's children. Although Elizabeth had a long reign and lived to a great age, I was somewhat disappointed that this text give little information about her reign or the remainder of her life after 1558, since the complete lives of her siblings are detailed in this book. However, on the whole, this is an excellent joint biography of the heirs to the throne after Henry VIII.
Stars: 4
Related Titles:
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
- The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir
- Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World by Alison Weir
- Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
- Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
- Tudor: The Family Story by Leanda de Lisle
- Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII by Giles Tremlett
- Bess of Hardwick: Empire Builder by Mary S. Lovell
Comments
Post a Comment