Henry: Virtuous Prince

by David Starkey

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007247710
• ISBN13: 9780007247714
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 413 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Starkey looks at Henry VIII's early reign

This June 2009 marks one of those dates in history that tend to make historians take notice -- on Midsummer Day, 1509, a young man who was barely eighteen and freshly married, attended his coronation as Henry VIII, King of England. And now to mark the 500th anniversary of that occasion, there has been a wealth of new books, both fiction and nonfiction, exhibitions, and quite a bit television to boot. It seems that the public is still interested in this king of legend, he of the many wives and a rather bloodthirsty record. Longtime popular historian David Starkey now focuses his attention on King Henry himself after writing about Henry's wives and Henry's children. In the first volume of a proposed series, Starkey looks at a portion of Henry's life that most writers either skip or ignore, preferring to rush ahead to the more titillating aspects of the king's life, namely his divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. But in Virtuous Prince, Starkey works a bit farther back, looking closely at the history of England around the time of Henry's birth, and the remarkable events that surrounded how the Tudors came to the throne. The story begins with the Wars of the Roses, the conflict that arose from having a weak king, Henry VI, and two rival families that were seeking to take the throne for themselves. The winners eventually turned out to be the Yorkists, who were led by Edward IV, a charismatic man who had the misfortune to marry a woman who had many relations to take care of and a disposition that wasn't likely to win her many allies. When Edward died, he was supposed to be followed by his son, another Edward, and there was a younger brother, Richard, Duke of York, in case anything happened. But it turned out that it was Edward IV's brother, Richard III who became king. Now a new rival arose in Henry Tudor, a remote descendant of Edward III and Henry IV who decided that the crown of England was worth gambling for. And in 1485, Henry invaded, fought Richard III at Bosworth, and won. England for a time, was stable. Henry VII, as he was known, married Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's eldest daughter, and set to work unifying a fractured kingdom and begetting heirs. His first son, Arthur, was his parents? pride, and carefully educated and groomed to become the next king. And when a second son, Henry, was born in 1491, and christened with great ceremony, the succession was assured with an heir and a spare. Gradually, we get to learn about the lifestyle of a young prince, and the people and influences around him. One aspect of David Starkey's writing that I've enjoyed is that he is able to take complex ideas and circumstances and make them understandable to readers who are not university-trained scholars. What makes this so interesting to read is that I discovered that the future Henry VIII was a lively, intelligent boy, delighting when he was the center of attention, a student that was skilled in languages and scholarship, but also devot

Starkey - starry-eyed!

Despite having taken a republican line some years ago in a TV studio debate on British royalty, Starkey seems magnetized by monarchy. He has developed a stellar career writing on the subject, generating several books and television series. He handles source material with relish and in DVDs judiciously uses prestige heritage locations. This is a very good and readable account of the great monster's life, marking 500 years since his accession in 1509. Starkey is particularly strong on the early years. He has recently criticised the focus on Henry VIII's wives, notwithstanding his own Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, and this book aims to right the balance. Starkey has also written another study of Henry, The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics - and has recently said that despite his fascination for Henry, he feels he will never exhaust him. Whether Starkey finds royalty reprehensible or magnetizing, this is a great read. (It's already out in DVD in the UK under the title Henry: Mind of a Tyrant ... )