But, as Leanda de Lisle’s gripping new history reveals, they are a family still more extraordinary than the one we thought we knew.The Tudor canon typically starts with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, before speeding on to Henry VIII and the Reformation. But this leaves out the family’s obscure Welsh origins, the ordinary man known as Owen Tudor who would fall (literally) into a Queen’s lap—and later her bed. It passes by the courage of Margaret Beaufort, the pregnant thirteen-year-old girl who would help found the Tudor dynasty, and the childhood and painful exile of her son, the future Henry VII. It ignores the fact that the Tudors were shaped by their past—those parts they wished to remember and those they wished to forget.By creating a full family portrait set against the background of this past, de Lisle enables us to see the Tudor dynasty in its own terms, and presents new perspectives and revelations on key figures and events. De Lisle discovers a family dominated by remarkable women doing everything possible to secure its future; shows why the princes in the Tower had to vanish; and reexamines the bloodiness of Mary’s reign, Elizabeth’s fraught relationships with her cousins, and the true significance of previously overlooked figures. Throughout the Tudor story, Leanda de Lisle emphasizes the supreme importance of achieving peace and stability in a violent and uncertain world, and of protecting and securing the bloodline.Tudor is bristling with religious and political intrigue but at heart is a thrilling story of one family’s determined and flamboyant ambition.

    It is almost midnight and the cream of the English nobility hold their breath as King Henry VIII prepares to face his God. As the royal physicians wring their hands and Archbishop Cranmer gallops through the frigid night, two dispossessed princesses pray for their father’s soul and a boy, soon to be king, snivels into his velvet sleeve. Time slows, and dread settles around the royal bed, the candles dip and something stirs in the darkness … something, or someone, who has come to tell the king it is time to pay his dues. The Kiss of the Concubine is the story of Anne Boleyn, second of Henry VIII’s queens.

    Her name was Anne Boleyn and her story has made an indelible mark on history. This book will take you through stately homes, castles, chapels and artefacts with a connection to Anne. Explore Hever Castle, Anne's childhood home where two breathtaking Book of Hours both signed and inscribed by Anne Boleyn herself are housed; Thornbury Castle where Henry VIII and Anne stayed during their 1535 royal progress and see the octagonal bedchamber where they slept; stand in the very room in Windsor Castle where Anne was made Marquis of Pembroke. Each location is covered by an accessible and informative narrative, which unearths the untold stories and documents the artifacts. Accompanied by an extensive range of images, including photographs, portraits, letters, sketches and artifacts, this book brings the sixteenth century vividly to life - and takes you on your own personal and compelling journey in the footsteps of Anne Boleyn.

    Anne is a young twenty-first century woman in the midst of a life-long love affair with the 16th century and the enigmatic Anne Boleyn.From the zenith of Anne Boleyn's power and influence, the modern day Anne experiences, with poignant intimacy, the exhilarating days of Anne Boleyn's marriage to Henry VIII.

    But the real Boleyns were very different. In this collection of articles, best-selling author and creator of The Anne Boleyn Files website, Claire Ridgway, banishes the myths and introduces the real Boleyns. Written in Claire's easy-going style, but with an emphasis on good history and sound research, these articles are perfect reading for Tudor history lovers everywhere.Topics include:- The origins of the Boleyn family- Anne Boleyn's date of birth- Did Anne Boleyn serve Margaret of Austria and Queen Claude of France?- Anne Boleyn's love life- Anne Boleyn and James Butler- Anne Boleyn and the accusation of witchcraft- Anne Boleyn's pregnancies and miscarriages- Pregnancy and childbirth in Tudor times- Anne and Elizabeth- Anne Boleyn and the Tower of London- Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn, Earl and Countess of Wiltshire- George Boleyn, Lord Rochford- Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford- Mary Boleyn- The Boleyns and Religionand much more...The Anne Boleyn Collection II is fully referenced, with chapter notes and bibliography, and includes over 40 illustrations.

    But very little has been said about the background to their intense rivalry. Here, Linda Porter examines the ancient and intractable power struggle between England and Scotland, a struggle intensified during the reigns of Elizabeth and Mary’s grandfathers. Henry VII aimed to provide stability when he married his daughter, Margaret, to James IV of Scotland in 1503. But he must also have known that Margaret’s descendants might seek to rule the entire island.Crown of Thistles is the story of a divided family, of flamboyant kings and queens, cultured courts and tribal hatreds, blood feuds, rape and sexual licence on a breath-taking scale, and violent deaths. It also brings alive a neglected aspect of British history – the blood-spattered steps of two small countries on the fringes of Europe towards an awkward unity that would ultimately forge a great nation. Beginning with the unlikely and dramatic victories of two usurping kings, one a rank outsider and the other a fourteen-year-old boy who rebelled against his own father, the book sheds new light on Henry VIII, his daughter, Elizabeth, and on his great-niece, Mary Queen of Scots, still seductive more than 400 years after her death.

