Rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenent ,the houses of Lancaster and York fought the Wars of the Roses from 1455 and 1485. In the end, the House of Tudor united the two factions and ruled England & Wales for 117 years.

As you will probably be able tell from the list I will spew out here, it's one of my favourite subjects.Whether it'sfanciful fictionor fascinating fact,it seems that Ican never get enough of all these Henrys, Elizabeths & assorted company!

I would love to hearyour recommendations!


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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 06 Oct 2016 06:08:29AM

Its not historically accurate, but the Tudors, on Showtime, is simply amazing, i love every season, it goes through kingHenryand all of his wives.

I might venture to say that David Starkey is my favourite historians when it comes to English History.

For some reason I just trust his research more than I do some others. I've read his Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII & Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne and I'm looking forward to more!

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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Yes, I enjoyed The Tudors though I did have to keep reminding myself that it was just "all in good fun" and didn't mind playing fast and loose with the facts.

Actually, my family kept reminding me as I muttered things like "Did they really have to merge Henry's sisters Mary & Margaret into the same person!!!" - lol.

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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Antonia Fraser might be better know to usfor Marie Antoinette: The Journey but prior to that she wrote The Wives of Henry VIII and Mary Queen of Scots .



And then there's Alison Weir , a historical writer whomay sometimes be considered a tad muddled when it comes to the facts. See The Lost Boleyns - Thomas and Henry Boleyn as one example.

In any case, I found her recent The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn quite interesting. I had just decided to give up my grudge against Thomas Cromwell after reading Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel , when Ms Weir made the case that Cromwell was the person most responsible for the downfall of Anne Boleyn . Back came my loathing of Cromwell!!

I also enjoyed The Princes in the Tower , though you never do get a satisfactory answeras to whotheir murderer(s)was/were and of course The Six Wives of Henry VIII . After all, it seems you just can't read enough about Henry and his wives )






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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Speaking of The Princes in the Tower , Bertram Fields was particularly critical ofAlison Weir's effort (I told you she had a bit of a reputation - lol)and responded with his own book Royal Blood: Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes . Fields, a lawyer by trade, tackles the mystery of Elizabeth Woodville's two sons, Edward and Richard who were in line for the throne and disappeared under mysteriouscircumstances from the Tower of London.



When I blogged about Elizabeth Woodville , I contrasted Fields' scholarly endeavour with Philipa Gregory's fiction The White Queen: A Novel (The Cousins' War) .

Yes it's true, sometimes you just crave some fluffy historical fiction and Philipa Gregory certainly knows how to provide that. From The Cousin's War series (aka The Wars of the Roses), I've read The White Queen: A Novel (The Cousins' War) and The Red Queen (The Cousin's War) . I didn't like The Red Queen much but that's probably because Margaret Beaufort always seems like such a nasty piece of work in comparison to thevivacious Elizabeth Woodville.



If you appreciate vivacious, historical heroines you'll probably like The Other Boleyn Girl which speaks of Mary Boleyn and her sister Anne.Its followup The Boleyn Inheritance features thatpsycho Jane Rochford as well as Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard . Deeper into the realm of fiction and therefore good for a light summertime read there's The Queen's Fool (Boleyn)




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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Tat,

I was in the 3rd grade when the librarian told me the story of Henry VIII and his wives-"divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" and from that moment I was hooked. Fastforward a couple (or more) decades and I am still a rabid fan. I simply adore Anne Boleyn, I recently got a personalized "Anne Boleyn" necklacewhich I treasure. http://www.etsy.com/listing/9452031/custom-anne-boleyn-necklace for those of you who are also lovers of the Tudors.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Bella

You're most welcome!

I can talk about Anne Boleyn and her daughter Elizabeth "until the cows come home" as they say ) And yes, I'm another one that was hooked on this time period from a very early age.

Now I'll take a break from listing books and go peek at that necklace - lol.

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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Aswell as having read both The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance, I've also read The Constant Princess, which is also by Philippa Gregory

It talks about the life of Catherine of Aragon, from her early years as a Spanish Infanta, her marriage to the Prince of Wales and conflict with Margaret Beaufort, and then onto her early reign as Queen Consort. The last chapters of the book focus on her side of story of Anne Boleyn usurping her position, and her eventual divorce.

Poor Catherine, seems she was always fighting it out with someone.

An interesting point made byDavid Starkey, Catherine was the most educated of all Henry's wives and did she ever have international connections.

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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

It's true, and although I do adore Anne Boleyn, I felt, after reading this book, that Catherine was definitely a much more eligible consort, due to her birth and such. But Anne was definitely the more interesting person, and if she had not been Queen, we would not have had Elizabeth I, which is unthinkable