Product Description

Romantic, chaotic and terrifying, Catherine Parr's life unfolds like a romance novel. Married at seventeen to the grandson of a confirmed lunatic and widowed at twenty, Catherine chose a Yorkshire lord twice her age as her second husband. Caught up in the turbulent terrors of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, she was captured by northern rebels, held hostage and suffered violence at their hands. Fleeing to the south shortly afterward, Catherine took refuge in the household of Princess Mary and in the arms of the king's brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Seymour. Her employment in Mary's household brought her to the attention of Mary's father, the unpredictable, often-wed Henry VIII. Desperately in love with Seymour, Catherine was forced into marriage with a king whose passion for her could not be hidden and who was determined to make her his queen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88694 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-21
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

His 'most dearly and most entirely beloved wife' No. 6 - the one who was neither divorced nor beheaded but survived
For a long time this is the first proper biography on Katherine Parr. Of course she features in all of the works on Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but very often it only covers the parts of her life after she had become a member of the Royal Family.

Susan James's work on Queen Katherine gives a full picture of Katherine's life. The parts related to the life before her marriage to the King are most interesting and already shed a lot of light on Katherine Parr. Her relationship with her mother Maud and her mother's example how to manage as a widow her own life, her family and her estate and her valuing education for females is quite revealing. The same applies to her relationship with her sister and brother. Susan James corrects the strangely often repeated notion that Katherine married the 2nd Baron Borough of Gainsborough while in reality she was married to his son and heir who happened to carry the same first name. Her second marriage to the 3rd Baron Latimer seems to be a dry run for the marriage with the king: she married an older, sickly man of higher social standing and got two step children which were becoming quite close to her. The marriage to the king seems to be a repeat of this situation. But Katherine as Queen managed to fulfil her role in an excellent way. She was made even regent during the King's absence. She seemed to have liked the power.

Susan James puts Katherine in perspective of the role of woman at the time, deals with aspects of education for females, covers Katherine's role to foster these, her own achievements and of course with her political and religious importance. She is not blind to her faults and describes her own misjudging of the situation and relationship with the King leading and causing the crisis of 1546 which nearly cost Katherine her position and properly her life. However, it is prove of her flexibility, intelligence and calm how she solved the situation.

Most interesting are the descriptions how she hoped to become regent for young Edward VI.

Her last marriage after the King's death to Thomas Seymour might have been a love match, but cost Katherine her reputation. Susan James tries to do justice to Thomas Seymour, tries to paint him in a better light as historic reputation has it, but even she has to give finally in.

All in all a book I enjoyed as covers all aspects of Katherine's life, not just her few years as Queen Consort. It shows one of the many remarkable Tudor women. She was much more than simply wife No. 6.

My only regret is that the book itself is quite badly printed. Parts of the descriptions of the photos are missing. The publisher could have done a much better job, however that does not undermine the value of Susan James's work.

A fascinating lady
This is an interesting book. Catherine Parr reminds me a bit of Anne Boleyn, but there hasn't been much written about her. Martienssen's book on her is good too, but this is more up to date. I read the first version of this, which I think is called Kateryn Parr. It was good, but had as much about Catherine's brother and sister-in-law as about Catherine. I liked that because I'm interested in Edward VI's reign, and the Marquess and Marchioness of Northampton were interesting. However, this is a much tighter story, focusing fully on the queen. If you're interested in Henry VIII's wives, or independent and intelligent sixteenth-century women, I'd recommend this.

It depends on what you are looking for
Apart from having her love for Seymour set aside so the King could marry her and managing to never put herself, Edward or those around them at risk of his jealousy; Parr was a stepmother to Mary, Elizabeth and Edward who tried to create a united family, she was a religious reformer who asserted herself too strongly and Henry arranged her arrest only to be persuaded otherwise at the last minute. If she hadn't been able to win Henry back round with some swift grovelling she could have lost her life. She probably would have been a great regent for Edward VI's minority. She's a exciting and vibrant figure.

This book lost a sense of Catherine the woman though by throwing a dozen dates and a family tree in every sentence. I appreciate the need for the dates and the genealogy but the way they were presented in this book made it hard work to read and not particularly satisfying. 3/10 I'm afraid for me as a lay reader. Parr deserves a warmer, more readable biography. That said, it is amazingly well researched and if you are reading it for study rather than pleasure this is definitely a 8/10.