The Tudor period is familiar to British public in reading and viewing in books, TV series and film - list is endless, from Shakespeare and Fletcher in the 1600s to Hilary Mantel et al, and involving internationally famous authors and actors. This is backdrop to the 'Royal Mysteries' which reflect aspects of enduring modern interest. These include royal family drama, sex, scandal, violence, tragedy, murder both judicial and from personal rivalry. The period is dominated and overshadowed by the gigantic and brutal figure of Henry VIII , the 'British Stalin', with his six wives with two got rid of by judicial murder. Royal Mysteries occur throughout the period. The battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 did not end the Wars of the Roses, Henry VII's claim was disputed by Pretenders, and following the unresolved disappearance of the 'Princes in the Tower', Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck with considerable and allegedly Yorkist support. Then came Anne Boleyn, who to many, including modern writers and top historians, a religious reformer, idealist and gifted woman, ruthlessly put down and maligned and executed by the brutal Henry VIII and victim of manipulating figures like Cromwell in a royal court full of 'spin' and 'fake news'. And the stories Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots are similarly packed with mystery and scandal. Elizabeth's possible suitor and potential husband was Robert Dudley and his ailing wife died in suspicious circumstances. And the long saga of Elizabeth and Mary involved Mary's tangled affairs involving murder and conspiracy to replace Elizabeth on the English throne. AUTHOR: Timothy Venning obtained his BA, followed by PhD at King's College, University of London, on Cromwell's Foreign Policy and is a gifted historian, deep and critical researcher and attractive writer, with wide range of historical interests. He can slip easily and effectually into early history, the middle ages and to the early modern period with the academic rigour, accessibility, and with both non-specialists, students and academic reference in mind. Publications: Dictionary if National Biography contributions (OUP 1996-2001); Cromwellian Foreign Policy (Palgrave 1995); A Compendium of British Office-Holders Palgrave 2005); A Chronology of the Byzantine Empire (Palgrave 2006); A Chronology of the Roman Empire (Continuum 2010); A Chronology of the Crusades (Routledge 2015); A Chronology of Early Medieval Britain and Europe, AD 450-1066 (Routledge 2017); Anglo-Saxon Kings and Queens; The Kings and Queens of Wales; The Kings and Queens of Scotland; Lords of the Isles; Kingmakers: Lords of the Welsh Marches (Amberley 2011-2016); If Rome Had Survived (Pen and Sword 2010); Alternative History of Britain: The Anglo-Saxon Age; The Hundred Years War; Normans and Plantgenets; The Tudors; The English Civil War; (all Pen and Sword 2013-2014); plus e-books and currently with Pen and Sword: Cromwell's Failed and the Monarchy; The Fall of the British Republic and Return of the King: From Cromwell's Commonwealth to Stuart Monarchy, 1657-1670; The King Arthur Mysteries: Arthur's Britain and Early Medieval World; The Anglo-Saxons and Early Britain; Royal Mysteries of the Medieval Period; Royal Mysteries of the Tudor Period. 16 b/w illustrations
