The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican

The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican

By Catherine Fletcher

Palgrave Macmillan, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-230-34151-7

First published in the United Kingdom as Our Man in Rome

Publisher’s Description: In 1533 the English monarch Henry VIII decided to divorce his wife of twenty years Catherine of Aragon in pursuit of a male heir to ensure the Tudor line. He was also head over heels in love with his wife’s lady in waiting Anne Boleyn, the future mother of Elizabeth I. But getting his freedom involved a terrific web of intrigue through the enshrined halls of the Vatican that resulted in a religious schism and the formation of the Church of England. Henry’s man in Rome was a wily Italian diplomat named Gregorio Casali who drew no limits on skullduggery including kidnapping, bribery and theft to make his king a free man. In this absorbing narrative, winner of the Rome Fellowship prize and University of Durham historian Catherine Fletcher draws on hundreds of previously-unknown Italian archive documents to tell the colorful tale from the inside story inside the Vatican.

About the author: Catherine Fletcher is currently Lecturer in Early Modern History at Durham University. She has been a Scouloudi Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, Rome Fellow at the British School at Rome and Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute. Her research focuses on sixteenth century diplomacy

Reviews:

“With short well-researched chapters, Fletcher writes in a light readable style with a sly humourous touch that guides the reader through complex historical events without ever losing focus. Its cast of eccentric characters and numerous comic-book type predicaments provide an entertaining read, which is also emotionally affecting as Fletcher dips in and out of Casali’s difficult life.” – from Hobbinol’s Blog

“Catherine Fletcher, to her credit does try to tell of Henry VIII’s drive for divorce from a ‘wider, external angle’. Fletcher tackles the subject from a new perspective, drawing on hundreds of hitherto-unknown archive documents.” – from A Trumpet of Sedition

“Perhaps the greatest joy of this splendid book is that it dwells on context. You’ll learn a great deal about why the squabbles between Charles V and the king of France made Italian and papal politics such a muddle. You’ll emerge with a keener sense of why the dynastic priorities of Henry VIII (“a mid-ranking northern monarch, a player on the European stage but far from the star of the show”) managed to cause such a fuss.” – from The Scotland Herald

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