The Tudors

As an unabashed lover of British royalty, I've read over 100 books on monarchs from William The Conqueror to Edward VIII (the family gets boring after that). For me, the Tudors have always been embodied by a twitchy but regal Bette Davis as Elizabeth I and the fat-boy Holbein painting of Henry VIII. But this book gives all 6 Tudors their due, in one of the most indepth accounts ever. The media has sold us on largely fictional and/or subjective views of Tudor monarchs, Henry and Elizabeth, while basically ignoring Henry VII, and Mary I, Jane Grey, and Edward VI. However, this author sets the record straight. He tells each monarch's life from beginning to end, rather than as merely side characters to the longer reigning Tudors. He also provides the reader with backstories into the people and living conditions of that era, showing the period to be awash with poverty, ignorance, and oppression. Henry and Elizabeth, who are 2 of the most remembered monarchs were certainly not the greatest. And their cruelty, greed, vanity, and selfishness was overwhelming. "Off with their heads" was more than a mere expression for them. This book is enlightening, educational and entertaining. The author pulls no punches yet still allows the reader to judge for him/herself as to the short but turbulent reign of the Tudors. At 24.5 hours in length, it's hard to believe that any more could be written about this dynasty - this has got to be the best researched book EVER on the subject. I'd like to see the author write a "prequel" about the Plantagenets who gave England 14 kings over a span of more than 300 years vs. the Tudor reign of only 118 (83 years combined between Henry VIII and Elizabeth I). This is the only book that I've bought here which is worth 2 credits.

Telling the truth about three of the most ruthless monarch's of England. I watched the romanticism of the HBO series The Tudors and knew that their telling of the story of Henry could not be correct. Quite frankly not even realistic. So, I saw this in the book store and wanted to get another point of view. I am glad I did. This seems much more true to what the monarchy of England, at that time was like.

I, Claudis. I would compare because of the nature of their unrelenting power, that only stopped in their deaths.

No real character favorite. He made them all come alive.

Yes

G.J. Meyer has a gift for popular history, illuminating many strange corners of a period while keeping up a steady forward pace. I enjoyed this book, especially with Robin Sachs's narration. But I have to wonder about Meyer's determination to "do" the Tudors, because boy, does he HATE them -- all of them, even the glorious Queen Elizabeth. No scurrilous anecdote goes unearthed, no tendency toward tyranny unexamined. Liars, cheats, and murderers all, in Meyer's opinion. For Henry VIII, it seems no more than his due: his monstrous self-absorption comes as no surprise (especially to anyone whose first impression of him comes from "A Man for All Seasons"); a case could be made that Mary, despite the best of intentions, was divisive and destructive, especially with her marriage to Phillip of Spain; even 16-year-old Edward showed traces of religious fanaticism; but Elizabeth?? Meyer, how could you?

Each chapter of narrative alternates with a chapter of "Background," exploring different issues like the dissolution of the monasteries and continental politics. These function as interludes or extended footnotes, and despite their topical organization they often contain stories as vivid as those of the main chapters.

The whole thing speeds by very quickly without skimping on detail. It's a good choice for getting an overview of the period and the dynasty. But if you tend to think of Elizabeth as "Gloriana" first and Cate Blanchett second, prepare for a shock.

I, like many people, have always been fascinated by the Tudors. Perhaps it is because of our popular culture, from the BBC to our movies, but the Tudors have always seemed like a remarkable group of rulers so I was particularly interested in G J Meyer's book on them. It was all I could have asked for and more.

My Meyer's examination of the Tudor dynasty, from Henry VII through Elizabeth I, is thorough, detailed and incisive. The book is full of detail, in some cases almost too much detail, and leaves little to the imagination. His indictment of the Tudors flies in the face of today's cultural view of the Tudors, but leaves little doubt as to the validity of his assessment.

Understandably much of the book centers on the two best known Tudor monarchs – Henry VIII (or, perhaps we should say Henry VIIJ as you will read in the book) and Elizabeth I – although Henry VII, Edward VI and Mary I are hardly ignored. Mr Meyer's indictment of both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I are based on fact and opened my eyes to a part of history that I did not know. Most of what I knew about Henry was related to his break from the Catholic Church and his efforts to secure a male heir. While I have always condemned what I saw as his “excesses” I thought I understood his desperate search for a male heir since there had never been a successful British Queen before that time. However I never really knew how much of a tyrant he was and I never really knew how much the British Parliament of his day had been made a creature of the crown. His slaughter of all of those who stood in his way, and of those who served him faithfully, are facts ignored by most contemperary accounts, at least those with which I was familiar.

His description of Elizabeth's reign also brought to my attention much I never knew. I had always thought that Elizabeth failed in perhaps her main responsibility to the British state – marrying and producing a successor – and I always thought that she did so out of her own selfishness, but I never knew much about her persuit of practicing Catholics in the country. I knew of the general policy and I knew about how her agents persued Catholic Priests to arrest them, but I never really felt that I knew why they did so. Mr Meyer explained the thinking behind this policy and, perhaps, why British policy up till the 20th century continued to exclude Catholics from most government positions. None of this is meant to excuse this policy for Mr Meyer makes clear that most Catholics, including those slaughtered for their beliefs, were loyal British subjects. In particular the story of Edmund Campion ended for me the idea of “Good Queen Bess”.

