Very hard to read | Six Wives of Henry VIII

To be a wife of Henry VIII , Good or bad? | Six Wives of Henry VIII | Alison Weir

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	• Six Wives of Henry VIII Alison Weir Ballantine Books, 1993 - 656 pages average customer review:based on 138 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fill in the holes, if you have read other books about this period.

A must read if you have been enticed by the interesting tale of the period... Perhaps you have read some of the fluffier books with more romance and fictional license. This is book fills in many of the holes. This book is a nice enjoyable read with great details that touch on the people in a Titan's wake.

The women come to life.
The politics and decisions that baffle us, centuries later, come into focus as you understand the rival nations and religious reform of the era. GREAT NOVEL.

This author did research and portrayed the characters factually and clearly.

Her Eleanor of Aquitaine novel is excellent as well.

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Very hard to read

If you are a fan of Philippa Gregory, like myself, and you relish in the scandals and dramatics of King Henry VIII's Court, this may not be the book for you. This reads a lot more like a history textbook. Not exactly salacious or trashy. Just provides a lot of background and facts about this period of time. I just couldn't stay engrossed. I guess I need the fictionalized version, no matter how accurate it may be. Not exactly a short casual read by any means.

To be a wife of Henry VIII , Good or bad?

To be a wife of Henry VIII would be great if you were content to not to be an individual with any rights.You would want for nothing.On the other hand if you wanted to express your self and be seen as an equal you would be treading on thin ice.

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Social and personal history at it's best

Alison Weir provides a fascinating, richly detailed and penetrating human history of the life of King Henry VIII and his six wives. The work is meticulously researched and provides a deep and intelligent understanding of these six fascinating ladies and of King Henry himself.

While Henry VIII was responsible for some great achievements for England, he developed into a cruel tyrant; anyone who aroused his suspicion or displeasure was likely to be be executed and those who died included nobles, ministers, prelates and 2 of his six wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

Catherine of Aragon was a proud Spanish princess, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and a deeply pious Roman Catholic. She was betrothed at three years of age to the first son of King Henry VII, Arthur Prince of Wales and became Prince Arthur's wife at 16. Arthur died six months after their marriage and Catherine spent 7 years in poverty and insecurity, abandoned by Spain and despised by Henry VII, robbed of her dowry and never sure of what her fate would be. Catherine bore these years with great faith, strength and dignity.
After Henry VII's death, in 1509, the newly crowned Henry VIII made her his wife, and they lived together for eighteen years.
Of the five children born to Catherine, only Mary lived. She became Queen Mary I ("Bloody Mary"). Henry desperate for a male heir and enchanted by Anne Boleyn, decided to annul his marriage to Catherine.
Catherine resisted the annulment as long as she could, while always declaring her loyalty and love to the king.
After Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church to divorce her, Catherine lived in retirement.

Anne Boleyn was a chamber maid to Catherine of Aragon when the king became interested in her.
Henry secretly married Anne in January, 1533. Henry's Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer pronounced Henry's first marriage null and void.
Anne Boleyn was crowned queen in June and because of circumstances beyond her control was unpopular with the English people and had many enemies.
Anne gave birth to Elizabeth in June.
But Henry a cruel and selfish man had wanted a boy and soon tired of Anne.
After she repeatedly failed to produce a male heir, Henry and his chief minister Thomas Cromwell had Anne framed for adultery and executed.
Anne was an intelligent and courageous women, as well as ambitious and capable at times of ruthlessness.
She was a strong adherent to the Protestant cause and well read in Protestant theology at a time when it was dangerous to do so.
The author reveals that Anne was not however the scheming wanton that some historians have painted her as.

Jane Seymour by contrast was not the good hearted innocent some have seen her as. she copied Anne Boleyn's methods of witholding her sexual favours to the king until she was Queen. She was favoured by the Catholic camp.
She seemed to have remained on the King's good side and bore him his long wanted male heir to be Edward VI.
She died of illness soon after Edward's birth.

Henry was then maneuvered into a marriage by his chief minister Thomas Cromwell, to the Protestant German princess, Anne of Cleves, to bolster the Protestant cause.
Henry had only soon seen Anne of Cleves in a portrait but when he met her he found her unattractive exclaiming "I like her not".
He soon divorced her but because Anne of Cleves did not resists the divorce and was amenable she avoided a tragic fate and lived out a comfortable retirement with a large inheritance, the longest living of Henry's wives.
Ironically the Protestant princess Anne of Cleves was converted to a devout Catholic, by Princess Mary, who became her close friend.

After that the powerful Howard family manipulated one of their young daughters, the 15 year old Catherine Howard to marry the king, and was supported by the Catholic faction. The aging Henry's large ego was thrilled to betroth an attractive girl over thirty years his junior. When he married her, Henry described Catherine Howard as his "rose without a thorn"
Catherine was good hearted, but simple and sexually promiscuous. Described as giddy girl."

The machinations of the court destroyed her and she was not shrewd enough to survive.
She was accused of adultery, whether she was guilty is not known, but she never stood a chance and was executed on the orders of the cruel and vengeful Henry,a truly tragic tale.
Catherine Howard was a powerless pawn used by powerful and unscrupulous forces.

Henry's last wife was the level headed and highly intelligent Catherine Parr. She managed to outlive the king, and befriended the young Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward, showing a kindly character. She was a strong Protestant and believed in church reform (she had secret Lutheran sympathies) and the author believes she would have made a mark as a great thinker in times when women were encouraged to think independentally and make an intellectual contribution.
Her strong religious convictions led her to argue with King Henry about religion, and the author writes that she may have been lucky the King died when he did.

Catherine Parr, later married Sir. Thomas Seymour and was a great friend to the Lady Jane Grey.
she also foretold that the young Princess Elizabeth was destined by Heaven to be a great Queen of England, when she had told Elizabeth to leave her house after Elizabeth had been seduced by Thomas Seymour, showing her powers of vision and her non vengeful nature,
She was a visionary and a good woman.

An interesting historical anecdote. Friar Peto predicted in 1532 that if King Henry cast off Katherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn he would be as Ahab and the dogs would lick his blood.
After Henry's death his lead coffin weakened by the motion of the carriage burst open, and liquid matter from the body seeped out onto the church pavement. A dog was with the plumbers who came the next morning to repair the coffin, and it was seen to lick up the blood from the floor just as Friar Peto had predicted.

Like all of Alison Weir's works this volume combines detailed history with a thrilling and smooth read. Everything you could want in a factual history volume.
It is social and personal history at it's best and captures the essence of the time of Henry VIII's reign and the wider events involving England at the time.

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Excellent!

I got through this book much quicker than average. I could hardly put it down. Very well written and extremely interesting.

"Brilliantly written and meticulously researched...Alison Weir is adept at bringing to life these historical figures."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Henry VIII is perhaps England's most infamous monarch, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. He was married to six distinctly different women, and in this richly detailed and meticulously researched history, these remarkable, often misunderstood queens come to life once again. Their full histories and personalities emerge at last, giving voices to the six extraodinary women who left their distinctive marks on the English throne and thereby changed the course of British history.

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