Customer Reviews

Great Harry

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Erickson is a great biographer, and her Tudor quartet are lively and throughly enjoyable. But one of her strengths--her ability to write as a novelist--makes her inevitably biased to her hero or heroine. In Great Harry, it's clear that she has no great love of the man, perhaps a grudging admiration, and certainly a good deal of pity as relates to his later years. That said, this is still an excellent bio, highly recommended to Tudor enthusiasts more interested in Henry's wives than his statesmanship--but they would be better served reading Alison Weir.

The book showed a different side of Henry VIII, not just thestereotype of the cruel, evil, lecherous king. A great picture of hisearly life and his life with Catherine of Aragon is given, along with the difficulties he faced while on the throne throughout his life. It showed how loved and admired he was through his life (at least until the last part of his life) and gives another perspective of the heir-to-the-throne problem.

Carolly Erickson's Tudor and Stuart biographies are all splendid affairs. "Great Harry" attacks the personality of this man and the issues with which he graplled in a compelling and well-researched fashion without ever losing the reader's attention. Henry VIII was as big and grand as the Tudor age and this book captures both well. I also recommend Erickson's other biographies, especially "The First Elizabeth," about Henry and Anne Boylen's (she was the second wife, the first to lose her head) daughter. Truly one of the best popular historians writing about this period.

Yes, yes, yes! Terrific book. It provides the political and sociological background to Henry's reign as a whole, not limiting itself to the marriages, in vibrant, readable style.

Unusually, Erickson starts in Henry's childhood, giving portraits of his parents, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, as well as his paternal (Lancastrian) grandmother, the dynastic powerhouse that was Margaret Beaufort.

Each of the 45 shortish chapters contributes to the continuum of a life, rather than just the shenanigans with the famous six spouses and various mistresses. Henry's complex psychology is judiciously handled. Plus, the knotty sixteenth-century European and Church politics are rendered crystal clear.

Below I give, within the context of the six marriages, some of the less familiar material that graces this book:

1) Katherine of Aragon - Henry's bright youthfulness, her difficult pregnancies, Henry's ambitions and campaigns in France, including the Battle of the Spurs, the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

2) Anne Boleyn - plague in England and the imprisonment of Pope Clement VII by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, creating difficulties in obtaining Henry's divorce.

3) Jane Seymour - the Northern uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. After her death, Henry's brutal executions of his Yorkist cousins the Courtenays and Poles, who had arguably superior claims to the throne.

4) Anne of Cleves - Henry's search for a politically expedient marriage and his eventual alliance with Lutheran countries.

5) Katherine Howard - how fever almost killed Henry's son (the eventual Edward VI) shortly before Henry discovered Katherine's adultery. Also, Henry's PR tour of the north.

6) Katherine Parr - Henry's miserable old age and the attempts by courtiers to get Parr condemned for heresy.

There is much more here, especially on the magnificent lifestyle, making this an entertainng, enlightening book to savour.

Highest recommendation.

This book is a pleasant overview of the Tudor times, but is lacking in the meat that so many other authors have given us. The chapters are short and it is a very easy text to read. However, I did notice a few irregularities that have been pointed out by more recent authors.

I would recommend this tome for high school students or neophyte Tudor Anglophiles (who's only exposure to the times is a certain show on a movie channel that takes way too many liberties with history) who want a introductory text on the Great Harry. But if you are looking for books on the great king that serve up a full-course banquet; I would suggest such authors as Alison Weir, David Starkey, Retha Warnicke, Joanna Denney for starters.

If you like REAL historical fiction that is more on the historical side than the fiction side, this book and all of this author's books are for you. In my opinion she is unmatched at writing books that are the perfect balance between entertainment and education. I have ready many books on Henry the eighth and yet I came away form this book learning and understanding things about him that I hadn't before. She never sentsationalizes her subjects like so many others who write about this period do and suceeds in making you feel a part of their world. Fascinating book and wonderful author. I recommend all of her books.

Carolle Erickson has certainly captured my attention in the books she has written. I love History and to make it enjoyable reading is a real plus. It's quite amazing how Henry the VIII changed so greatly after some of his senseless selfish marriages yet still has such appeal to us even in the here and now. LOVED this book. Read it more than once!

If you're a British history fan, you'll enjoy this book. It's a detailed biography of Henry VIII, and paints an interesting picture of life in medieval times. Henry VIII was clearly a complex, arrogant, spoiled, and, on many levels, insecure person. There is a lot of information in this book, and the author has presented it in an easy to read, entertaining style.

Carolly Erickson wrote this fine biography of Henry VIII (1491-1547) several years ago but it is still worth a read. You may want to learn more about Henry by reading the newer works by such renowned historians as Alison Weir and David Starkey.
Erickson is a Ph.d who writes with the skill of a novelist.
In this work she lets us join her at the keyhole into the gaudy,
cruel, brutal, religiously divisive world of England in the 16th century. The medieval world of jousts was ending as the modern age was beginning. In this book we learn not only about Henry but about how people lived in the England of the Tudors.
Henry VIII was the son of Henry VII who had ended the War of
Roses and united England under the Tudors. Henry was a brilliant lad who wrote poetry, jousted, hunted for hours, enjoyed studying into the nights reading texts in Latin . Henry also had a fondness for the ladies!!!!!
Henry married his first wife Katherine of Aragon (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella) after his older brother and her husband died at the age of 15 (it was never proved if the marriage had left the pious Katherine a virgin).
Henry went on to divorce Katherine; wed and behead the fascinating Anne Boleyn; wed Jane Seymour who gave birth to his only son Edward VI; marry and quickly divorce the German princess Anne of Cleves; marry and execute Katharine Howard and finally leave Katherine Parr a widow.
Three of Henry's children ruled England: Edward; Mary (daughter by Katherine of Aragon); and the redoubtable Queen Elizabeth I.
Henry was a complex man of volatile temper; fierce cruelty against religious dissenters and politcal adversaries and massive
ego needs. Erickson is good at looking at his younger years before age, disappointment and cruelty seized his soul.
Henry was a man of his times which were cruel, short and filled
with religious controversy. He ruled England with an iron fist
despite his terrible private life. He remains as one of England's most colorful, ruthless and important monarchs.
Erickson has written three other Tudor biographies dealing with the lives of Mary, Elizabeth and the doomed Anne Boleyn.
Dr. Erickson's books are always profitable for those of us who love to visit the Tudors and their tumultous times. Recommended.

This book is a real memory dump. I suspect there's nothing that Erickson found out about Henry that doesn't appear within these covers, including the names of Henry's favorite horses. A lot of detail would be excusable if I had come away with a good understanding of the man, but I didn't. The female characters are better drawn, i.e., Henry's wives. (Erickson's portrait of Anne Boleyn, as someone who grabbed for the brass ring and just missed, is more balanced than Hollywood's.) But, still, I think there's an element of passion missing here, given that this is a book about a man whose own daughter dug up his bones and burned them