Blood Will Tell

A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII

By: Kyra Cornelius Kramer

Narrated by: Pam Ward

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

With his tumultuous love life, relentless pursuit of a male heir, and drastic religious transformation, England's King Henry VIII's life sounds more like reality television than history. He was a man of fascinating contradictions - he pursued a woman he loved for almost a decade only to behead her less than four years after their marriage. He defended Catholicism so vigorously that he was honored as defender of the faith, but he went on to break with Rome and have himself declared supreme head of the Church of England. Worst of all, the king who began his reign praised as "hero" and "lover of justice and goodness" ended it having metamorphosed into such a monster that he was called the "English Nero".  

What could have caused these incredible paradoxes? Could there be a simple medical explanation for the king's descent into tyranny? Where do the answers lie? Blood will tell.

©2018 Kyra Cornelius Kramer (P)2019 Tantor

a new theory

a very plausible reason for the tyraniccal life of Henry VIII. we'll never know unless we can look at the remains of this Tudor king

Overall wonderful!

I am really glad I listened to this book.
The narrator did a great job and the author bought this history lesson to life. Most of the time I was deeply ingrossed and interested.

Interesting? Absolutely.

This was an interesting look at the actions of King Henry VIII. There’s some clever humor and some information I learned for the first time. The entire book is based on speculation which has to be considered while listening.

Plausible explanation of the changing character of Henry VIII

The author presents a well-reasoned explanation of the medical basis for the change in Henry VIII’s behavior about the age of 40 and for the difficult obstetrical histories of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. The story of Henry’s behavior is told in relation to the problems caused by his possible Kell positive blood type and McLeod syndrome or a severe brain injury. One part of the story I found particularly interesting was the fact that Catherine of Aragon and her supporters kept urging her nephew Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, to invade England in order to restore Catholicism and to put Catherine back in her position as Queen. I cannot recall ever having heard that before.

Excellent Audio Book

I don't know that I would have had the band width to read this book and truly appreciate it as much. The narrator was wonderful! She engaged me and held me right where I needed to be in order to make sense of the material. Fortunately for me, the author did the same. I've so desperately wanted a a reason not to despise Henry. I was always in love with the versions of the young Tudor Prince and King that I read about. I could not fathom what happened. Kyra managed to educate me without intimidating me. She was hilariously informative and connected more dots than any historical novel ever did for me, fiction or non fiction. I'm glad to give King Henry a dx mental illness. I married a narcissistic man so I knew it wasn't that dx🙄 Thanks ladies. This book gets another listen over the summer on the beach 😎 I love Henry💜

great book!

I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions in this book about medicine at the time, speech and why certain words had different meanings then, and how the narrator did such a great job giving emphasis on certain parts. Greatly enjoyed!

better than I expected

The title made me suspect this was another writer with a pet-theorie about the cause of Henry VIII character, but it turned out to be a far wider look at the king and his surrounding influences. Very enjoyable.

Very Interesting.

This is a very interesting take on well trodden ground. I only have one OCD comment: Near the end of the book, the author posits that,"...Catherine Parr might have married Thomas Seymour...". Catherine Parr did, in fact, marry Thomas Seymour after Henry VIII died. Seymour then went on to basically sexually abuse the Princess Elizabeth when she as a pre-teen and he was later executed as a traitor. Not, in my opinion, a great choice in life mate, but Catherine Parr did, in fact, marry him. I thought the omission of this information from the book as noteworthy only becuse it contrasts greatly from this generally amazingly well-researched book.

A vindication for Anne Boleyn?

I feel like this book doubles as a vindication for Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. I was frustrated when a considerable portion of this book was purely devoted to explaining why Anne Boleyn was a doe eyed, innocent, naive victim. It frames her as though she was repulsed by the idea of marrying Henry and was defenseless to his resolve to make her his wife. I didn't enjoy these asides that were all about defending wives when the reason I was listening was to hear about the medical issues Henry faced.

It is also frustrating that anytime something looks like it might be attributed to a certain illness, it is immediately contradicted by something else. The author will say something that happens and how it may look like one illness, and then pull out another thing that is an indication that he didn't have said illness. I just wanted there to be some solid stance the author would take on a lot of illnesses or personality disorders it mentions.

I give it three stars because a lot of the writing style is entertaining, there are some interesting facts I hadn't considered before, and the narration is great. I was displeased at first that the narrator didn't have an English accent as I have become accustomed to in all the Tudor books I have listened to, but she did a great job and I forgot about my 0reference to hear British history in a British accent.

Not sure if I would recommend this, but also not sure if I wouldn't. I guess I am as indecisive as the author.

To explain King Henry 7th is difficult and complex

A sad performance of a King. His life is better explained in this novel. Put on his rose colored glasses and read this.