Product Description

Everybody thinks they know the tale of King Henry VIII's wives: divorced, beheaded died; divorced, beheaded, survived. But behind this familiar story, lies a far more complex truth. This book brings together for the first time the 'other women' of King Henry VIII. When he first came to the throne, Henry VIII's mistresses were dalliances, the playthings of a powerful and handsome man. However, when Anne Boleyn disrupted that pattern, ousting Katherine of Aragon to become Henry's wife, a new status quo was established. Suddenly noble families fought to entangle the king with their sisters and daughters; if wives were to be beheaded or divorced so easily, the mistress of the king was in an enviable position. While Henry VIII has frequently been portrayed as a womanizer, author Philippa Jones reveals a new side to his character. Although he was never faithful, Jones sees him as a serial monogamist: he spent his life in search of a perfect woman, a search that continued even as he lay dying when he was considering divorcing Catherine Parr thus leaving him free to marry Katherine d'Eresby. Yet he loved each of his wives and mistresses, he was a romantic who loved being in love, but none of these loves ever fully satisfied him; all were ultimately replaced. "The Other Tudors" examines the extraordinary untold tales of the women who Henry loved but never married, the mistresses who became queens and of his many children, both acknowledged and unacknowledged. Philippa Jones takes us deep into the web of secrets and deception at the Tudor Court and explores another, often unmentioned, side to the King's character.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4606 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
Philippa Jones sheds new light on a side of Henry's life rarely touched on in such detail before, in a book packed with facts. --Sunday Express

'a highly readable account' --historydirect.co.uk

'a magnificently researched work, dense with genealogical detail, which comes from an original angle to examine a complicated network of influences; familial, political and religious, that shaped not just Henry's reign, but those of his children' --Ancestors

'a fascinating look at the Tudor court' --The Good Book Guide

About the Author
Philippa Jones was born in 1950 and educated at Fairfield Grammar School and Cambridge University where she read Egyptology. She worked at Bristol's Museum and University. She has published many books and articles; her latest book, Satan's Kingdom: Bristol and the Transatlantic Slave Trade was published in March 2007.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining gossip, some shaky history
Well paced and strongly argued, but silly mistakes really spoiled my enjoyment of this one. For instance, Marie de Guise is described as a daughter of the French King - no, she was daughter of the Duc de Guise, widow of another French duke when Henry VIII showed an interest.

Also, we are informed that after Anne Boleyn's execution, in 1543, her uncle decided to bolster his family's influence by allying with the Seymour clan. As Anne died in 1536, and Henry had passed through 3 more wives by 1543, the statement is confusing to say the least!

Philippa Jones has written an enjoyable account of Henrician gossip, but in the end I was as much frustrated as entertained

Enjoyable History!
If your interested in Tudor history your enjoy reading this lovely, little book. Philippa Jones has written an interesting account of the women in Henry's life, who have been long forgotten or ignored!

The book comes with information regarding all of Henry's known mistress' and bastard children and those that were rumoured but never proved. Included in each section is a timeline and family tree of each person, plus their family history, their life with Henry and what happened to them. Many of whom had varied and exciting lives.

The book is easy to get into and wasn't taxing like many historical novels. There were some minor mistakes but nothing that caused me annoyance or frustration (and most readers would not notice or feel let down by the author, as they don't take much away from the book as a whole).

I would have liked a few more portrait pictures in the book. I do like to put a face to a name but thats my personal preference! However, a lot of these women and children have very little information that survives for us to enjoy so I don't hold it against Jones!

Overall an enjoyable book that doesn't reach too high or try too hard and would be a helpful introduction to this interesting side of Tudor life.

Disappointing
The Tudor/Stuart historical period is one of my favourites and I was looking forward to a different perspective on Henry VIII. Sadly this book reads almost as a list of names, places and dates. References to some people are repeated virtually word for word, sometimes on the same page. The sheer number of Titles and relationships of one to the other, eventually blurs into incomprehension. I realize this is non-fiction, but by page 65 I felt drained. If you want a reference book, this has all the information you could possibly ask for, but it is not an easy read.