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Mary Tudor: A Life
Book by Loades, David M.
410 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
David Loades
109 books42 followersDavid Michael Loades was a British historian who specialised in the Tudor era. After military service in the Royal Air Force from 1953 until 1955, Loades studied at the University of Cambridge. In the 1960s and 1970s he taught at the universities of St. Andrews and Durham. From 1980 until 1996 Loades was Professor of History at the University of Wales; after taking emeritus status, Loades served as Honorary Research Professor at the University of Sheffield from 1996 until 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 18, 2021
One of my saddest reads this year.
Mary is a tragic figure, in death no less than life. She has borne the “Bloody” epithet for almost 500 years. Had she lived today, we would dub her an abused child, within the most dysfunctional of families. This abuse continued well into her 30s. Her father and main abuser, Henry VIII, finally bit the dust on the eve of her 31st birthday, to be replaced by Mary’s precocious and pulmonary baby brother, Edward VI. That she survived to become Queen at the age of 37 was an achievement in itself. At one stage her head looked set to roll, like two of her stepmothers before her.
Close to her mother, but forced apart, she was unable to be with Queen Catherine on her death bed. After Catherine’s death, she regarded her cousin and Emperor Charles V as her protector and best friend. She would eventually marry his son, Philip II of Spain, having been promised to almost every man (usually royal, but not always) and his dog, or so it seems, in the royal and diplomatic marriage stakes, for years. Loades even hints at the one time possibility of Mary marrying Thomas Cromwell.
Ailing physically and probably prematurely aged by the time she came to the throne, Mary’s loyalties were very much divided - between Spain and the Empire and England. Understandably, this was resented domestically. Conservative and Catholic, she longed to put the clock back to the days before her wicked step mother, Anne Boleyn. (The usurping whore, as seen through Mary’s eyes, had bewitched her father into declaring his daughter a bastard and displacing Mary's mother). This would be her strategy when she became Queen. Longing to be a wife and mother, she achieved the first, although she saw very little of her much younger husband. As for the second, she had phantom pregnancies and a royal nursery waiting but never used.
Mary hated a heretic of course, and hence the purging by fire, though she was really the most kind hearted of all the Tudors it seems, which says a lot! There was no love lost between Mary and her sister Elizabeth. The latter would have her revenge upon her accession for, as we know, the victor writes the history books.
Loades is no doubt a better historian than he is the teller of a story. His biography was a little arid in places. It’s many years since I read Carolly Erickson’s biography of Mary but I recall it being much more readable.
Mary is a tragic figure, in death no less than life. She has borne the “Bloody” epithet for almost 500 years. Had she lived today, we would dub her an abused child, within the most dysfunctional of families. This abuse continued well into her 30s. Her father and main abuser, Henry VIII, finally bit the dust on the eve of her 31st birthday, to be replaced by Mary’s precocious and pulmonary baby brother, Edward VI. That she survived to become Queen at the age of 37 was an achievement in itself. At one stage her head looked set to roll, like two of her stepmothers before her.
Close to her mother, but forced apart, she was unable to be with Queen Catherine on her death bed. After Catherine’s death, she regarded her cousin and Emperor Charles V as her protector and best friend. She would eventually marry his son, Philip II of Spain, having been promised to almost every man (usually royal, but not always) and his dog, or so it seems, in the royal and diplomatic marriage stakes, for years. Loades even hints at the one time possibility of Mary marrying Thomas Cromwell.
Ailing physically and probably prematurely aged by the time she came to the throne, Mary’s loyalties were very much divided - between Spain and the Empire and England. Understandably, this was resented domestically. Conservative and Catholic, she longed to put the clock back to the days before her wicked step mother, Anne Boleyn. (The usurping whore, as seen through Mary’s eyes, had bewitched her father into declaring his daughter a bastard and displacing Mary's mother). This would be her strategy when she became Queen. Longing to be a wife and mother, she achieved the first, although she saw very little of her much younger husband. As for the second, she had phantom pregnancies and a royal nursery waiting but never used.
Mary hated a heretic of course, and hence the purging by fire, though she was really the most kind hearted of all the Tudors it seems, which says a lot! There was no love lost between Mary and her sister Elizabeth. The latter would have her revenge upon her accession for, as we know, the victor writes the history books.
Loades is no doubt a better historian than he is the teller of a story. His biography was a little arid in places. It’s many years since I read Carolly Erickson’s biography of Mary but I recall it being much more readable.
January 29, 2025
It took me a long time to read this book. I would reread it. I loved all the details about Mary, Philip and Henry VIII.
February 5, 2021
David Loades always cut straight to the chase. It is why his books are among the best. He didn't go off on a tangent. Whatever his subject (or subjects) was (or were), that was what he focused on. Yet, the only reason why I am giving it three stars instead of five is because of his viewpoints. I appreciated that he didn't mask his bias as objectivity or justified as many other do nowadays. Nevertheless, it felt a bit disingenuous given the information he provided and what is known about the era that shows that Mary isn't who he viewed her as.
October 14, 2018
It's always her dad Henry Eight and her little sister Elizabeth in terms of who gets the most history in the House of Tudor, but of course, shunted in between their reigns is the daughter of Catherine of Aragon. The author weaves a living history using surviving Palace financial accounts from the period and along the way, dispels a few myths. I like best Mary's company of Minstrels and her jester Jane The Fool. Often passed over as a wimp, Mary was ruthless and vengeful. On The Broad in Oxford is a cross where she burnt the Archbishop of Canterbury alive. Ex Catholica. Don't mess with Mary. Ace book.
April 1, 2013
Loved it!
For the past couple years I've been fascinated by Mary Tudor, this is my so far second book (with more to come!) I've read on her and I finished it in a single weekend.
My husband and I were in East Anglia when I read it and it was amazing reading about how Mary raised her own army to take back her throne and reading it IN the actual county she did so; probably one of my most incredible reading experiences, personally.
For the past couple years I've been fascinated by Mary Tudor, this is my so far second book (with more to come!) I've read on her and I finished it in a single weekend.
My husband and I were in East Anglia when I read it and it was amazing reading about how Mary raised her own army to take back her throne and reading it IN the actual county she did so; probably one of my most incredible reading experiences, personally.
April 10, 2015
This was a delicate story until the obsession of faith stepped in and gave her her name 'Bloody Mary.' Death became a steady stream until her death. Great storms and crop failures plagued the country and seemed to be connected to her lust for blood.
June 22, 2009
I love my Tudor history! This book is for the true fan.
July 25, 2010
Good little history book. Gives the main events in Mary's life. A lot of really good pics.
March 6, 2015
Very well researched and written so that it reads like a very intriguiging work of fiction.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews