Help with beginner books on the Tudor Era/Dynasty.

by MarTheCutie

Hello,

I’ve recently been getting into Tudor history, by watching or reading an article or two here and there, so I wanted to ask if anyone had good entry level books on the Tudor dynasty. I want a book that can help me get a good picture of the events that happened during that time, something that can help me get the broader strokes of it all.

mimicofmodes

I think Linda Porter's The Myth of "Bloody Mary": A Biography of Queen Mary I of England would be a good one for you. It's written in a very readable style, so I think it counts as "entry level"! At the same time, when I read it I noticed Porter slipping in source criticism and historiography, which you unfortunately often don't get in pop history.

Mary is a great window into the period because an author will need to explain the political situation of her parents' marriage and divorce, as well as Henry VIII's subsequent marriages and how they ended, in order to give the context of Mary's situation - but will generally not go into intense detail, since that's not the topic of the book. Having Mary as a focus (rather than just Henry, or just one of his marriages) also allows the author to cover the later reigns of Edward and Mary herself, which are technically also part of the Tudor period.