Book Review: "Henry VIII: King and Court" by Alison Weir (Pt. 5)

We are introduced to the scholarly nature of the early Renaissance and the birth of humanism. Alison Weir covers the way in which humanism made its way from Italy to England and how Latin became a language more widely studied once again. England was cultivating a deep love for the classical world's teachings. I really loved this chapter because I am a big fan of Renaissance humanism though, I had yet to learn about how it made an impact in England. If philosophy is where your wants lie then this book is definitely for you as it contains a good load of it.

Henry VIII's work on painting and architecture was done by a large set of men who knew that the King wanted the work done quickly. Again, we see the Italian influence as the Renaissance is clearly getting underway in this country. It's still early days and in previous chapters of the book, we can see the climbing influence of music, architecture and even reading from Italy. Alison Weir is careful not to say that we were in the midst of a Renaissance because we weren't, it is still something very new and the Medievalisms of the past were still pretty solidly installed into everyday life. This is a turning point, not the middle. It was again, part of the King's image of not wanting to be outdone in his ability to gain access to those things from on the continent.

However, the way in which Wolsey's power was growing made others kind of angry. Alison Weir tells us that two things are true: one is that the man was living luxuriously whilst also being quite loyal to the King. He wasn't really trying to outdo anyone else for position it seems like. Though as the book goes on, there seems to be some more like about Wolsey where only a few Dukes now still think the man is an 'upstart'. The foreign policies of Wolsey were therefore a point of contention amongst the people who still felt he was a bit too much. Alison Weir's writing is definitely coming really underway as we get life stories, side stories, stories about palaces being built and how that all connected to Henry's court.

European trends of fashion were covered by Alison Weir in the chapter regarding how the King would dress. From Swiss and German influence all the way through to the Italian and French influences makes us see that there was a clear change in clothing even though we seem to see them as looking rather ridiculous (well, I do anyway). There were also laws saying that you weren't allowed to wear certain things if you were below a certain rank. For example: purple could only be worn by royalty. The penalty was confiscation and honestly, that doesn't sound too bad for the court of King Henry VIII knowing his reputation for anger.

There's a great amount about the palaces such as Richmond and others amongst the King's affections. But the launching of the Princess Mary, named after Mary Tudor, is a great part of Chapter 22 whilst Weir also continues with the story of Wolsey. Wolsey became the Lord Chancellor and honestly, if he wanted any more people to be turning their heads towards this guy then the King definitely did it. The entire government of the country was left to this cardinal and his household. They would kiss his hand before visiting the King and of course, people hating him and calling him "another King" was back in fashion.

Pageantry is going down the pan, Wolsey is making everyone angry (and there's evidence of manipulation) and the New Hall house has been acquired - it was once lived in by Edward IV. New Hall became a palace for £6 million paid for by Henry VIII, all shiny and brilliant and of course, he had a hand in the architectures that were to go within. Catherine of Aragon gives birth to a girl and everything is going a bit upside-down for Henry except for his palace. Mary Tudor's baptism is covered and to this day, I will never know why they give plates to the baby as a present. What the hell is a newborn supposed to do with crockery?

Needless to say, Alison Weir is trying to show us how Henry's court gets out of hand when certain people rise to challenges like how to win in court. Wolsey ends up being disliked by everyone even the Queen consort, Catherine of Aragon. As we move through the next parts of the book, what we see is quite surprising and, we get a better look at the King - possibly one that is more familiar as the raging sociopath than what he seems to be at this moment.