    His father, John Dudley, saw his own father executed by Henry VIII when he ascended the throne, and suffered ignominy and obscurity as a result. But John is determined to rise high and see his family restored to its former glorious position. He places his sons in the Royal Household, and Robert spends his childhood years at the Royal Court, as playmate to King Henry's children, Prince Edward and the Lady Elizabeth. Robert sees his father gain power and influence, becoming the young King Edward VI's most important courtier. But when John tries to make his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, queen,the Catholic Mary Tudor proves she has the support of the people, and John is forced to renounce Jane and proclaim Mary queen. For their part in the Nine Days Queen affair, John and his sons are imprisoned in the Tower of London, to await trial and probable execution. Forced to admit that he erred in his belief in the New Religion, Protestantism, John, along with his son, Guildford who married Jane Grey, are executed, having their heads cut off on Tower Hill. One more brother dies of illness, and Queen Mary shows mercy and releases the remaining three brothers. Robert becomes desperate to restore the family's name and fortune, and persuades his brothers to join Queen Mary's husband, King Philip of Spain, in a war against the French. In France, the youngest Dudley brother, Henry, is killed, but Robert is mentioned in despatches as having fought valiantly, and the taint of attainder is removed from the Dudley family name. The Dudleys are not considered traitors any longer. But Robert is still not wanted at court, and he is forced to leave London and settle down with his wife, Amy Robsart, in Norfolk. But he soon grows tired of both the country and his wife, and hopes one day to be able to return to the court. His chance comes when Queen Mary dies and Elizabeth Tudor becomes queen. Abandoning his wife, Robert rushes to her side. Elizabeth soon falls in love with Robert, and sordid rumours spread throughout Europe about their relationship, made worse when Robert's wife dies in mysterious circumstances, and he is suspected of having her murdered. Exiled from the court, Robert has to wait in the country for the coroner's court to return a verdict of Accidental Death before Elizabeth allows him to return to her. Robert is now a free man, but Elizabeth, ever fearful of relinquishing her power, and haunted by the beheadings of her mother, Anne Boleyn, and her stepmother, Katherine Howard, will not agree to marry him, while jealously keeping him by her side. But Robert keeps hoping, and with his heart set on becoming king, he is forced to live a double life, keeping his mistress and illegitimate son secret to avoid Elizabeth's wrath. Until he falls in love with Elizabeth's cousin, the pretty and seductive, Lettice. Lettice demands marriage when she becomes pregnant, and Robert, tired of waiting for Elizabeth and wanting an heir to carry on the Dudley name, agrees. Meanwhile, his growing reputation as politician and staunch Protestant, means that Europe looks to him to solve their religious and territorial problems. Ever eager to improve his reputation and to prove that he is more than Elizabeth's favourite, he launches himself into war in the Netherlands, and is finally offered the governorship of the Dutch, making him a king in all but name. He accepts the Dutch offer but when Elizabeth hears of it, she is furious and insists that he renounce the title. Robert is forced to make a humiliating exit. He returns to England, disappointed and broken in body. Forced to become a soldier again when the Spanish launch their Armada, Robert is too ill to celebrate the English victory and dies en route to taking the spa waters at Buxton. When Elizabeth hears the news, she looks herself away in her room to grieve alone.

    If he fails, he'll be charged with the crime himself. The mob just wants a murderer, after all, and he's as likely to have done it as any man.But James Enys isn't the man they think he is. Aided by a certain bald young playwright (with a sonnet to write) who knows his secret, the lawyer finds that he must follow the trail of evidence into the closed world of Elizabethan women, where no man could venture. Only a woman would be welcome here.It is fortunate indeed that Mr Enys has a sister. She is as intelligent as he is, and resembles him in both appearance and manner. Except, of course, that she is a woman, which in Elizabethan times, means that her opportunities are restricted. In fact, James Enys's sister is never seen in public at the same time as he is - but only Shakespeare has guessed the truth about the quiet, determined, ambitious young lawyer with a knack of seeing beneath the surface.Patricia Finney has written more than twenty novels, many of them set in Elizabethan England. This is the first of the James Enys mysteries, and the next will be coming soon from Climbing Tree Books.

    Yet through her marriage to Henry VII she became the mother of the dynasty, with her children including a King of England (Henry VIII) and Queens of Scotland (Margaret) and France (Mary Rose), and her direct descendants including three Tudor monarchs, two executed queens and, ultimately, the Stuart royal family. Although her offspring took England into the early modern world, Elizabeth's upbringing was rooted firmly in the medieval world, with its courtly and religious rituals and expectations of women. The pivotal moment was 1485. Before then, her future was uncertain amid the turbulent Wars of the Roses, Elizabeth being promised rst to one man and then another, and witnessing the humiliation and murder of her family. Surviving the bloodbath of the reign of her uncle, Richard III, she slipped easily into the roles of devoted wife and queen to Henry VII and mother to his children, and has been venerated ever since for her docility and beauty. Yet was she as placid as history has suggested? In fact, she may have been a deeply cultured and intelligent survivor who learnt to walk a difficult path through the twists and turns of fortune. Perhaps she was more of a modern woman than historians have given her credit for.

