by Fatal Throne- The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All (retail) (epub)
Thomas Wendy (ca. 1499–1560)—A physician who may have had Protestant sympathies, he became Henry’s doctor in 1546 and attended him on his deathbed.
Francis Weston (1511–1536)—A minor courtier who was knighted at Anne Boleyn’s coronation, he was accused of committing adultery with her. He was the third of the five men beheaded on May 17, 1536.
Wilhelm, Duke of Cleves (1516–1592)—The Protestant brother of Anna of Cleves.
Thomas Wolsey, cardinal (ca. 1475–1530)—A priest who rose rapidly through the ranks of the Catholic Church. The Pope made him a cardinal in 1515. Soon afterward, the king appointed him Lord Chancellor. Henry’s most trusted and closest advisor, Wolsey fell from grace in 1529 when he was unable to get a papal annulment of Henry’s marriage to Katharine of Aragon, which would have enabled the king to wed Anne Boleyn. Arrested in November 1530 for treason, Wolsey died that same month on his way to trial.
Thomas Wriothesley, First Earl of Southampton (1505–1550)—A ruthless politician, appointed Lord Chancellor in 1544, he plotted the downfall of Queen Kateryn Parr. His wife, Jane, served as one of Kateryn Parr’s ladies-in-waiting.
The authors would like to thank:
Two powerful quotations helped inspire my portrait of Anna of Cleves. Margaret Mead’s beautiful words, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has, echo in Anna’s plea to Dr. Edmonds. A quotation from “The Red Angel,” an essay by G. K. Chesterton, Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey, reverberates in an observation Anna makes to Alice. A huge, heartfelt thank-you, as always, to Doug and Daisy, and to my agent, Steve Malk. To my fellow wives, Henry, and our fearless editor, Anne Schwartz—it has been a pleasure and an honor to work with you. —J.D.
To my generous, talented, and invincible court of honor—Tobin, Steph, Lisa, Jennifer, Linda Sue, and Deborah—thank you for your gorgeous stories as well as your friendship. Thanks also to my agent, Ethan Ellenberg, for taking the lead and taking charge, and to Geovana Lopez for scrutinizing my Spanish. Thanks to Barbara Perris for her brilliant copyediting. And last, but never least, to my friend and editor Anne Schwartz—you deserve a crown. —C.F.
I could begin and end by thanking one person for bringing my dream of writing about Anne Boleyn to fruition—Candy Fleming. Thank you for guiding this project from an idea into a book and including me among writers I have so long admired. You are my one true Queen and dear friend. I also owe great thanks to the readers of the rough drafts, who give me encouragement when I need it most—Penny Blubaugh, Barb Rosenstock, Craig Martin, Mom, Dad, and always, Steven Malk. —S.H.
Thanks to Candy Fleming and Anne Schwartz for including me, to my fellow royals for their generosity and friendship, and to Steven Malk for his invaluable assistance. A special thanks to my family for putting up with my obsession with the Tudors. —D.H.
My thanks to Karen Cushman for her help and expertise; any errors that remain are my responsibility. Thanks also to the other five Queens and the King, from whom I learned so much; an extra shout-out to Candy Fleming, M. T. Anderson, Deborah Hopkinson, and Anne Schwartz. And always, love and gratitude to my personal court of honor, especially Ginger Knowlton, Julie Damerell, Anna Dobbin, Ben Dobbin, and all my family. —L.S.P.
I am eternally grateful to my dear friend Deborah Hopkinson, who, years ago, undertook the mission to keep me writing—I’ll never stop saying thank you. Many thanks to Candy Fleming for the invitation to participate in this amazing endeavor—I am so deeply honored by your trust and vision. Thanks to Anne Schwartz, who edited brilliantly and bravely; I’m so glad to have met you! I must also thank my agent, Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, for her unending patience, wisest counsel, and constant encouragement. A million thanks to Aimee Friedman, for her loving friendship and support, and for reading the manuscript. And finally, all the gratitude and love in the world to my husband, Liel Leibovitz, who invaluably helped me to begin to understand Jane, and to my two darling kiddos, Lily and Hudson. I love you three so much. —L.A.S.
Additionally, we would like to thank our Random House family—Barbara Marcus, Lee Wade, Rachael Cole, Annie Kelley, Adrienne Waintraub, Noreen Herits, Barbara Perris, and Colleen Fellingham—for your time, your talents, and your constant support.
