A Brief History of the Tudor Age

by Jasper Ridley

Beginning with the arrival of Henry Tudor and his army at Milford in 1485 to depose Richard III, and ending with the death of the great Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, this incisive and informative brief history provides a vivid account of Englands most eventful and contradictory age. Its presentation of the life both in the burgeoning capital of London and in the countryside includes 16 pages of full-color and black-and-white photographs, as well as discussion of the costumes of the period, modes of travel, food and medicine, sports and pastimes, and the amazing explosion of English drama that would make the name of William Shakespeare a household word for all time. Nor does this volume overlook the stultifying narrowness of peasant life, the harsh treatment of heretics and traitors, the intrigues and machinations at the court, and the miseries of the plague. In all, A Brief History of the Tudor Age paints an astonishing panorama of an England of great beauty and violence, of splendor and squalor, of achievement and despair. Bursting with factual evidence ... a bright and lively compendium.The Observer Jasper Ridley is one of the most accomplished and successful historical biographers.Times Literary Supplement

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Tudor Period, Historical, British Literature, Renaissance, Reference

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Jasper Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He trained and practiced as a barrister, before starting to write. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and was, by his own account, violently abused while in a detention camp. He served on St Pancras Borough Council from 1945 to 1949, and stood, unsuccessfully, as Labour Party candidate for Winchester in 1955 general election.

Reviews

[Orsolya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most Tudor buffs can recite the names of popular figures and important events occurring during the Tudor dynasty as readily as one can recite their phone number. How much, though, is known about the everyday ways of life during this period? The food consumed? The laws? The clothing worn? Jasper Ridley explores these facets of the time period in, “The Tudor Age”.

“The Tudor Age” is not a standard history work eschewing the usual chronological coverage and instead focusing on a subject topic-by-topic discussion. “The Tudor Age” explores the Tudor Dynasty in terms of topics such as food, furniture, clothing, laws, transportation, jobs, etc; and thus Ridley exposes how life truly was during the time period.

Ridley’s text begins on a somewhat slow note with an overall summary of the Tudor period concerning key monarchs and events. This is somewhat dry and flat which may deter readers but hold steadfast as “The Tudor Age” becomes more compelling as it progresses. Ridley clearly conducted ample research and the detail in the facts becomes more abundant and interesting certainly teaching the reader a thing or two. However, there is still an issue with the presentation (the ‘dry’ element) which causes the material to not be as memorable as it could be.

“The Tudor Age” excels at revealing a sound ratio of the lives of both royalty and common folk versus focusing on one over the other and therefore creates a well-rounded whole picture. A problem lies with Ridley going off on tangents and repeating himself. The pace and content within “The Tudor Age” suffers from cohesive and consistency issues.

A blatant misgiving in “The Tudor Age” is with the book being quite dated both in terms of Ridley making comparisons to the publication date of the book (1988) and also of the information which Ridley states as fact when they are incorrect both in theory and research taking away from some of the credibility. Ridley also makes references to ‘current’ locations and life in England (in 1988) which has no connection to anyone not living in or having before visited the country resulting in a slight reader disconnect.

The concluding chapters of “The Tudor Age” are rather strong with compelling facts and a moving pace. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the final chapter (“Tudor Men and Women”) which feels empty and without a point therefore ending “The Tudor Age” on a weak note.

Ridley wraps up “The Tudor Age” with a list of sources (but no notes). The text also features numerous photos and illustrations—albeit in black and white and only a couple in color.

“The Tudor Age” is slightly inconsistent and quite dated and yet its focus on everyday life during the Tudor times is eye-opening and merits a read. “The Tudor Times” is suggested for all readers interested in this time period of history.

[Sarah W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book - it does present information and details I've not encountered in other works, but it is not always the most engaging presentation of the Tudor era. I also noticed more than one incorrect date (is this the author's fault or just bad editing?), and with the book's original publication date being 1988, it's certainly not a current reflection on the research and scholarly interpretation of the Tudors. Still, this book does work as an introduction to the Tudor era, although I would recommend checking other sources as well.

