Just a quick post to let you know that “The Boleyns: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Family” by historian David Loades is due to be released today in the UK, although the status on Amazon UK still says “pre-order this item today”.
The product description on Amazon says:-
“A magnificent tale of family rivalry and intrigue set against Henry VIII’s court. The fall of Anne Boleyn and her brother George is the classic drama of the Tudor era. The Boleyns had long been an influential English family. Sir Edward Boleyn had been Lord Mayor of London. His grandson, Sir Thomas had inherited wealth and position, and through the sexual adventures of his daughters, Mary and Anne, ascended to the peak of influence at court. The three Boleyn children formed a faction of their own, making many enemies: and when those enemies secured Henry VIII’s ear, they brought down the entire family in blood and disgrace. George, Lord Rochfort, left no children. Mary left a son by her husband, William Carey – Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon. Anne left a daughter, Elizabeth I – so like her in many ways and a sexual politician without rival.”
Hmmm… I’m assuming that it’s the publisher who has made the mistakes, not Loades! Geoffrey Boleyn was Lord Mayor and grandfather of Thomas Boleyn.
I love David Loades’s work so I’ll definitely be checking this out, even though I have heard that it offers no new evidence or findings. It’s about my favourite family so has got to be a must read!
Here are the book details:-
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Amberley Publishing (due to be released today, 28 Sep 2011)
ISBN-10: 1445603047
ISBN-13: 978-1445603049
It can be ordered at Amazon UK – click here
I ordered mine from Book Depository a few days ago, and the status is still showing as “awaiting publication.” I wonder if Amberley is having distribution problems? Very frustrating!
This system of “pre-ordering” ………
I pre-paid for a book due out on 3rd January this year. Bookseller’s website kept showing unavailable. I looked for the publisher’s name in the description and went onto their website and selected the title. (Not available for months!)
It pays to check with the publisher first.
Lynda
With this particular book Amberley did seem to change the publication date so it was a bit frustrating.
I’ll have to order mine right away–thanks for the heads-up!
I orderd my copy several days ago at amazon.co.uk
but the status is still saying title has not been released and that
the book is available for pre-ordering.
needless to say that it hasn’t dispatched yet.
It worries me too that Loades admits there is no new research here. I really hope this book’s good and that George Boleyn is not treated in the usual way. I don’t know what’s worse, when he is maligned or when he is treated as an unimportant hanger on.
I’m not sure whether it’s this book I’m most anxious about reading or Weir’s. Fingers crossed!
And the fad for putting headless (or semi-headless) women on the cover of the book continues. *sigh* I think the one on the left looks like Natalie Dormer, not a portrait from the era.
The one on the right looks like Thomas More’s daughter Elizabeth Dauncey, from Holbein’s peparatory sketch for the family portrait. The one on the left is familiar and it will eventually come to me who she is.
Impish – I’ve remembered, It’s Anne Cresacre, Thomas More’s ward, who married his son John More. These are in the Royal Collection, Windsor. In the originals they are both facing to the right.
Surely headless women on book covers have just about had their day. One of mine is in the process of being reprinted with a new cover. The original (www.queens-haven.co.uk/mow.htm) shows the head and shoulders of a duchess of Norfolk facing Anne Boleyn’s grandmother, Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey.This time they will be FULL LENGTH!!!
Considering my PhD involves the Boleyns, I can happily say that is not the case!
But in any case, David Loades is a good historian…he rarely re-hashes anything
In an interview with “On the Tudor Trail”, Loades said “The Amberley book on the Boleyns does not have much new information in it in the sense of research discoveries, but it is put together in a new way, to give a different perspective on the family.” That’s what we’re referring to. So, it sounds like no new evidence or but all the information put in one place. Still worth a read.
Thanks you to everyone who has ordered my book and look forward to your comments!
I have no idea of the reason for the delay in releasing, The Boleyns. I have had no firm date and have not yet received the advanced copies.
You might like to know that my wife, Judith, will soon be publishing a small paperback on Jane Rochford by a former pupil of mine, Jennifer Rowley Williams. Have a look at the Davenant Press website if you are interested.
I’m very much looking forward to reading it, David, as I’m also researching the Boleyn family at the moment. Thanks for letting us know about your wife and Jennifer Rowley Williams, I know Jennifer’s dissertation “Image and reality: lives of aristocratic women in early Tudor England” so am very much interested in her book. I’ve read Julia Fox’s bio of Jane and enjoyed that. Thanks for taking the time to comment, I’m reading your book on Mary I at the moment, it’s excellent.
Hi Claire
Yes, Judith is publishing Jenny’s aristocratic ladies – all duly up-dated – from the thesis.
Good to hear from you! Glad you are enjoying Mary – my first girl!!!
Best
David
Hi David,
Ah, ok, well I’ll definitely be reading that then! Mary is such a fascinating character. I enjoyed your article in BBC History Magazine, I think it was, where you looked at Mary’s achievements. I’ve quoted from it when examining the myth of “Bloody Mary”. Lovely to hear from you and thank you for your wonderful books.
Hi David, Will the book be available in the United States in the near future?
I also hope the book on Jane Rochford comes out here too.Not a whole lot written about her.
Greetings to everyone.
I have just received my author copies of The Boleyns so guess it will be with Amazon very soon.
David Loades
That’s great news, David, thanks so much for letting us know!
It is curious that David Loades seems to find Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon’s marriage to Anne Morgan of Arkstone difficult to explain. He writes that ‘Anne was the daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan of Arkstone, Herefordshire, a part of the world with which he [Henry Carey] had no known connection.’
(page 177). On the contrary Henry and Anne met at Court. Anne’s mother Elizabeth Morgan was herself the daughter of Blanche Herbert, Lady Troy, who was the Lady Mistress who actually brought up the Tudor children, the future Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Lady Troy was still at Court when her grand-daughter married Henry Carey. (‘Mistress Blanche, Queen Elizabeth I’s Confidant’ page 26) As Henry Carey would have known Lady Troy and her family for many years his marriage to her grand-daughter is completely explicable.