Genre/Audience: Loades is generally a ‘popular’ historian, as his books lack the detail that is required of scholarly texts. It is also difficult to look up, as ‘Pilgrimage of Grace’ is not listed in the index, and several other events are also missing, as only people seem to be listed.
For example, in his section on the Pilgrimage of Grace, Loades fails to fully explain what the reasons behind it were, and what actually happened to prompt the consequences of it. Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard are dealt with together in twenty-two pages! He also fails to discuss important events in sufficient detail. At times the primary sources references are confused but you can tell he has thoroughly researched his topic.Ĭontents: Loades fails to delve into the intricacies of marriage to Henry VIII. However, his citations are generally clear and concise, especially pertaining to his secondary sources. I would have preferred to have been able to immediately see which sources were linked to certain points rather than having to flick through the book to find the relevant section. However, this section could have been shorter and more concise, allowing more space to look at the actual topic the book is written about.Ĭitations: I didn’t like how Loades wrote his citations as endnotes rather than footnotes. What is interesting is his outline of other key political marriages from the fifteenth century, which set a pattern for the sixteenth. Preface: Loades’s introduction adds some contextual information of the world of sixteenth century politics in which these women were key players. What is lacking about this and similar titles is that it isn’t very imaginative and suggests that the author will simply be looking at the same things that have been covered before.
It’s simple and straight to the point, making it clear what the book is about. Title: There seems to be quite a lot of books entitled The Six Wives of Henry VIII or something very similar, including works by David Starkey, Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir. ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ by David Loades (2010).ĭavid Loades, ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2010) Paperback, ISBN 978-1-4456-0049-9
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