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Neville Williams (1924–1977)

Author of Henry VIII and His Court

55+ Works 1,302 Members 8 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Neville Williams was born in 1930 and left school aged 15 having been head boy. After completing an engineering apprenticeship he was conscripted into The Welch Regiment and his active service in Korea is vividly described in this book. He has had a successful career in industry and, now retired, show more lives in Chester. show less

Works by Neville Williams

Henry VIII and His Court (1800) 283 copies
The Tudors (2000) 114 copies
Reform and Revolt (1974) 48 copies
Expanding Horizons (1974) 37 copies
The Expanding World of Man (1970) 25 copies
Francis Drake (1973) 8 copies
Cronologia do seculo XX (1999) 5 copies
A Conscript in Korea (2009) 4 copies
All Queen's Men (1972) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England (1975) — Contributor — 1,134 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Williams, Neville
Other names
Williams, Neville John
Birthdate
1924
Date of death
1977
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Education
St. Edmund Hall, Oxford
Occupations
Deputy Keeper of Public Records
Organizations
The British Academy

Members

Reviews

In the last sentence of this book, Neville Williams reveals his basic thesis: Henry VIII was a transformational king. Well, not in so many words. Instead, he writes that Henry was “the miracle-maker who turned the water of medieval kingship into the heady wine of a personal, national monarchy, with the court as its chosen vessel.”
This is neither a full biography of Henry nor is it a full history of his reign, although the book contains elements of both. It is above all a narrative of court life, far-ranging in the topics it covers, including architecture, the decorative arts, music, and diplomacy. It recounts the improbable rise from working-class origins of his two most able ministers, Wolsey and Cromwell (and their fall), as well as the king’s relations with his six wives. The oft-told tale of Henry’s estrangement from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and his infatuation with Anne Boleyn takes into account the complex motivations and fears involved. Eternal damnation? Dying without leaving a male heir for the throne? Which would you choose?
It was an age when Henry, as well as most of his subjects, took religion very seriously. At the same time, economic pressures and an inchoate nationalism made the pope unpopular. In Williams’ telling, Henry’s faith was most consistently a popeless catholicism, rather than protestant.
The book is generously illustrated, including several full-color, full-page reproductions. These were particularly helpful to imagine the seven castles in and around London to which the court moved (including cartloads of furniture).
For those who can’t read enough about the Tudor era—so like and unlike our own—there is a helpful annotated bibliography (up to 1970, when this book was first published).
I turned to this book to get up to speed on the back story of the people and places while reading the final volume of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy. It provided what I hoped for.
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HenrySt123 | 1 other review | Jul 19, 2021 |
When the New World was discovered by Europeans in the late fifteenth century, Spain claimed it, tolerating no interlopers. The pope made it official. This book is about the English response. Denied peaceful trade with the Spanish Indies, the English took to plundering Spanish settlements and treasure ships, and to worldwide exploration to find places open to English settlement. Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in his search for plunder and financial prospects. Later Thomas Cavendish did the same. Also covered are Welsh and Cornish pirates who preyed on ships in the English and Bristol channels, and early trading companies, such as the East India Company.

There is bias in this book, English pride in the "daring and enterprise" that transformed "England into the foremost maritime power." English crimes are acknowledged, but the author concludes that the sea dogs "wrote a glorious chapter in England's history."

This book is too detailed to interest a general audience, but is recommended to anyone interested in piracy, in early exploration, in Elizabethan England, or in the origins of the British Empire. It draws on Spanish archival records, narratives from the Hakluyt Society, Admiralty records in London, and other primary sources. Illustrated and indexed, with bibliography. Some illustrations are in full color.
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pjsullivan | Aug 27, 2011 |
My favorite book about my favorite king of England.
 
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jaynedArcy | 1 other review | Dec 29, 2009 |

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Statistics

Works
55
Also by
1
Members
1,302
Popularity
#19,720
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
8
ISBNs
70
Languages
5
Favorited
1

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