The novelist Norman Mailer once said that fiction writers who work with historical events and real people have a “unique opportunity—they can create superior histories out of an enhancement of the real, the unverified and the wholly fictional.” We confess to enhancements of various kinds in this book. Not only have we occasionally invented characters, but also we have speculated about what might have happened in the many private, unrecorded moments of the Tudors’ lives. Ours are fictional narratives. Still, we have chosen to stay close to the facts as we know them. These are documented in the multitudinous sources available in books and online. For readers who want to know more, we have listed some of these sources below.
BOOKS
Nonfiction
Ackroyd, Peter. Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2012.
Arnold, John H, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Betteridge, Thomas, and Suzannah Lipscomb, eds. Henry VIII and the Court: Art, Politics and Performance. Farnham, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2013.
Bordo, Susan. The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
Borman, Tracy. Elizabeth’s Women: Friends, Rivals and Foes Who Shaped the Virgin Queen. New York: Bantam Books, 2010.
. The Private Lives of the Tudors: Uncovering the Secrets of Britain’s Greatest Dynasty. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016.
Foister, Susan. Holbein in England. London: Tate Publishing, 2006.
Fraser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Knopf, 1993.
Froude, J. A. The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon: The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry VIII. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891.
Goodman, Ruth. How to Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016.
Hunt, Alice. The Drama of Coronation: Medieval Ceremony in Early Modern England. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Ives, Eric. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. Carlton, Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
James, Susan. Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love. Stroud, Gloucestershire, England: Tempus Publishing, 2008.
Jones, Nigel. Tower: An Epic History of the Tower of London. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
Lindsey, Karen. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII. New York: De Capo Press, 1995.
Lipscomb, Suzannah. A Journey through Tudor England. New York: Pegasus Books, 2013.
Loades, David. The Tudor Queens of England. New York: Continuum, 2009.
Moorhouse, Geoffrey. The Pilgrimage of Grace: The Rebellion that Shook Henry VIII’s Throne. London: Phoenix, 2003.
Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England. New York: Penguin Books, 2014.
Norton Elizabeth. Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII’s Obsession. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2009.
. The Anne Boleyn Papers. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2013.
. Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Discarded Bride. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2009.
. Catherine Parr. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2010.
Parr, Katherine. Edited by Janel Mueller. Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence. Chicago: Uni
versity of Chicago Press, 2011.
Plowden, Alison. Tudor Women: Queens & Commoners. New York: Atheneum, 1979.
Porter, Linda. Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010.
Ridgway, Claire. The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown. Almeria, Spain: MadeGlobal Publishing, 2012.
Scarisbrick, J. J. Henry VIII. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968.
Seymour, William. Ordeal by Ambition: An English Family in the Shadow of the Tudors. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1972.
Smith, Lacey Baldwin. Anne Boleyn: The Queen of Controversy. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2013.
. Catherine Howard. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2010.
Starkey, David. The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics. New York: Vintage/Ebury, 2002.
. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. London: Vintage, 2004.
Tremlett, Giles. Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII. New York: Walker & Company, 2010.
Vance, Marguerite. Six Queens: The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Dutton, 1965.
Vasoli, Sandra. Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower: A New Assessment. Almeria, Spain: MadeGlobal Publishing, 2015.
Warnicke, Retha M. The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Tudor England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Weir, Alison. Henry VIII: The King and His Court. New York: Ballantine Books, 2001.
. The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.
. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Grove Press, 1991.
Williams, Patrick. Katharine of Aragon: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s First Unfortunate Wife. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing, 2013.
Fiction
Byrd, Sandra. The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr. New York: Howard Books, 2012.
Erickson, Carolly. The Unfaithful Queen. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
Ford, Ford Madox. The Fifth Queen. New York: Vanguard Press, 1963.
Fremantle, Elizabeth. Queen’s Gambit. New York: Thorndike Press, 2013.
Gregory, Philippa. The Boleyn Inheritance. New York: Touchstone, 2006.
. The Taming of the Queen. New York: Touchstone, 2015.
Libby, Alisa M. The King’s Rose. New York: Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2009.
Mantel, Hilary. Bring Up the Bodies. New York: Picador, 2013.
