The King's Reformation

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Informative but flawed - Rated
G.W. Bernard's "The King's Reformation" is an enormously important book, which helps redress some of the imbalances in modern historical study of this crucial period. He shows, convincingly, that Henry VIII was an immensely important driving force in the English Reformation and that he formulated and implemented his own religious ideas, rather than simply being the pawn of his courtiers. Where Bernard's book is somewhat flawed is in his refusal to allow court factions any real influence over the King. I agree with Bernard in saying that Henry was not a pawn, but neither was he totally immune to the influence of his courtiers. Bernard is especially keen to dismiss Anne Boleyn's supposed influence as practically fictional. In his opening assessment of her, he denies Anne any real emotional or moral depth and, with no evidence beside speculation, he pronounces that she had been Henry's mistress before he decided to marry her and decided to cease relations until marriage. This is a hugely revisionist (and psychologically unconvincing) argument, given that it is generally accepted by most historians that it was Anne who chose to reject Henry's advances and, at her insistence, did not sleep with him at any point prior to 1532. By failing to provide any substantial evidence for this claim, Bernard runs the risk of looking personally prejudiced againt Anne Boleyn which rather undermines the rest of his argument about her role in the English Reformation which - whatever one's feelings about her personality- was undeniably enormous.

Overall, 'The King's Reformation' was a long but intriguing look at the English Break with Rome and, in some parts, convincingly argued. There were however major flaws in Bernard's arguments and , at times, he failed to provide convincing supporting evidence.

The most important book on Henry VIII in a generation - Rated
For years, thanks to the misrepresentations of anachronistic TV 'history', Henry VIII has been seen as a cruel tyrant and a weak king. Worse still, his contribution to the Reformation has been seen as an accident, an unintended consequence of his obsession with divorcing Katherine of Aragon. However, scholarly works like this are beginning to put the record straight.

This is the Henry we never see on TV: strong, decisive and a keen and consistent reformer of the church he loved. A man with flaws, of course, but a man of his time and an important ruler in a time of enormous change.

I hope this fine work - the culmination of many decades of scholarship by one of our best historians - will help open up a long overdue debate on the role of kingship in early modern Europe and in particular the contribution of Henry VIII to the Reformation.