A Journey Through Tudor England – Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London to Stratford–upon–Avon and Thornbury Castle

I bought this for a friend who has an avid interest in Tudor history. She is really enjoying travelling through Tudor times through the eyes of the author. She has visited many of the places written about in the book so has found having no pictures is not a problem.

excellent

Only noticed when the book arrived.Otherwise the book is very informative and has got me wanting to go and visit or re-visit the places in the book.

Book: A Journey Through Tudor EnglandAuthor: Suzannah LipscombRating: 5 Out of 5 StarsSo, Amazon offered me a $5.00 credit toward ebooks and this was on that I bought. I have admired Suzannah’s wonderful documentaries and talks, but I have never actually read one of her books. I really enjoyed this. Like the amazing presenter that she is, her writing is just as wonderful and passionate.Suzannah has written a guide book that is both simple and elegant. I loved how she managed to put so much into this book without really drawing it out. I didn’t read about the same thing over and over again. The wonderful world of the Tudors is painted very nicely. I was aware of most of these places, but new to some. I don’t know, but reading about where they actually lived and walked was different. It really made them seem human.The book is broken up by geographic regions, which really helps with the flow of the book. I really hate how some guide books just back and forth between geographic regions, which can make it difficult to follow, but that was not the case in this one. I just found it so easy to follow-also if you need more clarification on a certain place, she had provided in the chapters where she first talked about them. This is just great!I loved the easy to read feeling of the book. I have read other book reviews about Suzannah’s writing. Most claim that her books have a textbook feel. Now, I didn’t get that feeling from this book. It is scholarly, but at the same time can be read by everyday people. I did feel Suzannah’s passion coming right off the page, which was great and really added to the book.I just loved this book! I don’t know how else to put it into words. I really do think this would make a great documentary series. Hey, Dan Jones just did one on Great British Castles, so why can’t Suzannah do one on the Tudors?

I'm sort of surprised at the somewhat lukewarm reception of this book. I think it's marvelous. Yes, if it were a picture book, a guide book with all the glossy color photos, it would be perfect for me. But you should realize that this book's pages are coarse, not glossy; otherwise, it would cost 3x as much.So, certainly, the biggest con of the book is the lack of pictures. But how many people read "The Da Vinci Code?" We lucked out on finding the illustrated version and now it ALL made sense...all the visual references and descriptions.I have the benefit of a whole bunch of other books on Tudor history, tour books and National Trust guides which analyze and display all the innards of the castles, cathedrals, churches and Great Houses. My biggest advantage is being married to an Englishman. He's taken me over the pond about a dozen times in our 20-yr marriage and I've been inside several of the places discussed in this book.What this book does that no other one does is explain in great detail the history swirling around each building. Each place is put into historic context in its construction and contemporary use. There is a seamless discussion of how it looked when it was built, when and how it changed, how it looks now (if still standing) and whether you can get into it. But further, the royals' and nobles' lives are explained so perfectly as they related to these fascinating places.I can find no fault whatsoever with the text. In fact, Suzannah Lipscomb has a PhD and a university professor of history. We can see her on the BBC or our American TV with "Inside the World of Henry VIII" on the History Channel. I saw the 3-part show on the Tower of London on National Geographic was fascinating. That place has been studied and written about for a millennium so you have to do some serious digging to bring up new details and a fresh glance.I'm very familiar with the history of Mary, Queen of Scots and in just 4 pages, the author explains her life so distinctly. Probably few people know that Mary spent her formative years in France, treated better than even King Henri's children because she was a queen regnant since a newborn. Did you know when she left for Scotland when she 18, she was already the Dowager Queen of France? She had married Dauphin Francois and he was crowned king when his father died from injuries in one of those annoying jousts. The elder Dowager Queen, Catherine de Medici, sent Mary packing as soon as the sickly Francois died. Mary had a huge impact on Elizabethan England, almost turning it into Marian England. They were first cousins once removed (Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Henry VII while Mary was the great granddaughter). Since Elizabeth had been deemed a bastard for most of her childhood and early adulthood, and because she chose to follow her father's footsteps in being the Head of the Church of England, Mary had many supporters as the true heir to the throne and the savior of Catholicism. When Mary fled from her "lairds" to England, she first landed in Carlisle in current Cumbria which is way up in the northwest just 7 miles from Scotland. Sadly, Carlisle Castle is not mentioned in the book. It is one of the most intact medieval castles in England but it was never a palace, a home...only an enormous garrison against the Scots. But the short chapter on Tutbury Castle, we learn about Mary's incarceration with George Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, the famous Bess of Hardwick. There have been whole huge books written just on the embroideries and textiles of Mary Stuart and Bess and Hardwick Hall is its own chapter here as well.We have been to Hever Castle in Kent and my most vivid memory after the tour was the enormous lock on Henry VIII's master bedroom there. Hever had been Anne Boleyn's childhood home to which she frequently returned. We learned that there was a guy, a locksmith, in Henry's employ whose sole job was to fasten and unfasten that lock and be watchful of it 24 hours a day. It was crucial for the king of England to be safe in the vulnerability of sleep. Our son ran outside and lost us in the large shrubbery maze on the grounds. This castle was given to another Anne of Henry VIII, his "sort of" wife Anne of Cleves. She came out well in this tidy post-marriage settlement!We've also been to Westminster Abbey, the National Portrait Gallery, Windsor Castle and Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. I like when I read what I will see when I walk into a given room or building, the hidden little things like the wayward intertwined initials of HR and AB (Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn) where the AB was not blotted out for JS--Jane Seymour. It is mentioned that with the marriage ceremony of Princess Pat, Queen Victoria's granddaughter, she revived that site for royal marriages, again a custom now for the current Will and Kate.No...this is a fabulous book and every Tudor-phile should read it. If you want visuals or more information stemming from this book, consider: English Castles (Pitkin Guides) Best of Britain's Castles: 100 of the Most Impressive Historic Sites in Britain Castles & Palaces of the Tudors & Stuarts: The Golden Age of Britain's Historic & Stately Houses Castles: England + Scotland + Ireland + Wales The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Bess of Hardwick: Empire BuilderEnglish Castles (Pitkin Guides)Best of Britain's Castles: 100 of the Most Impressive Historic Sites in BritainCastles & Palaces of the Tudors & Stuarts: The Golden Age of Britain's Historic & Stately HousesCastles: England + Scotland + Ireland + WalesThe Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan EnglandThe Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth CenturyBess of Hardwick: Empire Builder