Book Description
The tempestuous, bloody, and splendid reign of Henry VIII of England (1509-1547) is one of the most fascinating in all history, not least for his marriage to six extraordinary women. In this accessible work of brilliant scholarship, Alison Weir draws on early biographies, letters, memoirs, account books, and diplomatic reports to bring these women to life. Catherine of Aragon emerges as a staunch though misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn, an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour, a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves, a good-natured and innocent woman naively unaware of the court intrigues that determined her fate; Catherine Howard, an empty-headed wanton; and Catherine Parr, a warm-blooded bluestocking who survived King Henry to marry a fourth time.
Customer Reviews:
Very informative.........2007-10-06
Very informative book! Weir manages to give us a detailed description of the personalities of each of these six queens. What makes this book such a success is that its very easy to read making it impossible to get bored!
History made interesting.......2007-09-17
I haven't been a big history buff in the past (no pun intended) but after seeing a glimpse of a documentary on Henry VIII, I was curious. This book was GREAT! I simply couldn't put it down and lugged the big book with me on the bus, on planes, etc. In fact, it inspired me to continue reading up on the Tudors. Highly recommended!
The perfect storyteller........2007-08-24
Impeccably researched, fantastically written, wonderfully enthralling. Anyone interested in British history, monarchs in general, the tudor period, politics, or anyone who just plain likes gossip will love this book. It was really great.
Loved this book!.......2007-08-14
A friend recommended some of Philipa Gregory's books to me. After reading "The Other Boelyn Girl" I decided to try non-fiction. I would have never dreamed that I would enjoy a big, thick, historial, non-fiction book about 16th century England. However, "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" was fantastic! I could not put this book down! I have ordered Ms. Weir's other books about Lady Jane Grey, Henry VIII's court and Elizabeth. After reading this book, you will look at the Tower of London, Hampton Court, Hever Castle, etc. in a completely different way when in London. You have to hand it to the Brits; they have the most interesting and fascinating history of all.
Great account of history.......2007-08-12
If you're in the market for a book that gives a thorough account of each wife of Henry VIII, then this is the book for you. Over 600 pages long, this packs together history and great writing. It's written chronologically, from Henry's days before his betrothal to Katherine of Aragon, up to the death of his last wife, Katherine Parr. It flows together perfectly. It's easy to read, to boot. I think my favorite parts were the quotes taken from personal letters, and hand-written accounts by those closest to the royals themselves.
Amazon.com
When we think of the wives of Henry VIII, we tend to think of women who literally lost their heads. But Antonia Fraser opens the door to the political and cultural demands that shaped the destinies of the king and his royal wives. Romance, unfortunately, rarely had anything to do with it. And if you think the modern American media is too tough on political leadership, you oughta READ about the royal court in King Henry's day! That's one family you'd never want to marry into.
Book Description
The six-week New York Times bestselling history of the legendary six wives of Henry VIII--from an acclaimed biographer. "Admirably succeed(s) in bringing to life the six women who married England's ruler. . . ."--New York Times Book Review. 16 color plates. 32 pages of illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Different view of an Infamous King.......2007-10-07
This was the first Antonia Fraser book I read and from the "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" I was hooked. I read it after hearing her speak at Peterborough Cathedral about Catherine of Aragon. The book looks at Henry VIII's from his wives' perspective. What drove them to marry this man especially after he beheaded Anne Boleyn. Also, it is great introduction to Tudor England.
Brings History Back To Life.......2007-03-09
For those who say history is boring. Better than reading a novel, with real characters sometimes going beyond the imaginary. An amazing study of the six wives, and the power crazed king they called husband. Used every means imaginable to justify ridding himself of one wife, to marry another. Even to the point of falsely accusing one of commiting incest with her own brother (Anne Boleyn), and having her beheaded. A powerful study of the British monarchy, and one of its most shameful periods.
really interesting.......2007-01-15
The book is well written and it brings you back inside the story.
A man of whims, to be sure.......2006-03-06
A good book to read to get an overview about what went on with Henry and all those wives. Those who enjoy history and detail will enjoy the perspective Fraser always provides. This one is not to be missed if you enjoy British history.
Somewhat slow but still worth reading...........2005-09-02
Antonia Fraser has certainly written more enjoyable works but nonetheless, The Wives of Henry VIII is worth taking the time to finish, especially if you're not very familiar with the subject matter beforehand. She does a fantastic job of laying down facts as with all her historical works but she also injects her own rather 'forgiving' viewpoint regarding the intentions and motivations of the people about whom she writes. Fraser has a wonderful way of exposing the core humanity of characters that most of us have been inclined to view as ruthless, inhuman monsters. I would suggest, however, that one read other not quite so tame opinions because the 'truth' usually lies somewhere in the middle of the extremes.
Book Description
Early Modern England 1485 -1714 is the first new survey of the Tudor -Stuart period in a quarter century. Written by two leading scholars and experienced teachers of the subject, it assumes no prior knowledge of English history. The text is broken up with reader aids including maps, illustrations, and genealogies.The narrative shows how, under the Tudors and the Stuarts, England transformed itself from a feudal and relatively minor European state into a constitutional monarchy and the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth. The story of struggles over governmental and religious policies is enlivened by snapshots of how social and cultural changes affected ordinary English men and women. The authors also cover developments in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales that are relevant to English history.An introduction sets the scene, providing students with an overview of the physical and mental geography of early modern England. Opening and closing chapters explain how the events covered in the book fit into the course of English history.
Customer Reviews:
Good Text.......2005-03-14
I'm a returning college student and using this as a text for the study of the Tudor and Stuart reigns... it is concise and informal, with a definite sense of humor... debunks some of the myths relating to these reigns and definitely one of the more readable textbooks that I have come across... clear and consise..
Book Description
Edward VI, the only surviving son of Henry VIII and the last of the male Tudors, died while still a teenager. Yet his reign has a significance in English history out of all proportion to its brief six-year span. In this lavishly illustrated book, Diarmaid MacCulloch looks at the life and beliefs of the young king and the ruthless politicians around him. Although the regime collapsed in apparent failure on Edward's death in 1553, a second half-sister, Elizabeth, brought Protestantism back. MacCulloch traces the strange afterlife of Edward's reign, its surprising connections with the civil wars which convulsed the British Isles a century later, and the effect it still has on English life.
