Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England

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Simon and Schuster, Mar 6, 2012 - Biography & Autobiography - 480 pages
A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors—the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty—filled with spies, plots, counterplots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII.

In 1501, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, coups, and violence. Through luck, guile, and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, emerged as ruler—but as a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s throne, he remained a usurper and false king to many, and his hold on power was precarious.

But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. His marriage to Queen Elizabeth united the houses of Lancaster and York, the warring parties that had fought the bloody century-long Wars of the Roses. Now their older son, Arthur, was about to marry a Spanish princess. On a cold November day sixteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon arrived in London for a wedding that would mark a triumphal moment in Henry’s reign. But Henry’s plans for his son would not happen—and waiting in the wings was the impetuous younger brother, the future Henry VIII.

Rich with drama and insight, Winter King is an astonishing story of pageantry, treachery, intrigue, and incident—and the fraught, dangerous birth of Tudor England.

From inside the book

Contents

PART
13
Richmond
41
He Seeks in All Places to Destroy
70
Now Must You Supply the Mothers Part Also
93
PART
121
A State of Avarice
259
Courage to Be Bold
283
Savage Harshness Made Complete
308
The Art of Dying
333
Rich Ferocious Thirsting for Glory
352
Epilogue 375
379
B ihliography
409
Index
429
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About the author (2012)

Thomas Penn is publishing director at Penguin Books UK. He holds a PhD in medieval history from Clare College, Cambridge University, and writes for The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and the London Review of Books, among other publications. He is the author of The Brothers York and Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England.

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