Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIIISet during the same years of Henry VIII's life as The Tudors, this book charts his rise as a magnificent and ruthless monarch While Henry's elder brother Arthur was scrupulously groomed for the crown by their autocratic father, the ten-year-old "spare heir" enjoyed a more carefree childhood, given prestige and power without the looming pressures of the throne. Everything changed for the young prince, though, when his brother died. Henry was nine weeks shy of his eighteenth birthday when he inherited both his brother's widow and the crown. As King, Henry preferred magnificence and merriment to his royal responsibilities, sweeping away the musty cobwebs of his father's court with feasting, dancing, and sport. Frustrated, too, by the seeming inability of his wife, Katherine of Aragon, to produce an heir, Henry turned his attention to a prospective second queen whose name would endure as long as his: Anne Boleyn. With the king still lacking a successor by the age of 35, however, the time for youthful frolic had come to an end. Divorcing his wife and the Catholic Church, executing his lover and his violent will, Henry charged forward on a scandalous path of terrifying self-indulgence from which there was no turning back. Young Henry is an illuminating portrait of this tyrannical yet groundbreaking king—before he transformed his country, and the face of the monarchy, irrevocably. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
1 In My Brothers Shadow | 11 |
2 The Spare Heir | 35 |
3 Prince of Wales | 57 |
4 King in Waiting | 77 |
5 Vivat Rex | 101 |
6 A Golden World | 129 |
7 The Pursuit of Military Glory | 155 |
8 Home and Abroad | 185 |