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Queen Katherine Parr presents a detailed and impressive portrait, not only of Katherine, but of the whole tortuous, dangerous, treacherous yet brilliant Tudor age in which she lived. An impressive portrait of Henry VIII's brilliant, but often overlooked, sixth and last wife. Perfect for fans of Tracy Borman, Alison Weir and John Guy. A devotee of Renaissance humanism, Protestant firebrand, political intriguer, wily survivor, and early campaigner for the rights of women; there are few figures in Henry VIII's court who had a greater legacy than Queen Katherine Parr. Born into an ancient and wealthy family of Northern gentry, Parr received a thorough introduction into the New Learning advocated by Erasmus and Sir Thomas More before being married off at twelve to a sixty-year-old noble who would die only three years later. She and her second husband, John Latimer, somehow managed to escape condemnation and execution when they flirted dangerously with the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Yet, it was after Latimer's death that Katherine took the greatest risk by catching the eye of that brutal monarch, Henry VIII. Antony Martienssen utilises a huge assortment of sources to illuminate the dangerous world of Henry's court, exploring how Katherine was able to stay alive and survive when so many others found their necks upon the chopping block. What makes this biography remarkable is the fact that Martienssen demonstrates that Parr was not simply a passive pawn, but a skilled navigator through the dangerous shoals of Tudor politics. Outwitting her arch-enemy, Thomas Cromwell, she was the prime factor in his disgrace and execution. As Henry's final Queen it fell to her to oversee the education of her step-children, the future Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Tutors were chosen steeped in humanism and her brand of Protestantism which particularly shaped Edward and Elizabeth's reigns. Martienssen even shows how it was through Parr's influence that Mary and Elizabeth were restored to the line of succession. 'A biography of King Henry VIII's sixth and last wife, who had the acumen to survive that formidable monarch with her neck intact. Mr Martienssen sees this much-married lady as a woman of character and intellect, a devotee of Humanism in her early life and of the Reformation in her maturity. A pioneer in the growth of feminine influence in affairs of state, Katherine, in his view, was the prime agent of Thomas Cromwell's fall, and played a leading part in moulding the character of the future Queen Elizabeth I' Sunday Telegraph Queen Katherine Parr should be essential reading for all interested in learning more about this remarkable woman, charting the course of her life as she rose from being a young northern gentlewoman to the sixth wife of Henry VIII and ending with her final years spent as guardian to her stepdaughter, Elizabeth.

A thought-provoking social and economic of Henry VIII's reign. Ideal for readers of Ian Mortimer, Christopher Hill and E. P. Thompson. Henry VIII is one of the most famous monarchs to have ruled England. Yet, what was life like for those that he ruled? How were they impacted by the wars with France, his marital disasters and the religious Reformation that his chief ministers implemented? The Age of Plunder does not dwell upon the lives of political and religious leaders such as Wolsey, Cromwell and Cranmer, but instead provides a vivid depiction of Tudor England from the perspective of those who tended the crops, sat at the looms and worked in the mines. "The scholarship is as sound, the sympathy as warm and the judgements as pugnacious as ever." New Statesman "This is a provocative and stimulating book, packed with statistical information, but saved from indigestibility by well-chosen and unusual examples drawn from the author's vast knowledge of local history." The Agricultural History Review In this book W. G. Hoskins reveals how inhabitants of early sixteenth century England were witnesses to the greatest act of plunder since the Norman Conquest, but this time by the native governing class.