The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant

Book Description

A blazing narrative history that boldly captures the end of England's most despotic ruler and his court -- a time of murderous conspiracies, terrifying betrayals, and sordid intrigue

Henry VIII's crimes against his wives are well documented and have become historical lore. But much less attention has been paid to his monarchy, especially the closing years of his reign.

Rich with information including details from new archival material and written with the nail-biting suspense of a modern thriller, The Last Days of Henry VIII offers a superb fresh look at this fascinating figure and new insight into an intriguing chapter in history.

Robert Hutchinson paints a brilliant portrait of this egotistical tyrant who governed with a ruthlessness that rivals that of modern dictators; a monarch who had "no respect or fear of anyone in this world," according to the Spanish ambassador to his court. Henry VIII pioneered the modern "show trial": cynical propaganda exercises in which the victims were condemned before the proceedings even opened, proving the most powerful men in the land could be brought down overnight.

After thirty-five years in power, Henry was a bloated, hideously obese, black-humored old recluse. And despite his having had six wives, the Tudor dynasty rested on the slight shoulders of his only male heir, the nine-year-old Prince Edward -- a situation that spurred rival factions into a deadly conflict to control the throne.

The Last Days of Henry VIII is a gripping and compelling history as fascinating and remarkable as its subject.

Customer Reviews:

Misleading Title - Worst book ever on Henry VIII.......2007-02-08

This book was extremely disappointing, especially for a person well read in Tudor History. The title is very misleading. I thought this book would examine in depth the final years of Henry's reign. Theses final years were full of scandal, intrigue and death but the book read like a summary of his whole reign. There are plenty of other books that do this and do it better (Alison Weir for example). It's pages and pages of he said, she said quotes followed by summaries of crucial events that surely deserve more description. If you are looking for a thorough historical analysis of the final years of Henry, save your money.

Henry's illness has a name ,but is it necessary?.......2006-11-17

at last someone has ventured to give Henry's insanity a medical label,Cushings Syndrome,which encompasses alot of pathologies,from alcoholism to an uncontrollable desire to kill your advisors,even one's wife,not to mention obesity and including that overstuffed gassy feeling.This is not to mention the numerous diseases and frequent out break of plaque that Henry would be susceptible to,although he had a place to flee to get some fresh air.Hutchinson proclaims Henry,the English Nero,(maybe even Caligula),that's why British actors play degenerated Romans and Greeks so well in the movies.The history of the British Monarchy is so loaded with these sociopaths,that you can be a lunatic on the stage,and seeing as you're wearing a toga or centurian outfit,noone suspects that you're actually playing an English Monarch.The scholarship for this book is so thorough i well deserve a lashing for even attempting to review it.With the wars of the roses over and nothing left to war over but a few acres of land in Europe here and there,it's was time for henry to tackle the final frontier that being correct religious and political thought as seen through the eyes of Cushings Syndrome,(and alot of other mysterious symptoms).shakespeare sums it up well in Richard the third."our arms and battlements hung up" replaced by the lovers couch and the lute.Better hope that the you didn't design the couch when Henry's bulk and constipated flatulence renders it in pieces.You won't be able to put this book down.If henry had caught you reading this book in 1540,"no comment"!!!What a shame that Henry's unrivalled military skills and courage are sometimes overshadowed by the bad treatment he gave his wives.

Henry the Horrible.......2006-09-25

If you're a Tudor buff, you'll love this book even though it portrays Henry VIII as a monster. Hutchinson believes that Henry was responsible for some 150,000 deaths. Towards the end of his life he was so viciously unpredictable his courtiers must have been in constant fear that they would go next to the block. His severe illness pushed him over the brink of any sense of fair play or decency. He was always a tyrant, however.

What was Henry's illness? There's been 400 years of speculation.
Hutchinson believes along with others including the surgeon Clifford Brewer's "The Death of Kings" (available at Amazon)that Henry did not have syphilis, but varicose ulcers on his legs. Both legs. Syphilis was treated in those days with mercury, and since hundreds of potions Henry was given by his doctors are recorded, mercury would most certainly have been administered. Also, none of Henry's wives or children showed any sign of congenital syphilis. Anyway, when the ulcers healed over,infections resulted underneath the skin, and very likely spread into the bones. The king's physical sufferings played a large role in shaping his behavior towards the end of his life.

