Beginning with the arrival of Henry Tudor and his army at Milford in 1485 and ending with the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, this is an account of an eventful and contradictory age. The author draws together all the strands of Tudor social life into a tapestry displaying every aspect of the times. He contrasts the life of palaces, grand tournaments and English drama with the harshness of peasant life, terrible roads, a vast underclass, the harsh treatment of heretics and traitors and the misery of the Plague.

About the Author

Jasper Ridley was a former barrister turned author and became one of England's leading biographers, recent works including lives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. His Lord Palmerstone was winner of the James Tait Black prize. His last work, The Freemasons, was highly acclaimed.

Prizes

100 years of splendour and squalor

Reviews

"- 'Mr Ridley has written a meticulous, sane and lucid book.' (The Freemasons) The Economist Review Feb 2000 - 'Masterly, rich, comprehensive, and consistently fair, intelligent and readable.' (Lord Palmerston)- Michael Foot, Evening Standard, London - '...scholarly, lucid and judicious..."Definitive" is a foolish word to apply to history but it will be a long time before we read a biography of Louis Napoleon and Eugenie which better deserves the appellation.'(Napoleon III & Eugenie) - Philip Ziegler, The Times