#230 The Tudors For Dummies (2010)

Author: David Loades & Mei Trow
Title: The Tudors For Dummies
Genre: History
Year: 2010
Pages: 360
Origin: read on the Kindle
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 

The Dummies series of books is seemingly everywhere. The trademark and standout yellow of its covers can be found in all good – and bad – bookshops, from high cost to the bargain basement. They have found success is taking dense subject matter and breaking it down for the unwashed masses in the hope of enlightening us all. There are around two-thousand (yes, two-thousand!!) titles in the series. It is a surprise to the Worm, then, that he has not gotten his mitts on one of them.

This all changes with The Tudors For Dummies title in the series. At the helm of this book is a duo authorship of David Loades and Mei Trow. Loades is well known in Tudor-reading circles as a man who has researched and written heavily on the Tudor monarchs Henry VIII and Mary. Less well known to the Worm is Mei Trow: a historian and novelist who has appeared on documentaries as both expert and presenter. A dream-team of Tudor history? Let us find out.

The Tudors For Dummies devotes sections to the “Big Tudors” (Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth), as well as one on the “Little Tudors” (the ill-fated Edward VI and Mary – deemed by the authors as the ‘Forgotten Tudors’). Furthermore, the book – like others in the Dummies series – devotes a section to ‘The Part of Tens’. This is a countdown list of ‘Tudor people’, of architecture, events, and other ‘Tudor firsts’.

The proceedings are all as to be expected: the Battle of Bosworth, the troubles of Henry VII’s reign with imposters and pretenders, the passing of the baton to the next generation, and his son’s desire to become a king feared by all. The section on Edward and Mary are of interest, with the author duo feeling enabled to go off the script and pick out some intriguing snippets of detail. But the main action is resumed with the section ‘Ending with Elizabeth.’ The reader is treated to her battles with religion and then the greater threat of the Spanish and their Armada fleet. The book is neatly wrapped up, with a short examination of the Tudors’ lasting legacy to Britain.

Although there is minimal detail, luckily the book is spruced up with anecdotes and appealing facts; all of which makes the reading experience a pleasurable one. Furthermore, Loades is unshackled from his usual academic sphere, adding a sense of personality to the chief Tudor protagonists. For example, how about this on Henry VIII: ‘Henry began his reign promisingly enough as a handsome, talented Renaissance prince with a 19-inch waist, but he became a bloated monster who terrified his subjects and whose soul the pope sent to hell’. Furthermore, we are also treated to the humour behind the relationship of Henry and Anne Boleyn: ‘Henry certainly fell for Anne, the daughter of a Kentish knight, longing, in his own words, to “kiss her pretty dukkys”. Dukkies meaning – of course – her breasts.

This is the first For Dummies read for the Worm. Although it failed to deliver the dizzy highs of inventive and authoritative history writing, it entertained and filled in gaps of knowledge. It is not comprehensive, but serves as a solid introduction to the Tudors of the sixteenth century. Therefore, the Worm will be back for more reads in the For Dummies series.

 

Buy it here!