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The Six Wives of Henry VIII

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I have always had a soft spot for King Henry VIII's wives and enjoyed reading about them, but never have I come across such a detailed, colorful, and engaging biography of them as this. Alison Weir has done a phenomenal amount of research in compiling this book. She provides us with countless details of the lives of these women, including excerpts from letters written by, addressed to, or about them. She also dispells many of the myths that have grown up around the six Queens. For instance, Anne Boleyn was not the promiscuous wanton she has often been described as, and Jane Seymour may not have been quite as sweet and innocent in nature as most people believed her to be. Coupled with her easy, fluid writing style, this factual detail brings each of the women to life. We get to know them intimately as Weir unlocks their widely varied personalities.

Katherine of Aragon (mother of Queen 'Bloody' Mary) was a loving and devoted wife to Henry for 24 years. When he ultimately cast her aside in hopes of finding a more fruitful wife (one who would provide him with a male heir, which Katherine had failed to do), she firmly maintained that she was the King's true wife, the Queen, and always would be. For the rest of her life, she never permitted anyone to call her anything but 'Queen', even though she lived out her last miserable years in a dank, unhealthy estate, with insufficient resources.

Anne Boleyn (mother of Queen Elizabeth I) was an outspoken and ambitious young woman, originally one of Katherine's waiting women. She caught the King's attention and Henry developed an overwhelming passion for her. His desire to rid himself of Katherine and marry Anne ultimately led the King to break with the Roman Catholic Church, something scandalous and unthinkable to most of his contemporaries. Unfortunately for her, Anne lacked sufficient discretion, and her political oponents found it all too easy to lay upon her false accusations that would result in her execution.

Henry once said that he loved Jane Seymour best of all his wives, perhaps because she succeeded where his other wives had failed - she gave Henry his heir, Edward VI. But Jane, much loved by many Englanders, did not occupy the position of Queen for long. Shortly after the birth of her son, she succumbed to infection and died. Henry remembered her as his favorite for the rest of his life, and ordered that he be buried at her side when he died.

Anne of Cleves, the shortest-lasting of Henry's Queens, was ultimately the most successful of the six women. Henry arranged to marry the German princess based solely on seeing one portrait of her. This portrait, however, had exaggerated her appearance, and when the King saw his new wife he was repulsed. He immediately sought a way out of the marriage. Anne could have faced a grimmer fate, except that she was cheerfully compliant where Katherine had been stubborn. The marriage was annulled with ease and the King, grateful for her cooperation, provided Anne with property, funds, and a title as his honorary sister.

Henry's next wife was not so fortunate. Katherine Howard was was only a young girl when she married the King, who thought of her as 'a rose without a thorn.' In Katherine, he found a way to recapture his youth. But Katherine was young and silly, and worst of all, sexually promiscuous. When the king found out, he was shattered, and Katherine soon followed in the footsteps of her predecessor and cousin, Anne Boleyn, and was executed before the age of 17.

Katherine Parr, Henry's sixth and final wife, served a different function than those who had come before her. By this time the aging King was in failing health and exceedingly fat. Katherine became more of a nursemaid for him, as well as a companion with whom he could converse. Within a few years, the King died, leaving Katherine a widow, free and in charge of her own fate. She re-married and had a daughter by her new husband, but died shortly afterward.

The book is long, but well worth the read. Weir has done an extraordinary job of introducing us to these vibrant, diverse women. The book is full of information, facts, quotes - but the writing is very digestible and flows smoothly. Henry's first two wives are given the most attention - Katherine because she lasted the longest, and Anne because she has been saddled with such an infamous reputation. The other wives are not described in so much detail, but we still get to know them quite well. Weir takes us through the entire lives of these women, from their childhood and time before marrying the king, through the ends of their lives (which, in the cases of Anne of Cleves and Katherine Parr, extended beyond the King's own death).

