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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
Tracy Borman · 464 pages
Reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power, Thomas Cromwell was also a loving husband, father and guardian, a witty and generous host, and a loyal and devoted servant. With new insights into Cromwell's character, his family life and his close relationships with both Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII, Tracy Borman, joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, ex
Elizabeth the Great
Elizabeth Jenkins · 336 pages
Countless books have been written about Elizabeth I of England, but rarely has Elizabeth the woman been presented with the vividness, authority, and perception which inform this fascinating and important work. Miss Jenkins brings the great queen, her court, and the whole exciting age to which she gave her name brilliantly to life. There was something almost bewitched in Elizabeth, as though she
The First Elizabeth
Carolly Erickson · 447 pages
In this biography, Carolly Erickson brings Elizabeth I to life and allows us to see her as a living, breathing, elegant, flirtatious, diplomatic, violent, arrogant, and outrageous woman who commands our attention, fascination, and awe. With the special skill for which she is acclaimed, Carolly Erickson electrifies the senses as she evokes with total fidelity the brilliant colors of Elizabethan clo
Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen
Anna Whitelock · 385 pages
Mary Tudor was the first woman to be crowned queen of England. Her accession, in the summer of 1553, took place against the odds and it was, in many ways, emblematic of her life. Anna Whitelock's assured, impassioned and absorbing debut tells the remarkable story of a woman who was a princess one minute, feted by the courts of Europe, and a disinherited bastard the next.
Elizabeth: Apprenticeship
David Starkey · 356 pages
Henry VIII: Man and Monarch
Susan Doran · 288 pages
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
Robert K. Massie · 791 pages
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself
Elizabeth & Leicester: Power, Passion, Politics
Sarah Gristwood · 528 pages
“Even their contemporaries felt that the relationship of Elizabeth and Robert transcended the details on practicality. There had to be some explanation for their lifelong fidelity, and those contemporaries put it down to 'synaptia', a hidden conspiracy of the stars, whose power to rule human lives no-one doubted: 'a sympathy of spirits between them, occasioned perhaps by some secret constellation'
Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII
Giles Tremlett · 448 pages
Cleopatra: A Life
Stacy Schiff · 441 pages
From back cover: Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons; her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
The Romanovs: 1613-1918
Simon Sebag Montefiore · 744 pages
From the Introduction... In some ways, this book is a study of character and the distorting effect of absolute power on personality. It is partly a family story of love, marriage, adultery and children, but it is not like other such stories—royal families are always extraordinary because power both sweetens and contaminates the traditional familial chemistry: the allure and corruption of power
Catherine de Medici
Leonie Frieda · 464 pages
"Orphaned in infancy, imprisoned in childhood, heiress to an ancient name and vast fortune, Catherine was brought up in the Florentine court and married off, by her uncle the Pope, to Henry, Duke of Orleans, son of King Francis I of France. Aged only fourteen, she suffered cruelly as Henry loved only his beautiful mistress, Diane de Poitiers." "In 1559, when Henry, by then King of France, died hor
After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England
Leanda de Lisle · 376 pages
Many volumes have been written about the reign of Elizabeth I; this book focuses on the critical year her reign ended, when England lost its childless queen and a Machiavellian struggle ensued to find her successor. December 1602: The formidable ruler has become a dithering old woman. The kingdom has been weakened by the cost of war with Spain and the simmering discontent of both the rich and the
The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty
G.J. Meyer · 612 pages
Meyer's fresh storytelling ability breathes new life into the history of the Tudor family and Tudor England's precarious place in world politics, the critical role religion played in government, and the blossoming of English theater and literature.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Antonia Fraser · 496 pages
The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation
Ian Mortimer · 448 pages
Edward VI: The Lost King of England
Chris Skidmore · 368 pages
The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary"
Linda Porter · 452 pages
In this groundbreaking new biography of “Bloody Mary,” Linda Porter brings to life a queen best remembered for burning hundreds of Protestant heretics at the stake, but whose passion, will, and sophistication have for centuries been overlooked. Daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, wife of Philip of Spain, and sister of Edward VI, Mary Tudor was a cultured Renaissance princess. A Lati
Jane Seymour: Henry VIII's True Love
Elizabeth Norton · 240 pages
The first ever biography of JaneSeymour, Henry VIII's third wife, who died in childbirth giving the king what hecraved most - a son and heir.First biography to show the real Jane Seymour, she may have been submissive and obedient in front of Henry, but her true personality was far more cutthroat. Huge interest in the wives of Henry VIII, most of his wives are the subject of at least two books,
Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources
Asser, Alfred the Great · 368 pages
Asser's Life of King Alfred, written in 893, is a revealing account of one of the greatest of medieval kings. Composed by a monk of St David's in Wales who became Bishop of Sherborne in Alfred's service and worked with him in his efforts to revive religion and learning in his kingdom, this life is among the earliest surviving royal biographies. It is an admiring account of King Alfred's life, writ
Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina
Virginia Rounding · 384 pages
A study of the marriage of the last Russian tsar and tsarina offers psychological insights into their relationship and covers the Empress's ill health, their relationship with confidante Ania Vyrubova, and their reliance on the infamous Rasputin.