The Tudors in Love

The Courtly Code Behind the Last Medieval Dynasty

Sarah Gristwood

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Year: 2021
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781786078957
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

A BBC History Magazine Book of the Year

‘One of the most important books to be written about the Tudors in a generation.’ Tracy Borman

In this groundbreaking history, Sarah Gristwood reveals the way courtly love made and marred the Tudor dynasty. From Henry VIII declaring himself as the ‘loyal and most assured servant’ of Anne Boleyn to the poems lavished on Elizabeth I by her suitors, the Tudors re-enacted the roles of devoted lovers and capricious mistresses first laid out in the romances of medieval literature, but now with life-and-death consequences for the protagonists. The Tudors in Love dissects the codes of love, desire and power, unveiling obsessions that have shaped the history of this nation.

‘A riveting, pacy page-turner… the Tudors as you’ve never seen them before.’ Alison Weir

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Prologue
• Introduction
• PART I Origins
• 1 Chrétien, the Countess and the Chaplain
• 2 Realpolitik and the Roman
• 3 The Commedia, Chaucer and Christine
• 4 Lancaster
• 5 York
• PART II 1485–1525
• 6 ‘nothing uxorious’
• 7 ‘to marry whom he choose’
• 8 ‘Sir Loyal Heart’
• 9 ‘mine own heart and mind’
• PART III 1525–1536
• 10 ‘My Mistress and friend’
• 11 ‘our desired end’
• 12 ‘the most happy’
• 13 ‘the spotted queen’
• PART IV 1536–1558
• 14 ‘My faithful, true and loving heart’
• 15 ‘it makes my heart die’
• 16 ‘shameful slanders’
• 17 ‘a husband may do much’
• PART V 1558–1584
• 18 ‘the King that is to be’
• 19 ‘satiety and fullness’
• 20 ‘against my nature’
• PART VI 1584–1603
• 21 ‘this old song’
• 22 ‘Cold love’
• 23 ‘confusion and contrariety’
• 24 ‘Affection’s false’
• Postscript
• Appendix The Many Faces of Guinevere
• Acknowledgements
• Image Section
• Notes and Further Reading
• Imprint Page