Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love [Hardcover]

Susan James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 075244591X | ISBN-13: 978-0752445915 | Edition: 1st Ed.

This title presents the turbulent life and loves of Henry VIII's sixth wife. Romantic, chaotic, and terrifying, Catherine Parr's life unfolded like a romance novel. Wed at 17 to the grandson of a confirmed lunatic then widowed at 20, 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 the 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 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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan James received her doctorate from Cambridge University and studied under the late Sir Geoffrey Elton, the father of modern Tudor history. She has spent twenty years researching Catherine for this biography during which time she uncovered that the National Portrait Gallery painting previously identified as Lady Jane Grey by Sir Roy Strong was in fact of Catherine. The NPG subsequently relabelled the portrait. She is the chief contributor on Catherine Parr to the major 2009 Hampton Court exhibition on Henry VIII ('Henry the Magnificent'). She has written numerous articles on the Parr family including Catherine's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Her other books include Women in Tudor Art. She lives in California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The History Press; 1st Ed. edition (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075244591X
• ISBN-13: 978-0752445915
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,725,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The queen who got away, May 28, 2008

By 

Kay Kirkpatrick (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love (Hardcover)

It was dangerous to be married to Henry VIII. His first wife was cast away and died prematurely; the second was beheaded; the third died in childbed. When Henry was casting about Europe for his next wife, Christina of Denmark is supposed to have quipped, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." Fortunately for his fourth wife, she was merely divorced (and outlived Henry); but the fifth was beheaded; and the sixth too had a brush with the king's deadly wrath. Only by her wits did Catherine Parr survive.

In the first biography of Catherine Parr (1512-1548) in a quarter century (since Anthony Martienssen's), Susan James approaches her subject as more than just the sixth queen of Henry VIII (which is the context of books like Antonia Fraser's, Alison Weir's, and David Starkey's). The present book is a new, slightly shortened edition of the 1999 biography Kateryn Parr: The Making of a Queen. The footnotes of the earlier book have been relegated to the end, and gone is the last section on Catherine's brother William Parr after her death, as are the appendices, including the love letters of Catherine and Thomas Seymour and a discussion of the painting previously thought to be of Lady Jane Grey. What remains is a lively (if abruptly ended) account of Catherine Parr's life, rich in detail about her before, during, and after her reign as queen.

It is a Victorian misconception that Henry married Catherine for her nursing abilities--but she was well-versed in the medical arts of that period. She also had a humanist education normally given to noble boys at the time, since she was tutored in the same group as her brother, her sister, and their cousins, all under the keen eye of their mother Maud Parr. (Maud had been widowed young and took advantage of the independence this allowed; she was also a lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, who, ironically, was probably Catherine's godmother.)

Rather, Henry became genuinely attracted to Catherine when she was still married to Lord Latimer (her dying second husband) and in the service of the princess Mary. No doubt it helped Henry with his competitive spirit that Sir Thomas Seymour was also courting the soon-to-be widowed Catherine. And it was perhaps key that Catherine (unlike Anne of Cleves) didn't offend Henry's sensitive nose: "she carried with her small jewelled boxes of lozenges flavoured with liquorice or clove or cinnamon for sweet breath."

The notion of Catherine as Henry's nurse gives the impression--wrongly--that she was secure in her position. She certainly found her niche in the royal family, making peace between its warring members and restoring her stepdaughters Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession (she'd had practice with her Latimer stepchildren, and this part of the traditional view is correct). And she made a good and competent regent when Henry was making war in France--almost too good, though, because her conservative enemies (including Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Wriothesley) began to conspire against her. Ever since the break with Rome, Henry had been growing steadily more conservative in his religious views, although he tolerated Catherine's progressive beliefs and her choice of his younger children's tutors (enthusiastic reformers). She'd had to keep her beliefs secret during her previous marriage, especially when she was a hostage in the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace protesting Henry's dissolution of the monasteries. But now as queen, she felt the freedom to read forbidden books and argue with the king--tendencies that the conservatives exploited in their efforts to overthrow the queen.

