Oddly enough, despite being a Renaissance man who could play music, dance, and compose poems, as well as read Latin and debate theology, Henry missed the chance to explore the lands beyond the sea and acquire wealth and empire as the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and French did. His style of history is neither pedantic nor simplistically popular, but thoughtful with the fluidity of the able storyteller. “Don’t piss off the in-laws” should have been one of the golden rules in the handbook for kings, especially when they govern large swaths of the civilized world. His relations with Charles V suffered because Henry’s deposed wife Catherine was the emperor’s aunt. On the political front, he feared France and undertook two failed invasions to reassert English claims to fiefdoms dating from Norman times. The split of the English church from Rome ensued, and Henry’s quest for heirs and happiness led him to five more marriages. Everyone knows the story of “the king’s great matter,” his petition to the pope to have his marriage to his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon, annulled. Henry VIII, born a younger son and thrust onto the throne when his brother Arthur died, was a man of enormous appetites and insecurities. The obsessions of the book’s title included control of the western shores of Europe and the Atlantic explorations, the matter of religion, and the anxieties of having similarly powerful nations with the same goals in such proximity. Occasionally they formed alliances, while at other times they fought wars with one another depending on the exigencies of the moment. The four princes in question possessed different personalities, but similar world views: i.e., a belief in the inherent superiority of their own realms and the need and right to be supreme. After an early career as a diplomat like his father he became a writer full time. $26.00.Īt eighty-seven years of age John Julius Norwich has already authored epic works of history on Venice and Byzantium, written and produced numerous television programs, and now adds another star to his constellation by offering a view of the tumultuous world of early sixteenth century Europe, an age of exploration, revolt, and religious upheaval.īorn the son of the celebrity couple Duff and Diana Cooper, he assumed the name Norwich on succeeding his father as Viscount Norwich. A historian’s view of the tumultuous world of early sixteenth century Europe, an age of exploration, revolt, and religious upheaval.įour Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the MagnificentĪnd The Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe by John Julius Norwich.
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