Product Description

The six wives of Henry VIII - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr - have become defined in a popular sense not so much by their lives as by the way these lives ended. But, as Antonia Fraser conclusively proves, they were rich and feisty characters. They may have been victims of Henry's obsession with a male heir, but they were not willing victims. On the contrary, they displayed considerable strength and intelligence at a time when their sex supposedly possessed little of either.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47053 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

About the Author
Antonia Fraser has written many acclaimed historical works which have been international bestsellers. She has won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the St Louis Literary Award and CWA Non-Fiction Gold Dagger. Antonia Fraser was made CBE in 1999. She is married to the playwright Harold Pinter and lives in London.

Customer Reviews

sympathetic personal biography
If, like me, most historical narratives are a bit hard going (all those dates and wars!) then this is a perfect antidote: Fraser focuses on the personal lives of Henry and his wives, relegating the politics to the background.

She manages to keep all the wives distinct and give them their own persoanlity which is excellent, as well as charting Henry's development from 'angelic' young king, to bloated monster (her words, not mine).

My only slight quibble was the pacing, since we lost some sense of time between Catherine of Aragorn's long marriage and the shorter interludes that followed, but that really was minor. The end after the death of Henry felt unnecessary too, but that's personal taste.

Where Fraser really excels is in taking the sterotypes and school-kid images of the wives and revealing the 'truth' (or one truth) behind them. She keeps a balance too, never siding with one wife over another.

Altogether an excellent read with a fine sense of period.

An excellent account of the women in Henry's life
Antonia Fraser writes a very sympathetic account of the 6 wives of Henry VIII. She lets none of these wives to stand in Henry's shadow - instead, each one has certain characteristics of her own, whether uncommon intelligence, courage, unwavering influence, beauty, or skill of manipulation. Luckily for us, Ms Fraser abandons the view of Henry as despicable tyrant in favour of an intelligent ruler who often consulted his wives on political matters, discussed various aspects of the arts with them, and so often proved to be a much more gentle Henry than history tends to show. This is a lovely, well-researched narrative that includes excerpts from letters and diaries; each section is divided into 3-5 chapters that focus on an individual wife and her relationship with the king.

Lessons for us all in this well-written historical account
What a breath of fresh air to read such a well-written and thoroughly documented account of the women of this important period in English and European history. I let this book collect dust for three years before picking it up, but couldn't put it down once I started reading. I supposed I waited so long for fear of suffering through a long rendition of Henry's known cruelty towards women (and men), but Fraser leads us to understand Henry's sometimes courageous and powerful, but always immensely interesting wives. This book is about coming to grips with the rampant hypocrisy and tyranny of the time: a book rich in lessons for today! Fraser offers us real insight into the everyday lives of these six powerful women and, thus, into the lives of English and European nobility. A pleasure to read, The Six Wives of Henry VIII fills a void in our understanding of history and the women who contributed so much to it.