In A Word Undone, Mr Meyer's history of World War I, he alternated chapters between events and background information. His background sections were particularly helpful in explaining the “whys” in what was happening. He uses the same technique in this book, although there are not as many background chapters, to explain why things were as they were, why particular policies were followed and why particular solutions worked or did not work. I found this extremely helpful in understanding what was happening during the 120 or so years of the Tudors. Another thing I took away from this book is an understanding of how stable today's politics are compared to the world of the 16th century where the English, French, Spanish and Hapsburgs were constantly making and breaking alliances for the most transient of reasons.

This book is narrated by Robin Sachs who does a splendid job.

I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the period of the English Reformation or to those interested in British history of any period. So much of what happened during the reign of the Tudors is central to what came after that this book is enormously helpful in understanding events that happened hundreds of years after the last Tudor monarch died.

Myer in the preface clearly writes, The Tudors is not a book of Scholarship. If it does anything, it does inform some readers that movies and TV drama are artistic devices that do not portray known history.

As I followed the audio, I did ask myself why the Tudors do appeal to a lot of people, even 500 years after their strutting and fretting across the European stage.

There was a lot going on at the time and as many of us are not multilingual we tend to follow what was written in English.

These are the days still of men in armour on horseback, jousting and lots of bludgeoning and sword thrusts. There are castles and dungeons, treachery and greed. Later there are pirates on the high seas and gold and more gold coming from Central and South America.
The Reformation is just kicking off and the Saint Bartholmew's Day massacre waiting to happen. The Turks are looking and moving into west.

While Elizabeth 1 may have had very bad breath and had killed faithful friend and enemy alike she did survive for a long time through this turmoil. And well, Henry was a king and wanted a son. I suppose his desires were transparent. Other monarch's in other countries used poisin and 'chance accidents'. The Tudors did ruin and kill a lot of people. As Rulers I wonder how much has really changed to this day. Cynical?

Thomas Moore has the last word before he is executed. A warning to us all.

The story jumps around a bit, and there seems to be little point writing in that way. At times there are interesting digressions. Robyn Sachs read well

If you are really interested, Penn's "Winter King" is also on Audible and about Henry's dad.
And he really was a nasty piece of work.

This book is a good overview of the Tudor Dynasty. There are some drawbacks but they are not bad enough to not read this book. First of all, this book is not exhaustive regarding all six wives. In fact, the book barely mentions the wives after Anne Boleyn. I am now reading "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Alison Weir to compensate for this loss. Also, the way the author jumps back and forth in time is annoying.

On the positive side, I learned a great deal from this book. There is lots of good info on Thomas Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. There are chapters in the book called "Background" chapters and they are fascinating. Robin Sachs is an excellent narrator for this book.

If you're considering this one, you'd better be "into" the details of Henry's break with Rome - the who-did-what-and-when of it takes almost an entire 1/3 of the book. In a nutshell: he threw a temper tantrum when the Pope balked at annuling his first marriage ... and while the king was at it, he dissolved the monasteries in England so as to plunder them for himself. Oh yeah, he was draw-and-quartering everyone who disagreed with him. Nasty, nasty brute that one!
Edward didn't last long, and was Protestant, but he "admired" Mary, so that's something (that he liked Elizabeth, too, isn't mentioned). Of course, his admiration didn't stop him on his deathbed from trying to get Lady Jane Grey installed next. Sympathy for her plight from Meyer, possibly to the extent that her pre-empting Mary would have been worth avoiding Elizabeth.
Mary meant well, and yes she burned a lot of Protestants, but her father and sister were worse when it came to heretics. So there!
Elizabeth ... was just horrible. A real chip off the old block from her dad in terms of selfishness and greed. She persecuted Catholic priests, who knowingly entered the country illegally, seemingly for the fun of it; Meyer neglects to mention that the Pope had called for all good Catholics to overthrow her(assassination, if necessary, was absolved from the sin of murder). That Mary Queen of Scots fell for the Protestant bait, incriminating herself in the plot to do just that (overthrow her cousin) was also conveniently omitted.
If you want to experience a 400-year-old grudge vented, this is your book!
Narration is good, the book starts off on a reasonable note, and the historical asides are often interesting, so a second star for those.

What a bitter disappointment! I know this material. This is the very last Tudor book in Audible, as I've listened o every other book. Nonfiction and historical fiction.

This is a biased piece of work better categorized as an opinion essay.

The author sets out to tell us about the Tudors on the continuum, yet doesn't come close to achieving that viewpoint. Instead his writing is scathing. He misrepresents and draws conclusions that are pure opinion.

I hate to think anyone would read this and believe that this is the comprehensive biography of the time and the people!!!

Don't waste your money! I'm applying for a refund!

Well written and excellently read. Worth two credits.

Please be forewarned that the author does not like Elizabeth I. This perceived bias hampered my enjoyment of the book.