Product Description

No one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were daring and tumultuous, and made instant legends of six very different women. In this remarkable study, David Starkey argues that the king was not a depraved philanderer but someone seeking happiness -- and a son. Knowingly or not, he elevateda group of women to extraordinary heights and changed the way a nation was governed.

Six Wives is a masterful work of history that intimately examines the rituals of diplomacy, marriage, pregnancy, and religion that were part of daily life for women at the Tudor Court. Weaving new facts and fresh interpretations into a spellbinding account of the emotional drama surrounding Henry's six marriages, David Starkey reveals the central role that the queens played in determining policy. With an equally keen eye for romantic and political intrigue, he brilliantly recaptures the story of Henry's wives and the England they ruled.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190457 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-01
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 880 pages

Review
Praise for Elizabeth 'The best account in English of the early years of Elizabeth! must be one of the most zestful pieces of history written in the last few years! The result is a racy read and first rate history.' Evening Standard 'Both thrills and convinces! Indeed this is very much Elizabeth for our times' Independent 'Fresh and lively! vividly told! He sets before us not only the woman behind the throne but the girl behind the woman' Sunday Times

Review
"Truly, this is history made as fluent and compelling as excellent fiction." (Booklist (starred review) )

"Acute and imaginative. ... [Starkey's] communication of subtle points in simple and vivid language is masterly." (Sunday Telegraph )

"Extraordinary. . . . With each queen, Starkey offers a vivid character study." (Sunday Times (London) )

"Brilliant. ... Six Wives provides an intriguing new perspective on this key period in English history." (Daily Telegraph (London) )

"Exciting. ... Very acute. ... It is so gripping that one finishes it wishing it were even longer." (Mail on Sunday )

About the Author
David Starkey is the Bye Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and the author of Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne. A winner of the W. H. Smith Prize and the Norton Medlicott Medal for Services to History presented by Britain's Historical Association, Mr. Starkey lives in London.

Customer Reviews

God's gift to English history
Or so David Starkey would have you believe. He sets the tone when, in the introduction to this book, he comes right out and says that previous books on Henry's six wives (by Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser) aren't nearly as good as his. The quote: "Inevitably, the 20th century versions of the Six Wives have stood in Strickland's [a 19th century biographer] shadow. Both...Weir and Fraser...have reverted to Strickland's tried-and-tested formula." Strickland caused scholars to "see things" and by balancing their books among the Six Wives (instead of doing as Starkey does, devoting the lion's share of his book to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn), the other authors are "distorting the record."

And that's just the beginning. Through out the book, Starkey will interrupt his own historical narrative with the "I" point of view, citing facts or anecdotes that *he* has found that other historians have "overlooked" or "ignored" or "misinterpreted." Examples: p. 447, "In fact, though much has been made of St. German by some modern historians, his ideas fell at the first fence." From p. 435, "Here it is important to be clear about Henry's developing strategy. From the moment of the failure of the Blackfriar's trial, it had been taken for granted that an English verdict on the Divorce would somehow have to be sanctioned by Parliament. There is no mystery about this, as some modern historians like to claim." These are only two of many, many instances where Starkey pats himself on the back about how brilliant he is, and how everyone else has gotten it so, so wrong. He claims to be the only one to have properly identified Catherine Howard's and one of Catherine Parr's portraits. He also claims to be revealing much information "for the first time ever." Apparently no one else does their research but him.

Another complaint I had was with the structure of the book; as previously mentioned, Starkey devotes about 75% of the book to the first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. He goes on for far too long about Henry's divorce from Catherine, to the point where the detail becomes mind-numbing, and it's difficult to keep track of who's doing what. In addition, the sections on Catherine and Anne are kept completely separate, despite the fact that their histories with Henry overlap by a number of years. As a result, Starkey ends up repeating much of his story twice over, once in the "Divorcing Catherine" section (where Anne's name is never mentioned) and once again in the "Anne Boleyn" section (from which Catherine is completely absent for about the first half). This makes the flow of the story very choppy.