Customer Reviews:
Good Reading.......2007-01-28
This book is a good story for researchers as well as the general audience.
Torturous Text Makes Fascinating Subject Less Exciting.......2005-09-02
(This refers to the Softcover Edition, which I bought at a bookstore but notice is not currently offered on Amazon. Much more affordable---)
There is no doubt that author Maccullogh is a first class scholar when it comes to religion in the Tudor Age; however, I faced the same woeful problem with this book that I encountered on his masterful and massive work on my own ancestor, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer--and that is that the attention to infintesimal detail is constructed in such density that it makes for unfortunately slow reading. It's almost like reading a text book...and spending an entire semester on a course in Edwardian Reformation. A historian he is. A storyteller, no.
However, those who would dismiss Edward as merely a "boy king" with a short reign would be well advised to take some time with this work and discover how much of a serious and lasting impact he did manage to have on politics and religion.
Tactical and strategic.......2003-11-29
Diarmaid MacCulloch should have a well merited following by now. His extremely readable books finally made Church History a fascinating subject. His mastery of theology, ecclesiology, iconography, architecture, ceremony, and other dimensions of Tudor England are unrivalled, and he weaves them into a comprehensive whole. The depth and quality of his research are exemplary, and his prose is very good literature.
In this book he shows how most events which make the pace of Edward VI's reign seem frantic, were prepared but had to be postponed during Henry VIII's last years. Even during his first year, Edward's establishment under the Duke of Somerset's protectorate was reluctantly forced to appease the Emperor Charles V, the majority of lay politicians, and conservative bishops as powerful as Stephen Gardiner of Winchester. After Somerset's disgrace, John Dudley, first Earl of Warwick and later Duke of Northumberland maintained a more consensual relationship with the Lords. He made peace with France and Scotland, and inaugurated a phase of political reconstruction at home, thus permitting the evangelical revolution to recover its pace.
Dr. MacCulloch lets us see that in England as in the Continent, the cost of being too specific on the Lord's Supper was soon perceived, since the matter was admittedly of more importance to traditionalists and evangelicals alike than justification by faith, and also produced more martyrs. This determines a very gradual, even stealthy accumulation of arguments and liturgical reforms up to 1550, although at least Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer had much earlier become convinced that the Lutheran doctrine of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist was as blasphemous as the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation. Nevertheless, MacCulloch argues convincingly that Cranmer's convictions on the Lord's Supper are more in agreement with Heinrich Bullinger's than with either Zwingli's or Calvin's theology. Whether, as John Knox believed, had he reigned longer Edward would have evolved into a doctrinaire Calvinist, is now a moot point.
One of this book's main attractions is that it conveys a sense of indebtedness to a very young and serious boy, a great promise that flickered and died. Edward is portrayed as a real believer, not just an immature tool of vested interests. Since he appears to have been gifted with a more thoughtful and less egotistical character than his father, it's very possible that he would have grown up to be a great leader of the Reformation, and Cranmer could have finally convened the General Council of Reformed Churches of which he dreamt.
Regardless of how much anglo-catholicism and theological liberalism alike have done to demolish the Edwardian heritage, it's possible that in a critical juncture such as the one Anglicans worldwide find themselves in today, MacCulloch's closing lines might awaken their concern:
"Perhaps the Anglican Communion, most enigmatic member of the Christian family of Churches, might show more gratitude for Edwardian mischief -or at the very least, some remembrance and understanding".
The book carries ninety-two well-chosen illustrations, with very helpful captions. The bibliography includes primary sources in manuscript and in print, secondary sources, and unpublished dissertations. Though softbound, the book is very sturdy, and should survive casual handling. It's quality work from the University of California Press.
Being the Boy-King.......2001-04-18
In the years since publication of his award-winning biography of Thomas Cranmer, one cannot stop marveling at the scholarship of Prof MacCulloch, at his indubitable talent of an author, and at how deftly and effortlessly he adapts it to the restrictions of an academic narrative. `The Boy-King: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation', published in 2001 in hardback and in 2002 in paperback, has been a definitive treat for many Tudor students, providing them with an engaging story of the English Reformation in the years between 1547 and 1553, as well as containing references to a mesmerising range of archives, from the good old British Library to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Thanks to Prof MacCulloch's being one of the leading British church historians, this book has rather successfully done what other monographs did not quite manage to achieve. Its main achievement is in the fact that one can no longer think of Edward VI as a juvenile parrot in terms of his political involvement. Although this does not immediately imply that his raison d'etat was promising to be terrific, his participation in the matters of state must not be underestimated, let alone overlooked. MacCulloch illustrates this, for example, with his brilliant analysis of Edward's proposal for the reform of the Order of the Garter in the light of its deriving from Edward's tutorship and contemporary political discourse.
The reason why this change in the view of Edward seems so important is because scholars until this day continue to debate the political potential and intellectual faculties of a young king, being mostly critical about both. The most blatant example is Stephen Alford's biography of Edward VI and the review of it by George Bernard. Those, however, who read MacCulloch's book attentively will - hopefully - realise by the end of the last chapter that it is futile to either extol Edward or to dismiss him. Indeed, the boy did not reach his 16th birthday, and no matter what promises had been there, these were buried with him in June 1553. He nevertheless contributed to the affairs of state, by writing proposals, notes, discourses, etc. Certainly, one must still see the forest for the trees, but these documents, written by the young king himself, cannot ever be ignored. One must remember that in all times children were engaged in political discourse, however superficial, especially if they had been destined to the throne. Consequently, these documents, even if they had little or no impact, must be read with all due seriousness to catch the glimpses of an emerging character. For this reason, there cannot be too much praise for MacCulloch, who with a simple phrase `the boy-king' captured the whole ambiguity of Edward's reign and his contribution to the mid-Tudor politics.
