This book looks like a fairy tale to me. Are we thinking about the same despotic ruler, good for nothing, remarkable only for his irresponsible rupture with the Church to satisfy his lust and his greed on the lands of the Church? He wasn't even a legitimate king, since his father had been an usurper, and all his children, except Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, bastards.
A humanist? For God's sake, he was totally unbalanced, a mediocrity turned into a bloodthirsty savage who claimed the heads of those who served him well and who actually ruled England, like Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas More. What the hell is this book talking about?

Alison Weir is a fabulous biographer. Her research is very thorough and her writing isn't so bogged down by details that you get lost. She has completely outdone herself with this book. I have read several books about the six wives of Henry VIII, but never a biography of his own life so this was a treat.

I always thought of Henry VIII as some egotistical monster that liked divorcing or beheading his wives so that he could move on to his next catch. Yes, he had an ego, a big one, but he wasn't a monster. He was influenced by so many things, his upbringing, his religious beliefs, and especially that of his personal counselors. I always thought of him as a one man show being king and head of the Church of England after he left the Catholic faith, but it wasn't that way at all. I didn't realize the impact that his counselors had on his decisions until I read this book. Anne Boylen wasn't taken down by Henry, she was taken down by his closest counselor, who didn't like her and wanted her gone. So he made her into an adulterer and a traitor, two things that she was not.

I love how the author puts you into Henry's world by describing how the court worked, what he ate, where he slept, what his rooms were like, what the houses/castles he lived in were like and what he wore. His daily life is very well described and is easy to imagine.

It was also interesting to find out more about what kind of person he was. He was extremely intelligent and talented. He was a marvel at sports of all kinds, played musical instruments, wrote music and poems and was very well educated. He was also a charmer and knew how to put on a good show. He had a big temper as well so everyone around him had to be careful about what they said or did in order to not incur his wrath.

He was very fit and active until he started to have a recurring infection in his legs that would send him to bed for weeks on end and eventually took his life. After the infection began he started putting on weight and it made his condition even worse. They don't really know what happened to him the last few weeks of his life as he was in almost total seclusion and no one let any information out about what was going on. So the cause of death can only be speculated at. His death was kept a secret for two days after he died.

Fabulous book. If you want to understand Henry VIII, read this. Definitely a different perspective than I had anticipated.

I've read several of the Weir biographies chronicling the major players in the court of Henry VIII. All were generally sympathetic to the "King's Majesty" yet looking at the big picture of adultery, beheadings, Catholic defilement blah blah that occurred during his reign, one wonders why. How is it that some individuals are chronicled historically as great leaders yet others with far less crimes are vilified? No judgement here - Just a rhetorical question.

A "lively, interesting read" with good supporting documentation. I especially like that Weir's accounts are consistent from one tome to the next. However, for new fans of the Tudor period, I would start with Weir's "The Six Wives of Henry the VIII". "Six Wives' is almost the equivalent of TMZ for the middle ages and better suited to the shortened attention spans and personality driven media of the 21st century.

I am a big Alison Weir fan, but this book is probably the most boring, and confusing I have ever read. In fact, Its hard to even pick it up. She has VERY meticulously researched King Henry's Court, and the Time Period , but it all seems to run in together. I would read this book for the well documented research, but I would check it out at your local Library, or through a friend.

Brings the old terror back to life again. Weir has the wonderful ability of making history fascinating and immediate. She puts the reader right in the middle of Henry's court, which this reader liked very much.

Having read both of Alison Wier's recent forays into historical fiction, which were very enjoyable, I decided to take a chance and try one of her works from her historical genre. It is very well done, but I guess my tastes are more in the historical fiction area. It's a little tough to get through for me, since it is factual and lacks the romance and spark of a work of fiction. She does a great job at both, though, so if you like historical accounts of this era, you will enjoy this book.

Took a little longer than expected to get here, but it still got here on time. Thanks!!

This is a wonderful book but do not buy the Kindle edition. It does not contain the illustrations available in the cloth copy - at least mine didn't. There are paintings by Holbein and other artists of Henry's court listed under illustrations in the Index but they are nowhere to be found in the Kindle version. I had to go on the Internet to hunt for pictures, and you lose a lot by not having illustrations right there in the book.

Another problem is that footnotes are important in a history such as this, and there is no way to toggle back and forth between the text and the footnote pages without losing your place. Newer electronic books are coming out with a way to do this, but this was published two years ago and the technology has not been updated. So I wound up reading the footnotes after I'd finished the book. If there's a way to toggle back and forth, maybe someone out there can fill me in but I haven't found it.

When you have a book with this much information, it's important to keep track of who is who. Although there is a geneology chart (barely visible on Kindle) it would have helped to include a list of important characters and their relationship to the court. Perhaps if this is re-issued at some point it will include a chart. The book itself is informative (although I got really tired of reading about every detail of every decoration for every tournament/event and a description early on of what cloth of gold actually is would have helped me understand why it was so widely used and prized). Overall, this was a very informative book but I'm going out to buy the cloth edition and will probably delete it from my Kindle.

This wasn't one of Alison Weir's better books. The facts and events of Henry VIII's life were a little disorganized, not very detailed, and a bit dry.

I am only giving this book three stars because I liked other books by Ms. Weir. I read The Lady Elizabeth and Lady Jane and loved them both. I, personally, like the way she uses historical fact to create a fictional story. She brings the great historical figures to life in such novels. On the flip side, I found this particular book to be dry. It was a big change for me to read the other two books, which were fictional accounts based on fact, and then read this book. If I didn't know my tastes, I would say that maybe biographies aren't for me. That isn't the case because I have read other historical biographies. This book was bland. I look forward to buying The Queen Elizabeth in February, but I will not be buying another one of her biographies.

Alison Weir has already demonstrated her suberb ability to tell a good story in other works on the Tudor Period. This work is no exception. Ms. Weir provides the reader with a detailed examination of Henry VIII's life and the court organization through which he exercised power. In fact she almost drives one crazy with a plethora of details on the organization and functions of various officers and chambers within Henry's royal court. This is a subject that has not always received the detailed attention she gives it and that it well deserves, especially in light of the fact that Henry was the English monarch who came closest to exercising something like an absolute monarchy in English history. Ms. Weir also demonstrates her excellent sense of judgment with respect to various primary and secondary sources. This trait is most apparent when she dispels certain popular but inaccurate myths about Henry VIII and other personalities of the period that have been given far more credence by some historians than such myths deserve. The reason I only give this work four stars is that while it makes for great story telling and demonstrates Ms. Weir's command of the subject matter, it lacks analytical depth, especially in regards to the extraordinary religious, political, social and economic changes that were occuring at the time in England. In short, Alison Weir provides good, well structured and written popular history but here she fails to provide the kind of scholarly work that may be more attractive to historians and readers already familiar with the period's seminal events and characters.

In one sense, I am at a disadvantage in assessing this volume. I am not an historian of this era, so I cannot confidently judge well the accuracy of Alison Weir's rendering of events and people. I have, of course, read other works dealing with this period, and I'm not sure that my understanding of them would contradict her major points.

That said, I am most impressed with this work. The author covers many aspects of English history--including day-to-day life--of the time. We read of medical practice (ugh), music, art, architecture, customs, drama, clothing, sports (e.g., hunting, archery, tennis, jousting, and so on), the internecine politics (when losers could lose their lives; politics was serious business), and the relationships among families in England of the era. This book is as much about the country at that time as about Henry VIII.

Henry VIII is portrayed in great detail. This is not a Charles Laughton view of the king. It is much more nuanced. It is true that, if Weir be correct, Henry became more rigid and unforgiving and vain and distrusting and autocratic as he aged. He drove England close to financial ruin with his wars (which often had little effect, even though costing much) and with his incessant building projects (his own palaces as one key example).But this should not detract from other of his accomplishments. He supported the arts; he was one of the more educated and intellectually oriented monarchs of the time. It may be that Weir romanticizes him to some extent, and that ought to be noted. But his was not simply a dissipated period in English history.

Of course, many would wonder about his rendering of the multitudinous wives of the monarch. Weir does spend time on this part of his life, including the Machiavellian politics associated with Henry's marriages (factions would use potential wives as pawns in power struggles). Weir's assessments of the various wives are pretty fair. We might be surprised to know of his affection for Katherine of Aragon; it is fascinating to watch the pas de deux between Anne Boleyn and Henry before their wedding; and so on.

Then, the descriptions of the hard ball politics of the era--featuring actors such as Wolsey, Cromwell, More, Cranmer, and the nobles of the time.

All in all, an accessible and very readable work on Henry VIII and his time. I'd strongly recommend. . . .

Henry VIII is one of those books that you cannot put down. Very thorough with a lot of specifics but never tiring. Excellent work!!!

I have read all of Phillipa Gregory's books about the Tudors and have also read Allison Weir's fiction, The Lady Elizabeth and wanted to know more historical facts about this period and this book has them. What they ate, drank, wore, and played is all here backed up by thorough research. If this period interests you buy this book.

Henry VIII by Alison Weir is a well written historical review of the life of the king. It is written in a manner to provide both factural and personal information about the life and court of Henry VIII. Her writting style is easy to read. I throughly enjoyed reading the book.

I agree with all the positive reviews written about this book. One additional comment about what I love about the book is that it details what still exists from the Tudor era and who owned it (clothes, desks, beds, personal articles, Anne' prayer book, etc.) and where these items can be seen ie: Hever, Hampton, etc. I loved the reference to a worker in the 1970's finding one of Henry's tennis balls wedged between beams at Hampton Court. If you are mildly interested in the Tudor era, this may be too much detail for you. If you love this era and have not read this book, you will love it.

This book is great! It is not only for people who like history but for people who like to discover interesting and uncommon facts too. The book is not boring. The author reveals a lot of interesting facts from the life of a "usual" King and his court. There were many times when while reading I would exclaim: "I could never imagine that!"

English is not my native language, so when I choose something to read it has to be really worthwhile because it takes me time to read it and look up new words in a dictionary and this book is bright and vivid. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finally, an exploration of Henry VIII and his wives that does not read like a cheap romance novel. Ms. Weir makes history exciting. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone!

I read this after reading Weir's Six Wives of Henry the VIII. It added addition information about him and was very interesting. While it got a little too detailed with names at times, overall I thought it was great! I especially like how when she talks about how much something costs that she also noted what that would equate in today's terms.

Alison Weir has done a great job at bringing history to life in this extremely detailed portrayal of Henry VIII and those that surrounded him during his reign. Chapters are very numerous but quite brief, and each contains an unbelievable amount of details - ranging from descriptions of the materials used to construct houses and estates to what Henry VIII was served by his kitchen staff and what kind of fabric his tailors used when sewing his extravagant outfits. These small pieces of history serve as delightful ornaments to Weir's overall narrative, and they help paint a broad and precise picture of English life under the Tudors. Included at the back of the text is an extensive list of primary and secondary sources Weir used to construct her book, which are useful for readers who desire to do further research in Henrician and English Renaissance history.
The only flaws I could find in this text were a few, sometimes quite obvious, spelling mistakes. However, the book is so long and it offers so much information that this may be forgiven and overlooked.
All in all, a compelling and competently-researched read.

very informative and chock full of common and not so common historical facts. A must have for anyone interested in the period.

I have read numerous other histories by Allison Weir, and this one simply does not measure up. Essentially, this entire work boils down to a compilation of real property listings regarding the twenty zillion palaces, manor houses and mansions owned and restored by Henry VIII and his courtiers. The first several times the author describes some of the king's residences, including very detailed room-by-room descriptions of the decor, the refurbishing costs and the furnishings, I was interested. By about the 40th mention of, "Then in 15___ he bought the So-And-So mansion from Lord X at a cost of X pounds and he hired Famous Artist Y to decorate it in the Artistic Style Z manner," I despaired. I appreciated Ms. Weir's passing along details of court life, dress, customs and other little factoids not found in many traditional histories, but her obsession with real estate in this one left me cold. Even though Ms. Weir's express intention was not to write a biography per se, she also did not warn the reader that she is, in fact, a frustrated real estate agent who is primarily interested (at least in this work) only in buildings and their contents. If you are not already familiar with Tudor England, this is not a suitable book to commence your study. Overall, I found it to be disappointing and not recommended for anyone other than those with an especial interest in architecture.

I have read numerous other histories by Allison Weir, and this one simply does not measure up. Essentially, this entire work boils down to a compilation of real property listings regarding the twenty zillion palaces, manor houses and mansions owned and restored by Henry VIII and his courtiers. The first several times the author describes some of the king's residences, including very detailed room-by-room descriptions of the decor, the refurbishing costs and the furnishings, I was interested. By about the 40th mention of, "Then in 15___ he bought the So-And-So mansion from Lord X at a cost of X pounds and he hired Famous Artist Y to decorate it in the Artistic Style Z manner," I despaired. I appreciated Ms. Weir's passing along details of court life, dress, customs and other little factoids not found in many traditional histories, but her obsession with real estate in this one left me cold. Even though Ms. Weir's express intention was not to write a biography per se, she also did not warn the reader that she is, in fact, a frustrated real estate agent who is primarily interested (at least in this work) only in buildings and their contents. If you are not already familiar with Tudor England, this is not a suitable book to commence your study. Overall, I found it to be disappointing and not recommended for anyone other than those with an especial interest in architecture.

