In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII

Rating:
Summary: Lost Focus
Review: Derek Wilson needed an editor to remind him of his thesis: that life in the court of Henry VIII was dangerous for those who sought to share their sovereign's power and ambition. Much of the material in this book does not support that thesis, and the narrative that does support the thesis could have been summarized with far less detail.
Addtionally, I found the writing dull and the scholarship sloppy. I do not think that this book added to my knowledge of the Tudor era; I had hoped for new insights from the stated angle of the book, but found only repetition and redundancy.

Rating:
Summary: Saint Thomas Cromwell?
Review: Derek Wilson's book is a brave attempt to navigate through the thickets of the Henrician court by the device of writing intertwining biographies of six men all called Thomas. This makes a refreshing change from the usual six wives approach, though it is no substitute for the work of specialist historians such as JJ Scarisbrick and Diarmaid MacCulloch. The events the book describes are so extraordinary that even a reader familiar with their outline will find it hard not to keep turning the pages like the latest thriller. Sadly Wilson's prose is too often reminiscent of that genre. The recourse to slang terms and irrelevant modern analogies is tiresome.

More serious to this reader is Wilson's blatant hostility to Thomas More. No opportunity is missed to disparage More, usually for his involvement in persecuting heretics. At the same time he offers every extenuation for equally unsavoury conduct by Wilson's heroes (comparatively speaking), Cromwell and Cranmer. Tellingly, More's early biographers, and indeed most of his recent ones, are dismissed as hagiographers, but Protestant martyrologist, John Foxe, is often quoted as a generally reliable source.

Underlying this seems to be an old-fashioned view of the English Reformation as the eventual triumph of light over darkness. Wilson affects even-handedness or even aloof amusement at the religious controversies which dominated Henry's reign. However his sneering tone when dealing with Catholic practices and the 'reactionaries' who defended them and his repeated likening of reformed England to newly liberated Eastern Europe rather give the game away.

Even leaving aside the doctrinal issues involved, the cultural destruction brought about by the Reformation should cause all civilised people a shiver of horror. Centuries of art, liturgical craftswork, architecture, literature and music (because of the 'blasphemous' illuminations or 'idolatrous' texts) were destroyed in a matter of years by Cromwell's henchmen.

Wilson is aware of the work of historians such as Eamon Duffy and Christopher Haigh, which suggests that pre-Reformation Catholicism was a popular and successful system and that the Reformation was imposed by an elite on a largely resentful population. However, he dismisses such arguments as "special pleading".

The above cavils will obviously annoy some readers more than others and Wilson's book is still recommended reading to anyone interested in Henrician politics.

Rating:
Summary: Different Perspectives
Review: England's King Henry VIII has already been extensively discussed in various books as well as portrayed in a number of plays and films. Why another book? In his Introduction, Wilson acknowledges that much attention has been devoted to Henry's six wives (Three Catherines, two Annes, and a Jane) and shares this mnemonic:

"Divorced, beheaded, died,
Divorced, beheaded, survived."

and then observes: "I propose a different set of relationships which I believe offers a more illuminating approach to the court and government of Henry VIII. Specifically, Wilson focuses his primary attention on six Thomases: Wolsey, More, Cromwell, Howard, Wriothesley, and Cramner. "I can even suggest an alternative mortuary mnemonic, although one admittedly not so trippingly off the tongue.

Died, beheaded, beheaded,
Self-slaughtered, burned, survived."

Henry's VIII's relationships with all six serve as the basis of Wilson's narrative. There were lions in London at that time ("the King's Beasts") housed in the Tower menagerie and a major tourist attraction. More once compared the king's court to a lion pit "in which the magnificent and deadly king of beasts held sway."

Of the six, More interests me the most. One of my favorite plays and films is A Man for All Seasons. (In the film, More is brilliantly portrayed by Paul Scofield.) In both, Robert Bolt focuses on More's rectitude which threatens and infuriates Henry and eventually results in More's execution. Thus presented, More is a tragic but noble political victim and religious martyr, later canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. He is no less admirable as portrayed by Wilson but, in my opinion, is much more complicated than Bolt and others suggest. For years, More skillfully navigated his way through a court ("a lion pit") characterized by what Wilson refers to as its "seamy realities": "The royal entourage was a vicious, squirming world of competing ambitions and petty feuds, guilty secrets and salacious prudery,. Courtiers, vulnerable to threats and bribes, could be induced to perjure themselves, to exaggerate amorous incidents which were innocent in the context of stylised chivalric convention, to indulge personal vendettas....Over all these momentous happenings looms the larger-than-life figure of Henry VIII, powerful and capricious yet always an enigma."