The book's attention to the representation of power in Edward's reign only further stresses this ambiguity. The careful analysis of many `personas' attributed to Edward VI at different stages of his life in politics shows that today's historians are preoccupied with the same paradox, as perplexed Edward's contemporaries. As A. Pollard said, for the first time a ten-year-old became the head of the Church, and MacCulloch studies two main religious `images' attached to Edward - Josiah and Solomon. He carefully investigates the rationale for choosing these exact kings and the incongruities of the lives of these biblical characters, to see how those were adapted to the mid-Tudor realities.
This is all the more significant, as prior to MacCulloch's book there was no in-depth study of this peculiarity of the English Reformation in Edward VI's reign, which stemmed from the fact that the Church reform was now heralded by a child. Some scholars, most successfully, perhaps, the late Jennifer Loach, paid much attention to Edward's secular activities and representation of him as the head of the State, which, although giving out new information, hardly made historians any more serious about the boy-king. Normally, before and even after her post-mortem book, scholars have preferred to focus on political moves of Somerset, Northumberland, Cranmer, et al., overlooking, for example, the necessity those had to represent the king's age and his legitimacy in both domestic and external affairs. MacCulloch's study of representation of Edward as the head of the Church puts the reader in the position of making a choice: to look at the years 1547-1553 as a series of farcical attempts of mid-Tudor officials to pretend that England was high and mighty; or to admit that political farce has always been there, and hence Edward VI's reign is not an exclusion and must then be treated appropriately. Books by both Loach and MacCulloch are the examples of this kind of treatment: they both showed the full awareness of the fact that their study of either mid-Tudor monarchy or Church would not break free from any conventions, unless they constantly kept the boy-king in the focus.
In addition to a variety of sources used, MacCulloch's book is rich in illustrations, supporting his arguments that derive from the reading of the written documents, and thus providing his reader with much food for thought. In that, his book dwells both on Loach's monograph, as well as on a brilliant, although not always definitive study by Margaret Aston, `The King's Bedpost'. The trend was continued by Stephen Alford in his biography of Edward VI, and will certainly carry on.
Together with the books by Loach, Aston and, most recently, Alford, `The Boy-King' by Diarmaid MacCulloch underlines the importance of the ever-wide scholarship and the use of different sources, if one wants, in Ranke's words, to penetrate history. And this is exactly what MacCulloch's book allows to do to its reader. To a professional historian, like myself, it gave insight into new sources and the way to employ them, as well as highlighted the questions that require an answer. To those who are simply interested in Tudors, the book tells the story of one of the most ambiguous yet fascinating periods in English history, after reading which one may be compelled to understand why it is better if the monarch is mature, even if he is not very popular.
Amazon.com
Contemporary observers described the young king in glowing terms. At over six feet tall, with rich auburn hair, clear skin, and a slender waist, he was, to many, "the handsomest prince ever seen." From this starting point in Henry VIII, the King and His Court, biographer extraordinare Alison Weir reveals a Henry VIII far different from the obese, turkey-leg gnawing, womanizing tyrant who has gone down in history. Henry embodied the Renaissance ideal of a man of many talents--musician, composer, linguist, scholar, sportsman, warrior--indeed, the Dutch humanist Erasmus (not a man inclined to flattery) declared him a "universal genius." In scholarly yet readable style, Weir brings Henry and his court to life in meticulous, but never tedious, detail. Weir describes everything from courtly fashions to political factions and elaborate meals to tournament etiquette. Along the way she offers up charming--if all too brief--glimpses of Henry's court: tiny Princess Mary, still a very young girl, at her betrothal ceremony saying to the proxy, "Are you the Dauphin of France? If you are, I want to kiss you"; Henry weeping with joy as he held his long-awaited son and heir for the first time; Henry showing off his legs to the Venetian ambassador ("Look here! I have also a good calf to my leg"); Henry's courtiers dressing in heavily padded clothes to emulate--and flatter--their increasingly stout monarch. She also reveals some surprises, for example, that Henry and Katherine were still hunting together as late as 1530, even though Henry was desperately trying to have their marriage annulled. Weir also describes surprisingly happier times in their relationship; Henry loved to dress up in costume, and "was especially fond of bursting in upon Queen Katherine and her ladies in the Queen's Chambers.... Henry took a boyish delight in these disguisings and Katherine seemingly never tired of feigning astonishment that it was her husband who had surprised her." Henry's queens receive relatively little attention here (for them, see Weir's excellent Six Wives of Henry VIII), but this book is fascinating and a joy to read. Alison Weir has done it again. --Sunny Delaney
Book Description
Henry VIII, renowned for his command of power, celebrated for his intellect, presided over the most stylish—and dangerous—court in Renaissance Europe. Scheming cardinals vied for power with newly rich landowners and merchants, brilliant painters and architects introduced a new splendor into art and design, and each of Henry's six queens brought her own influence to bear upon the life of the court. In her new book, Alison Weir, author of the finest royal chronicles of our time, brings to vibrant life the turbulent, complex figure of Henry VIII and the glittering court he made his own.
In an age when a monarch's domestic and political lives were inextricably intertwined, a king as powerful and brilliant as Henry VIII exercised enormous sway over the laws, the customs, and the culture of his kingdom. Yet as Weir shows in this swift, vivid narrative, Henry's ministers, nobles, and wives were formidable figures in their own right, whose influence both enhanced and undermined the authority of the throne. On a grand stage rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir records the many complex human dramas that swirled around Henry, while deftly weaving in an account of the intimate rituals and desires of England's ruling class—their sexual practices, feasts and sports, tastes in books and music, houses and gardens.
Stimulating and tumultuous, the court of Henry VIII attracted the finest minds and greatest beauties in Renaissance England—poets Wyatt and Surrey, the great portraitist Hans Holbein, "feasting ladies" like Elizabeth Blount and Elizabeth FitzWalter, the newly rich Boleyn family and the ancient aristocratic clans like the Howards and the Percies, along with the entourages and connections that came and went with each successive wife. The interactions between these individuals, and the terrible ends that befell so many of them, make Henry VIII: The King and His Court an absolutely spellbinding read.