When the conservatives contrived to have Catherine arrested, she had her forbidden books destroyed and then took to her bed, sick. She was probably more sick with fear than anything, but the ploy brought Henry to her, and she expressed her fear of his displeasure and her eagerness to make amends. The next day when she was permitted to visit him, Henry baited her for another argument, but she demurred, saying that she had only argued with him to distract him from his health troubles and to learn from him. This savvy appeal to his self-concern and vanity had the intended effect, and Henry received her back into favor--and into his bed. Wriothesley and the guards were not informed, and when they came to arrest the queen, Henry publicly humiliated them. The conservatives thus fell from power, and into their place came the reformers, including Edward Seymour and John Dudley, who would wield power during Edward VI's reign.

Catherine, too, had influence with the new king, until she alienated him by her ill-advised affair and hasty marriage with Sir Thomas Seymour. It was, finally, a marriage for love long frustrated--but it was fateful all around. Catherine herself died in childbirth (and the child appears to not have survived infancy); Thomas Seymour went to the block; and her stepdaughter Elizabeth suffered a blow to her reputation and nearly lost her life.

Susan James has written an excellent scholarly biography of Catherine, illuminating her motives and passions and highlighting her influence on the future Elizabeth I (who shared with Catherine a particular "restraint in the face of religious excess"). Catherine Parr comes across as a formidable woman, a match for Henry VIII, and a role model for her stepdaughters.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The last Queen of Henry VIII & an excellent biography, July 12, 2009

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love (Paperback)

This is an impressive biography of Catherine Parr that really rewrites a lot of what is written about her in older "six wives" books. The Catherine we see here is not the "Nurse-Queen" that is so often depicted on those who base their research mostly on Agnes Strickland as a source.

The lady we see here is someone who grew up in a house dominated by a strong woman and who survived the wilds of the north and the revolt of the pilgrimage of Grace and who never forsake an early love of learning instilled by her mother.

Catherine's nearly 4 years as Queen is particularly well covered and I felt I learnt a lot about her from this book. The Catherine you read about here is a complex woman who for someone who did not grow up at the court managed to fulfil her role as Queen to an extent that she impressed both local doubters and foreign diplomats. Of course her sudden rise and religious beliefs gave her enemies and the well known plot against here is covered well here.

For anyone interested in Tudor history I highly recommend this biography. It's well written and well researched and easy to read. You'll come away with a better appreciation of Catherine and her world for reading this.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of a fascinating woman, December 24, 2009

By 

Rachel (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love (Paperback)

Susan James's biography of Catherine Parr is an outstanding work of scholarship, which gives a vivid and detailed picture of Catherine's early life and how it helped shape the woman she eventually became, her religious, political and intellectual interests and activities, and her queenship - which had a profound influence on Elizabeth I - and relationships with her step-children. Catherine was a woman of formidable intelligence and acumen, as well as lively and passionate (leading her to sometimes rash decisions), and her eventful - and sadly, comparatively short - life is definitely deserving of a full length book.

James writes very well, and the Catherine who emerges is a much more three-dimensional figure than (as a previous reviewer mentioned) the all too common and inaccurate "bluestocking nurse-queen and kindly stepmother" portrayals suggest. She also challenges some of the apocryphal legends surrounding Catherine and those close to her, eg. the circumstances of Elizabeth leaving her household after Thomas Seymour's apparent indiscretions with her. There is also fascinating detail about Catherine's patronage of the arts, the structure of her household, her varied interests (for example, she was fascinated by clocks and watches!), all of which effectively bring to life the human being as well as the queen.

As with all good biographies, any necessary speculation is balanced with primary source evidence, and the list of footnotes and bibliography is impressive. (My only word of caution is this: the History Press paperback edition is in v-e-r-y tiny print, with which I struggled at times - and normally small fonts don't bother me - so if this is an issue for anyone, I'd suggest looking into a different edition.) Highly recommended.