Included in the book are several black and white images - mostly paintings of Henry, his family, his advisors, and of course, his wives. I would have liked to see these printed in color, but they are nice enough as is. At the back of the book, Weir has included genealogical tables of England's royal dynasties, the Tudor family, and each of Henry's wives. This is an extremely helpful reference for keeping track of the connections between various nobles that involved in the lives of the King and the women he married. 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII' was a great read, and I would highly recommend it.

I love English history, especially the period from King Edward IV's reign through the Tudor's. Henry VIII was one of the most powerful monarchs in British history, who ruled England in unprecedented splendor. He has long been one of my favorite historical characters, as have three of his six wives, Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Parr. For better and for worse, he was certainly a larger than life figure. (quite literally so - at his death, he was obese). I know of very few fictional personages who are as complex and fascinating as this man, (and the women who attracted him). Born to Elizabeth of York and King Henry VII on June 28, 1491 in Greenwich Palace. Henry was a second son and not expected to rule. But rule he did. He became heir to the throne on the death of his elder brother, Prince Arthur, in 1502, and succeeded in 1509. Sir Thomas More once said of him, "If a lion knew his strength, it were hard for any man to hold him."

Henry was highly intelligent, and, as a youth, quite athletic. Described by a contemporary: "He speaks good French, Latin and Spanish; is very religious; heard three masses daily when he hunted ... He is extremely fond of hunting, and never takes that diversion without tiring eight or ten horses ... He is also fond of tennis." He wrote books and composed music, and was a lavish patron of the arts. As the author of a best-selling book, which went through 20 editions in England and Europe, attacking Martin Luther and supporting the Roman Catholic Church, Henry was given the title "Defender of the Faith" in 1521 by the Pope.

"The second half of Henry's reign was dominated by two major issues, very important for the future of England and the monarchy: the succession and the Protestant Reformation, which led to the formation of the Church of England." Women and the role they played in the King's life, impacted many of his policies and actions - but the Protestant Reformation and the succession, in particular, had their roots in Henry's relationships with women. He was perhaps England's most infamous monarch, especially when it came to matters of lust, love, marriage, and the unusually cruel and ruthless ways he invented to terminate soured relationships. He was married to six distinctly different women. Author Alison Weir chronicles Henry VIII's metamorphosis from vibrant young prince to despotic, paranoid old king through his marital history, in this richly detailed and meticulously researched composite biography. She has used many public records, diaries, diplomatic sources, and personal letters of the early 1500's to offer a comprehensive, factual version of the private and public lives of Henry VIII and his wives.

Ms. Weir writes, with great elegance, wit and insight, about each of the women, and how their lives impacted their times and history. She also describes each of these complex women, their unique characters as individuals, (not just as consorts to a king), their motivations and ambitions. She outlines their ascent and decline, and how they related to one another, their peers and families...and to their husband.

Catherine of Aragon dominates the first part of the book, but that is to be expected. She was married to Henry for 24 years, and prior to their marriage, she was wed to his older brother Arthur, a cause for future problems for the realm and much heartbreak for Catherine. Queen Catherine is portrayed most sympathetically, and that is my inclination also. She was a noble lady, raised to serve as Queen, who loved her husband, almost as much as she loved God and the Catholic Church. I have always wondered how Henry's character, his country and history would have changed if Catherine had born him a healthy son. One of the most poignant sentences in history, is one of Catherine's last. As she lay dying, she dictated a letter to the husband who had so ruthlessly abandoned her. She bid her scribe to write: "Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things. Farewell."

Anne Boleyn was an extremely well-educated, and very independent young woman, especially given the times. And Henry was obsessed with the idea of possessing her. Anne played his obsession to the hilt. Her complex and ambitious nature, as well as the politics of her downfall, are portrayed with great skill by Ms. Weir. Anne never bore Henry his longed for son, but she was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, a truly great monarch.

Poor Jane Seymour's mild manner was a temporary, but welcome, relief to Henry after his relationship with and marriage to Anne. However Queen Jane's narrative is brief, as was her life. She died after birthing Henry's only living son. Henry once said that he loved Jane Seymour best of all his wives, (she never really argued with him or expressed differing points of view), and he was buried by her side.

