Let’s call a spade a spade; Henry VIII was nuts. So many times while reading The Six Wives of Henry VIII (TSWH) by, Alison Weir did I think, “It’s YOU! You are the problem! You are the common denominator! Do the Michael Jackson and look at the Man in the Mirror!”
There’s nothing more intriguing than Tudor history; for one Henry the VIII had 6 wives and he had two of them beheaded. This was a time of great intrigue, debauchery, political scheming. If you want to start getting into Tudor history, I think this is a place to start. Alison Weir is known for her thorough research on the kings and queens of England, especially the Tudors. Her historical writing is accessible and she also writes historical fiction. I haven’t read any of her historical fiction yet, but I plan to read her fictionalizations of Henry’s wives and see what she embellishes.
TSWH is very thorough, spending the most time on Henry’s first two wives, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. I don’t find this unbalanced, as Henry was married to Katherine for two decades before Anne, and he schemed to make Anne his wife while still being married to Katherine for seven years before finally marrying her. He didn’t remain married to Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr were short in comparison, sometimes VERY short.
Weir pulls a lot of supporting material from letters and other primary sources, which really bring these figures to life. I got a sense of who they were as people; their likes, dislikes and quirks. The wife that stuck out to me the most was (gasp) Anne Boleyn; not because of her tragic death, but because of how she treated Katherine and Mary (the future Queen of England). Anne, in her scheming to become queen, treated Katherine horribly. Anne even implied that she would have welcomed the death of them both. I don’t care how ambitious you are, it’s never okay to help overthrow a legitimate marriage, connive and manipulate, to achieve you own means.
I find Henry to be an interesting and complicated figure. In some ways, he was quite brilliant intellectually. That being said, Henry overall was changeable, narcissistic and to me, unlikeable. He sacrificed the happiness, security, and even the lives of 6 women for his own agenda. Yes, he ultimately strove to have another male heir, but during that time they didn’t know that the man determined the gender of a child.
I like that Weir delves a bit into the lives of Henry’s three children; Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. Again, Weir does a good job bringing their personalities to life and also attempts to show how having Henry as a father and having several step-mothers had negative impacts on them as children. Their turbulent upbringing definitely impacted their lives as adults and future English monarchs.
Lastly, Weir dives a bit into the political intrigue of Henry’s court. One cannot discuss Tudor England without mentioning Thomas Cromwell. Weir gives the reader just enough to put the political climate into perspective without deviating too much, because this isn’t really the story she’s telling here.
I really enjoyed TSWH and it’s whet my appetite for more. I already knew a decent amount about Henry’s wives, but this filled in a lot of gaps. It also made me want to research more about Mary and Elizabeth as queens and their turbulent relationship, as well as go more in depth about Thomas Cromwell.
Rating: 5/5.
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