The most recommended books about the House of Tudor

As a historian, I’m rather fussy about the historical fiction I read, and often avoid Tudor fiction as I get annoyed with inaccuracies, but I hand-on-heart loved Virgin and the Crab.

It’s such a beautiful story and I found it “unputdownable”, if that’s a word! Parry has blended historical facts with fiction to produce an incredibly believable story featuring Elizabeth Tudor, the future Elizabeth I, and the famous scholar John Dee, who acts as her mentor and friend, helping Elizabeth navigate the dangers of her half-sister’s reign.

It’s a story of true friendship, courage, magic, love and loyalty, and ultimately victory. A compelling read and one that made me want to know far more about the fascinating John Dee.

This book is a delight, from start to finish. I read it in one sitting. Like Lucrezia Borgia, it is both popular and erudite, but it does not recount the titular protagonist’s biography. Instead, it goes through all of the myths that have been floating around this unfortunate queen since her own lifetime. Bordo separates contemporary slander from fact, but then goes on to follow how the legend of Anne Boleyn was developed over the centuries in histories, fiction, and film. This study is also explicitly a study of how a legend takes hold and evolves.

If there is a single book that introduced me to historical fiction, this is it. I bought it at random for 50p at a flea market while on vacation in Scotland. And I read it. And I cried—a lot. It is possible that my young age at the time played a part in the enchantment, but the memory sticks with me. The protagonist Mary Howard was unknown to me before I read this novel, and I believe she has been largely forgotten in history, but that was one of my favourite aspects of the reading experience. Both as a reader and a writer, I believe that a main character who was relatively obscure but nevertheless close to pivotal historical events allows fact to be paired with the author’s creative liberties.

Peter Ackroyd has written several wonderful books about London, the Thames, and aspects of English life, but this six-volume series (the last to come in 2023) is the best and most comprehensive I’ve found. It’s a delightful trip through history, not only covering the politics of the times but giving insight into the daily lives of people from one era to the next, how towns became cities, infrastructure and the system of government developed. The page counts are daunting, but don’t be dissuaded—nobody can make history come alive better than Ackroyd.

Another lesser-known figure, Elizabeth is the wife of Thomas Cromwell. She has very little mention in the historical record but the author draws on what we do know of her husband, Thomas. Elizabeth Cromwell’s character is convincing and likable. I particularly enjoyed glimpsing another side of Thomas Cromwell, a more human side and I loved the descriptions of their imagined daily life together. The author doesn’t over describe but the sights, sounds, and smells of the city are touched on just enough to provide a sense of place. It was also refreshing to see a woman involved in business in her own right, the cloth trade is described with enough detail to engage the reader but never becomes tedious.

This story touched my heart. Elizabeth St. John blends personal insight and details from centuries-old journals belonging to her aristocratic family with historical facts to create a fascinating, heart-rending story about what really happened to the Princes in the Tower after Edward IV dies.

Written from the point of view of Lady Elysabeth Scrope, the book reveals why she took her young godson, Edward V (and his brother), to the Tower to prepare for his coronation believing she was doing her duty, then discovers she may have delivered him to an early death. We then see how she tried to save the children from harm, and what may have really happened to them.

It’s a captivating story that kept me reading late into the night. Ultimately, this is a beautifully-written, un-put-down-able, 15th-century royal family saga of complex loyalties.

I was immediately drawn to the first book in Karen Heenan’s Tudor trilogy because of the perspective from which it was written. Despite studying the period for more than thirty years, I knew next to nothing about the lives of royal minstrels. I enjoyed stories that are set against the familiar backdrop of Henry VIII’s court and especially liked this one as it is both well-researched and written. I thoroughly recommend this series.

The first book in Judith Arnopp’s Beaufort Chronicles tells the story of Margaret Beaufort’s challenging early life. Often portrayed as cold and stringent, we discover a woman who is warm, and endearing, her reserve a front which masks a deeply emotional person of great sensitivity and intelligence. This book made me think again about Margaret Beaufort. Well researched with beautiful period details, and excellent storytelling.

The Battle of Bosworth was a defining point – arguably, the defining point of the period and there have been many books written about it. This is as good as any and better than most. Skidmore gives a comprehensive context for and account of the battle. The book was published in 2013 so it takes into account much of the recent archaeological work which has been done to locate and describe the battlefield itself. It is a very useful guide indeed because, though Skidmore analyses possibilities where evidence is hard to come by, he does not stray into the realms of fantasy.

Everybody knows the name of Richard III, the short-lived king of England whose defeat ushered in the Tudor dynasty. But the story everyone knows and argues about is his time as king and the fate of the “princes in the tower.” 

Michael Hicks tells the story of Richard’s life before he became king, his loyal support for his brother Edward IV, the political scheming that made him the ruler of the north of England, and his reforming zeal, which might have transformed the country had he lived. 

Nothing like Shakespeare’s caricature (written to please the Tudors!), Richard emerges as a complex and fundamentally decent man of his time, whose story deserved this telling.