Anne of Cleves, perhaps the most politically astute of Henry's wives, certainly the one with the best survival skills, was thrilled to be cast-off and allowed to keep her head.

Unfortunately, the naive and beautiful Katherine Howard, Henry's "blushing rose without a thorn" went the way of Anne Boleyn, because of promiscuity, lack of savvy, and church politics.

And Catherine Parr, a woman of extraordinary intellect, was one of only eight women whose writings were published during the reign of Henry and his father. She was fortunate to become aware of a plot against her before she met the same end as Queens Anne and Katherine.

As a backdrop to these personal dramas and matters of state, the author draws a lavish portrait of court life with its moral and political intrigues. She details the struggle for international power, and clearly explains England's break with Rome and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

This is a superb and very readable history, that has been meticulously researched. I have read three histories of King Henry VIII, his reign and his wives, and this is by far the best. I highly recommend it.
JANA

The story of Henry VIII's rule can only truly be told once a reader understands the vital importance attached to begetting an heir to the kingdom. Alison Weir, as usual, offers this thoroughly-detailed, sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking portrait of a man who, thwarted at nearly every turn from getting a queen who could produce strapping male heirs to the Throne of England, descended from a jolly, back-slapping prince to a fat, cruel and nearly despotic king, whose final wish to be buried alongside Jane Seymour must have cut his final surviving wife, Katherine Parr, to the quick.

But, as the title suggests, the primary thrust of this book is not so much Henry VIII as each of his unfortunate wives. One learns a great deal more about them than the usual lines given by armchair historians. For example, "saintly" Jane Seymour, usually depicted as a meek and mild young thing, was just as much a deliberate factor in the downfall of Anne Boleyn as her royal husband-to-be. And as one reads about Anne Boleyn's temper, one teeters between sympathy for her and ... a vague feeling that perhaps Henry beheaded her not so much for failing to produce an heir as to get her to shut up and cease her constant nagging and ill-tempered outbursts. (Of course, then you swing back into Anne's camp, figuring anyone living with someone like Henry would be ill-tempered ... or perhaps worse!)

And so it goes ...

Fascinating, chock full of details of court life and rife with facts from many primary sources, Alison Weir's account of Henry VIII and his wives remains a standard of its genre.

This is perhaps one of the finest biographies of the women who shared their lives with one of the most powerful and fascinating monarchs to have ruled England. Weir devotes the utmost care to each of the six wives of Henry VIII, telling their stories with compassion and giving each an individual voice. Most of the energy of this book is clearly directed on Henry's first two marriages, first to Katherine of Aragon and the divorce that helped to create the Church of England, and his stormy second union with Anne Boleyn, mother of the Great Elizabeth, chronicling her astronomical rise in power and her spectacular fall from grace. Powerful and masterfully written, Weir recreates the fantastical Tudor court and sweeps the reader into this realm effortlessly. Immensely readable and absorbing, this is Alison Weir at her very best. Extremely well researched, I would recommend this book to anyone who is the least bit curious about 16th century society as viewed through the eyes of 6 of the most important women of their time.

I have one word to say-WOW! I am thirteen years old and last November my family took a trip to London over Thanksgiving break. While in Westminster Abbey's gift shop, I noticed this book about Henry's the Eighth's wives. The book looked HUGE and I jokingly told my brother I was going to read it. I started looking at it and it looked so interesting I really did end up buying it. Once I got started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I had heard about a King named Henry with six wives before, but this book completely changed my view of him AND his wives. Weir shows us their thoughts and feelings and brings every character to life. After reading the book, I reccomended it to my best friend's mother, who read it and loved it also. After reading it, I began to look for more books on the Tudor period in Great Britain and have become an absolute fanatic on the subject. I learned more from this one book than from all my other history classes combined!