Meticulous in historic detail, narrated with high style and grand drama, Alison Weir brilliantly brings to life the king, the court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards.
Customer Reviews:
EXCELLENT.......2007-08-31
Finally, an exploration of Henry VIII and his wives that does not read like a cheap romance novel. Ms. Weir makes history exciting. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone!
Thoroughly enjoyed book........2007-07-09
I read this after reading Weir's Six Wives of Henry the VIII. It added addition information about him and was very interesting. While it got a little too detailed with names at times, overall I thought it was great! I especially like how when she talks about how much something costs that she also noted what that would equate in today's terms.
Compelling, well-researched account.......2007-06-13
Alison Weir has done a great job at bringing history to life in this extremely detailed portrayal of Henry VIII and those that surrounded him during his reign. Chapters are very numerous but quite brief, and each contains an unbelievable amount of details - ranging from descriptions of the materials used to construct houses and estates to what Henry VIII was served by his kitchen staff and what kind of fabric his tailors used when sewing his extravagant outfits. These small pieces of history serve as delightful ornaments to Weir's overall narrative, and they help paint a broad and precise picture of English life under the Tudors. Included at the back of the text is an extensive list of primary and secondary sources Weir used to construct her book, which are useful for readers who desire to do further research in Henrician and English Renaissance history.
The only flaws I could find in this text were a few, sometimes quite obvious, spelling mistakes. However, the book is so long and it offers so much information that this may be forgiven and overlooked.
All in all, a compelling and competently-researched read.
Brings you directly into a tudor court.......2007-04-11
very informative and chock full of common and not so common historical facts. A must have for anyone interested in the period.
Real Estate Listings.......2007-01-23
I have read numerous other histories by Allison Weir, and this one simply does not measure up. Essentially, this entire work boils down to a compilation of real property listings regarding the twenty zillion palaces, manor houses and mansions owned and restored by Henry VIII and his courtiers. The first several times the author describes some of the king's residences, including very detailed room-by-room descriptions of the decor, the refurbishing costs and the furnishings, I was interested. By about the 40th mention of, "Then in 15___ he bought the So-And-So mansion from Lord X at a cost of X pounds and he hired Famous Artist Y to decorate it in the Artistic Style Z manner," I despaired. I appreciated Ms. Weir's passing along details of court life, dress, customs and other little factoids not found in many traditional histories, but her obsession with real estate in this one left me cold. Even though Ms. Weir's express intention was not to write a biography per se, she also did not warn the reader that she is, in fact, a frustrated real estate agent who is primarily interested (at least in this work) only in buildings and their contents. If you are not already familiar with Tudor England, this is not a suitable book to commence your study. Overall, I found it to be disappointing and not recommended for anyone other than those with an especial interest in architecture.
Product Description
The whole ferment of the Elizabethan age and the vigor of the century that followed come alive in these "brief portraits" that have been looted by scholars for centuries. Here are Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Thomas More, Shakespeare, Milton, Marvel, and countless others, who in these pages become not abstract names from a history book, but flesh and blood characters. Brief Lives was written by John Aubrey (1626-1697), the greatest gossip columnist of the seventeenth century: a hanger-on among the rich and famous who left posterity a sprawling collection of notes, anecdotes, and morsels of gossip that the editor has sutured together into a series of unforgettable portraits. These men flawed, vain, ambitious, vulnerable are more alive and kicking in these pages than in any formal history. As Edmund Wilson writes in his introduction, "I have never read anything else that makes me feel in quite the same way what it must have been like to live then."
Customer Reviews:
Early gossip columnist.......2007-07-03
Lives of the rich and famous recorded a time when there were no libel laws meant that even the dirt that wasnt fit to print could be disseminated, whether true or not. It still makes fascinating reading.
A Fine Edition of a Classic.......2000-01-20
"Brief Lives" has always been a delight, but it was Oliver Lawson Dick's scholarly editing that revealed Aubrey's genius. And Lawson Dick's Introduction, "The Life and Times of John Aubrey", is a miracle of synthesis and compression: certainly one of the finest biographical essays ever written. This Nonpareil Books edition is sumptuous - a joy to read in these days cheap, quickly produced paperbacks.
Average customer rating:
- A good biography of the Virgin Queen by Tudor Scholar Erickson
- Nearly reads like a novel ...
- First Elizabeth a reading pleasure
- Hail Britainia
- Elizabeth the Woman & the Queen
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The First Elizabeth
Carolly Erickson
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
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ASIN: 031216842X |
Book Description
In this remarkable biography, Carolly Erickson brings Elizabeth I to life and allows us to see her as a living, breathing, elegant, flirtatious, diplomatic, violent, arrogant, and outrageous woman who commands our attention, fascination, and awe.With the special skill for which she is acclaimed, Carolly Erickson electrifies the senses as she evokes with total fidelity the brilliant colors of Elizabethan clothing and jewelry, the texture of tapestries, and even the close, perfumed air of castle rooms. Erickson demonstrates her extraordinary ability to discern and bring to life psychological and physical reality.
Customer Reviews:
A good biography of the Virgin Queen by Tudor Scholar Erickson.......2005-12-05
Carolly Erickson has done her homework on the Tudors of England and in her 1984 biography of Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603)
does a fine biographical profile.
Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn died at the stake failing to produce a male heir for the cruel HENRY VIII. Her only chld was Elizabeth who ruled Britain from 1558 to her death in 1603.
Elizabeth had a difficult and dangerous life dealing with such
enemies as:
1. The might of Spain and France.
2. Various Catholic groups wanting to assasinate the Protestant leaning queen.
3. Personal enemies include her half-sister Queen Bloody Mary
who at times had Elizabeth imprisoned in the tower. She burned
Protestants at the stake in her short reign from 1546-1553 following the death of her half-brother Edward VI (son of Henry and Jane Seymour). Another enemy was Mary Queen of Scots who Elizabeth had executed in 1587.
4. Elizabeth was very intelligent, crafty and skilled in survival in a dangerous time of civil war, various rebellions and complicated international political and religious warfare.
