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    Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
    Unavailable
    Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
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    Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII

    Written by David Starkey

    Narrated by Patricia Hodge

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    What makes a man marry six times? Was Henry VIII a voracious philanderer? On the contrary, says Dr David Starkey, the King was seeking happiness – as well as hoping for a son.

    The first of his wives was Catherine of Aragon, the pious Catholic princess who suffered years of miscarriages and still births and yet failed to produce a male heir.

    As Henry VIII's interest shifted from her powerful Hapsburg relations and drifted towards France, so began his obsession with the pretty Lutheran Anne Boleyn.

    Jane Seymour's submissiveness was in contrast to Anne's vampish style – and Henry married her on the day of Anne's execution. Jane died soon after giving birth to the longed-for son.

    There followed a farcical 'beauty contest' which ended in the short marriage of the now grossly overweight Henry to 'the mare of Flanders', Anne of Cleves.

    The final part of Six Wives contrasts the two Catherines – Catherine Howard, the flirty child whose adulteries made a fool of the ageing King, and Catherine Parr, the shrewd, religiously radical bluestocking.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 15, 2005
    ISBN9780007219322
    Author

    David Starkey

    David Starkey is Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and the author of many books including ‘Elizabeth’; ‘Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII’ and ‘Monarchy: England and Her Rulers from the Tudors to the Windsors’. He is a winner of the WH Smith Prize and the Norton Medlicott Medal for Services to History presented by Britain’s Historical Association. He is a well-known TV and radio personality. He was made a CBE in 2007. He lives in London.

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    Reviews for Six Wives

    4.5/5

    16 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this, a very good and interesting read. I like that David Starkey has tried to portray the various Queens as human beings, not as either the saints or sinners that they have been painted as previously.
      Parts of it do get repetitive as it deals with each wife in turn and of course certain events effected more than one wife. Starkey does try to present the overlapping events differently for each wife, as these events such as the divorce from Catherine of Aragon would have had a different effect on Catherine than it would on Anne.
      So despite playing a major role in the divorce Thomas Cromwell doesn't feature in Catherine's part of the story, he makes his first appearance in Anne Boleyn's story. I'd be quite interested to read Thomas Cromwell's biography I think he is one of the most interesting people in Henry VIII's life.
    • 3/5
      A bit unbalanced - long detailed history of first 2 wives of Henry VIII & briefer content on the rest. Authoritative.Read Feb 2005
    • 5/5
      This book was really everything I look for in a non-fiction book about history. It was so engagingly written that it could have been non-fiction, but sources were all cited and deviations from accepted wisdom among Henry VIII scholars were mentioned. The story was presented chronologically, with a few, well integrated digressions to give us the history of each of Henry’s wives. Chapters were short and the introduction of new characters was kept to a minimum, creating a very lucid narrative. New characters were always given context, both in the writing and by some great family trees, and we were often reminded who recurring characters were. This made the massive amounts of information in this 880 page book fairly manageable.Overall the book was very approachable, especially for something that clearly involves an awful lot of scholarly research. The straightforward writing style and family trees helped, as did the author’s lack of assumptions about the reader’s previous knowledge. It also helped, of course, that the book was just fun. The author is clearly enthusiastic about his subject and in addition to dates and events, there was speculation about people’s feelings and motivations, obviously separated from but based on historical records such as personal correspondences. Quotes from these sources were integrated into the story very nicely, adding to the narrative without disrupting it.Finally, the story itself was full of enough drama for a TV show. And, in fact, it has been made into a show called Tudor, which I tried watching but couldn’t get into for lack of a sympathetic character in the first episode. The book, however, made if very easy to feel for each of Henry’s wives, even as they replaced each other. I think that’s what made the book so great – its stuck the perfect balance between historical accuracy and engaging personal stories.
    • 2/5
      This book was very dry and starkey challenges things that most authors accept as true.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favourite books. David Starkely does an amazing job with this massive book. He destroys some well known myths about the queens of Henry the III and does it in style. He notes that in at least one instance Katherine of Aargon did indeed lie and to her father as well. She was capable of lying just as much as anyone else. I found it impossible to put the book down and have in fact read it several times.Highly recommended. It is very well written and researched.
    • 5/5
      I cannot believe this is non-fiction! It reads like an historical novel, but with citations. This story, from history, is beyond believable... all six wives were interesting! The book really shows the influence these women had on the history of England and, quite frankly, much of the world.It is a very large book, but I was actually a little sad when it was over. I can't wait to read Elizabeth by Starkey and I will probably be looking for more after that. He has a fantastic way of piecing together all recorded conversations, letters, documents, etc. to bring his readers right back to that era... only with a real inside track on what is going on. He is also fabulous at explaining the particular phrases and/or meaning behind what an average person today might otherwise overlook.Looking for a great (and juicy) book and to learn something? Read this!
    • 5/5
      David Starkey is a Tudor historian who deeply gets into his subjects mindset. He very intricately takes you into the lives of each of Henry Vllls wives and into the intrigue of The Tudor court and its machinations. A truley good and interesting book for any fan of Englands Tudor history, or for reading the life story of any of Henry Vllls famous wives from Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Queen Isabell of Spain, to the infamous Anne Boleyn who brought Henry to his knees and brought about the reformation of England each wife different in her own way.
    • 4/5
      I put off starting the book because of its length but had a great interest in Henry VIII and his wives. I knew more about Anne Boleyn than the others but was fascinated with the information provided about Catherine of Aragon. What a remarkable woman! Once I got started, I finished the book in three days and plan to read it again. An amazing amount of information is laid out for you. The whole situation where Henry manages to finally rid himself of his first marriage is very lengthy but really shows the strong character of Catherine of Aragon and how politically savvy both she and Henry were. I'm very glad I was not the enemy of Henry or either of his first two queens. What a dangerous time to live. Don't be afraid of the heft of this book - it really is worth the read.
    • 5/5
      This is a great book from start to finish. I love the way David Starkey writes and he is thorough in his research. The largest sections of the book are dedicated to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. However, Catherine Parr (Henry VIII's last wife) was short but very well written.This book definitely gives insight to the women Henry VIII married and what they did (or didn't do) to survive. His marriages (and their endings) are notorious and David Starkey writes about them expertly. I couldn't put it down. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in Tudor England.If you liked this book, you should read his other book "Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne"
    • 3/5
      A VERY detailed history of Henry VIII's six wives. I learned a lot and was interested, but this book took forever to read. It was 765 pp. and very arduous at times; I had to leave it and come back to it several times.