I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about King Henry VIII, and I got to learn all about him.

While crammed with details regarding every aspect of court life, the story behind the possesions and personalities gets shortchanged in this ambitious yet flawed book.
Yes, I learned quite a bit but for much of the book I was struggling to maintain interest as the myriad details bogged down the narrative.
Alison Weir is generally a wonderful popular historian of the period but I think this book needed more focus to retain appeal for the general reader.

Alison Weir is one of my favorite historical authors. This book conveys the grandeur of the court to the reader. For those of you who love suspense, politics, intrigue, scandal this book is for you. It has it all. The complexity, scandal and extravagance of the court will astound you. Fabulous read! Enjoy!

Weir is one of the better English popular historians working today, and certainly one of the most successful. While this social biography of Henry recycles much of the research from her earlier books, it's a very readable overview of the machinations of the king among the noble families who surrounded him, and of the jockeying of the Boleyns, Seymours, Courtenays, Parrs, Howards, Brandons, Douglases, Poles, and Cromwells among themselves. One's position - literally and physically - within the court indicated one's importance and, as the author shows, Henry deftly orchestrated the relative ranks of his courtiers. Most of all, Weir details the organizational and bureaucratic context within which the king moved.

I approached this book with great anticipation as it seemed to have all the necessary prerequisites for a great biography: superbly interesting characters and times, and an intimate, personal feel. It was ultimately frustrating as Weir becomes consumed with petty details, such as exhausting accounts of all of Henry's real estate transactions year by year, and the price paid for each. This is accompanied by mundane and repetitive descriptions of the art, architecture and furnishings of each one. There are only so many times a person can read about cloth of gold and diamond broaches before one just doesn't give a damn anymore.

Weir devotes little if any time to the politics and events of the day in favor for minute and tiring descriptions. The book had the feel of a high school term paper in that it was haphazard and barely coherent. I would highly recommend this book to an expert in Tudor era art and architecture, but to the general reader STAY AWAY!

As Alison Weir is one of my favourite authors, I was very excited to run out and buy this book. However, I was a little disapointed when I actually read it. Weir seems to recycle much of her information from other books that she has written, mainly "The Six Wives" and "The Children" of Henry VIII.

Despite my disapointment, I gave this book 4 stars because if I had read neither of those books, I think I would have really enjoyed this one. As with all of Weir's books, it is chock full of information and extremely well written. Despite all the details, it is never boring. There is SOME new information in here, but I don't think that there is enough to merit a whole separate book.

If you have never read Weir, or are looking for a very good intro to life at a Tudor court, then this book is definately worth reading and I wholeheartedly recomend it. If you are already an old hand at Henry et. al., then you might want to skip this one and move on to another of Weir's books.

Generally, I'm not a fan of Weir, as she made a number of errors in her "The Six Wives of Henry VIII". At times her research is faulty. Unfortunately, this book also suffers from mistakes: one of the most glaring is not doing her homework on the 16th C. Tower of London. The current site of the scaffold, in front of St. Peter ad Vincula, was a Victorian notion, and Anne Boleyn's coronation lodgings, where she stayed after her arrest, is not the present Queen's House (but does include salvaged architectural features). As a historian, she should not fall into the "tourist trap". However, this book reveals a superb grasp of overwhelming amounts of quirky primary source documents; quite the task. Also, it is a perfect adjunct to countless biographies that overlook this type of background material.

While not a biography of Henry VIII per se, this book is a fascinating glimpse into the machinations of his court over time. This lion king, fierce, ruthless, gifted and charming, presided over the first truly Renaissance court in England. Ms. Weir combed obscure sources for hitherto unknown insights and has written them into a cohesive social history. Who knew Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn both favoured cherries and strawberries above all other fruit? I had heard Henry VIII was fastidious in his personal hygiene, but here all is described at length: his daily routines, his eating and exercise habits, how he dined and with whom, the monumental progresses, plus his being the centre of an enormous courtly universe. What protocols his courtiers had to observe! And even Henry VIII is not the master of destiny, at least not in the minutae: he, too, was bound by conventional expectations of kingly behaviour.

Even as Henry was clean, his courtiers were hardly so: where else would find details such as crosses carved into palace walls to prevent men from urinating against them? Utterly charming.