Erickson is good at writing Elizabeth's story focusing on her many love affairs most notably with the Earl of Leicester.
Elizabeth's reign is well told in this biography which is a good place for a burgeoning interest in Tudor History to bloom.
The book is one of the finest I have read on Elizabeth. I can
recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story well told about one of the great female rulers in history!
Nearly reads like a novel ..........2002-08-23
I tend to read mostly fiction, but for some reason earlier this year I decided to foray into biographies. This book gives you a peek into Elizabethan life, gives you insight into Elizabeth I's personality, and you learn quite a lot of history, scandals, and rumours-of-the-day along the way.
This book reads more like a biographical novel than a pure biography, which, considering the subject matter is about 500-years old, probably means some license was taken with dialogue, etc., however, I think the style makes the subject infinitely more memorable.
First Elizabeth a reading pleasure.......2002-01-25
The major difference in "The First Elizabeth" by Carolly Erickson and "The Life of Elizabeth I" by Alison Weir is stylistic. Both women are thoroughly versed in the life of their royal subject, and obviously enthusiastic about her as well.
Erickson's style, however, leans more toward novelistic narrative. She seems to be sitting with you, telling you a story about this great monarch with her infamous "virgin" status, her political adeptness, her fearsome temper, her penchant for swearing oaths that made one's blood freeze, and her ability to command deep love and adoration from her subjects.
This style is especially appealing for those for whom this biography is their first foray into Tudor biography. It introduces the major players in the queen's life thoroughly so that one is well acquainted with Robert Dudley, Cecil and Walsingham, as well as Mary I and the many other colorful characters that populated the Queen's life. You also get a real feel for the terror and uncertainty of Elizabeth's youth, when she lived in fear of death at the hands of her unstable, Catholic sister.
Erickson adroitly paints a stunning (and sometimes shocking) picture of life at court - and what a life it must have been. Living at the various castles Elizabeth moved between (they changed castles regularly so that the one previously used could be cleaned and "aired out") was far from our 21st century idea of luxury, and when you read about the trials and travails inherent in the Queen's annual "progresses", you'll never gripe about rush-hour traffic again!
Again, I would recommend this to anyone starting out to read about Elizabeth I, and to the reader already familiar with the life of the greatest queen of England. Those of the latter group might find that the author falls in love a bit too much with her subject (and who wouldn't, as this lady is one of the most fascinating people in history). In some places towards the end the flow of the narrative (going from event to event) isn't quite as seamless as it could be (you feel as though you are jumping from one to the other without a lead-in sentence/paragraph) but never mind that. Erickson does a marvelous job of painting a portrait of the life and times of Elizabeth and it's a most pleasurable learning experience and enjoyable read.
After finishing "Elizabeth I", the reader would do well to continue on with Weir's biography mentioned above. I started with Weir and am now committed to reading Erickson's extensive series on the Tudors, including "Great Harry", "Mistress Anne", etc.
Hail Britainia.......2001-12-10
A great book about a Queen whose story reads more like "The Godfather" than you'd guess.
Elizabeth I, thrust onto the throne while her country was still in the midst of it's centuries-long emergence from Roman rule, turned England into Great Britain through a heady mixture of guile, guts, and British steel(How's that for rhetoric?).
It's a great book, as are most of Erickson's titles.
Elizabeth the Woman & the Queen.......2001-11-26
I have read this book several times over the years and have found it engrossing both on the historical and dramatic level. The author manages to portray Elizabeth as an all powerful monarch as well as a very human woman with all of her strengths, weaknesses and faults. The personality of Elizabeth is emphasized throughout and so the reader is left feeling that something of the person behind the legend is revealed. Carolly Erickson also reveals a great deal of the political and social environment in which this woman functioned. Knowing the political and social environment in which she was raised, came to power and ruled makes her life story that much more remarkable. Overall I found this book very worthwhile and enjoyable reading.
Book Description
1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England
Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen.
James Shapiro illuminates both Shakespeare's staggering achievement and what Elizabethans experienced in the course of 1599, bringing together the news and the intrigue of the times with a wonderful evocation of how Shakespeare worked as an actor, businessman, and playwright. The result is an exceptionally immediate and gripping account of an inspiring moment in history.
Download Description
"
An intimate history of Shakespeare, following him through a single year -- 1599 -- that changed not only his fortunes but the course of literature
How was Shakespeare transformed from being a talented poet and playwright to become one of the greatest writers who ever lived? In this one exhilarating year we follow what he reads and writes, what he sees, and whom he works with as he invests in the new Globe Theatre and creates four of his most famous plays --
Henry the Fifth,
Julius Caesar,
As You Like It, and, most remarkably,
Hamlet.
James Shapiro illuminates both Shakespeare's staggering achievement and what Elizabethans experienced in the course of 1599: sending off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathering an Armada threat from Spain, gambling on the fledgling East India Company, and waiting to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen.
This book brings the news and intrigue of the times together with a wonderful evocation of how Shakespeare worked as an actor, businessman, and playwright. The result is an exceptionally immediate and gripping account of an inspiring moment in history.
"
Customer Reviews:
A Magnficent Account Of Shakespeare's Annus Mirabilis.......2007-08-04
While we have his magnificent plays and poetry, we know little about Shakespeare the man. We have the dry details of his birth, marriage, and death, the birth and death of his children, his education at Stratford Grammar School, his will, and some business and legal records. We can infer a little from what others wrote about him, especially in the 1623 First Folio; and we can extrapolate a bit more from what we know of the London theater scene and its denizens during the Elizabethan period. But the stuff of a real biography -- what Shakespeare was thinking, feeling, and experiencing during his life -- perforce are matters only for speculation.
