Mary and Philip


Book Description

The co-monarchy of Mary I and Philip II put England at the heart of early modern Europe. This positive reassessment of their joint reign counters a series of parochial, misogynist and anti-Catholic assumptions, correcting the many myths that have grown up around the marriage and explaining the reasons for its persistent marginalisation in the historiography of sixteenth-century England. Using new archival discoveries and original sources, the book argues for Mary as a great Catholic queen, while fleshing out Philip’s important contributions as king of England. It demonstrates the many positive achievements of this dynastic union in everything from culture, music and art to cartography, commerce and exploration. An important corrective for anyone interested in the history of Tudor England and Habsburg Spain.




The Myth of "Bloody Mary"


Book Description

In this groundbreaking new biography of "Bloody Mary," Linda Porter brings to life a queen best remembered for burning hundreds of Protestant heretics at the stake, but whose passion, will, and sophistication have for centuries been overlooked. Daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, wife of Philip of Spain, and sister of Edward VI, Mary Tudor was a cultured Renaissance princess. A Latin scholar and outstanding musician, her love of fashion was matched only by her zeal for gambling. It is the tragedy of Queen Mary that today, 450 years after her death, she remains the most hated, least understood monarch in English history. Linda Porter's pioneering new biography—based on contemporary documents and drawing from recent scholarship—cuts through the myths to reveal the truth about the first queen to rule England in her own right. Mary learned politics in a hard school, and was cruelly treated by her father and bullied by the strongmen of her brother, Edward VI. An audacious coup brought her to the throne, and she needed all her strong will and courage to keep it. Mary made a grand marriage to Philip of Spain, but her attempts to revitalize England at home and abroad were cut short by her premature death at the age of forty-two. The first popular biography of Mary in thirty years, The First Queen of England offers a fascinating, controversial look at this much-maligned queen.




The Seventh Window


Book Description

1997 was an important year for Sint Janskerk in Gouda, as the Museo del Prado in Madrid asked to borrow the cartoon of the King's Window by Dirck Crabeth for the exhibition 'Felipe II. Un príncipe del Renacimiento'. Inspired by this event, it was decided to compile an anthology about the church's seventh window. Based on the many-facetted topic an international group of scholars from various disciplines studied the stained-glass window in depth as a crucial presentation of Philip II's Netherlandish and English years. An important step in current research into an enthralling era in European history of the sixteenth century.




Mary Warnock


Book Description

This biography illuminates the life and thought of Baroness Mary Warnock, whose active years spanned the second half of the twentieth century, a period during which opportunities for middle-class women rapidly and vastly improved. Warnock was described as ‘probably the most celebrated philosopher in Britain.’ She began her career as an Oxford University philosophy don and went on to become headmistress of an independent girls’ school. Warnock subsequently chaired two select committees which produced reports of lasting significance, first to children with special needs, and second to childless couples. She then became Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, and an active member of the House of Lords. Alongside these positions, Warnock wrote twenty books, ranging from the fields of philosophy to education and medical ethics. Her ideas were largely in tune with contemporary progressive thinking but late in life Warnock’s extreme championing of assisted dying for older people won her enemies even among progressives. This authorised biography, written by a friend of the subject, will be of great value to the general reader with an interest in philosophy, ethics, twentieth-century cultural history, and the changing role of women from the 1950s onwards.




Woodsmoke and Sage


Book Description

Traditionally history is cerebral: what did they believe, what did they think, what did they know? Woodsmoke and Sage is not a traditional book. Using the five senses, historian Amy Licence presents a new perspective on the material culture of the past, exploring the Tudors' relationship with the fabric of their existence, from the clothes on their backs, the roofs over their heads and the food on their tables, to the wider questions of how they interpreted and presented themselves, and what they believed about life, death and beyond. Take a journey back 500 years and experience the sixteenth century the way it was lived, through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.




Philip of Spain


Book Description

Reassesses King Philip II's reputation as narrow-minded tyrant, describes the major events of his reign, and presents a more rounded depiction of his personality




The Boy King


Book Description

One of Open Letters Review's Ten Best Historical Novels of 2020; First Place Winner, 2021 Chaucer Award for pre-1750s historical fiction "Highly recommend both as a standalone and series read. Wertman's work is among the best Tudor fiction on the market" - Historical Fiction Reader His mother, Jane Seymour, died at his birth; now his father, King Henry VIII, has died as well. Nine-year-old Edward Tudor ascends to the throne of England and quickly learns that he cannot trust anyone, even himself. Struggling to understand the political and religious turmoil that threatens the realm, Edward is at first relieved that his uncle, the new Duke of Somerset, will act on his behalf as Lord Protector, but this consolation evaporates as jealousy spreads through the court. Challengers arise on all sides to wrest control of the child king, and through him, England. While Edward can bring frustratingly little direction to the Council's policies, he refuses to abandon his one firm conviction: that Catholicism has no place in England. When Edward falls ill, this steadfast belief threatens England's best hope for a smooth succession: the transfer of the throne to Edward's very Catholic half-sister, Mary Tudor, whose heart's desire is to return the realm to the way it worshipped in her mother's day.




Mary I


Book Description

A new appraisal of the first Tudor queen offers a detailed portrait of the daughter of Henry VIII and his Spanish wife, Catherine of Aragon, exploring her religious faith and policies, as well as her historical significance in English history.




The Spanish Marriage


Book Description

England inside the early years of Henry VIII can be visible as a newly risen energy, with continental commitments; a rich united states of America, way to the economies of the King's father, and for this reason sought as an ally with the aid of the more considerable States. Her traditional friendships were in Spain and Portugal. her enmities with Scotland and France; of those latter, Scotland, overwhelmed with the aid of the victory of Flodden in 1513, gave little trouble throughout Henry's reign.The Empire was a sprawling internet of territories that covered Spain, the Netherlands, Burgundy, Sicily, and Naples, with a host of small principalities, electorates, and bishoprics in Central Europe, now drawing collectively towards the advancing risk of the Turk. These territories encircled France and forever threatened, in line with the temper of their masters, that compact nation. In 1521, Charles, grandson of Ferdinand of Aragon, turned into elected to the imperial throne, and thereby observed himself heir to an alliance with England, collectively with a vast debt; Henry VIII had lent money to his spouse's household for wars in Barbary and the quieting of the Low Countries. Charles becomes prepared to accept and similarly this alliance, without any want to add to his responsibilities by using conquest, and to pay the debt using any method which did no longer involves the passing of cash. The New World had not but began to yield its treasures. The Emperor, for all his energy, becomes bad.




The Gospel of Mary


Book Description

A young Irish nun finds herself the guardian of a mysterious manuscript claiming to be the lost gospel of Mary, when she realizes that church authorities are willing to kill to get their hands on it . . . An old and dying nun has turned up at Deirdre's monastery in Ireland with an ancient manuscript on a papyrus roll. When Deirdre reads the first line, she realizes it claims to be a previously unknown gospel written by Mary, the mother of Jesus. The church authorities in Rome have been seeking to destroy this gospel for centuries, claiming it is a forgery that threatens the very foundations of the faith. Deirdre begins to translate the gospel, but when a delegate of the pope arrives in Kildare searching for the text, she must set out across Ireland seeking safety as the church and its henchmen are hot on her trail. What does the gospel say? And why is the church so afraid of it?