Plaidy, Jean. Katharine of Aragon. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005.
. The Rose Without a Thorn. New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1994.
Weir, Alison. Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen. New York: Ballantine Books, 2016.
PERIODICALS
Borman, Tracy. “Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Most Successful Queen.” BBC History Magazine. Vol. 16, No. 9, September 2015, pp. 34–38.
Hacker, Peter, and Candy Kuhl. “A Portrait of Anne of Cleves.” The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 134, No. 1068, March 1992, pp. 172–175.
Travitsky, Betty S. “Reprinting Tudor History: The Case of Catharine of Aragon.” Renaissance Quarterly. Vol. 50, No. 1, Spring 1997, pp. 164–172.
DVDS
Inside the Court of Henry VIII, produced by Peter Chinn and Jeremy Dear, PBS Distribution, 2015.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, produced by Ronald Travers and Mark Shivas, BBC/Warner Home Video, 2006.
The Tudors, The Complete Series, Paramount, 2014.
Wolf Hall, PBS, 2015.
WEBSITES
Chalmers, C. R., and E. J. Chaloner. “500 Years Later: Henry VIII, Leg Ulcers and the Course of History.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, December 1, 2009. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2789029.
Dewhurst, Sir John. “The Alleged Miscarriages of Catharine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1139382.
Foxe, John. The Acts and Monuments. 1583 Edition, Book 8, Page 1266. johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=text&gototype+modern&edition=1583&pageid=1266.
Glanville, Stephen. “Canker.” Tudor Blog: The Great Tale, 1485–1603, December 16, 2012. https://tudorblog.com/2012/12/16/canker.
Hall, Edward. Hall’s Chronicle [1548/1550]. London: Longman, 1809. https://archive.org/details/hallschronicleco00halluoft.
Porter, Linda. Lady Mary Seymour: An Unfit Traveller. historytoday.com/linda-porter/lady-mary-seymour-unfit-traveller.
Ridgway, Claire. theanneboleynfiles.com.
M. T. ANDERSON’s books include the Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing books: Volume I, The Pox Party, which won the National Book Award and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves. Both were named Printz Honor Books and were New York Times bestsellers. Anderson is also the author of Feed, winner of the LA Times Book Prize. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit him on the Web at mt-anderson.com.
JENNIFER DONNELLY is the author of Lost in a Book, a New York Times bestseller; the Waterfire Saga, the first book of which, Deep Blue, won the Green Earth Book Award; These Shallow Graves, an ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults book; Revolution, an ABA Young Adult Book of the Year; and A Northern Light, winner of the Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Book Prize, and a Printz Honor. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Visit Jennifer on the Web at jenniferdonnelly.com or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @jenwritesbooks.
CANDACE FLEMING is the author of The Family Romanov, winner of the LA Times Book Prize and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; Amelia Lost, a New York Times Notable Children’s Book of the Year and a Washington Post Best Children’s Book of the Year; and The Lincolns, also a winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, among many others. She lives in Oak Park, Illinois. Learn more about Candace and her books at candacefleming.com.
STEPHANIE HEMPHILL is the author of Your Own, Sylvia, a Printz Honor Book, which the Horn Book Magazine called “completely compelling: every word, every line, worth reading,” and Wicked Girls, an LA Times Book Prize Finalist. She lives in Naperville, Illinois.
DEBORAH HOPKINSON is the author of many acclaimed books for children and teens, including Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book and an ALA-YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist; The Great Trouble; A Bandit’s Tale, a Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children recommended title, and many award-winning picture books. She lives near Portland, Oregon. Find her on the Web at deborahhopkinson.com.
LINDA SUE PARK’s books for young readers include A Single Shard, winner of the Newbery Medal and an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults; When My Name Was Keoko, an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults; and the New York Times bestselling A Long Walk to Water, recipient of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. She lives with her family in western New York. For more information on Linda Sue, visit lspark.com.
LISA ANN SANDELL is the author, most recently, of A Map of the Known World, which Publishers Weekly called “poetic” in a starred review; Song of the Sparrow; and The Weight of the Sky, called “lovely” and “poignant” by Kirkus Reviews. She is also an editor of children’s books. She lives in New York City. Visit Lisa Ann on the Web at lisaannsandell.com.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
* * *
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
ilter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share