Here is one Hutchinson's descriptions of Henry's awful disease: "He is the personification of geriatric decay. One can almost smell the the putrid stench of the rank pus oozing from his ulcers, staining the bandages on his swollen legs. Chapuys [the Spanish ambassador] labelled them 'the worst legs in the world.'"

Henry weighed, according to Hutchinson, 28 stone or 392 pounds. His waist was 54 inches around. Many suits of Henry's armor survive, so his physical proportions are easy to calculate. His gluttony contributed to his health problems, so his obesity and his ulcers did him in at age 55, and just before his death he lost the power of speech, finally sinking into a uremic coma.

"The Last Days of Henry VIII" goes into great detail about the state of England towards the end of Henry's life, but my interests lie in character portrayal. Edward VI, Henry's only son, is described as a boy of unattractive "prissiness". The stupidity of Kathryn Howard, Henry's fifth wife, in cuckolding the king right under his nose, is discussed. Anne of Cleves emerges as "no fool, behind her pock-marked face". Interestingly, Anne and Henry's daughter, Mary, became fast friends. They died at the same age, 42, one year apart. The Duke of Norfolk emerges as a coward and hypocrite. The power behind the throne towards the end of Henry's life was Sir Anthony Denny, a man I had never heard of. Sir Anthony was Chief Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and controlled all access to the monarch and managed all of Henry's finances.The power behind the throne.All of these character studies, along with many more, are what interest me the most in the book.

There's an especiially interesting plate in the book, in black and white, of Mary, painted in 1536 by Holbein when Mary was twenty years old. Mary looks like a woman of forty, her face shadowed with fatigue, her thin lips rigid and uncompromising. Facing the page of Mary is the superb portait of Elizabeth when she was 13. It's very odd, but Mary and ELizabeth facing eachother, look astoundingly alike even though Elizabeth is fresh-faced and young.In real life, the sisters did not resemble eachother and yet these two portraits, side by side, are food for thought. It's a bit eerie!

The tangled web of conspiracies and heresies and treason are brought forth in the book to great effect, including character studies and influence of the clergymen Cranmer and Gardiner. Henry VIII was responsible for many burnings at the stake of people from all walks of life. As his illness became more incapacitating, the more ruthless Henry became so that in the end, he died a lonely old man with no friends. And horribly, it was rumored that Henry's immense coffin burst a seam and issued forth a stream of corrupted matter. A dog was caught trying to lap up the blood, like the dogs who lapped up the blood of Ahab. The story may be apocryphal, of course, but maybe not.

To get a real gut feeling for the times of Henry VIII "The Last Days" is recommended.

Not your average 16th century monarch. .......2006-02-03

I commenced this book with the view that perhaps Henry VIII was no worse than your average black-hearted monarch of the Middle Ages; that view went up in smoke in the first 50 pages of this fascinating book. Hutchinson has researched well for this book and the bibliography is full of reference to primary documents and quotes at length from them.

In some ways Henry was no worse than some of his scheming, ruthless and murderous Councilors and Government officials, but he bested them all with his acutely developed sense of low cunning, deviousness and intelligence. The book offers a brilliant cross section of the personalities and the dynamics of the rulers and some of the would-be rulers during the last years of Henry's reign.

Henry was a very sick man for the last few years of his life and in great pain and this made him a very dangerous person to be around with his power of life and death over his subjects. His natural qualities of selfishness, ruthlessness and cruelty became even more pronounced as he sunk deeper into pain and ill health and edged towards death.

Hutchinson gives a very good analysis of the effects in England of Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the consequences, some fatal, for his subjects as they tried to deal with the aftermath. The author gives a sad and heart breaking account of some of his executed victims, some are in their teens, some are poor and they all have no hope of a fair trial or hearing under Henry's despotic rule. This book is well worth reading, if only to see how far human rights have advanced; in some countries anyway!

Tyranny and terror.......2006-01-31

Henry VIII ruled his kingdom, at least towrd the end of his reign, with low political cunning, and a mixture of tyranny and terror. Even those closest to him at court could never be sure about the long-term stability of their positions. His mind was mercurial, and often changed by the last person with whom he spoke, but the final decision, good or bad, was always his. This is an extremely readable work that takes us through the last years of his life, when life around him became extremely bad, not only because of his natural inclination to incite terror, but the very real physical pain he sufered from various problems with his often abused body. This is a cautionary tale of how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and a fine addition to the lengthy volumes on the Tudors.

