Tudor England: A History

by Lucy Wooding

A compelling, authoritative account of the brilliant, conflicted, visionary world of Tudor England
 
When Henry VII landed in a secluded bay in a far corner of Wales, it seemed inconceivable that this outsider could ever be king of England. Yet he and his descendants became some of England’s most unforgettable rulers, and gave their name to an age. The story of the Tudor monarchs is as astounding as it was unexpected, but it was not the only one unfolding between 1485 and 1603.
 
In cities, towns, and villages, families and communities lived their lives through times of great upheaval. In this comprehensive new history, Lucy Wooding lets their voices speak, exploring not just how monarchs ruled but also how men and women thought, wrote, lived, and died. We see a monarchy under strain, religion in crisis, a population contending with war, rebellion, plague, and poverty. Remarkable in its range and depth, Tudor England explores the many tensions of these turbulent years and presents a markedly different picture from the one we thought we knew.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Tudor Period, European History, British Literature, Historical

720 pages, Hardcover

Published January 3, 2023

Reviews

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a doorstopper, but don't let that fool you into not reading this book if you are a fan of all things Tudor. A tremendously interesting book that stays far away from popular conceptions of the five Tudor monarchs. So much of Tudor history is "the six" centered or Elizabeth centered, and all the monarchs get their due - and with new historical details and a different approach (especially Queen Mary). And Tudor history often leaves out the regular person, and Wooding makes sure that does not happen. The importance of religion and the religious changes coming from what was really a small minority takes center stage as well. A meaty, fascinating, excellent history.

[Chad D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warmly sympathetic to Henry VII and Mary Tudor and Catholicism. Highly satisfactory with vivid vignettes and detail, loads and loads of well-chosen detail. Not snippy or sniffy about the importance of religion. Structured as a chapter on each Tudor monarch's reign with one or two single-issue chapters in between. Could've used more in-depth exploration of people's personalities, but that's probably what biographies are for. As good an overview of a highly complex period of more than a century as 564 pages can deliver.

[Orlando · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up - it started off strong but was generally disappointing. Of course I understand how important religion was to Tudor England, from the big rituals to regional traditions and people's personal faith, but man did she just go on about it. Honestly, I think it could have been called 'Tudor England: Politics and Religion' and I would have at least been prepared for the sheer amount of Catholicism vs Protestantism.

Which leads me to the part where I suspected, 150 pages in, that the author was showing favour to Catholicism over anything else, so I looked her up. Her work centres on Tudor Catholicism and the Reformation so it's clearly her wheelhouse: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/people/d...
Nothing wrong with this, but again, given other books I've read in Tudor England, I was expecting a less one-sided view.

[Elyrria · Rating 2 out of 5]

DnF at 50%. I learned a few things from this book, but it lost "stars" because the author seems like a conservative with dangerous views. For example, she says that even though the Tudor era was patriarchal, patriarchy isn't the same as misogyny.. Then, on the next page, she explains how women's lives were marked by procreation (also implying that those who could not conceive were lesser than). Defining the ability to produce life as a source of power implies that women who could not reproduce (like some Tudor queens) were disconnected from that power. Women's power should not be inherently tied to fertility. It's okay to find it empowering if you want to, but the framing of birth in Tudor England was contingent on the provision of (male) heirs for a man. Let's be honest with ourselves here. We shouldn't be upholding false forms of empowerment to make historical times seem more progressive than they were.

Also, patriarchy is inextricable from misogyny, even if it is expressed via impact, not intent. Trying to separate the two things is silly. Men do not have the depth or range to effectively rule women across the board, nor should they hold disproportionate power in society. A society run by men (patriarchy) who knew little about women was bound to be misogynistic, even if it wasn't always intentional. A page or so prior, the author also explains how men were often prosecuted for infanticide (a crime), while women were punished for witchcraft (not a real thing or a crime...)? She also states how men were supposed to rule their families judiciously, while women were uniquely expected to have patience to suffering. Like, what do you think misogyny is? You're debunking your claim on every page. Just because some women were bold or vivacious doesn't mean that patriarchy wasn't misogynistic at its core.

She also states how men were declared to have power over their wives but that their interpretations of rulership might be more kind. (Aka they might align their rulership with the traits of a loving god.) Benevolent oppression is still oppression. It doesn't sound like the author understands how patriarchy was and is inherently anti-woman. It doesn't matter if a man rules over women with kindness any more than if a white person rules over Black people "kindly." Both are misogynistic and racist perspectives, respectively. (Think about how bad it would sound to say that white people are even equipped to "rule" over Black people. That's called white supremacy. Why do we not ascribe the same level of unnacceptability to gender issues? Rulership here is contingent on race and sex value.) The point is that even if they try, a white person will never be fully equipped to rule over Black people in all areas of life because they don't share their lived experiences. The same goes for men and women. I'm not contesting the idea that men (or white folks) can lead within context (e.g., a teacher at university governing their classroom), but that assumed widespread rulership over people groups one does not represent is hateful.

