Private Lives of the Tudors (Borman)

The Private Lives of the Tudors:  Uncovering the Secrets of Britain's Greatest Dynasty
Tracy Borman, 2016
Grove/Atlantic
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802125996


Summary
England’s Tudor monarchs—Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I—are perhaps the most celebrated and fascinating of all royal families in history. Their love affairs, their political triumphs, and their overturning of the religious order are the subject of countless works of popular scholarship. But for all we know about Henry’s quest for male heirs, or Elizabeth’s purported virginity, the private lives of the Tudors remain largely beyond our grasp.

In The Private Lives of the Tudors, Tracy Borman delves deep behind the public face of the monarchs, showing us what their lives were like beyond the stage of court.

Drawing on the accounts of those closest to them, Borman examines Tudor life in fine detail. What did the monarchs eat? What clothes did they wear, and how were they designed, bought, and cared for? How did they practice their faith? And in earthlier moments, who did they love, and how did they give birth to the all-important heirs?

Delving into their education, upbringing, sexual lives, and into the kitchens, bathrooms, schoolrooms, and bedrooms of court, Borman charts out the course of the entire Tudor dynasty, surfacing new and fascinating insights into these celebrated figures. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1972
• Where—Scothern, Lincolnshire, England (UK)
• Education—Ph.D., University of Hull
• Currently—lives in London, England


Tracy Borman is a historian and author from Scothern, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. She is the author of several histories, many but not all of which are centered on the Tudor Dynasty. Her most recent work is The Private Lives of the Tudors (2016).

Borman was born and brought up in the village of Scothern, near Lincoln. She was educated at  Ellison Boulters Academy, William Farr School, Welton, and Lincoln Castle Academy. She taught history at the University of Hull, where she was awarded a Ph.D in 1997.

Borman is perhaps best known for Elizabeth's Women (2010), which was serialized (before publication) as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week in September 2009. That same month, Borman appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

In 2013 she was appointed Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces alongside Lucy Worsley. She is also chief executive of the Heritage Education Trust.

Borman and her husband, whom she married at the Tower of London, live in New Malden, south-west London.

Books
♦ 2016 - The Private Lives of the Tudors: Uncovering the Secrets of Britain's Greatest Dynasty
♦ 2014 - Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
♦ 2013 - Witches: A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction
♦ 2011- Matilda: Queen of the Conqueror
♦ 2011- The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings, 1066-2011 (with Alison Weir, Kate Williams and Sarah Gristwood)
♦ 2010 - Elizabeth's Women: Friends, Rivals, and Foes Who Shaped the Virgin Queen
♦ 2007 - Henrietta Howard: King's Mistress, Queen's Servant

(From Wikipeida.  Retrieved 1/2/2017.)

Book Reviews
For Borman, the intimate particulars of everyday life are what help the past come bracingly, stirringly alive. Her full-quivered social history of the Tudor monarchs—Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I—who, beginning in 1485, constituted one of the most celebrated royal families of all time, furnishes readers with a "Hey, did you know...?" on almost every page.... Social history lives and dies in the integrity of its details, and this authoritative work teems with well-sourced material, presenting the Tudor world with a particular focus on the personal habits and strengths of its women, making the claim that "the art of majesty was as evident behind closed doors as it was in public."
Jean Zimmerman - New York Times Book Review


[A] fascinating, detailed account.... Borman ranges far and wide in her quest to throw light on what the Tudor kings and queens ate, what they wore, what they did with their days and how they spent their nights.... This is a book of rich scholarship. Tracy Borman...knows her Tudor history inside out.
Daily Mail (UK)


Borman approaches her topic with huge enthusiasm and a keen eye.... All good fun. And there is plenty of it.... Borman really succeeds when she uses her store of homely tidbits to recast our perceptions of Tudors we thought we knew.... This is a very human story of a remarkable family, full of vignettes that sit long in the mind.
Sunday Times (UK)


Tracy Borman’s eye for detail is impressive; the book is packed with fascinating courtly minutiae.... [Borman is] a very good historian and this is a wonderful book.
London Times (UK)


Like Alison Weir...Borman is an authoritative and engaging writer, good at prising out those humanizing details that make the past alive to us.
Guardian (UK)


[T]he amount of detail about the rarefied world that the Tudors inhabited can be overwhelming, but she does unearth some obscure and intriguing tidbits that have been overlooked by other historians.... Borman’s fine book goes far toward humanizing [them].
Publishers Weekly


[T]his work uniquely focuses on the minutiae of court life and the personal, behind-the-scenes details of Tudor royals.... Borman's history expands well beyond public knowledge to the definite delight of Tudor fans. —Katie McGaha, County of Los Angeles P.L.
Library Journal


Amusing, well-researched.... A mostly entertaining mixture of esoteric social history and well-known details of the personal lives of Tudor monarchs.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Private Lives of the Tudors...then take off on your own:

1. What surprised you most about Tracy Borman's personal history of the Tudor royalty? What did you find, well..."over the top" in terms of self-indulgence? How coddled were the Tudors in terms of their personal habits? After reading her book, does medieval royalty seem  particularly romantic or attractive as perhaps you once thought?

2. Borman's title is titillating: uncovering secrets heretofore unknown (or revealed). Does the book live up to its tempting title? Or is the focus of the book something else entirely?

3. Talk about the 15th and 16th century concept of privacy, especially in terms of the royal families. How different was their idea of privacy from today's?

4. Follow-up to Question 3: Talk about how the primary duty of royalty—which was to produce an heir—affected the sense of privacy. What does Borman mean when she writes, "The art of majesty was as evident behind closed doors as it was in public"?

5. Discuss Borman's descriptions of the era's medications and medical treatments. Funny? Horrifying? Positively "medieval"?

6. Borman writes, "for a person of royal blood, private desires could have deadly outcomes." Consider, then, the dire consequences of Lord Seymour's indiscretions with young Princess Elizabeth.

7. Would you have wanted to live in the Tudor era considering its level of sanitation, disease, and bodily odors?

(Questions issued by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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