First I want to applaud Ms. Weir on her research and attention to detail. It was nice to read a more detailed description of Henry VIII than what you usually get in this type book. So much of the book was spent on Katherine of Aragon and so little on the other 5 wives that I was somewhat dissapointed. There seems to be more information available on Katherine of Aragon, however I question the attention paid to some of the sources Ms. Weir has used. Not the validity of them but the obvious bias of the sources. And Ms. Weir continued her unfortunate habit of losing her objectivity part way through the book. I found this thoroughly frustrating in her book "The Princes in the Tower" and almost as frustrating in this book. Still, this is an interesting book if you can overlook the obvious bias she has when writing of Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Alison Weir is a master at turning historical information into well-versed, readable material. I bought this book and could not put it down for two weeks. We all learn such skewed facts about Henry VIII through ill-informed resources. Weir's unbiased, often shockingly truthful account of this period really opened my eyes to what it must have been like to live in King Henry's court. I can't recommend this book enough!

In this excellent, thoroughly researched and well-presented history, Alison Weir brings us up close and personal to six women who shared the life of one of England's greatest kings. From his first wife, Katherine of Aragón, the Spanish princess to whom he was happily married for 24 years until her failure to produce a male heir to the throne led him to throw her on the dump heap, to Katherine Parr, who managed to survive his temperamental outbursts and suspicion and who ultimately buried him, Weir shows us these women not only as queens and consorts, but as women with distinct personalities and characteristics which helped some to survive while dooming others.

The first two wives are presented in greatest detail; we see Katherine of Aragón, devoutly Catholic, not only suffering private agony as a soon-to-be discarded wife about to be thrown over for a younger and more attractive woman, but genuinely concerned that Henry is jeopardizing his immortal soul by divorce and remarriage; and Anne Boleyn, whose one great accomplishment was producing the greatest monarch in English history, Elizabeth I; headstrong, devious, fatally impulsive, rising out of nowhere to the pinnacle of success and ending her days on the execution block. In shorter chapters we also see Jane Seymour, the great love of Henry's life, giving him his only son and dying tragically young; his rebound marriage to Anne of Cleves, whom he loathed at first sight, dumping her for Katherine Howard, a teenage airhead who lost her head on the block for adultery right under the king's nose; and Katherine Parr, amiable, level-headed, sensible enough to put up with the aging king's increasing suspicion and cruelty by keeping a low profile, and ultimately, along with Anne of Cleves, surviving him.

As a matter of fact, for this reader the most interesting of the six wives was Anne of Cleves, generally dismissed in the history books as a klutz with a passing resemblance to a horse, whose only crime was succeeding Henry's most beloved consort. Anne may not have been a raving beauty, but it's to Henry's discredit that he was unable to appreciate her as a gracious, good-natured, sensible woman, a good stepmother to his three children. Well regarded and respected by the extended royal family, she ended her days as the most successful of the six wives, rich, independent, and generally content. Weir brings 16th century England vibrantly to life, through the lives of these six remarkable women.

Judy Lind

It's thorough. It's accurate. It's all the glamour and betrayl of English court life in a single book. Weir hasn't just raised the bar, she's obliterated it. Everything you could possibly want to know about Henry VIII's wives is in here---the clothes they wore, the gossip surrounding them, and what Ambassador So-and-So thought of their manners. Best of all, it's not the slightest bit boring. If every history book was written this way, the world would be a much better place. Do not hesitate: buy it now.

For a nonfiction historical account, this book is amazingly captivating. I bought it to take on vacation and found myself picking it up every time I had 5 minutes to read. I've read about this period from a variety of nonfiction and fictional accounts, and found it interesting where they don't line up. Weir does an excellent job of pointing out these discrepancies, giving different viewpoints, supporting documentation, and rationale for her choice. I felt her treatment of Katherine Howard was a bit judgemental, but on the whole, her characterizations derived from the facts served to make the book emotionally involving and significantly added to its readability. This is the best account I've read of the period, both from a factual and readability perspective, and one of Weir's best as well. You won't be disappointed.