It is truly remarkable, therefore, that Professor Shapiro uses this small heap of facts to bring Shakespeare brilliantly to life. Shapiro focuses on Shakespeare's life during 1599, which Shapiro forcefully argues was the year Shakespeare began his transformation into one of the greatest dramatists of all time. It was a year in which Shakespeare and his partners built the Globe Theatre where the Chamberlains Men / Kings Men would perform for the rest of his career. It was also the year in which Shakespeare ground out masterpieces in all three of his genres of history, comedy, and tragedy: Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet. Linking his sensitive and erudite explications of these plays to contemporary political developments (such as the bogged-down English invasion of Ireland and the threat of Spanish invasion), occurrences in the rapidly changing Elizabethan theater world (e.g., the diminishing roles of clowns like Shakespeare's partners Will Kemp and Robert Armin), literary trends (such as the development of self-expository monologue in Montaigne's essays and Shakespeare's soliloquies) and events in Shakespeare's own life (e.g., his quest for middle-class status as evidenced by his application for a coat of arms), Professor Shapiro paints a colorfully vibrant portrait of Shakespeare and the competitive theater business in which Shakespeare became so prominent as both a creator and an entrepreneur.
I don't know enough about Shakespeare to have an independent opinion about whether Shapiro overstates the case for the crucial nature of the year 1599. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although a product of deep learning, it is beautifully written and compellingly readable, and makes Shakespearean scholarship accessible even to a general reader like me. It also made me want to read many of the plays again, which I haven't since school days. Whether you love the Bard, or haven't thought much about him since you were forced to read the plays in school, this book is a wonderful and essential companion to Shakespeare's works.
a magnificent book; clear, detailed and lucid........2007-07-12
A joy to read.
This is a magnificent book; clear, detailed and lucid.
Much has been said already about this book. It gives a very clear insight into Elizabethan London towards the end of Elizabeth's reign. As a student of the Bard, Shapiro performs well in widening the discussion to mention the theatre-going habits of plebs and aristocracy alike; how Shakespeare and his players would have attended palaces which informed his works. Shapiro notes the echoes of Catholicism, the threat of another Spanish invasion, the deeply unsettling rebellion in Ireland, even the confusion over the calendar and holy/national days. Given the difficulties and expense of publishing in the 1600's, I suppose it is possible to read every individual item published in 1599, and the comprehensiveness of the author's grasp of Elizabethan London, makes me believe he may have done so.
All told extremely well, he plots Shakespeare's emergence as a serious playwright, who eschews the popular trivialities and takes on large questions of politics and personality.
I was less impressed with the later discussions of Shakespere's rewrites of the great plays of 1599, however it is a work of great learning, synopsized very well and told in an engaging style.
1599 - it was "a very good year" .......2007-03-23
In this insightful and innovative book, Shapiro adopts the reverse approach to the usual. Instead of analysing the plays to find the man, he explores the life to illuminate the plays. The result is a revelation of both.
A Prologue describes the building of the Globe from timbers secretly transported across the Thames by Shakespeare and Co. from The Theatre (on which the lease had expired). Then Shapiro trains his lens on 1599, dividing it into its four "seasons". Maintaining dynamic readability throughout, each season deals with a set of preoccupations at national, professional, and personal levels:
1. Winter - Shakespeare's artistic differences with his comic star, Will Kemp; the run-up to Essex's Ireland campaign, with mobilisation and departure - as well as pacifism.
2. Spring - logistics of building the Globe; censorship, book-burning and history; the appropriation of religious holidays for politcal purposes.
3. Summer - paranoia in London with rumours of a second Armada invasion); Shakespeare's anguish at an unauthorised, cobbled-together edition of his poems; sincerity, fakery, and learning the true nature of love.
4. Autumn - the decline of chivalric values and rise of empire via merchant-adventurers and the East India Company; the impact of Montaigne's essays on soliloquies; and finally, an elucidation of how the various versions of "Hamlet" reveal Shakespeare's changing view of this most problematic play.
Shapiro correlates these topics with the themes and language of Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet (the four dramas Shakespeare wrote in 1599). He also provides us with details so unexpected as to be poignant - for example, Shakespeare changing horses while riding home to Stratford. These touches reveal what critics formerly called "Shakespeare the Man" - but there's minimal speculation here, with skilful deployment of primary sources. Also the texture of Elizabethan court and civic life is stunningly evoked.
So we have the feeling of moving through the year "in real time" with Shakespeare. Daringly illuminating, this will make you critically re-evaluate not only Shakespeare, but other biographies and criticism. Well done indeed.
"Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose" and Other Lessons.......2007-01-16
"No," I tell my students, "Shakespeare did not write in Old English. Beowulf was written in Old English. Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales in Middle English. Shakespeare's language was firmly in the Modern English linguistic period." I then confess the obvious, that the language has indeed changed in the four centuries since Shakespeare wrote, but, as Shapiro's book clearly demonstrates, much else in society has not. Such demonstrations, while not Shapiro's goal, are, to me, among the strong points of his book, so let's take a peek at those first, shall we?
Looking at the year 1599 in Elizabethan England, we are struck by more than a few parallels with contemporary world affairs. We see a national leader intent on invading another country, Ireland in the earlier case. We observe ill-starred Essex leading an invading army which utterly fails to subdue the Irish. We look on in astonishment as the English quake in fear of a reported Spanish invasion and as they block the streets of London with chains and illuminate the night with burning lamps to thwart enemy infiltration under cover of darkness. Potentially, of course, that may have been somewhat more pragmatic than creating a new government department and a rainbow-hued series of "threat levels." One can only recall the French axiom "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose," or "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Little in human nature, it seems, has changed in the past four hundred years.
Shapiro's book also helps pierce the mask of literary demigod behind which Shakespeare has been hidden by generations of admiring teachers and bewildered students. We see a man who produced plays through hard labor and laborious revision. We come to appreciate that Shakespeare was a businessman with an eye toward profitability, even when such was perhaps not completely legal or ethical. In this, he was certainly a man of his time, for the proto-capitalist British West Indies Company also got its start during this period.. With another eye toward profit, he and his fellow investors literally made off with the timbers from another theater to build the Globe that has become synonymous with his plays, although of course many other plays were enacted there as well. And speaking of enactments, Shapiro reminds us that Shakespeare was an actor as well as an investor and a playwright, and suggests some of the parts that the author very likely reserved for himself.
