1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII [Hardcover]

Suzannah Lipscomb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009

Henry VIII is known stereotypically as a corpulent, covetous, and cunning king whose appetite for worldly goods met few parallels, whose wives met infamously premature ends, and whose religion was largely political in intent. By focusing on a pivotal year in the life of Henry, this study moves beyond the caricature to reveal a fuller portrait of this complex monarch. In 1536, Henry met many failures—physical, personal, and political—and emerged from them a different man and a revolutionary new king who proceeded to transform a nation and a religion.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Suzannah Lipscomb is a research curator at Hampton Court Palace.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lion UK; 1 edition (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745953654
• ISBN-13: 978-0745953656
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > King Henry VIII

More About the Author

Dr Suzannah Lipscomb is Senior Lecturer and Convenor for History at New College of the Humanities, London, and also holds a post as Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. She has appeared on BBC'S The One Show, ITV's GMTV, Channel 4's Time Team, and BBC Radio 4's Today programme, presented BBC Radio 3's The Essay and co-presented Inside the World of Henry VIII on the History Channel. Her new three-part series on the Tower of London airs on National Geographic in Spring 2012. She is the author of 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII and A Visitor's Companion to Tudor England, co-author of Henry VIII: 500 Facts, and writes frequently for History Today and BBC History Magazine. For three years she was Research Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, based at Hampton Court Palace; she is now a Consultant for Historic Royal Palaces and on their Research Strategy Board.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cruical year for bluff King Hal, August 8, 2009

By 

M. A Newman (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII (Hardcover)

This is a short, but very interesting book on a crucial year in the life of Henry VIII. In this one year, Henry's first wife died, he suffered an accident while jousting which ended his career as an athelete, he killed Anne Boleyn, lost his illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond, married a third time, and faced a rebellion in the north over his monastic policy. All of this cope with in one year and Henry also faced the psychological issues of getting older and, yes, fatter. At 6'2" he was to become morbidly obese, ending up with a 56 inch waist. All these traumas had, as Suzanne Lipscomb argues, a significant impact on Henry's psychology and his later reign.

Lipscomb argues convincingly that Henry probably believed that Anne had cuckolded him and this was the reason for the rapidity of her judgement and execution. This act of marital infidelity and the rebellion in the North, the Pilgrimage of Grace made Henry disinclined to trust anyone at all and as such made him more likely to trim heads and ask questions later. I think this is an excellent piece of analysis and like Lacy Baldwin Smith's short book on the latter portion of Henry's reign, likely to be influential among Tudor historians.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine debut, January 20, 2010

By 

Nicklaus (Notting Hill) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII (Hardcover)

1536 was a momentous year for Henry VIII, one which saw three queens, one of whom was executed; the hope of an heir, and those hopes dashed; the dismantling of a system that ended centuries of tradition and dragged the country, finally, out of the Middle Ages; and one of the most serious rebellions faced by the king from his own people.

Suzannah Lipscomb presents each of these events in chronological order, examining their impact on the king in terms of his masculinity, religion and his descent into tyranny. It is an interesting book, well-written and thought-provoking. The illustrations are very fine, carefully selected and captioned according to context.

For those not familiar with Henry VIII, his court and his policy, there is much to be learned here. Those already steeped in Henrician studies, will find little that is new, but they could not help being impressed with Dr Lipscomb's approach and analysis. I liked this book very much, especially considering it is the author's first, and I will be looking forward to more from her in the future. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Painless history, April 19, 2010

By 

Mara S. Hardy "Relearning to Learn" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 1536: The Year That Changed Henry VIII (Paperback)

I wanted a book with accurate historical facts about the Tudor era and specifically about how Henry VIII went from being a promising young king to a mercurial, paranoid ruler who misused power. I wanted the book to be written for the layman, not the scholar. This was the perfect book.