The Tudors For Dummies

by David Loades, Mei Trow

This entertaining guide covers the period from 1485 to 1603, exploring the life and times of everyday people (from famine and the flu epidemic, to education, witchcraft and William Shakespeare) as well as the intrigues and scandals at court. Strap yourself in and get ready for a rollercoaster ride through the romantic and political liaisons of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I - and that's not all! Information on surviving Tudor buildings, such as Hampton Court, adds a contemporary twist for readers wanting to bring history to life by visiting these historic sites. The Tudors For Dummies Part   The Early Tudors
Chapter 1:  Getting to Know the Tudors
Chapter 2:  Surveying the Mess the Tudors Inherited     
Chapter 3:  Cosying Up With the First Tudor   Part   Henry VIII
Chapter 4:  What was Henry like?
Chapter 5:  How Henry Ran his Kingdom
Chapter 6:  Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, Beheaded, The Perils of Marrying Henry
Chapter 7:  Establishing a New Henry and Religion Part Edward VI, Mary and Philip, and Queen Mary
Chapter 8: Edward, the Child King
Chapter 9: Establishing Protestantism
Chapter 10: Northumberland, Lady Jane Grey and the Rise of Mary
Chapter 11: What Mary Did
Chapter 12: Weighing Up War and Disillusionment Part The First Elizabeth
Chapter 13: The Queen and her Team
Chapter 14: Breaking Dinner Party Discussing Religion and Politics
Chapter 15: Tackling Battles, Plots and Revolts
Chapter 16: Making War with Spain
Chapter 17: Understanding the Trouble in Ireland
Chapter 18: Passing on the Baton - Moving from Tudors to Stewarts Part The Part of Tens
Chapter 19: Ten top Tudor Dates
Chapter 20: Ten Things the Tudors Did For Us
Chapter 21: Ten (Mostly) Surviving Tudor Buildings

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Tudor Period

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2010

About the author

David Michael Loades was a British historian who specialised in the Tudor era. After military service in the Royal Air Force from 1953 until 1955, Loades studied at the University of Cambridge. In the 1960s and 1970s he taught at the universities of St. Andrews and Durham. From 1980 until 1996 Loades was Professor of History at the University of Wales; after taking emeritus status, Loades served as Honorary Research Professor at the University of Sheffield from 1996 until 2008.

Reviews

[Elizabeth(The Book Whisperer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and informative. If you love Tudor history, I recommend this one for sure.

[Sophie]

Dit boek legt op een simpele manier de rijke geschiedenis uit de Tudor-periode uit en hoe ze de Engelse troon bemachtigden (en weer verloren). Het ontstaan van de Anglicaanse kerk en de gevolgen ervan worden goed uitgelegd. Ook wordt geschetst hoe het dagelijkse leven eruit zag in die tijdsperiode. Hierdoor wordt dit boek een mooie inleiding in de wereld van de Tudors en is het een prima opstapje om andere non-fictie boeken te lezen over de Tudors.

[Ashley Rheiner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by a history professor and yet so full of inaccuracies and false information that I fear for his students.
Where exactly were the fact checkers when this book went through editing?!
If this book went through the proper corrections, it would end up almost completely rewritten.

[Doris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information which makes a great jump off to other research material. It will be good information for historical novels.

My main issue has to do with at one point (I'll have to look for the page) the text refers to Mary and Elizabeth's mother . They had different mothers, which is shown on the family tree on page 46. However, sadly, this one piece of mistaken information makes the entire book a less-than-accurate bit of research material.

[Laure Estep · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent overview of the era, enough to give me places to start to learn more.

[Kira]

Dnf at page 32 , it was more textbook like than I expected, I read the first section and a bit but wasn’t retaining the information well

[Marloes D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek gaat over de Tudor vorsten. Het behandelt bovendien het ontstaan van de Anglicaanse kerk. Verder worden er beroemde personen en gebouwen mijlpalen besproken.

Toon: soms te lollig
Schrijfstijl: toegankelijk, makkelijk leesbaar
Tempo: precies goed

[Papalodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought for dummies would be an opportunity learn about the life and times that shaped Britain which normally would not appear in autobiographies or history book. Interesting tidbits, trivia, if you will.

The new 'left' in religion - Puritans, Presbyterians etc. Staunchly against Blasphemy. If you took the Lord's name in vain you were punished with an iron spike through the tongue.
(WOW - that would spike a rise in the price of iron today.)

