The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Alison Weir

...been interested in history and the Tudor period is my favourite so this book really appealed to me. The reviews on the back cover claimed that the book was an entertaining account of Henry V11’s complicated domestic history, full of interesting detail. It was the promise of interesting detail taken from reliable sources, which persuaded me to buy this book as opposed to other accounts on offer. So heres a brief taster of what this book has to offer, ...
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The content
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At the front of the book is a really well detailed chronology starting from 1485 when Henry Tudor wins the battle of Bosworth Field and the Tudor Dynasty begins to 1558 when Elizabeth1 comes to the throne.

Part 1 of the book is devoted to Katherine of Aragon, Henry’s wife for over 20 years. There is a wealth of excellent data about this queen as she was a princess in her own ... more

Browsing in Waterstones at Gatwick airport recently looking for something to read, I came across Alison Weir’s six wives of Henry V111. I have always been interested in history and the Tudor period is my favourite so this book really appealed to me. The reviews on the back cover claimed that the book was an entertaining account of Henry V11’s complicated domestic history, full of interesting detail. It was the promise of interesting detail taken from reliable sources, which persuaded me to buy this book as opposed to other accounts on offer. So heres a brief taster of what this book has to offer, I certainly don’t intend to give you a history lesson!

The content
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At the front of the book is a really well detailed chronology starting from 1485 when Henry Tudor wins the battle of Bosworth Field and the Tudor Dynasty begins to 1558 when Elizabeth1 comes to the throne.

Part 1 of the book is devoted to Katherine of Aragon, Henry’s wife for over 20 years. There is a wealth of excellent data about this queen as she was a princess in her own right. The book charts her life from her early childhood as the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to her death in her early 50’s. The book gives insight into how Katherine’s character was shaped by looking at her childhood. Her mother Queen Isabella had 10 pregnancies but only 5 of her children grew to maturity, not unusual in those days. I enjoyed reading about Katherine’s siblings and what happened to them.

Katherine was initially married to Prince Arthur, Henrys older brother, the marriage created an alliance between Spain and England. However Arthur died after only a year of marriage at the age of 16. The book then follows how both Henry V11 and her father used Katherine as a political pawn.

The book gives a really clear well detailed account of Katherine’s utter despair during this period and I really felt I was getting to know this woman. Katherine eventually married Henry V111 and became queen of England. The early years of the marriage were clearly happy ones. However despite numerous pregnancies and stillbirths Katherine only produced one live child, a daughter Mary. At a time when in was considered crucial for a king to have a male heir this caused Henry great sorrow. This in addition to the fact that Katherine was 5 years older than her husband caused Henry to gradually fall out of love with Katherine.

Katherine of Aragon comes across as a pious woman with a warm heart. However it is easy to see how she could become boring when compared to younger more vivacious members of the court such as Anne Boleyn. Her many pregnancies took their toll on Katherine and her short frame soon became a wide one too. In all 140 pages are devoted to Katherine. At the end of part one I felt I had gained a real insight into Katherine’s character and had to admire her for sticking to her guns and refusing to allow Henry to annul their marriage.

Part 2 starts by looking at the dilemma facing Henry who was now hopelessly in love with Anne Boleyn. Divorce was unheard of in catholic England and Henry eventually disassociated himself and England from the pope and Rome. The political intrigue and how many lost their lives, executed as traitors, is explained in a way which is easy to read and understand.

Much has been written about Anne Boleyn both flattering and otherwise. She had many enemies and this accounts for all bad press she often gets. Like Katherine Anne suffered several miscarriages and only had one live daughter. Anne is portrayed as an ambitious woman with a temper. She died on the block to make way for Henry’s new love Jane Seymour. At the end of reading about Anne Boleyn I felt I would have liked her and that she was ahead of her time.

The chapter on Jane Seymour was the most enlightening for me. Jane Seymour is usually portrayed as an innocent young woman, with a sweet nature. Alison Weir disputes this by carefully looking at all the evidence available. Little is known about Jane’s early life, as she was not a highborn noble. However what evidence exists about her background is colourfully explored in the book. Jane Seymour’s death following the birth of Henrys longed for son was a real tragedy. It seems likely she died from an infected tear following childbirth. I found it really interesting to gain an insight into how women suffered during childbirth and what the practises of the day were.

Following Jane’s death Henry appears to have been generally devastated. However it is important to remember to put the characters into their historical period and for Henry more male heirs were needed. The next chapter is about his 4 th wife Anne of Cleeves.

Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleeves was purely arranged to create an alliance between England and Germany. From the first meeting Henry was unimpressed with Anne. Again because she was a princess in her own right there is plenty of recorded information surviving. I enjoyed reading about her later life following her divorce from Henry. It appears that Anne had a good life and lived peacefully with a very substantial income. The book follows her life after Henry’s death.

Henry’s fifth wife Katherine Howard was a fascinating read. I enjoyed looking at the evidence to try to pinpoint her date of birth. It appears that Katherine was only 15 when she married Henry. Her early life is described in her grandmother’s household, where there was little supervision. At 13 it appears Katherine had her first sexual encounter, followed by several others. There is overwhelming evidence to show that Katherine had at least one affair following her marriage to Henry. It is easy to feel sympathy for Katherine, a young girl married to a man old enough to be her grandfather, grossly overweight with a stinking ulcer on his leg, hardly a turn on! However she was found out and executed at the age at just 16.

Henry’s 6 th and last wife was the brilliant Katherine Parr. Again there is lots of detail about Katherine’s early life and previous marriages. Katherine Parr was a highly intelligent woman who did much to further the education of women. Even though Henry had broken away from Rome England was still a catholic country and to say otherwise was heresy punishable by a horrible death. Katherine was sympathetic to lutherism but had to keep this secret. The book colourfully follows Katherines ability to stay one step ahead of her enemies. Following Henry’s death Katherine was able to marry her true love Thomas Seymour. She died of an infection following the birth of their daughter, Mary. There is a fascinating record of baby Mary’s nursery requirements which gives an insight into what was considered essential for a baby of noble birth to have. I found it really frustrating that no record exists of Mary after the age of about 7 months. Alison Weir concludes that she probably died in infancy.

At the back of the book are several family trees, showing not only the Tudors, but also the Seymour’s and the Howard’s. The Bibliography is organised in chapters and gives all the sources for the information. Unlike most bibliographies this one is really interesting to read-trust me!

Including family trees this book is a long one with 620 pages. I found it the most fascinating book I have read in a long time. I really enjoy Alison Weirs style and felt I was part of the court and knew each Queen personally. I loved all the interesting little facts that were ignored when I studied this period at A level. If you are at all interested in history I would really urge you to give this book a try, I’m sure you will love it!

The ISBN no is-0-7126-7384-9. The book is priced at £9.99,but is available from Amazon for £7.99. I am now looking forward to reading other books by this author.

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