The Children of Henry VIIIAn “engrossing narrative history” (The Boston Globe) of the tempestuous years before the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last White Rose “Fascinating . . . Alison Weir does full justice to the subject.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer At his death in 1547, King Henry VIII left four heirs to the English throne: his only son, the nine-year-old Prince Edward; the Lady Mary, the adult daughter of his first wife Katherine of Aragon; the Lady Elizabeth, the teenage daughter of his second wife Anne Boleyn; and his young great-niece, the Lady Jane Grey. In this riveting account, Alison Weir paints a unique portrait of these extraordinary heirs, examining their intricate relationships to each other and to history. She traces the tumult that followed Henry's death, from the brief intrigue-filled reigns of the boy king Edward VI and the fragile Lady Jane Grey, to the savagery of “Bloody Mary,” and finally the accession of the politically adroit Elizabeth I. As always, Weir offers a fresh perspective on a period that has spawned many of the most enduring myths in English history, combining the best of the historian’s and the biographer’s art. “Alison Weir’s sympathetic collective biography [reminds] us that human nature has changed—and for the better. . . . Weir imparts movement and coherence while re-creating the suspense her characters endured and the suffering they inflicted.”—The New York Times Book Review |
Contents
The Lions Cubs | 1 |
Edward Mary and Elizabeth Prologue 28 January 1547 | 23 |
The Kings Uncles | 27 |
Amorous Intrigues | 41 |
A Royal Scandal | 65 |
The Most Unstable Man in England | 81 |
Keeping the Faith | 102 |
Pining Away | 130 |
IO The Marriages of Princes | 211 |
Heretics and Traitors | 227 |
Much Suspected of Me | 247 |
The Spanish Marriage | 268 |
True Religion Restored | 287 |
A Miracle Will Come to Pass | 301 |
Bloody Mary | 318 |
Little Children Like Angels | 341 |
Jane and Mary 7 Jane the Queen | 157 |
Gods Miracle | 170 |
Mary and Elizabeth 9 A Merciful Princess | 195 |
Elizabeth | 362 |
The Heirs of Henry VIII | 376 |
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