Product Description

From the arrival of Henry Tudor and his army, at Milford in 1485, to the death of the great Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, this was an astonishingly eventful and contradictory age. All the strands of Tudor life are gathered in a rich tapestry - London and the country, costumes, furniture and food, travel, medicine, sports and pastimes, grand tournaments and the great flowering of English drama, juxtaposed with the stultifying narrowness of peasant life, terrible roads, a vast underclass, the harsh treatment of heretics and traitors, and the misery of the Plague.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81537 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
"- 'Mr Ridley has written a meticulous, sane and lucid book.' (The Freemasons) The Economist Review Feb 2000 - 'Masterly, rich, comprehensive, and consistently fair, intelligent and readable.' (Lord Palmerston)- Michael Foot, Evening Standard, London - '...scholarly, lucid and judicious..."Definitive" is a foolish word to apply to history but it will be a long time before we read a biography of Louis Napoleon and Eugenie which better deserves the appellation.'(Napoleon III & Eugenie) - Philip Ziegler, The Times

About the Author
Jasper Ridley was a former barrister turned author and became one of England's leading biographers, recent works including lives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. His Lord Palmerstone was winner of the James Tait Black prize. His last work, The Freemasons, was highly acclaimed.

Customer Reviews

Life in tudor England
Ridley's book is a highly readable account of aspects of Tudor England not particularly addressed in any of the standard biographies. If one feels a little squeamish reading the chapter detailing punishments for criminals, then there is plenty of other fascinating information on the road systems, dress, housing, seafaring and pastimes along with a look at Tudor London. A lot has changed in 500 years and this book is excellent for understanding the machinery of everyday life for everyone from King and Queen to peasant.

I do have one complaint about this book though. It seems that no Tudor historian can view the Wars of the Roses period without a severe pro-Lancastrian bias and by looking on Henry VII as some sort of saviour. Ridley makes several mentions of Elizabeth of York having been 'imprisoned' by Richard III at Sheriffhutton (that's Sheriff Hutton to the rest of us), which is nonsense, and does serve to undermine this otherwise well written and researched volume. At this point I was tempted to throw the book across the room in disgust. The opening chronology is useful for reference, but I would assume that anyone picking up this volume would have a basic knowledge of the major events over the Tudor period, so the overview in the first chapter is in my opinion unnecessary, overly basic and if I'm completely honest, just a little bit patronising. Take my advice and skip this bit and get stuck straight away into the interesting stuff!