LibGuides: The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Womanhood

Queens in the 16th Century

Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe by Sarah Gristwood
ISBN: 0465096786
Publication Date: 2016-11-29
Gristwood writes a fascinating comparative biography of several sixteenth century queens, beyond Henry VIII's wives. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there were an unprecedented number of female monarchs in Europe. This biography connects the dots among these women and shows their different strengths and weaknesses in ruling their respective countries. Other than Henry VIII's wives the book chronicles Isabella of Castile, Margaret Tudor of Scotland, Anne of France, Marguerite of Savoy, Mary of Hungary, and Catherine de Medici. This book is densely packed but essential reading for those who want to study European monarchy as a whole.
Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain: Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor, 1503-1533 by Michelle L. Beer
ISBN: 0861933486
Publication Date: 2018-10-19
This book covers the reigns of sisters-in-law Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor (queen of Scotland and wife to James IV of Scotland). Beer asserts that these two women influenced their respective courts as outsiders (Catherine as a Spanish infanta in England and Margaret as an Englishwoman in Scotland) to their great favor. Their patronage of spectacles like tournaments and feasts endeared them greatly to their husbands and their people. This book would be especially useful for those of you who are more interested in English-Scottish relations and the earlier reign of Henry VIII.

English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550 by Barbara J. Harris
ISBN: 9780195151282
Publication Date: 2002-08-22
Harris considers the women in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries as underappreciated paragons of their time. She goes into great detail about how women were educated during this time (not necessarily in literacy but in cooking, household finances, and domestic sphere leadership). The exhaustive research in this book is a testament to Harris's commitment to historical accuracy; she poured over documents from over 1,200 noble families to compile this book.

The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women by Elizabeth Norton
ISBN: 9781681778044
Publication Date: 2018-08-14
Elizabeth Norton writes about the daily lives of women in the Tudor period, mostly focusing on upper class and noblewomen but also diverging to discuss poorer women as well. This book provides good background of the day to day concerns of Tudor women such as childbirth, illness, education, and marriage negotiation. Some of the women she profiles are Henry VIII’s sister Elizabeth, Cecily Burbage, influential widow Mary Howard, and Anne Boleyn's mother. Norton uses primary sources like lawsuits and legislation to illustrate how dingy and depressing life could be for a Tudor woman.

Journal Article

Inventing Early Modern Women by Jane Stevenson

Jane Stevenson uses this article to compare what major differences there are between modern women (2018 when she published her article) and Renaissance women. She highlights that religion, now a private matter, was exceedingly a matter of public record and activity. Those at the very highest and lowest ends of Renaissance society were those afforded the least privacy. In France in particular, courtiers would clamor into the monarch's room to see him or her get dressed, a private event nowadays. Grief was more commonly expressed in the past, concludes Stevenson, simply because there was more death happening around women at the time whether it was their children or their husbands. This article is an interesting way to get into the mindset of a woman during the Renaissance and see where culture has diverged since the sixteenth century.