Bøker av David Loades

A comprehensive look at the letters, documents and contemporary accounts of the Mary Rose - both in her prime and after she was lost

Marking the 400th anniversary of Elizabeth I's death in 1603, this biography looks in detail behind the public life at the private woman to bring out her remarkable talents and unique achievements.

Loades explores England's religious cultures during the reign of Mary Tudor. He investigates how conflicting traditions of conformity and dissent negotiated the new spiritual, political and legal landscape which followed her reintroduction of Catholicism to England.

This is the first general selection from the substantial body of surviving documents about Elizabeth's navy. It stands alongside The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I with which it shares much common apparatus and complements the other NRS volumes that deal specifically with the Spanish Armada.

This work examines the structures of power and jurisdiction that operated in Tudor England. It explains what the institutions of central government were designed to do, and how they related to each other. It also discusses how order and obedience were supposed to be preserved in the countryside.

This is the history of the men and women who occupied the highest position in English, and later British, society. From Richard III's infamous life and death, to Henry VIII's wives, Charles I's execution and Queen Victoria's exceptionally long reign, their dramatic story unfolds within the pages of this book. For about a thousand years they were superior lords, the leaders of a nobility which ruled, and for about three hundred years thereafter they were sovereigns, whose servants ruled in their name. Now, with the rise of democracy, they no longer rule. The Queen is a symbol and a social leader, vastly experienced in the ways of the world, and the head of a family that strives to be useful in a modern community. The records of the monarchy vary from one period to another, and many of them are political in nature. However, it is always necessary to remember the human being behind the constitutional facade. This is an attempt to recover their identities.

Mary Tudor was the first female English sovereign - a ruling queen who was not simply the consort of the king. Yet little is known about this complex woman, whose reputation for ruthlessness belied her emotional fragility and who, like her half-sister Elizabeth, had to survive from childhood in the turbulent Tudor court. David Loades explores the twisting path whereby Princess Mary, daughter of a rejected wife, Catherine of Aragon, and a capricious father - Henry VIII - endured disfavour, personal crisis and house arrest to emerge as Queen of England with huge popular support. The high promise of her reign contrasts with the personal tragedies and disappointments that followed, from the Smithfield burnings and the loss of Calais to her doomed, loveless marriage to Philip of Spain. Loades' probing yet sympathetic account reveals an intriguing personality, impelled by deep-set beliefs and principles yet uncertain how to behave in a 'man's' role. Includes 59 Illustraions (14 in colour)

The marital ups and downs of England's most infamous king. The story of Henry VIII and his six wives has passed from history into legend - taught in the cradle as a cautionary tale and remembered in adulthood as an object lesson in the dangers of marrying into royalty. The true story behind the legend, however, remains obscure to most people, whose knowledge of the affair begins and ends with the aide memoire 'Divorced, executed, died, divorce, executed, survived'. David Loades masterly book recounts the whole sorry tale in detail from Henry's first marriage, to his brother's widow, to more or less contented old age in the care of the motherly Catherine Parr.

A major new biography of the most infamous king of England. 'Means to be God, and do as pleases himself' Martin Luther observed. It was a shrewd comment, not merely on the divorce in which the King was then embroiled, but upon his whole career. Henry VIII was self righteous, and convinced that he enjoyed a special relationship with the Almighty, which gave him a unique claim upon the obedience of his subjects. He subdued the church, sidelined the old nobility, and reorganised the government of his realm, all in the name of that Good Lordship which was his God-given responsibility. As a youth, he was a magnificent specimen of manhood, and in age a gargantuan wreck, but even in his prime he was never the 'ladies man' which legend, and his own imagination, created. Sexual insecurity undermined him, and gave his will that irascible edge which proved fatal to Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell alike. Several times during his reign he took out his frustrations in warfare, but succeeded only in spending vast sums of money. Henry VIII dominated England during his lifetime and for many years thereafter, as a warrior, as a renaissance Prince, and as Supreme Head of the Church, but his personality is as controversial today as it was in his own lifetime. He is a figure impossible to ignore. Professor David Loades has spent most of his life investigating the remains, literary, archival and archaeological, of Henry VIII, and this monumental new biography book is the result. His portrait of Henry is distinctive, he was neither a genius nor a tyrant, but a man' like any other', except for the extraordinary circumstances in which he found himself.

Offers an overview of the Tudor dynasty. Exploring the reign of each monarch within the framework of the dynasty, the author unpacks the key questions surrounding the monarchy; the relationship between church and the state, development of government, war and foreign policy, the question of Ireland and the issue of succession in Tudor politics.

This study of the Tudor navy is designed to present it in the administrative, political and financial context of the time. It covers the period from 1485 to 1603 and addresses the navy in action, seafaring policy, the Armada, the mediaeval background, how ships were named and more.

A biography of William Paulet's life and his role at the heart of Tudor government. It presents the main features of his life, against the turbulent background of mid-sixteenth century history and considers his impact on the economic, political and ecclesiastical landscape of Tudor England.

An overview of a wide range of aspects of maritime social history in the Tudor and early Stuart period.

Ranging from Elizabeth of York - wife of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch - through to Elizabeth I, her grand-daughter and the last in the line, this book explores the most colorful and dramatic women in British history.