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Historical person
1537–1553
Edward VI became king in 1547 at the age of nine and ruled through councils dominated first by his uncle Edward Seymour and then by John Dudley. During his reign the English Reformation advanced rapidly through new prayer books, the removal of images and changes to doctrine and worship.
Edward was intelligent and strongly Protestant but died from illness in 1553 at fifteen. His attempt to exclude his Catholic half-sister Mary placed Lady Jane Grey briefly on the throne. Edward VI was born in Hampton Court Palace and died in Palace of Placentia.
In Jennifer Loach’s Edward VI, Jennifer Loach’s biography, completed after her death, reassesses the short reign of Edward VI without treating the young king as a passive symbol of Protestant reform. Stephen Alford’s Edward VI (Penguin Monarchs) reconstructs the short reign of Edward VI, who inherited the throne at nine and died before reaching adulthood. Historical accounts that place Edward VI in context include Hourly History’s King Edward VI, Linda Porter’s Mary Tudor, Linda Porter’s The First Queen of England, Tracy Borman’s The Private Lives of the Tudors, and Leanda de Lisle’s Tudor.
Series
The Shardlake Series follows Matthew Shardlake, a London barrister with scoliosis whose legal work repeatedly draws him into murder investigations and affairs of state between 1537 and 1549. He begins as an idealistic supporter of religious reform and an agent of Thomas Cromwell, but the violence of the…
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The Lymond Chronicles follow Francis Crawford of Lymond through Scotland, France, Malta, the Ottoman world, Russia and the wars of mid-sixteenth-century Europe. The six novels combine espionage, court intrigue, military command and a long investigation into Lymond’s family history, loyalties and identity.
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The Tudor Rose Trilogy follows three generations of the dynasty through novels centred on Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII and Mary I. Beginning in the final decades of the Wars of the Roses and ending with Mary’s death in 1558, it traces how family memory, contested legitimacy and…
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The Tudor Saga recounts the dynasty from Henry VII’s exile and victory in the Wars of the Roses to the final years of Elizabeth I. Historical rulers, ministers and royal relatives occupy the centre of the sequence, while fictional attendants and agents reveal how decisions at court affect…
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The Border Reivers trilogy follows fifteen-year-old Mintie Henderson and the one-armed fighter Batty Coalhouse through the violent Anglo-Scottish marches of the 1540s. Beginning after the death of James V, the novels place personal revenge inside the lawless Debatable Lands, where raiding families, soldiers and hired killers exploit the…
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The Six Tudor Queens sequence retells the lives of Henry VIII’s wives through six full-length novels. Twelve companion stories shift attention to relatives, servants, artists and courtiers affected by the same events, while Six Tudor Queens: Writing a New Story explains the project’s historical method. In the Shadow…
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The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles follow the fictional Brendan Prescott from the last months of Edward VI through Mary I’s reign and the accession of Elizabeth I. Raised in the Dudley household, Brendan becomes an intelligence agent whose divided loyalties draw him into succession plots, religious conflict and…
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The Richard Fitzwarren Tudor Historical series, also known as Mercenary for Hire or the Tudor Mystery Trials, follows the fictional brothers Richard and Jack Fitzwarren through the violent political and religious changes of mid-sixteenth-century England. The sequence begins with the Seymour scandal surrounding the young Princess Elizabeth, moves…
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These two connected novels follow Elizabeth I from childhood to the end of her reign. The Lady Elizabeth portrays the insecurity, scandal and religious danger that formed the future queen, while The Marriage Game explores her rule through the long relationship with Robert Dudley and the political use…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