I'm disappointed with the author's irresponsible handling of these issues. Hierarchies inherent to patriarchy are also inherently anti-woman. Just because women had control over birth and birthing practices doesn't mean those practices weren't also informed by patriarchal misogyny. Women being proud of patriarchal Tudor purification rituals isn't pro-woman. It's just women enacting and succumbing to patriarchy. For example, my mother is proud of her role in purity culture. It doesn't mean she isn't upholding misogyny. Women's feelings don't automatically determine whether something is misogynistic or not, which the author seems to forget. (Congrats, Aunt Lydia. You dictated how birth should go in Gilead.) That's how patriarchy functions. It sounds like the author has a lot of internalized misogyny to address within herself because she isn't recognizing what misogyny looks like or how it operates. This makes it hard to trust many of her other interpretations of history throughout the book.

[Helene Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an interesting take focusing more widely on England rather than specifically on the court and people. Chapters on religion, the balance of power, invention, and Europe and the wider world, as well as on reigns of monarchs, make this a fascinating read.

It was well-written and engaging with plenty of primary source quotes and analysis. You can tell that Wooding has really done her research for this book. There are extensive notes at the back of the book relating to the endnotes in each chapter, which makes it easy to follow-up on where Wooding got her information and track her sources. There are also extensive suggestions on further reading broken down by chapters in the book.

The index is also comprehensive which I like, as I always love being able to look up a particular person or location or event for my own research. I think that all history books should have a good index, and I get frustrated when they don’t, so this one is a great addition.

There are a couple of mistakes which stops it being a 5-star read for me. The book says that Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour on the day of Anne Boleyn’s execution and that they were married on 20 May 1536. In reality, Henry and Jane were betrothed on 20 May and married on 30 May 1536. It also says that Anne Boleyn in 1536 and Princess Elizabeth in 1554 entered the Tower of London via Traitor’s Gate, but Anne at least entered via the Queen’s Stairs.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters between the monarch’s reigns as they were the things I knew the least about with lots of discussion about what things meant back in the 16th century, trying to avoid the 21st century bias of what we understand things to be like. The image plates in the centre are also a good selection of portraits, manuscripts, and artefacts in colour, and there are black and white images throughout, including a lot of places and more manuscripts.

Overall, I think that Lucy Wooding’s book is a brilliant addition to any Tudor library and, although I borrowed this from the university library where I work, I will be looking to purchase my own copy in the near future!

[John Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was an interesting, thorough-going view of not only the Tudors themselves, but the world they lived in and changed. As interesting as the monarchs are (and by God they are) the totality of this story is much more engrossing.
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2023 Reviewed 📚 14

[Deb Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly excellent. If you're wondering what else could possibly be said about the Tudors, it turns out there's loads. This is about the people, the millions, not just the few we've concocted fantastic stories about and taken them as truth. This is a soaring attempt to light up the faces of the many, as well as the usual suspects. Highly recommended.

[Paul Charsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Varied greatly between chapters. This book's purports to be different from other books on the tudors in that it concentrates on life in the tudor period for everyday people. I thought much of this was quite repetitive and the more interesting chapters concentrated on the 5 tudor kings and queens.

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others have said, this is a doorstop of a book, which although I found frustrating in part, it was worthwhile overall.
It’s not an introductory book to the period, but a considered review, as you need to be familiar with the subject matter to follow the author’s arguments as she jumps backwards and forwards through the period. This can work reasonably well for the nine chapters dealing with more general topics, such as relations between commoners and nobility, and several chapters on religion, but less suited for the five chapters commenting on individual monarchs. Woodings’ summaries of historical changes, achievements and events sound credible and succinct, but unfortunately she often doesn’t clearly show us the evidence to support her summaries.

Chapter one tries to outline the kingdom of England as it changed from 1470 to 1600, discussing the non-gentry and the landscape. It covers a lot of ground, but therefore is necessarily brief, and benefits from the reader having some existing knowledge. Many of the examples are new to me, having previously read a number of books about the period, and usefully illuminate aspects of the period.
Chapter two looks at Henry VII’s reputation, concluding:
It is a bitter irony that the man whose success laid the foundations for all the achievements of the Tudor era that followed nevertheless remained the most shadowy and underappreciated Tudor of them all. The workings of historical reputation are savage and frequently unjust. Henry VII deserved a different fate.
Again, Wooding gallops back and forth through Henry VII’s reign to tell his story, without a straightforward narrative, assuming that a reasonable knowledge of the period already exists in the reader.

