FanTABulous. I haven’t read a history book that’s this much fun in years. This is a great introduction to or refresher in the Tudor monarchs. It’s focused on women—King Henry VIII’s death and his son Edward VI’s reign get only a few sentences each—which provides a nice, tight focus to a turbulent era. The title is only half right; no commoners are mentioned by name in the book, although their mob-like reactions to moral issues or political events are recorded. (The very last chapter is a fun, fast look at the basic mores and customs of women, whatever their social status, but it's an afterthought.) The book is instead about the highest ranking women in the land from Henry VII through Elizabeth I, starting with Margaret Beaufort. The writing style is taut, yet it leaves room for lots of judiciously chosen tidbits from the women’s personal lives. I've read at least a dozen of Plowden's English history books, and this read like the distillation of all that If anyone’s looking into getting into Tudor history, I would recommend this book. ( )

This is a very short (160 pages) summary of the Tudor family, traced through the female family members from Margaret Beaufort to Elizabeth I. It's a good starting point for someone who doesn't know much about the Tudors, although it is not what I expected - I wanted descriptions of everyday life of women during that period. A very quick read, brief and to the point, very basic. Recommended for Tudor novices. ( )

More text about queens than commoners, but this is where I learned the backstory of Anne Askew, how she had run away from her husband and drawn unwelcome attention as a strong minded and quarrelsome woman. How interesting that she became entangled in the plotting against Henry's sixth queen, Catherine Parr.

"Anne Askew is an interesting example of an educated, highly-intelligent, passionate woman destined to become the victim of the society in which she lived - a woman who could not accept her circumstances but fought an angry, hopeless battle against them."

This book is a brief biography of some of the important women in the Tudor period, such as Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VIII’s wives, Lady Jane Grey, Mary and Elizabeth. It also talks about marriage, education and attitudes towards women. I felt that the title was a little misleading as there wasn’t much coverage of ‘commoners’ as the title suggested; the life of Elizabethan women is given a brief overview in an epilogue at the end (it’s not even a numbered chapter).

While this is a good introductory book to significant women of the period, I didn’t feel that it told me anything new (but then, I am a history student and the Tudors are one of my favourite periods to study, so perhaps that’s why). It wasn’t particularly indepth, but is a quick read, making a good starting point for those wishing to know more about the women of this period.

While a lot of it is speculation (we can’t know for sure how they felt) the author does portray them all in a sympathetic light and it seemed reasonably historically accurate with lots of quotes from contemporary sources, and, after all, a lot of the situations women faced in the 1400 and 1500s are much the same as women do now – I’m sure many can relate to Catherine of Aragon seeing her husband being ‘taken’ from her by a younger, ‘newer’ model (Anne Boleyn), and Mary’s resentment of Henry’s treatment of her mother during this time. ( )

This is a good book but it didn't tell me anything new about Tudor women. Also, it did not focus on the commoners, mainly Henry VIII's wives and his daughters. It is interesting and very easy to read but doesn't have any new information in it. ( )