Antony Sherley, 1599, sailed on a completely unauthorized mission to Persia. Whether he ever brought any coffee beans back to England, for roasting, is open todoubt - Elizabeth's government made it clear he'd overstepped the mark with his Persian adventure and he was told not to come back.
He came back by 1603, annoyed Jame I, was arrested.
Leading to the vital change in the law which set up parliamentary privilege;
an MP cannot be arrested just for speaking his mind.
(A lesson American politicians have taken to heart.)

About the coffee thing - 'The Turks, drinking a certain liquor, which they call Coffe, will soon intoxicate the braine;'
they claimed it warmed them up when the weather was cold
and was cleansing because it made them break wind.
(Later, B. Franlin would advocate 'fart proudly'.)

Trivia, history ...and so much more;
poking fun at Tudor Life and Times.
The goode olde days when judgement was made, a sentence passed and any appeals to a guilty verdict, oh well, ho-hum to that.

[♡ Lisa - Can't talk, reading... ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is informative, funny and very reader-friendly. I am a staunch fan of the For Dummies series and have been impressed with the quality of information and degree of accessibility that this book and others in the series provide. For me, this one narrowly missed out on a five star rating due to the very poor editing of the text. Perhaps it was just the kindle version I purchased, but I found it to be full of punctuation errors, obvious typos and others small but persistent mistakes throughout. Overall, though, I highly recommend it. It's refreshing to find a history book that doesn't treat me like I have a doctorate in the topic at hand!!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book!

[Len Addinall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of this part of British History, with the Dummies' humorous turn

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well put together, I enjoyed the read very much and thought it was informative while being written in a fun way

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I was looking for more detail into the subject but I did like at then end, there were "firsts" introduced by the Tudors.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic history of Tudor England; effectively filled in some gaps in my knowledge to give context to more substantial books that I'm reading on this subject.

[Bunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is true that I am quite the Dummy, I'm not a Dummy when it comes to The Tudors. I'm a rather big obssesser, in fact. But a) I will always read books about The Tudors, b) I am always craving more information about them that I didn't know, and c) I've never read a For Dummies book. So, hey, why not?

I am chock full of useless information, and it makes me SO HAPPY. A lot of stuff I'd never heard before. Not necessarily about the family itself, but little things about Ye Olde England.

I care very little about the battley stuff, so that slowed me down. But everything else, especially the religious upheaval and unrest, was absolutely fascinating. I REALLY want to read a good book on the Spanish Inquisition now.

Because I just got done drowning in the world of GoT, the comparisons are mind blowing. The world GRRM built is so heavily based on real life, and people should be disturbed. HOWEVER! Illegitimate children weren't shameful. So STFU, Catelyn. /unrelated rant

Now, I present to you! My favorite useless facts I learned while reading this book. In order of when I bookmarked them. Unless I REALLY liked it, then I moved it upward. Which is why they're not numbered.

* Henry VII was the first king to be called "Your Majesty". None of that Your Grace shit.

* The magic phrase hocus pocus comes from the people's garbled version of the communion service - hoc est corpus - "This is the body (of Christ)." -- Whee!!

* Henry VIII's court cost 47,500 (pound key) to run in 1545. I don't even make that a year now. Jesus.

* Under the Sumptuary Law, you could be fined for "dressing above your station". Good lord.

* The Pale was a part of Ireland near Dublin where there were constant battles and skirmishes. No one wanted to go "Beyond the Pale" because it was hopeless. Whee!

* Henry VII taxed the super rich, enabling him to control their wealth and earning him 130,000 (pound symbol) a year. Wait, you mean taxing the rich is a good idea? Who would have ever thought of that?!

* Catherine of Aragon had an affair with a Franciscan monk who may have given her syphillis?!?! (Post-Henry/Anne)

* Henry VIII went to mass five times a day. He was suuuuuuuuuuch an overcompensatin' little shit.

* When Mary was in power, dead heretics' remains were dug up and burned in public. The fuck???

* Edward II was born on my goddaughter's birthday. Aww.

* Henry VIII's (alleged) last words were "Monks, monks, monks." Heh.

* Mary was so sexually naive that when she overheard someone call a lady-in-waiting a whore, she thought it was a compliment and started using it.

* Puritans said if you took the Lord's name in vain, you were punished with an iron spike through the tongue. Jesus, would I be in trouble.

* Elizabeth was accused of being swayed by female emotions. HMMMMMMMMMMMM THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR GOOD THING WE'RE SO MUCH MORE EDUCATED NOW A DAYS.


And I'm done. Well read.