Customer Reviews:

Written Like Only Catton Could.......2006-08-22

One reason I am a life-long Civil War buff is because of the pleasant memories I have as a teenager reading several of Mr. Catton's books. Just recently I bought some used ones at a flea market and have decided to read them again. This book is the first one I have reread.

Rereading this book reminded me why Catton is one of the best writers on comprehensive or themed Civil War histories. He was not known for many titles on individual battles but instead focused on particular themes (US Grant taking command of the Army of the Potomac in 1864, a comprehensive history of the Army of the Potomac, etc.).

Mr. Lincoln's Army covers the time from Bull Run to the Battle of Antietam, mainly from the Union perspective. Yes, the folks who like a histories on the Confederacy may like not the perspective, but the book is fair in evaluating the leaders of the Army of the Potomac. The book also has Catton's unique writing style - excellent descriptions of troop movements, battles, and personalities.

The only reason I did not give the book 5 stars was not the content or style of the text but the maps. The maps were few and were of okay quality. To be fair, the book was written in the 1950s, so one should not expect the quality of maps one sees in newer titles.

Complaint aside, read the book and enjoy what is in my humble opinion one of the best histories of the Army of the Potomac.

Recommended.

A Literary Look at History.......2005-02-27

This is the second of Bruce Catton's "army of the Potomac" books that I have read. I have the whole series but let them sit on my shelf for years until I discovered Catton's genius for communicating history while reading "Glory Road". Some historical books are written by persons adept at research but short on writing skills. Others are adept at writing but short on research skills. A good book is when you find someone good at both. Catton EXCELS at both. His ability to show us the Civil War through the eyes of the participants is quite impressive. It's even more impressive when realizing that he takes us across a lot of ground in a mere 339 pages yet never lets us feel that we missed anything nor that we were bogged down in anything. He gives us his philosophy yet seems to try and give us enough leeway to decide for ourselves on a number of issues such as the merits of McClellan as commanding general.

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" covers the war from post First Bull Run with emphasis on the Penninsula Campaign and Antietam. Along the way we get a lot of insight into the politics that had many a politican exasperated with McClellan while the majority of soldiers worshipped him. As we explore the book, we frequently come across many a sideline subject. For example, he covers in this vollume the food that the common soldier had to eat. It was surprizing how thorough he covered the subject in far fewer pages that I encountered in other books.

I've read plenty of fiction that wasn't written as well as Catton writes. Given the fascinating subject matter, this book was a pleasure to read. I can't wait to read "A Stillness at Appomattox".

Great Writing Style.......2004-11-28

When it comes to writing, Catton's style is nearly impeccable. When reading Catton's book, you get the feeling that this is a great writer writing about the Civil War, not a great Civil War historian who is writing.

Catton paints with broad strokes regarding the campaigns of the Army of the Potomoc up to November 1862. People who are interested in the Civil War will definitely want to read more detailed histories of the individual campaigns, but for those who have already done so, reading Catton is great because he ties them all together and really gets into the psyche of the soldiers and the army as a whole.

Much of the book focuses of course on McClellan, who is persona non grata in most histories being written these days. But Catton is able to evoke some sympathy for McClellan's odd position in the power struggle between the military commanders and the Administration's politics, let alone the power struggle within the Administration itself.

All in all, this is a great book for people who have read about the Civil War in depth and are looking for enjoyable reading.

Why oh why did they stop printing this?????.......2004-01-31

What a wonderful book. I was so lucky to be able to pick up a great condition trilogy of the AOP (Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and Stillness at Appomatox).

Catton's style is so amazing. You get the broad strokes of tactical movement, political wranglings, down in the ditch tales, camp life, and of course the human equation.

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.

I must say, I'm glad I had a little working knowledge of the ACW before reading. He does have a tendency to just start up. For instance, Lincoln's Army starts in the middle of 2nd Manassas, then kind of works back into a flash back and fills in some of the bios. This may be a little confusing for an un-informed reader. You may want to read a very general, one volume sort of history before moving on to Catton.

The good thing though is the book is suitable for a beginner and yet I think the more you know about the ACW, the more you will enjoy it. There are so many great little stories about politicians, soldiers, officers, etc.

Highly recommended.

McClellan's Army in its Glory and Sadness.......2003-12-05

Around the time of the Civil War's Centennial celebration, Bruce Catton dominated Civil War writing in this country. His books still speak to the reader in a literary style that brings the feeling of the war and its participants very much alive.

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" is the first of his three-part trilogy on the Army of the Potomac. Catton traces the tragic evolution of this army -- always a superb fighting force in the ranks -- from a misused and abused weapon to the anvil that finally broke the rebellion.