Reading Shapiro, one comes to appreciate the political realities of late 16th century England as well. In an era when writing that was perceived to be critical of the monarchy or to justify assassination or usurpation was banned and when books were burned, one simply did not publish Julius Caesar in Elizabeth's realm. Writing that portrayed the rise of republicanism at the expense of monarchical rule simply did not appear without retribution. Such insights as these make Shapiro's book a rewarding experience for those seeking to understand the social, economic, political, and intellectual milieu which formed both Shakespeare and his dramatic creations.
The book, however, is not an unmitigated joy to read. I found my interest in Shapiro's text waxing and waning, being the strongest when he delves into historical events such as the invasion of Ireland, Essex's failed leadership of the military and his devolution from trusted general to seditious and condemned prisoner, the panic among both government and citizenry over the reported Spanish invasion with its "Invisible Armada," and other facts, such as the common practice of plagiarism among authors of the day, including Shakespeare himself, the "inconvenient" fact that copyrights were owned by publishers, not by authors, and the annoyance that Shakespeare surely felt when he discovered some of his sonnets, which he circulated only privately among a few friends, featured in a book along with others of various quality but all attributed to him! My interest does tend to wane when Shapiro departs from his historical writing to immerse us with his qualitative descriptions of the plays whose compositions he ascribes to 1599: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet; his vocabulary and syntax become somewhat dense and obfuscated when he lapses into literary analysis; moreover, that aspect of the book does not appear to be delivering what the title has promised.
My other disappointment lies in the "bibliographical essay" that consumes forty-one pages of the book. Entries are arranged by chapter and discussion topic within each chapter and are hidden within a structure of sentences and paragraphs. A simple alphabetical bibliography would have been far more usable and beneficial for the reader interested in Shapiro's sources and related works.
As far as a recommendation is concerned, I would truly regret seeing this book become assigned reading for high school or university students whose interest in Shakespearean drama and in 16th century England in general is tenuous at best. While informative for them, the writing is not sufficiently captivating to ensnare their attention and appreciation, and is likely to be considered another bit of drudgery foisted upon them by an educational system out of touch with reality. Moreover, for the well-read Shakespearean scholar and Elizabethan historian, I doubt that the book contains any revelations that have not been encountered in other sources. However, for the general reader and for the student who enjoys filling in all of the massive gaps in understanding that persist despite high school diplomas and university degrees, Shapiro's book does give a most helpful, interesting, and usually readable overview of the society that formed Shakespeare and that determined the style and tenor of his long-lived literary creations. If one is at all curious about the "life and times" of William Shakespeare, then the book is certainly worth its purchase price and, more importantly, it is worth the time and effort expended in reading it.
shakespeare in 1599.......2007-01-03
Superb look at the bard in one of his most productive years. Places Shakespeare firmly in his times. Highly recommended.
Book Description
In this U.K. bestseller, Lady Arbella Stuart emerges as a most contemporary royal, a young woman determined to shape her own destiny in the midst of her plot-ridden world.
Arbella was niece to Mary Queen of Scots and cousin to Elizabeth I — who indicated that the teenage Arbella was to be heir to her throne. A critical pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during the long, tense period when Elizabeth lay dying, the young Arbella endured twenty-seven years of isolation at the grand Hardwick Hall, held by her scheming and powerful grandmother.
The accession of James I, Arbella's first cousin, ended the young woman's royal aspirations but thrust her into James's licentious court. Then, at age thirty-five, she risked everything to make a forbidden marriage. An escape in disguise, a wild flight abroad, and capture at sea led in the end to an agonizing death in the Tower. Yet nothing is as remarkable as the almost modern freedom with which, in a series of extraordinary letters — more passionate and extensive than those of any other woman of this suffocating age — Arbella Stuart revealed her own compelling personality.
Customer Reviews:
subject intriguing but book is uneven.......2007-05-15
I read Arbella, England's Lost Queen by Sarah Gristwood becuase the subject matter interested me. Who was this woman perpetually kept as a prisoner by her relatives for most of her short life? Was she that much of a threat to the throne of King James I?
Sarah Gristwood provides lots of pertinent information about Arbella and her relations and sets the stage describing the royal personages and scandals of the day. Yet this biography is uneven at best. At times, it does not flow smoothly and the author consistently interjects her 21st century voice that often gets in the way of the story. Many of the author's comments either needed to be edited or written in a way that flowed in sync with the story and the setting. Here is an example from the book," Arbella may have been at once ill and actively scheming;just because they are after you doesn't mean you aren't paranoid" p.340. Is this last line necessary? Here is another line,"We know she was subject to depression, the "dumps". Is this a direct quote from a seventeenth century source? Somehow, using contemporary phrases and trite aphorisms does not work for a 16th/17th century royal biography. I also noticed there were some typos, unusual for a reputed publisher such as Houghton Mifflin, once again indicating this book needed a more careful editing job.
The author has clearly done her research and does give the reader many sources that give us clues as to who Arbella was, what her motivations were and how she attempted to live her life. However, due to a dearth perhaps of information on Arbella, one still feels something is missing here. I felt as if I really got to know the other characters in the history, such as Arbella's scheming aunt, Mary Talbot and her maternal grandmother, Bess of Hartwick.
Overall, the subject matter was more interesting than the presentation of the material. I think an editing job omitting the author's several cliched phrases that disrupted the flow of the story would have helped. She does pose some intriguing questions and theories and I learned alot about the time period. The Epilogue was certainly complete and well written.
Sarah Gristwood definitely did her research on Arbella. Her theories are thought provoking. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the interjection of her own voice disrupted the flow of the book, created unnecessary distractions and some of the worn out phrases could have been edited out.
Arbella: Englands Lost Queen.......2007-03-09
I found the book quite interesting, especially since it seemed like Arbella was similar to her Aunt Mary Stuart Queen of Scots in some of her actions. Was there much influence on the young girl before the execution of her aunt? There does not seem to be much to confirm this. But then there is the question of the porphyria. Since Mary & Arbella were not blood relatives could the disease cause similarites in response to stressful situations? This book has certainly sparked an interest in myself to investigate such matters. I would certainly recommend this book for those curious in historical biographies.
