The private lives of the Tudors : uncovering the secrets of Britain's greatest dynasty

Title:

Author:

Borman, Tracy, author.

ISBN:

9780802125996

Personal Author:

Borman, Tracy, author.

Edition:

First Grove Atlantic edition.

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Grove Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, 2017.

Physical Description:

448 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, genealogical table ; 24 cm

General Note:

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Hodder & Stoughton, a Hachette UK company.

Abstract:

An examination behind the public faces of the Tudor monarchs draws on material from their most intimate courtiers to illuminate details about their private worlds, from what they ate and the clothes they wore to how they were treated while sick.

Personal Subject:

Tudor, House of.

Subject Term:

Monarchy -- Great Britain -- History -- 16th century.

Geographic Term:

Great Britain -- Kings and rulers -- History.

Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603.

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2255592

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Madera County Library (Madera Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Non-fiction	942.05 BOR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Oakhurst Branch (Madera Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Non-fiction	942.05 BOR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Strathmore Library (Tulare Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-Fiction Area	942.05 BOR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Tehachapi Branch Library (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Non-Fiction	942.05 BOR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Visalia Library (Tulare Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-Fiction Area	942.05 BOR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Woodward Park Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	942.05 BOR	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

England's Tudor monarchs--Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I--are perhaps the most celebrated and fascinating of all royal families in history. Their love affairs, their political triumphs, and their overturning of the religious order are the subject of countless works of popular scholarship. But for all we know about Henry's quest for male heirs, or Elizabeth's purported virginity, the private lives of the Tudors remain largely beyond our grasp.

In The Private Lives of the Tudors , Tracy Borman delves deep behind the public face of the monarchs, showing us what their lives were like beyond the stage of court. Drawing on the accounts of those closest to them, Borman examines Tudor life in fine detail. What did the monarchs eat? What clothes did they wear, and how were they designed, bought, and cared for? How did they practice their faith? And in earthlier moments, who did they love, and how did they give birth to the all-important heirs?

Delving into their education, upbringing, sexual lives, and into the kitchens, bathrooms, schoolrooms, and bedrooms of court, Borman charts out the course of the entire Tudor dynasty, surfacing new and fascinating insights into these celebrated figures.

Author Notes

Tracy Borman is a British writer and historian. She studied and taught history at the University of Hull and was awarded a Ph. D in 1997. Tracy is now Chief Executive of the Heritage Education Trust, a charity that encourages children to visit and learn from historic properties. She has recently been appointed Interim Chief Curator for Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that manages Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and the Banqueting House, Whitehall. Her works include: Elizabeth's Women: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen, Henrietta Howard: King's Mistress, Queen's Servant, and Witches: A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Borman (Thomas Cromwell), a senior curator of Britain's Historic Royal Palaces organization, eschews the oft-told tabloid tales that emphasize the Tudor family's colorful public personas to focus instead upon their private lives and daily rituals. The larger-than-life personalities and romantic misadventures of the Tudor dynasty, which ruled England from 1485 to 1603, have been thoroughly mined in print and on film; readers hoping for yet another sensationalist and titillating history are going to be disappointed. Borman doesn't do much to further popular understanding of the period, and the amount of detail about the rarefied world that the Tudors inhabited can be overwhelming, but she does unearth some obscure and intriguing tidbits that have been overlooked by other historians. Among the details included here are accounts that Henry VIII so liked the puddings made by the only woman who worked in his kitchens that he bought her a house, and that Elizabeth I liked to wear a perfume that she herself had invented. Though all five Tudor monarchs made even their most private moments into courtly spectacles, including their bathroom customs and childbirth travails, Borman's fine book goes far toward humanizing them. Recommended for serious devotees of the period. Illus. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Rather than a titillating, tell-all exposé of the Tudor dynasty, Borman (Thomas Cromwell, 2015) offers a measured, precise, and humanizing overview of the behind-the-scenes monarchical lives of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VII, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. The secrets uncovered are of the mundane yet nevertheless fascinating variety as Borman meticulously details the daily physical, social, and cultural minutiae of the royals and court life. Ritual habits, from the portentous to the prosaic, are chronicled, leaving nothing, including royal bathroom routines, to the imagination. Separating each monarch's public self from his or her private persona, the author conducts a private tour behind the closed doors of each of these individuals, exploring Britain's most famous dynasty through the lens of their private lives. This Downton Abbey-like peek into the everyday lives of these privileged yet cloistered rulers and their households will appeal to both serious scholars and Tudor enthusiasts.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2017 Booklist

