The Children of Henry VIII

285 Pages·2013·6.301 MB·English

by  John Guy

THE CHILDREN OF HENRY VIII
Books by the same author include
Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim.
A 900-Year-Old Story Retold
A Daughter’s Love: Thomas and Margaret More
‘My Heart is My Own’: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots
The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction
The Reign of Elizabeth I: Court and Culture in the Last Decade
The Tudor Monarchy
Tudor England
Contributor to
The Oxford History of Britain
The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain
T he Short Oxford History of the British Isles:
The Sixteenth Century
The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain
Children
of
Henry VIII
john guy
(cid:20)
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© John Guy 2013
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First Edition published in 2013
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ISBN 978–0–19–284090–5
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Praise for My Heart is My Own :
‘Guy’s scholarly biography, as enthralling as a detective story, provides a
wider vision of Tudor history and shows with stunning clarity how the
historical narrative was shaped.’
The New York Times
‘Rarely have fi rst-class scholarship and fi rst-class story-telling
been so effectively combined.’
John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph
‘A biography that reads as thrillingly as a detective story,
and is rich in details and authoritative in its analysis.’
Miranda Seymour, S unday Times
‘Will be the defi nitive biography of Mary Stuart for many years to come.’
The Washington Post
‘An absorbing biography . . . meticulously researched . . . scholarly and
intriguing.’
Peter Ackroyd, T he Times
‘Seldom does one encounter a book so perfect: a serious
academic study written with the lyrical quality of a good novel.’
Scotland on Sunday
Praise for A Daughter’s Love :
‘An outstanding talent for stop-the-reader-dead-in-their-tracks
storytelling . . . it has restored my faith in biography’.
Lisa Jardine, S unday Times
‘Absorbing and profoundly moving. Guy’s subtle portrait depends on
his own refusal to accept the received wisdom of historical tradition.’
Helen Castor, S unday Telegraph
‘John Guy has written an admirable account . . . the result is a minor
masterpiece.’
Jonathan Sumption, T he Spectator
‘[Guy’s] absorbing, thoroughly researched book does justice to two
exemplary women—and reminds us that history is full of ironies.’
Claire Tomalin, T he New York Times
‘Compelling . . . Guy’s scholarship is irreproachable.’
The Independent on Sunday
‘Carries its learning lightly . . . this warm and vivid portrait of the most
attractive father and daughter relationship in English history will
reward the specialist as well as the general reader.’
Eamon Duffy, The Independent
Praise for Thomas Becket :
‘It is to Guy’s immense credit that he has written such a lively,
effortlessly readable biography—a book that not only corrects many
historical errors and uncertainties, but merits reading more than once,
for the sheer joy of its superb storytelling.’
The Times
‘ . . . breathes new life into an oft-told tale of throne and altar
antagonism, with its complex undercurrents of money, politics, religion
and shocking violence. However well you think you know the story, it is
well worth the read.’
Financial Times
‘Guy deftly sets a timeless and all-too-familiar emotional
tussle . . . against the less familiar social and political landscape of
medieval Europe.’
The New York Times
‘A compelling read . . . [Guy] knows how to take the familiar and shape it
into a narrative that both improves our historical knowledge and is
entertainingly astute, and in places positively moving.’
Peter Stanford, The Independent
‘Guy wears his learning lightly, and this is undoubtedly the most
accessible Life of Thomas Becket to be published in recent years.’
Katherine Harvey, T imes Literary Supplement
‘Magnifi cently successful . . . John Guy deserves both our
thanks and our admiration.’
Nicholas Vincent, T he Tablet
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I gladly acknowledge the generosity and kindness of the many
archivists and librarians who have helped to smooth my path,
chiefl y at the British Library, the National Archives at Kew, the Fel-
lows’ Library at Clare College, the Bodleian Library, Cambridge
University Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and
especially the London Library. The genealogical tables were drawn
and digitized by Richard Guy of Orang-Utan Productions from
my rough drafts.
I’ve nothing but thanks and admiration for Peter Robinson, my
agent, for his constant encouragement and for giving helpful
advice on the manuscript. I owe an immense debt to Luciana
O’Flaherty at Oxford University Press, whose idea the book was,
and who edited it with astonishing speed and effi ciency. She was
ably assisted by Matthew Cotton, whom I thank especially for his
tact when the manuscript arrived a few weeks later than I had pre-
dicted. Alan Bryson was generous with advice and suggestions
and I am indebted to him for showing me some newly discovered
letters of the young Elizabeth that he is currently co-editing for
publication. I express heartfelt thanks to my students at
Cambridge, especially those from Clare and Gonville and Caius
Colleges, whose supervisions on the Tudors unaccountably
strayed on several occasions into territory discussed in this book.
Julia, as ever, was a tower of strength and read the complete manu-
script several times, making a number of invaluable suggestions.
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