Six Wives- The Queens of Henry VIII (2025)

description

No one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were daring and tumultuous, and made instant legends of six very different women. In this remarkable study, David Starkey argues that the king was not a depraved philanderer but someone seeking happiness -- and a son. Knowingly or not, he elevateda group of women to extraordinary heights and changed the way a nation was governed. Six Wives is a masterful work of history that intimately examines the rituals of diplomacy, marriage, pregnancy, and religion that were part of daily life for women at the Tudor Court. Weaving new facts and fresh interpretations into a spellbinding account of the emotional drama surrounding Henry's six marriages, David Starkey reveals the central role that the queens played in determining policy. With an equally keen eye for romantic and political intrigue, he brilliantly recaptures the story of Henry's wives and the England they ruled.

Alternative filename

lgli/R:\!fiction\0day\usenet_ebooks\David Starkey - Six Wives - The Queens of Henry VIII (pdf)\David Starkey - Six Wives- The Queens of Henry VIII (pdf).pdf

Anoda title

Six Wives : The Queens of Henry VIII

Anoda author

David Starkey

Alternative publisher

Harper Perennial, HarperCollins

Alternative publisher

HarperCollins Publishers

Alternative publisher

HarperCollins e-books

Alternative publisher

Longman Publishing

Alternative edition

Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., Pymble, NSW, 2003

Alternative edition

United States, United States of America

Alternative edition

First U.S. edition, New York, 2003

Alternative edition

London, impr. 2004

Alternative edition

Reprint, PT, 2004

Alternative edition

Illustrated, 2004

Alternative edition

New York, 2004

Alternative edition

May 04, 2004

metadata comments

Source title: Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII

metadata comments

lg_fict_id_696995

Alternative description

“Extraordinary.... It is a tribute to Starkey's narrative drive, his puckish wit, and sharp discrimination that it doesn't seem a page too long.... With each queen, Starkey offers a vivid character study but also has fresh discoveries that subtly alter the picture he started out with.” — Sunday Times (London)The dramatic, legendary story of Henry VIII, his six wives, and the England they ruled—told by one of the world's preeminent historians of the Tudor era.Perhaps no one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were tumultuous and complicated, and made instant legends of six very different women. Henry took his first bride, Catherine of Aragon, when he was 17. Their 24-year marriage was a relatively stable prelude to what followed. Anne Boleyn, a pretty, French-educated Protestant who was the mother of Elizabeth I, was eventually beheaded. Jane Seymour served as a demure contrast to the vampish Boleyn, and gave birth to Henry's longed-for son (Edward VI). After a brief marriage to the plain Anne of Cleves, Henry married a flirtatious teenager, Catherine Howard, who would be the second of his brides to lose her head along with the king's favor. Finally, there was Catherine Parr, a shrewd Protestant bluestocking.In this brilliant new work, one of the world's most respected historians weaves startling new facts and fresh interpretations into a spellbinding account of the emotional drama and political intrigue that attended Henry's six marriages. With a keen eye for both the personal and the global stage, David Starkey masterfully recaptures the Tudor era—and the wives of Henry VIII—as only he can.

Alternative description

Alternative description

No one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were daring and tumultuous, and made instant legends of six very different women. In this remarkable study, David Starkey argues that the king was not a depraved philanderer but someone seeking happiness -- and a son. Knowingly or not, he elevated a group of women to extraordinary heights and changed the way a nation was governed.
Six Wives is a masterful work of history that intimately examines the rituals of diplomacy, marriage, pregnancy, and religion that were part of daily life for women at the Tudor Court. Weaving new facts and fresh interpretations into a spellbinding account of the emotional drama surrounding Henry's six marriages, David Starkey reveals the central role that the queens played in determining policy. With an equally keen eye for romantic and political intrigue, he brilliantly recaptures the story of Henry's wives and the England they ruled.

Alternative description

Profiles the six marriages of King Henry VIII against the political drama of the Tudor era, tracing his relatively stable twenty-four-year first marriage to Catherine of Aragon and subsequent whirlwind decade of new brides, including two who were executed. Reprint.

date open sourced

2013-01-02