Peter Ackroyd, one of Britain's most acclaimed writers, brings the age of the Tudors to vivid life in this monumental book. Tudors is the story of Henry VIII's relentless pursuit of both the perfect wife and the perfect heir; of how the brief reign of the teenage king, Edward VI, gave way to the violent reimposition of Catholicism and the stench of bonfires under "Bloody Mary." It tells, too, of the long reign of Elizabeth I, which, though marked by civil strife, plots against her, and even an invasion force, finally brought stability.

Above all, it is the story of the English Reformation and the making of the Anglican Church. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, England was still largely feudal and looked to Rome for direction; at its end, it was a country where good governance was the duty of the state, not the church, and where men and women began to look to themselves for answers rather than to those who ruled them.

Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, as well as a broadcaster, biographer, poet, and historian. He is the author of many acclaimed books including Thames: Sacred River, London: The Biography, and the first volume of his history of England, Foundation. He holds a CBE for services to literature and lives in London.

Contents
List of illustrations vii
1. Hallelujah 1
2. All in scarlet 14
3. Heretic! 25
4. The woes of marriage 34
5. Into court 46
6. Old authentic histories 62
7. The king's pleasure 78
8. A little neck 91
9. The great revolt 105
10. The confiscation 118
11. The old fashion 129
12. The body of Christ 139
13. The fall 145
14. War games 157
15. A family portrait 168
16. The last days 176
17. The breaking of the altars 184
18. Have at all papists! 193
19. The barns of Crediton 206
20. The lord of misrule 222
21. The nine-day queen 235
22. In the ascendant 245
23. Faith of our fathers 262
24. An age of anxiety 272
25. Nunc Dimittis 281
26. A virgin queen 287
27. Two queens 297
28. The thirty-nine steps 311
29. The rivals 325
30. The rites of spring 337
31. Plots and factions 354
32. The revels now are ended 371
33. The frog 384
34. The great plot 400
35. The dead cannot bite 418
36. Armada 428
37. Repent! Repent! 436
38. The setting sun 444
39. A disobedient servant 454
40. The end of days 463
41. Reformation 467
Further reading 473
Index 483