[zed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent Brief History. With the Emphasis on "The Tudor Age", not the kings and queens, Jasper Ridley has written a first class brief history of everything from how people dressed through to their crimes and playtime. Even food and furniture gets discussed. As far as short and sharp social history goes this is as good as its gets. Recommended.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books, this is a re-read for material for a paper I'm writing for college. I'm always happy for a reason to read this book again. It is a basically a social history of the age, it gives you the basics on the Tudor dynasty from when Henry Tudor won the battle of Bosworth to the day Good Queen Bess took her last breath. It tells you what people were wearing, when the sumptuary laws started, how people slept, what they ate at the various levels of society, and which servant took care of what. It's a fairly interesting book that gives you a bit of what happened in everyday life.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's definitely brief. For someone who already has a background in the subject, there's not a whole lot here that's new (or fully accurate). But since I chose to read it because the author's name reminded me of Jasper Tudor and Nicholas Ridley the martyr, I probably shouldn't have even wasted time reading something like this. For a newcomer to the subject, or maybe just people less Tudor obsessed than me, it would give a decent overview, but in a very dry presentation. I would be more likely to recommend The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England which really gets into what life would have been like considering the events going on in Elizabethan England.

I also wasn't in love with his very casual British slang used throughout. It felt like too much of a scholarly book for such casual language, and I'm sure the slang would annoy some of my fellow Americans.

Overall, it wasn't a bad Tudor book, it just isn't close to the best I've encountered.

[Redfox5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy books about The Tudors. I normally focus on the Royals, so it was nice to read about some of the day to day aspects of Tudor life. I expect everyone at work is sick to death of me giving them Tudor facts this week!

I would say this is best read if you already have a good knowledge of the Royal family as they are mentioned a bit but not always in order as this book is split into chapters about life throughout the entire Tudor period.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

What else do you buy at the Hampton Court gift shop

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. Although published in 1988 it had some refreshing details, such as hose and breeches; bear baiting, utopia and Thomas More, also about banquets, vagabonds and the Earl of Leicester keeping actors. I very much enjoyed this volume.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book defines the "Tudor Age" as the period between the defeat of Richard III at Bosworth Field by Henry VII in 1485 through the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. After a single initial chapter summarizing the Tudor Family, the author uses events from their biographies to illuminate and illustrate the cultural changes throughout the period as they affected all social classes. The material gives equal treatment to "Husbandry," "Costume and Fashion," and "Scholars and Doctors" as to "Heretics and Traitors" and "Law Enforcement and War," the more usual themes of books about the period.

What comes through here that I'd not fully appreciated from novels about the period and other biographies of the royals was the extent to which the lives of all of the English, Welsh, and Scots were regulated by Acts of Parliament. Travel was limited, work hours and rules spelled out, land use specified, religious observances proscribed--even which fabrics could be worn by whom and who could eat what was legislated with an eye toward the greater good.

Enhancing the text are over 170 plates and illustrations, many usually relegated to coffee table books not meant for reading. All in all, I recommend this for anyone with a serious interest in the period.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at what it was like in the Tudor age--food, work, houses, etc. If you thought we had a nanny state, read this book. Everything was regulated with microscopic detail--how much of what kind of fabric could be used in your hose, how many cows you needed to have if you had a certain amount of land. Any time the government needed or worried about something they sent out more regulations. Too many sheep and not enough farm land? Legislate that the land that was changed to pasture be turned back. But, as Ridley pointed out, there was lots of bureaucracy and very few bureaucrats. No enforcers meant many laws were ignored with impunity. Anyway, a fun and quick read.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. Full of stuff I didn't know yet. When I finished the book it left me wanting more... I missed depth.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wondered how people lived during the late 15th and 16th century, this book has everything you need to know. All aspects of existence during the Tudor era are addressed here – where people lived, what they ate, how they dressed, and what they did for entertainment are just a few. I enjoyed the more social aspects of the book like clothes, food, and pastimes, more than the administrative details like laws, enforcement, and punishment. Otherwise, it painted a very comprehensive picture of how an English subject got along during the reign of the Tudor monarchs.

[John-Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully informative, even if you have read a lot of books about the era. There is no thesis, and that's a real strength; the reader is left to make connections between, say, the chapter on clothing and the chapter on religious controversies. Covers the lives of the powerful and the lives of the ordinary with equal interest and judiciousness. Mostly based on primary sources, which makes the bibliography very useful. Could have said more about women and sexual life, but you can't have everything.

[Nisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun facts, but not a cohesive narrative

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get through this. Not the easiest to read for me as there are so many names to keep track of, but it's still interesting reading.