In certain respects, this book reads as if it were a novel. It has a compelling narrative, dozens of unique characters, all manner of conflicts and intrigues which create great tension throughout, and a number of themes such as power, ambition, loyalty, betrayal, piety, terror, and (for most of the main characters) ignominious death. Wilson draws upon a wealth of primary sources to ensure the validity of his historical facts. However, some readers may question his interpretation of those facts. (A non-historian, I consider myself unqualified to do so.) Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Alison Weir's Henry VIII as well as The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Karen Lindsey's Divorced, Beheaded, Survived, and David M. Loades's Henry VIII and His Queens.

Rating:
Summary: A Fresh Approach....
Review: I recently read Alison Weir's "Henry VIII: The King And His Court" and it was interesting to read Derek Wilson's book covering Henry's reign, but looked at from a different perspective. Ms. Weir concentrated more on people and personalities, especially Henry's wives. Mr. Wilson chose to concentrate more on politics and religion. Both books are rewarding and since the approach taken by each author is different you get a fuller picture of the times by reading both.I suppose the main thought you are left with after reading Mr. Wilson's book is what a precarious existence anyone connected with Henry's court led! We are not just talking about his wives but anyone involved in the political or religious life of the court. As Henry got older and his once robust health began to deteriorate he became very moody and unpredictable. Both Wilson and Weir make the point that Henry was very athletic up until he was about 40 years old or so. He was a very vain man and could not accept his physical decline. He was also used to getting his own way and couldn't tolerate it when his desires and wishes were thwarted. He could be genial one moment and lash out verbally or physically the next. He could be ruthless if he felt that you couldn't give him what he wanted. In that case you were disposable- as several wives found out, as well as people such as Thomas Wolsey and Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell. You come away wondering why anyone would marry this man or choose to work for him. It was like being next to a ticking timebomb.....One example will suffice to show that there were seemingly no limits to Henry's ruthlessness. When he was intent on having his son as his heir he wanted his daughter Mary (by Catherine of Aragon) to assure him that she would not "give any trouble" about the succession. He sent over Thomas Cromwell and the Duke of Norfolk to play "good cop, bad cop". Cromwell was the "good cop" and when it became clear that his approach wasn't doing the trick, Norfolk screamed at Mary and told her that if "she were his daughter he would smash her head against the wall until it was as soft as a boiled apple".Violent times they were, and filled with violent people. Henry, without flinching, would allow the burning of "heretics", including digging up someone found after death to have been a "heretic" and having the corpse burned. You could be sent to the Tower of London at the drop of a hat, and be in constant fear that it was not only your hat that might drop off....Try both of these books, as they complement each ther nicely and are in no way redundant. I don't think you will be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: Just finished the above book and found it very interesting. It tells the story of six men, all with the first name of Thomas, and what they did during the reign of Henry Vlll. It is definitely not a book for someone who has no idea of the Tudor court and only remembers that Henry had six wives. These wives are only mentioned in passing, except for Anne Boleyn who rates a few more pages, and will be a disappointment to those expecting an easy read.It looks at the men behind the throne and how they maneuvered themselves into positions of great power at whatever cost. Great detail and simply fascinating. Some of it is a little hard going, but those passages don't last long. I really liked it when Mr Wilson compared 500 years ago with what happens today. Not much has changed!

Rating:
Summary: Solid but confusing history
Review: There is no doubt that Mr Wilson has been a serious student of the period and that his book is the result of many years of dedicated research. It is also clear that Wilson needed a good editor. In page after page, the book becomes a jumble of information. Each fact is presented well, but the overall impression is a confused and confusing piece of work.

It has a lot of information, but it is undermined by poor narrative and the inability to simply tell the story. He has taken a complex topic addressed it in a complex manner and then failed to resolve the tension between detail and sweep.