The Tudor monarchs of England continue to fascinate fans of history and biography. A number of biographies new to the library explore the lives of the Tudor kings and queens.
Alison Weir is well known both for her highly readable accounts of English history and her vivid historical fiction. Two highly popular "group" biographies are The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and The Children of Henry VIII. The first tells the often tragic tales of the wives of Henry the VIII, from Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, to Catherine Parr, the wife of Henry's old age and the only mother Elizabeth I ever knew.  The Children of Henry VIII explores the childhoods of Edward VI, Mary I and Lady Jane Grey, Henry's great-niece and playmate of Edward.
Author Eric Ives' well-known biography, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, is a serious attempt to understand Anne's education, upbringing and character. Ives takes care to place Anne's life in the context of political currents in Henry's court, including the ambitions of the Boleyn family.
In The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary," author Linda Porter reclaims the reputation of Mary Tudor, England's first female monarch. Porter explains that her reign has been unfairly maligned and shows what a fascinating Renaissance princess Mary was: well educated, highly cultured, mad for fashion and a passionate gambler!
The Pirate Queen
The Pirate Queen tells the fascinating story of how Elizabeth I, confronted with an empty treasury and a rocky economy, used piracy to fight back against the dominance of Europe's then superpower, Spain. Here is the story of the Battle of Gravelines, the defeat of the Spanish Armada celebrated in the recent film, Elizabeth. This book tells not only Elizabeth's story of triumph but of the sometimes tragic tales of seafaring mariners and courtiers who surrounded her: Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Earl of Essex. The exploits of these men helped fulfill their vision of England as a great maritime power.
