This book examines the lives and tenures of all the consorts of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs
of England between 1485 and 1714 as well as the wives of the two Lords Protector during the
Commonwealth. The figures in Tudor and Stuart Consorts are both incredibly familiar-especially
the six wives of Henry VIII-and exceedingly unfamiliar such as George of Denmark the husband
of Queen Anne. These innovative and authoritative biographies recognise the important role
consorts played in a period before constitutional monarchy: in addition to correcting popular
assumptions that are based on limited historical evidence the chapters provide a fuller
picture of the role of consort that goes beyond discussions of exceptionalism and subversion.
This volume and its companions reveal the changing nature of English consortship from the
Norman Conquest to today.
