J. J. Scarisbrick’s influential biography places Henry VIII’s personality at the centre of Tudor politics. It follows the confident Renaissance prince through continental war, dependence on powerful ministers and the dynastic crisis created by the failure of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
The book examines Wolsey, Cromwell, the royal marriages and the break with Rome as expressions of a forceful and increasingly autocratic personal monarchy. Scarisbrick weighs Henry’s intelligence, religious conservatism and political skill against cruelty and suspicion, explaining how his pursuit of succession transformed church and state.
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