New York Review of Books Review

The proverb wants it both ways: "God is in the details" or "The Devil is in the details." It must get crowded in there. For Borman, the intimate particulars of everyday life are what help the past come bracingly, stirringly alive. Her full-quivered social history of the Tudor monarchs - Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I - who, beginning in 1485, constituted one of the most celebrated royal families of all time, furnishes readers with a "Hey, did you know . . . ?" on almost every page. As in: Hey, did you know there was a gentleman appointed to stand by while Henry VIII "performed his daily purges" and that the "groom of the stool" was among the most coveted roles in his privy chamber? That a Tudor court pulled up stakes and "progressed" between the various royal residences up to 30 times a year? That there was a whole palace, complete with gardens and a courtyard, dedicated to storing the royal wardrobe? That physicians prescribed tying a ribbon around the left testicle ("where all the female seed was supposedly stored") during sex to ensure the birth of a son? That the typical nightgown for a queen might be lined with 24 lambskins? That the word "abracadabra" was part of a popular chant used in childbirth? Holbein's famous portrait of Henry VIII gives us the public face of the king: imperious, bejeweled, aggressively masculine, red beard bristling, codpiece prominent. Borman parses the iconography. "Legs apart, hips pushed forward and gaze fixed straight ahead" was a pose that in those days would have suggested "strength, virility and martial prowess." Social history lives and dies in the integrity of its details, and this authoritative work teems with well-sourced material, presenting the Tudor world with a particular focus on the personal habits and strengths of its women, making the claim that "the art of majesty was as evident behind closed doors as it was in public."

Kirkus Review

Amusing, well-researched biographies of rulers from Henry VII to Elizabeth I, focused on how they were born, dressed, ate, washed, slept, played, and died.For readers anticipating salacious surprises, Borman (The Story of the Tower of London, 2015, etc.), joint chief curator of the Historic Royal Palaces and chief executive of the Heritage Education Trust, explains that they were rarely alone, so tales of clandestine royal trysts that have come down were mostly fictional, but she does not ignore them. Privacy, a later concept, barely touched the Tudors. Even in their most private moments, writes the author, they were accompanied by a servant specifically appointed for the task. Entering a typical palace, one passed through a public great chamber into a presence chamber (throne room), where the ruler dined in state, received visitors, and chaired council meetings, and then to the privy chamber, which was both lodging and the name of the organization that governed them. It was not very private, and every royal activity, from dining to preparing the royal bed to dressing the royal person in the morning, was subject to formal ceremony. Thus, Tudor monarchs did not go to the bathroom; the bathroom came to them, led by the groom of the stool, who managed a portable privy and attended his master when he used it. An important official, he supervised the other grooms and oversaw items in daily use such as jewels, plates, linens, and the Privy Purse. Borman delivers plenty of similar tidbits on 16th-century diet, hygiene, medicine, and sport la Ian Mortimers A Time Travelers Guide to Elizabethan England (2013). She also includes familiar (perhaps too-familiar) details of royal private livese.g., Henry VIIIs pursuit of wives, Elizabeths nonpursuit of husbands. A mostly entertaining mixture of esoteric social history and well-known details of the personal lives of Tudor monarchs. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

Borman (joint chief curator, Historic Royal Palaces; Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant) chronicles one of the most memorable periods in British history: the years from the accession of Henry VII in 1485 to the unexpected reign of Elizabeth I, beginning in 1558, after the death of Mary, Queen of Scots. Using extensive contemporary and modern sources, the author artfully crafts a thorough reimagining of life at the Tudor court, while also providing a look at the humanity of these larger-than-life figures. Readers may find certain details too exhaustive, but these pale in comparison to the drama and intrigue featured heavily throughout the book. While there are many volumes dedicated to the Tudor dynasty and the players involved, such as Peter Ackroyd's Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, this work uniquely focuses on the minutiae of court life and the personal, behind-the-scenes details of Tudor royals. VERDICT Readers interested in the subject are sure to recognize some of the stories covered within these pages, but Borman's history expands well beyond public knowledge to the definite delight of Tudor fans.-Katie McGaha, County of Los Angeles P.L. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Excerpts

The royal bedding ceremony was subject to a similarly strict set of rules as the marriage ceremony and wedding feast. At around 8 o'clock in the evening, the bride was escorted to her chamber by her ladies, who undressed her and put her to bed. The groom, meanwhile, was stripped down to just his shirt - an undergarment that would have reached to at least mid-thigh and, in Henry's case, would have been delicately embroidered. Then, accompanied by his gentlemen attendants, musicians, priests and bishops, he joined his wife in the bedchamber. The clerics would pronounce their blessings, and then a concoction of wine and spices would be served. Known as the void or voidee, this was a mixture of expensive sweet and sharp spices such as pepper, saffron, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It was thought to be beneficial to health and digestion, as well as sweetening the breath and engendering strength and courage. The onlookers were often slow to leave. Sometimes, they demanded to see the naked legs of the couple touching, which in some cases was accepted as a sign of consummation. Others expected to witness the royal newlyweds kissing or embracing. It was a crude reminder that a royal body was the property of the state; its functions of great interest to the people of the realm. Even after the throng of courtiers had bidden the couple goodnight and left the chamber, some may have lingered outside the closed door, straining their ears for any sound that might indicate the act of consummation was underway. Excerpted from The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.