Chapter three discusses religion prior to the Reformation, making the argument that Catholicism was still a very potent force amongst the general population, bringing communities together. She also argues that Lollards were only considered a precursor of Protestantism in retrospect, not at the time. This was good and relatively convincing, but I’m still not really understanding how this changed, but that is for subsequent chapters.
Overall, the chapters discussing the changes to religion were the most interesting for me, as although I still struggle to understand how Protestantism gradually replaced Roman Catholicism, Wooding enlarged my understanding. For me, the book is more than worthwhile the time invested for this.

Chapter 10 on Mary’s reign was very well argued, as it covered a short five year period, and so had time to consider both political events and the religious return to the Catholicism of Henry VIII.

Chapter 12 on Elizabeth has some clear thoughts that were persuasive of Elizabeth’s aims, but again assumed that the reader was already aware of the events during Elizabeth’s reign. However Wooding did make me feel as if I had a better understanding of Elizabeth.

Overall, a very good read, marred by the author’s inability to clearly discuss the pivotal events of Henry and Elizabeth’s reigns in chronological order. I read this in ebook format and can see that I highlighted over two hundred passages, so it had plenty new to me.

I docked this book a star after starting Alison Weir’s Children of England, and realising that this would have been a far easier read if the author had rewritten her book for clarity, not changing the substance, but making it easier to read once and understand, rather than having to reread.

[Keeper of the Privy Seal · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, almost perfect. An immensely in-depth analysis on every aspect on Tudor society, with the overarching theme being the decline of traditional religion and the rise of Protestantism, and how that (very gradual) change made Tudor society a battle ground, on all levels. I truly feel like I can visualise Tudor society, in my minds eye, with a greater degree of clarity than ever before.

Any downsides? As a few have mentioned, this book does have a strong degree of Catholic bias—atrocities were performed on all sides of the religious spectrum, but it does seem the point the author was trying to make is that the Catholics were more peaceful than many initially believed, and the Protestants more violent, shady, aggressive, and militant than once thought. While I certainly agree that the popular narrative of ‘the Catholic Church was keeping the world in the dark and exhorting money wherever they could’ and that the Reformation was the light out of that dark is greatly, greatly exaggerated—the traditional faith united the nations of Western Christendom under one banner, after all—the Catholics were still performing atrocities on a large scale, just as the protestants were. Other than this, the book was, in my opinion, perfect.

[Hugh Coverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a true tour de force. A wonderful history of the entire Tudor period. As Wooding notes in her conclusion: “Writing the history of any era is an exercise in humility, as we realize the depths of our own ignorance,the banality of our modern assumptions and the levels of challenge faced by those who lived and died so many years ago.” Wooding has given me a better understanding of this important era in English history than I had heretofore had. An important and satisfying book.

[Leo Kilroy]

ginger supremacy !!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. I love the social history focus and correcting of long-standing myths. I also really enjoyed the author’s pithy writing style.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

There can never be a definitive history of Tudor England. The debates about religion, government and society still rage unabated as they have done for much of the past 500 years. I suppose, ignoring for a moment the Horrible Histories nature of the period, this is why the reigns of the Tudor monarchs continue to have such a hold over our imagination in a way that the Plantagenets and Stuarts do not.

Lucy Wooding's new book is not the first on the Tudors that I have read and I doubt whether it will be the last. It quite possibly will be the best. What comes across from almost the first page is that the author is someone who has spent her life with these people. She doesn't simply know her subject, she has managed (as far as any historian ever can) to get under the skin of her subject. She shows empathy for her subjects and balances historical detachment with, what you sense, is a genuine love for the Tudor men and women that she studies.

The book is in some ways a collection of 14 essays, although it doesn't read like this. Portraits of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I are interwoven with chapters on society, the arts, the wider world and of course, religion. Each chapter brought new treasures to light whether it was the cure for gout (thin dead dog, stuffed with frogs, ground to powder and ingested between the feast of the Annunciation and the feast of the Assumption - it's the specificity of the timing that amazes, had someone tried this at Candlemas and it not worked?) or the micro details of individual lives (Flouncing Bess, the prostitute, cropped at the pillory) plucked out from obscurity by chance and good record keeping.

There is some mild revisionism. Henry VII is rescued from later Tudor propaganda and shown to be a half decent king. Mary I's reputation as the sadistic burner of Protestants is put into the context by the more than double the number killed under Elizabeth after the failed Northern uprising (although of course it is the burnings that did for Mary's reputation, not simply the number).

One little oddity, picked up by this student of Reformation history. Diarmaid MacCulloch's name is not to be found in the further reading, which is odd given the amount that he has written. Had Lucy Wooding read his collection of essays All Things Made New, she wouldn't have fallen into the trap of repeating the myth that Cranmer's coronation sermon spoke of Edward VI as the new Josiah, something that MacCulloch himself did until further research proved his error. Big histories rest on the work of little monographs.

Not the definitive history of the Tudors, but good enough until the next one.