This book really shows what life was like with particular insight into the violence of the times, unfortunately. I can't help but think they must have become desensitized to some pretty horrific violence, living in times of heretic burnings etc. I can't quite wrap my head around enjoying bear-baiting, for example, as a type of "entertainment" during Elizabeth I's reign. On another note, the discussion of just how many laws and rules they lived under during Tudor times was new to me. They didn't have much choice in their lot in life it seems, and were much more regulated than I would have thought. You definitely wouldn't want to be a beggar or vagabond back then, but again, it seems some didn't have a lot of choice. I won't think of this era in quite the same way again, that's for sure.

The chronology provided is quite helpful as a reference and overall there is a lot to learn in this book. I'm glad I read it, except for the violent bits.

[Raluca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a book about the Tudors. There is a brief summary of the dynasty and its history in the first chapter. But what this book does is basically study the Tudor age from the perspective of its people, their habits and their ordinary lives.

As such, this will not be the most entertaining book you've ever read, as it is basically a description of facts, rather than a description of actions.

That being said, it is a very well researched book, very well written, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is building a documentation on the age, either for the purpose of writing about it or for the sake of simple knowledge.

[Gearóid O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book covering the Tudor period in England it is a good foil for those reading books about Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth the First etc as it concentrates on the Middle class and the ordinary people of the Kingdom.
Topics detailed include, fashion, farming, sports as well as law enforcement and the main political events of the date. There is a detailed chronology at the start and and some informative illustrations and pictures.
Well worth a read for those interested in this time period.

[Carol Flatten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great nonfiction book to give detailed background about the details of life in the reign of the Tudors. With all the many tv specials and novels written in the past few years about the royalty, this book gives great descriptions about the everyday life at this time in England. It discusses homes, roads, travel, religion, fashion, laws, sports, pastimes, cites and much more. An interesting point was that life in Tudor England was much more regulated than in any western country of our modern world. What's more the common people were taxed and fined inordinately.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief, 300 pages, survey of the Tudor Age in England beginning in 1485 with Henry Tudor's victory at Milford over Richard III and ending with the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. An informative brief history covering this most eventful and contradictory age. It provides a panorama of an England of great beauty and violence, of splendor and squalor, of achievement and despair. Nor does it overlook the stultifying narrowness of peasant life, the harsh treatment of heretics and traitors, the intrigues and machinations at the court, and the miseries of the plague.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this I really didn't like the style of the author's writing but I soon got used to it. While a little outdated now it still has a lot to give the general reader and if you want a general overview of this period, the main issues, political, social, religious and economic factors that came into play during the early modern period then it's worth a read. Very accessible and interesting to read.

[Tomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the author says brief, he means it! As far as history goes, he just hits the high points; but he also gives information about clothing, housing, and other bits of social history. If you've read a lot about the period, however, you already know most of it. The book would be a good introduction to the Tudor age.

[Elanor Matton-Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry. More of a reference work than an engaging read, but useful as background knowledge.

[Kelli-Anne Cottle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and inciteful look at the period, broken into themed chapters.

[Jon Beadle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed how the book was organized. Rather than tell a linear story, the author opted to simply organize different themes of Tudor society, and tell the story as it confirmed to those categories.

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really well written in depth study of the Tudor dynasty.

[Danial Hume · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt the book spent more time then I’d like in talking about the Tudor family rather than the average person living during the Tudor period. Fortunately, this pattern reverses itself after around the half way mark.

I found the book was bombing the reader with name after name of places without adding much or any interesting tidbit in the story. Such as “on the north side, the houses stretched from Bishopsgate to Shoreditch and Moorgate to Finsbury” and sadly instances of this isnt very rare in the book.

Another quirk of the book has sentences written like “He took xxx number of days to get to xxx in xxx. And on the next day he rode xxx miles to get to xxx” which made me want to drill a screw in my brain.

And when the author gave examples of something, he REALLY writes down out everything unimaginatively. Like when he lists the dioceses of bishops, it went like “the Bishop of Bicester, Sussex; the Bishop of Bath, Somerset....” he goes on for 12 bishops and their 20 or so dioceses. Oh dear god.

Fortunately, the book gets better after the half way point. The most interesting parts included the general society’s lifestyles concerning fashion, legal matters, criminal and entertainment.

Overall an interesting book (as it covers a rare topic) if you can wade through Ridley’s unimaginative writing.

[Charlene Carabott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed and rich, providing many practical insights into the way of life during the reign of the Tudors

[nindie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF for the fourth time. I just cannot decide what this book is setting out to do. I’m sorry just not for me.

[Amy]

Dnf'ed about 50%