Overlord
The Life and Reign of Henry VIII
by Steven Veerapen
£30.00
- Hardback
- E-Book
Reviews
It might be a familiar story, but Veerapen proves that it is one that never loses its power to shock... he tells [it] with terrific verve, with all the confidence of a man who knows his sources
Spectator
Brilliant, provocative and engaging ... A genuinely fresh biography of England’s most famous king
Gareth Russell, author of Queen James
Fresh and fascinating – Veerapen brings to life Henry VIII on a British stage, not as King of England but as a self-fashioned emperor
Leanda de Lisle
Brings to life a meticulously researched exposition of the historical record
Country Life
This convincing new biography explores how Henry VIII sought to establish English domination over every part of the British Isles
The Scotsman
About the Book
The true story behind the infamous life of Henry VIII.
Henry VIII is England’s most famous king. He is simultaneously the virtuous Renaissance prince gone wrong, the psychopathic, paranoid tyrant, the religious disruptor and the much-married glutton.
This groundbreaking study of Henry’s life examines and destroys many of the long-repeated myths about this complex monarch: he was not particularly gluttonous, not particularly prudish, and not particularly messy in his religious changes. Nor did he see himself as simply King of England. Drawing on archival sources from across the British Isles, Steven Veerapen reveals how Henry fashioned an image of himself as a law-abiding and benevolent emperor who dreamed of uniting England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and swathes of France under Tudor rule.
Yet the image was false and the dream a nightmare for his queens, his ministers and many of his subjects. This new portrait shows Henry for what he really was: a self-aggrandising actor who, by fair means and foul – murder plots, marriage negotiations and military ventures – did all he could to realise his imperial fantasy.
'Brilliant, provocative and engaging ... A genuinely fresh biography of England’s most famous king' - Gareth Russell, author of Queen James
The Author
Steven Veerapen
Steven Veerapen was born in Glasgow to a Scottish mother and a Mauritian father and raised in Paisley. Pursuing an interest in the sixteenth century, he was awarded a first-class Honours degree in English, focussing his dissertation on representations of Henry VIII’s six wives. He is the author of The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I, and lives in Glasgow.
You may also like…
-
Paperback | Pub: 03 Mar 2022£12.99
Few aspects of Scottish history inspire as fervent an interest as the wars with England. The exploits of not one, but two, national heroes – William Wallace and Robert Bruce – have excited the attention of a host of novelists, filmmakers,...