So far...........2007-02-13
I have had this book for over six weeks, and am only halfway through. It's good, but not engrossing. I haven't had the inclination to continue reading, even though not finishing a book is something I'm fundamentally unable to do, for the most part. It's not that the story isn't interesting; it's just that it's very dry and takes a long time to get to the heart of the story.
An excellent historical biography.......2006-03-31
What I enjoyed most about this book was that it tied together historical figures I had read about elsewhere -- the earls of Leicester and Essex, Bess of Hardwick, James I, Elizabeth I -- in a completely different context and from a widely different perspective. Sarah Gristwood did an excellent job placing Arbella and her struggles within the larger political stories of her day. Her writing, although mostly accessible, does have its moments of insiderism -- such as when she refers to Penelope Rich as Sidney's Stella, for seemingly no reason and without further elaboration. I think you're better off reading this book if you already have a working knowledge of the court of Elizabeth I.
If You Are interested in Stuart/Tudor history.......2006-01-27
If You Are Interested in Stuart/Tudor History,and the Machinations of same, i think you will find this book
of interest>i had never heard of arbella so was interested
to read about who she was.Arbella was in line to inherit
the throne but did not-James I did.Although her life
and death were sad,i would still recommend this. Sarah Gristwood
did a good job regarding the forces and turmoil in play at this
time.
Average customer rating:
- A real treat as an audiobook (a history teacher's review)
- volume 2 as fun as volume 1.
- History in Shorts
- Accessible history
- The Nightstand History of England
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Great Tales from English History (Book 2): Joan of Arc, the Princes in the Tower, Bloody Mary, Oliver Cromwell, Sir Isaac Newton, and More
Robert Lacey
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 031610924X |
Book Description
Unforgettable stories from the England of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and beyond-the rich second volume of great tales by a master of British popular history.
Customer Reviews:
A real treat as an audiobook (a history teacher's review).......2007-04-18
Robert Lacey has done something that many writers have failed to do (unfortunately) - he has written history in a fun, accessible, easy to grasp manner. After all, as Lacey points out in his introduction to Volume 1, the "history" and "story" come from the same Latin root word. Essentially, history should be the simple story of how things happened, to the best of the teller's knowledge.
Lacey's power as a storyteller is highlighted here in spades. He narrates his audiobook as well so there is the added bonus of hearing the author add nuance to the reading - essentially reading it the way he meant it to be heard.
The stories are short and entertaining. Only a couple of times in nearly six hours of listening did I find my attention wandering. This is a terrificly fun experience for any history lover. Full of interesting tidbits but not lacking in the larger themes or commentaries.
I am going to look for volume 3 and hopefully he has written or is writing his promised volumes on Scotland and Ireland as well.
Bravo!
I give this one an enthusiastic A+.
volume 2 as fun as volume 1........2007-02-12
i read the first volume of "great tales from english history," and had to immediately dive into the 2nd volume. this book covers the years 1387 to 1689, and is every bit as fun as its predecessor. these books are completely addicting. I just got the 3rd volume and having it here in the house waiting to be read has made life seem worth living a bit longer. buy all 3 of them and read them. you really should.
History in Shorts.......2005-09-08
Great Tales from English History Volume II, written by Robert Lacey, covers a wide section of history. Starting in the year 1387 with Geoffry Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales, Lacey continues until the year 1687. He includes smaller stories about various topics such as the first children's book. In Great Tales, Lacey also writes about the Plague, the London Fire, beheading, and burning traders.
Great Tales from English History Volume II covers all of the Kings ranging from Richard to James. It includes their multiple wives (especially in King Henry VIII) and children (King Charles II's 14 illegitimate children) who fought over the chance to become the next king or queen. Lacey also writes about the number of wars, both with other countries and the civil war. Religion also plays a big role in the book.
Robert Lacey's Great Tales from English History Volume II is definitely a nonfiction history book but he keeps a cheerful story telling prospective. Lacey manages to keep interest by including several smaller sections in between wars and kings. He includes smaller incidents and people to add to a person's understanding of history. Not a history person, I learned plenty about the history, most which is not taught in school.
Accessible history.......2005-09-04
I first discovered Robert Lacey as an author from his book 'The Year 1000'. Interesting, accessible, easy to follow, with a good balance of detail and breadth (always a tricky task when writing a popular history), that book was one of my favourites around the turn of the second millennium. I discovered this book on the shelves of my local library, and have found it equally worthwhile and fun to read.
This book concentrates on the late Middle Ages to the post-Reformation era in English history - in royal terms, the times of the end of the Plantagenets, the Tudors, the Stuarts, the Interregnum and Glorious Revolution (which a history professor of mine once intoned dramatically, 'was neither glorious nor a revolution'). In years, this goes from the late 1300s to the late 1600s.
One of the things that I like a lot about this particular history is that the stories are brief and self-contained while being part of the overall flow of the history of England. They make for good bed-time reading (the longest of the stories is barely seven pages long, in easy print and easy, storytelling language). Many of the characters are already familiar figures even to those who aren't Anglophiles - Joan of Arc, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth the First, Shakespeare, King James and the English Bible. Then there will be figures that are lesser known but just as interesting - the Roundheads and Cavaliers, Rabbi Manasseh, Titus Oates, the Bloody Assizes. These are tales told in a simplified but memorable manner, and could serve for younger and older readers as a stimulus for further reading and investigation about topics brought up in the text.
There are a few maps, royal lineage charts, and woodcut/line art drawings throughout the text. Lacey includes a bibliography for further reading (this contains a good number of website addresses for making further research very easy). There is also an index, which many popular histories forget, but Lacey is to be highly praised for including one here, making looking up particular names, places and events very easy.
The Nightstand History of England.......2005-08-31
A second collection of vignettes from English history by Robert Lacy, pithy and enjoyable. The drawings and layout give the book a cozy, old-fashioned feel. The stories are presented simply and clearly, and make the book an ideal choice for bedtime reading.
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