Here we see Henry's human side; I am familiar with Scarsbrick's intellectual view of Henry -- the man of policy and passion, the ecclesiastical and political dimensions. Here we see the business of being king; one sees 'Dieu et Mon Droit' in action, the pageantry, the spectacle, the dangers associated of rising too close to this brilliant sun. Much of it all must have been tedious, but Henry was born to the task (even if he were not destined to be king).

And Henry is not the only one addressed from an unconventional angle: Ms. Weir has unearthed details regarding Henry's wives and associates which normally escapes biographers. Occasionally, however, she does go out on an unsupported, unconventional limb, but overall, this is a wonderful companion piece to more difficult scholarly analyses of the period. Indeed, the book is easy to digest, although some unfamiliar with Henry VIII's reign might find the detail overwhelming. For the aficionado it is a welcome addition.

I really loved this book, and it gave me a unique perspective of Henry VIII and those around him.
The only real flaw in this book is that the chapters that talk only about architecture and fashion tend to be a bit boring. I'm sure that the book would have been just as good without all of those long parts about the castles, etc...

If you have read Alison's Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII, you will probably already have a good understanding of this aspect of Henry's life, that his, his private life. A.W. asserts in the beginning of this outing that she will not repeat what she had already covered - she only marginally succeeds. She does a good job of covering the information that you would remiss in not repeating; the dissolution of church, and the execution of A. Boleyn etc. However, in place of those details she's placed page after page of tedious information on the many castles and houses he owned and how much he spent fixing them up or redecorating for his new wife. I really enjoyed her picture of life at court and the internal court fractions between those vying for favor. However, the reason this book does not rate higher is that A.W. spends little or no time exploring the politics and society outside the castle(S) walls. I realize the title is "...and his court," but a lot of that was already covered in Henry's Six Wives. Having read A.W.'s surface treatment of Queen Elizabeth, I know that she is mostly interested in the drama aspect and the personal lives of those in the renaissance court, and not necessarily in the actual broader history of the time.
Bottom Line: I don't think I'm being too harsh on this book. I think A.W. is a wonderful researcher and a fine writer, it's just that this book is not the place I would recommend to anyone really wishing to further their understanding of the world in which Henry VIII lived.
Note: One bit of irritation is A.W.'s mention in the back-of-the-book interview that she has new information regarding Anne's execution, of course she does not mention what it is there because she wants you to read the book. I read over the key chapters where she covers Anne Boleyn's charges and there is really nothing new. As we've learned before the charges against her were mostly fabricated.

A compulsively readable account of Henry VIII's court. Weir begins by describing Henry's massive inheritance of "greater" and "lesser" houses. Then she proceeds to his palatial lifestyle, part of the attribute of "magnificence" pertaining to a Renaissance prince, fuelled by Henry's lifelong mania for acquiring and developing property. No detail, whether of texture or cost, is omitted. (Weir helpfully multiplies contemporary values by 300 to give us today's equivalent).

The layout of King Henry's dwellings spoke volumes about courtiers' status and the monarch's accessibility. Courtiers hovered in the impersonal Great Watching Chamber, unless they were lucky enough to have a formal meeting in the Presence Chamber. Only a select few attended the King in his Privy Chamber. Weir's mind-numbing account of Tudor Human Resources yields a smorgasbord of functions, various staff changes, promotions, demotions and, of course, executions.

Later in the book, a biographical framework imposes itself. Henry's infamous matrimonial career is freshly presented from his viewpoint, although that does not lessen his monstrousness. He loved tilting and tournaments; that leg injury was a sporting injury. Most of his best friends seem to have been chosen for their skill in breaking lances.

As in her other books, Weir provides astute mini-biographical "snapshots" of personalities familiar and obscure: the King's coterie of playmates and companions, mistresses and their families, advisors, chancellors and churchmen. So you are getting many biographies for the price of one, especially of people like Thomas More, or Henry's two sisters Margaret (who mothered the Stuart dynasty) and Mary (whose second marriage to Charles Brandon produced the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, her granddaughter, subsequently the "Nine Days' Queen").

One interesting character is Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII's illegitimate son by Bessie Blount. Fitzroy's existence proved that the King could father a male child, howbeit not a legitimate heir. (Henry Fitzoy was eventually created Earl of Richmond. The poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was a childhood friend of Fitzroy.)

So if you want to know more about the Courtenays, the Boleyns, Norfolks and Suffolks, the Seymours, the Parrs, this is your book. In spades! Weir does it well.