In this book, Catton focuses on one of America's few men of Destiny -- at least until he had the opportunity to confront destiny in the face -- General George B. McClellan. McClellan picked up the pieces of the Army of the Potomac twice. First, after its inauspicious start at the First Battle of Bull Run and again after the army's route following the second tussle with the Confederacy near that same small battlefield.

McClellan was good at everything in which a general had to excel except fighting. An outstanding organizer and moral builder, "Little Mac" trained the army to a professional level and instilled in it an esprit de corps that helped sustain it through disappointment and disaster.

The one thing McClellan could not do, as Catton illustrates through his focus on the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam, was use this superbly honed weapon decisively in battle. Always thinking he was outnumbered when in fact he held the advantage in forces, and lacking the inner confidence to take even good battle risks, he wasted multiple opportunities to end the war (or at least the existence of the Army of Northern Virginia) and save years of conflict and hundreds of thousands of lives. McClellan ends up as the ultimate in tragic figures, outwardly seeming so perfect for the job and bearing the loftiest of expectations as a savior, but inwardly cowed by fears and suspicions that he wasn't up to it.

This book is a wonderful and evocative portrait of the spirit of the Army of the Potomac in the McClellan era. Catton's great strength is the use of anecdotes to draw the big picture and sniff out "what was in the air" at different points in time. Thus his books are not exhaustive campaign and battle portraits and are short on troop movements and deployments of particular units. He seeks to demonstrate what was actually happening when all the personalities and actors of a moment are factored together. It is a big picture look at his subject buttressed by observations, iconic stories and the unusual that allows the reader to understand the feeling that surrounded events.

Thus, Catton focuses mightily on the relationship between McClellan and Lincoln's administration, his relationship and the performance of senior officers and in deciphering the motives, mindsets and chess game that seemed to envelope significant figures in the Army of the Potomac to a much greater degree than any other Union or Confederate army engaged in the conflict.

As all of Catton's writings on the Civil War are, this one is a classic.

Army of the Potomac Trilogy: Mr. Lincoln's Army/Glory Road/a Stillness at Appomattox
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Army of the Potomac Trilogy: Mr. Lincoln's Army/Glory Road/a Stillness at Appomattox
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Manufacturer: Anchor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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Customer Reviews:

A great read.......2006-04-17

I'm definately no book critic, I can only say this is one of the most absorbing books I've ever read (3 books actually). It is written in the style of the best fiction, fast paced and fun to read, not anything close to a chore. Bruce Catton was extremely immersed in a mountain of information about the Civil War, as much as if he'd been there living it firsthand. The result is that reading these books is like living through it with him. The focus of the book is the Army Of The Potomac and their fights with the Army Of Northern Virginia (Lee, Jackson, Sheridan, etc.), as well as the politics and social climate behind the scenes. Not much is covered about the southern battles of the other armies. The ineptitude of the northern generals is well explained, plus the skill of the southern generals who uncharacteristically blundered by trying to go north at Antietam and Gettysburg.

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Customer Reviews:

A great history of the Civil War.......2006-12-14

Part 1 of Bruce Catton's fantastic trilogy on the Civil War is a great way to start learning about one of the most interesting conflicts in American history. While recent accounts offer more and have gone into a better analysis using modern historical tools this still remains one of the most interesting looks at classical history. This book really focuses on the relationship of McClellan to the soldiers and does a decent job using historical documents to make his point. While there are many rich documents out there and the status of McClellan has changed since this book was written it is still an interesting account of the time.

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Qichen's remembrance covers world-changing events, including the thawing of China's relationship with the Soviet Union; Nelson Mandela's visit to China after his release from prison; the normalization of Sino-Indonesian relations; and the transfer of Hong Kong.

As China continues to rise on the world stage, Qichen offers an inside look at its politics and relationships to other countries, helping us understand the past, present, and future of one of the world's greatest powers.

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There is a fundamental contradiction between economics and ecology. Activities that increase well-being by economic criteria often erode ecosystem vitality, and what preserves and enhances environmental well-being is often deemed Â`inefficientÂ' to economic demands. Regrettably, in our culture, we usually accord much greater importance to economic concerns than to ecology. However, given many indicators of continued environmental degradation -- escalating rates of species extinctions, global warming, the profusion of toxins in our air, water, and soil Â- it is increasingly urgent that economics be infused with ecological principles.

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