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Bezig met laden... In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIIIdoor Derek Wilson
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. A compelling book which combines strong academic insights with the best elements of popular historical writing. Rather than using the familiar approach of the six wives, Wilson takes six famous Thomases of the era—Wolsey, the accused traitor; More and Cromwell, at opposite ends of the politico-religious spectrum and both beheaded; Howard, reprieved from execution by the death of Henry VIII; Wriothesley, who perished in the aftermath of a failed coup; Cranmer, burnt at the stake as a heretic—to tease out the power structures which lay tangled at the heart of the Tudor court. He's good at recreating the atmosphere of the period, though I disagree with both his assessment of More and his characterisation of Catholicism in pre-Reformation England, which surely can't hold up to criticism now that we have works such as Eamonn Duffy's Stripping the Altars. Interesting introduction to the period, but one which must be read critically. ( ) geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
The story of Henry VIII and his six wives is a well-known example of the caprice and violence that dominated that king's reign. Now Derek Wilson examines a set of relationships that more vividly illustrate just how dangerous life was in the court of the Tudor lion. He tells the interlocking stories of six men-all, curiously enough, called Thomas-whose ambitions and principles brought them face to face with violent death, as recorded in a simple mnemonic:'Died, beheaded, beheaded,Self-slaughtered, burned, survived.'Thomas Wolsey was an accused traitor on his way to the block when a kinder death intervened. Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, whose convictions and policies could scarcely have been more different, both perished beneath the headman's axe. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, would have met the same end had the king's own death not brought him an eleventh hour reprieve. Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, though outliving the monarch, perished as a result of that war of ambitions and ideologies which rumbled on after 1547. Wriothesley succumbed to poison of either body or mind in the aftermath of a failed coup. Cranmer went to the stake as a heretic at the insistence of Mary Tudor, who was very much the daughter of the father she hated.In the Lion's Court is an illuminating examination of the careers of the six Thomases, whose lives are described in parallel-their family and social origins, their pathways to the royal Council chamber, their occupancy of the Siege Perilous, and the tragedies that, one by one, overwhelmed them. By showing how events shaped and were shaped by relationships and personal destinies, Derek Wilson offers a fresh approach to the political narrative of a tumultuous reign. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)942.0520922History and Geography Europe England and Wales England 1485-1603, Tudors Henry VIII 1509-47LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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