Henry's last four wives get short changed to a great extent; apparently since none were married to Henry nearly as long as either Catherine of Aragon or Anne Boleyn, they don't count for as much. And the book ends abruptly when Henry dies, finishing up the tale of Catherine Parr in only one paragraph. If Starkey was set on the idea of ending the book right after Henry's death (which, by the way, is related in one off-hand sentence!), I think at least an epilogue detailing Catherine Parr's eventual fate would have been more appropriate; as written, the ending to her story is far too hastily done and neglects important events in her life as well as the advancement of the Protestant faith in England.

On a related note, Starkey's favorite is obviously Anne Boleyn, with the other wives suffering a bit by his comparisons; if you believe Starkey, Catherine of Aragon was a hysteric who lied about consummating her first marriage to Henry's brother Arthur, Jane Seymour was an "accessory after the fact" to Anne Boleyn's murder, and Anne of Cleves spent most of her life after her divorce either scheming to get Henry back, or whining about the raw deal she got. Starkey does have some sympathy for Catherine Howard, but it seems misguided at times; he claims she couldn't possibly have actually slept with Thomas Culpepper, they were just platonic friends from way back, an assertion that seems based on nothing more than Starkey's own personal beliefs on the subject.

Having now read all three of the major, modern biographies of Henry's Six Wives, I would recommend Antonia Fraser's book over this one. One review printed on the back of this book says that with "Starkey's wit and style, it doesn't seem a page too long." Oh, I quite definitely disagree.

I wish I'd read these reviews before buying the book!
I bought this book on a whim, without benefit of these reviews. I should have done my homework. The other reviews on this website are excellent and I won't repeat them here except to underscore two points.

First, as an academic myself I was stunned by the extent to which Starkey's scholarship is biased, subjective and speculative. He blithely makes racist comments about other cultures (the Spanish are "instutionalized sadists," for example). Evidence that is accepted by other writers he dismisses out of hand, while other, more dubious sources that are not normally consulted he accepts without question. Ideas that start out as speculation are facts a few chapters later. Starkey may be a respected historian, but this is not a good piece of scholarship.

Most significantly, he seems unable to put these women into an historic context. He doesn't appear to appreciate what it was like to be a woman, without legal powers, who attracted the attention of a ruthless and brutal king. For instance, he characterizes Ann Boleyn as manipulative. Maybe she was intelligent enough to realize that if she refused the King, she and her family would suffer the loss of their wealth and possibly their lives. The best she could do was to hold out for marriage which at least gave her some legitimacy. Starkey's failure to appreciate the brutal reality of women's lives at this point in history is a huge handicap in writing their biographies.

drama, intrigue, betrayal, love, politics -- it's all here!
I first encountered author David Starkey through his "Six Wives of Henry VIII" documentary on PBS (based on this book). The documentary is informative and very entertaining -- Starkey has a gift of bringing history to life and making it fun, with his interesting anecdotes about the characters and humanizing these events. That gift is also evident in this book.

This book, upon which the documentary is based, goes into much more detail than the documentary, of course. At first, I only read the first two chapters (which make up 80% of the book): the chapters on Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Henry's other four wives are, of course, interesting in their own right but let's face it -- Catherine and Anne are where the real drama unfolded. Upon going back and reading the remaining chapters on wives 3-6, the stories/background of how/why Henry married these women and the result of these marriages is nearly as interesting as the drama surrounding Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

I also commend Mr. Starkey for his lack of demonstrating any bias. It is impossible to tell from his writings whether he sympathizes more with one character than another.

I particularly recommend this book if you're interested in learning how the Reformation came about (I also recommend Hillaire Belloc's "How the Reformation Happened.") Sadly, the reader realizes that, rather than being borne out of a sincere, pious desire to reform the Church, the Reformation seems to have been born out of political power struggles and desire for financial gain, instead. The book is not really just a study for six women but rather a love triangle (or "power" triangle) which altered the course of history.

A fascinating read -- a highly recommend it!!!