    The book is illustrated with sumptuous reproductions of paintings from museum collections, specially commissioned photographs of reconstructed, and detailed drawings and diagrams showing styles appropriate to different ranks and eras from 1485 to 1625.

    The might of Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a twenty–eight year old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death—only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne.It would become one of the most legendary battles in English history: the only successful invasion since Hastings, it was the last time a king died on the battlefield. But The Rise Of The Tudors is much more than the account of the dramatic events of that fateful day in August. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England—a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois.Drawing on eyewitness reports, newly discovered manuscripts and the latest archaeological evidence, including the recent discovery of Richard III's remains, Chris Skidmore vividly recreates this battle-scarred world and the reshaping of British history.

    Bridget Manning is forced to leave the safety and tranquillity of her home at Rivers Abbey in order to join the household of the queen, Anne Boleyn. Once there she enters a world seething with intrigue and plots against her new mistress. Will Bridget be able to navigate her way through the dangerous maze of the court or will it destroy her as it is destroying her queen?

    It has been twenty years since King Henry VIII broke away from the yoke of the Roman church and Catholicism is outlawed and a thing of the past. Bethany is the daughter of a wealthy merchant and her only concern is to avoid an arranged marriage to the impoverished baron her father had found to marry her for her dowry. When the wealthy Earl of Summerville suggests a marriage which will make her a very rich countess she is thrilled and his confession that he is a hated catholic and that he expects her to be the same, means little. If Bethany had thought about it at all, she had believed that there were no Catholics left in England. Her eyes firmly fixed on a handsome, amiable husband and the title, wealth and huge country mansion that comes with him, she believes she will never have to adhere to that condition, she believes that there will never be another catholic monarch, despite his assurances that the catholic Mary Tudor will succeed her brother to the throne. She has no idea how hard it is going to be to keep that pledge when Mary gains the throne and begins a brutal campaign to bring England back to the Catholic church of Rome. As Bethany's protestant family and friends are persecuted for their beliefs, beliefs for which they are prepared to die a horrible death, she finds the struggle to support her Catholic husband and give lip service to his faith to be impossible despite having fallen deeply in love with him. This is a tale of love, passion and betrayal in an age when God is a very real part of everyday life and the way he is worshipped worth of dying for.

    Charged with high treason and incest, he was executed in May 1536. History has forgotten that Rochford was a talented diplomat and gifted poet. History has also been unkind to Rochford's cousin, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, whose alleged pride led to his downfall and subsequent execution in 1547. Yet, Surrey is considered to be one of the founders of the English Renaissance, and served Henry VIII loyally as Lieutenant General in the French campaigns. Published in Paris in 1891, Edmond Bapst's Deux Gentilshommes-Poètes de la Cour de Henry VIII is the earliest biography of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and the only one to date on George Boleyn, Lord Rochford. Although Thomas Wyatt's name is the one that springs to mind when considering poets of Henry VIII's reign, Bapst considered Rochford and Surrey to be “the two who shone with the brightest light” and so set about writing detailed accounts of their lives, careers, poetry, and dramatic downfalls. Bapst made full use of primary sources, including sixteenth century French documents. Tudor history author Claire Ridgway found Bapst's book such a useful resource in her own research that she commissioned this English translation. Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII is true to Bapst's style and contains all of Bapst's notes and references.

    Newly arrived back in England from the seductive French Court to marry against her wishes, Anne soon meets the handsome and romantic Henry Percy. Knowing that their relationship could never be allowed, the pair quickly fall in love and are soon determined to marry. Keeping their love secret from the network of spies at the Court, it's not long before Anne's brother and sister find out about the couple. Feeling angry and deceived, they reluctantly agree to help them along their way. But when they are discovered before they can truly be happy together, the couple are separated and banned from seeing each other. But what is the truth behind the separation? Anne has her suspicions which are soon confirmed when the greedy and lustful King Henry VIII sets his sights on her. She initially declines his advances until he finally makes her an offer she cannot refuse, setting in motion one of the most defining moments of British history....

    Elizabeth I & Her People explores the stories of those individuals whose achievements brought about these changes, as well as giving a fascinating glimpse into their way of life through accessories and artifacts. The book features portraits of the Queen and her courtiers, including explorers such as Francis Drake and Martin Frobisher, statesmen and soldiers, and portraits of the Queen's female courtiers. From the mid-sixteenth century, interest in portraiture broadened as members of a growing wealthy middle class sought to have their likenesses captured for posterity. The book includes lesser-known images of Elizabethan merchants, lawyers, goldsmiths, butchers, calligraphers, playwrights and artists.