Power, Ambition and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII

In The Lion's Court

A gripping narrative of daily intrigue and power politics at the court of Henry VIII.

A complex, rich narrative, covering not only Henry's reign but that of his father

He writes with... a breathtaking attention to the kind of personal detail that makes his books such compelling reading

Derek Wilson came to prominence thirty years ago, after graduating from Cambridge, with A Tudor Tapestry: Men, Women and Society in Reformation England.  This was followed by several critically acclaimed and bestselling books, most recently The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell 1599-1649.  He has also written and presented numerous radio and television programmes.

Derek Wilson examines a set of relationships which illustrate just how dangerous life was in the court of the Tudor lion.  He tells the interlocking stories of six men - all, curiously, called Thomas - whose ambitions and principles brought them face to face with violent death. Thomas Wolsey was an accused traitor on his way to the block when a kinder death intervened.  Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, whose convictions and policies could scarcely have been more different, both perished beneath the headman's axe.  Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, would have met the same end had the king's own death not brought him an eleventh-hour reprieve.  Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, though outliving the monarch, perished as a result of that war of ambitions and ideologies which rumbled on after 1547.  Wriothesley succumbed to poison of either body or mind in the aftermath of a failed coup.  Cranmer went to the stake as a heretic at the insistence of Mary Tudor, who was very much the daughter of the father she hated. In the Lion's Court is an illuminating examination of the careers of the six Thomases, whose lives are described in parallel - their family and social origins, their pathways to the royal Council chamber, their occupancy of the siege perilous, and the tragedies which, one by one, overwhelmed them.  By showing how events shaped and were shaped by relationships and personal destinies, Derek Wilson offers a fresh approach to the political narrative of a tumultuous reign.

Barbarian and Emperor

Charlemagne

'I cannot praise too highly Derek Wilson's prose style, which is both masterful and lively. He writes with great conviction and a breathtaking attention to the kind of personal detail that makes his books such compelling reading' - Alison Weir

Despite the gulf of time separating us from the warrior-king (742-814), Wilson provides a vivid portrait of Charlemagne

Wilson... separate[s] out the facts from the myths and to show Charlemagne's achievements in the light of his period

Historian and novelist Wilson takes us on a ride back into a time that antedates the periods of his previous works by a thousand years... Informative and even provocative

The British author of popular royal histories explores the life of Charles the Great, whose empire fractured following his death in 814... Concluding with the symbolic uses made of Charlemagne from the Crusades to Charles de Gaulle, Wilson successfully regales readers with this crucial figure in European history

Derek Wilson is well known through his books, radio and TV appearances, frequent journalistic features and festival appearances as one of the UK's leading narrative historians. Among his critically acclaimed and bestselling books are: The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell 1599-1649, In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII, All the King's Women: Love, Sex and Politics in the Life of Charles II, Charlemagne: The Great Adventure.

The greatest of medieval monarchs, Charles the Great (742-814) towers over every notion we have of national heroes and semi-mythical champions. His military conquests exceeded those of Julius Caesar. He had the sagacity and dedication to public service of a Marcus Aurelius. In ruthlessness, as in dedication to personal culture, he was reminiscent of Augustus. But that is only the beginning. 
 
Charlemagne was a phenomenon and phenomena do not die. Later European leaders from Frederick Barbarossa and Charles V to Louis XIV, Napoleon I and Hitler took Charlemagne as their model. His growing mythology inspired the Crusades, fed the concept of chivalry, bolstered absolutist regimes, excited nineteenth-century liberals and emerges today among those who claim Charles the Great as the founder of European unity. 
 
Charlemagne is one of the most remarkable figures in European history: only by understanding him in all his complexity can we begin to understand Europe today. Derek Wilson's biography provides such an opportunity.

The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther

Out Of The Storm

A revelatory biography of a remarkable Renaissance man whose rationalist convictions changed not only the development of the church and Europe post-Reformation, but also exercised a profound influence on how the individual relates to society.

Scores highly in thoroughness, clarity and human sympathy. If you want a model of how to defy uncomprehending power - your equivalent of Luther's Pope, Emperor, Church - or a model of how to laugh at the Devil, Wilson has provided a reliable guide as to how Luther did it

Wilson tells the story well and places it carefully in context, but what makes his book sprecial is the superb closing chapter, where he deals with what these days we would call Luther's legacy

A vibrantly written book which focuses on personalities as well as the momentous events surrounding them - the impact of which will never be lost

Martin Luther changed Europe and, through Europe, the world. It was he who finally exposed the myth of a unified Latin Christendom, which was only held together by crusades, heresy hunts, Inquisition, and priestly magic. Though not the first radical thinker to challenge papal pretensions and the doctrines they were founded on, by his defiance Luther created the biggest cause célèbre of the age. 
 
But this renegade monk did not just split Europe into rival Protestant and Catholic camps. By urging Christians to read and interpret the Bible for themselves, he gave a religious boost to that emancipation of the individual we associate with the Renaissance. By putting men and women in charge of their own destinies he made a cultural impact which is incalculable. 
 
This first major biography in English for many years, by leading historian Derek Wilson, responds to recent Reformation scholarship to assess Luther's impact on his own and later ages. A warts-and-all study, it gives a vivid picture of a complex and driven man - courageous, stubborn, rumbustious, vulgar, erudite, self-opinionated - but a man of tireless energy and, above all, total conviction. For his achievements we can admire him. In his failings we can identify with him. Luther remains perpetually fascinating.

Portrait of an Unknown Man

Hans Holbein

The first full biography of this incredible artist in over eighty-five years.

I found Wilson's explanations of the significance of Holbein's key paintings fascinating

This book is well overdue. For too long scholars have dismissed Hans Holbein as an artist who lacked a spiritual outlook, but Derek Wilson, by painstakingly reconstructing his life from contemporary records and the more subtle clues contained in his work has brilliantly redressed the balance...Highly readable and should become the standard work on the subject...The most accurate and vivid portrayal to date

Wilson's characterisation of Holbein as a "truth seeker" seems incontrovertible

Derek Wilson is well known through his books, radio and TV appearances, frequent journalistic features and festival appearances as one of the UK's leading narrative historians. Among his critically-acclaimed and best-selling books are Rothschild:A Story of Wealth and Power, Sweet Robin: Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell 1599-1649, In the Lion's Court:Power, Ambition and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII ; All the King's Women: Love, Sex and Politics in the Life of Charles II; and Charlemagne: Barbarian &amp; Emperor.

One of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Hans Holbein the Younger was also a complex and fascinating man who knew Erasmus, Thomas More, Henry VIII and many of the sixteenth century's wielders of power and influence. He developed his own distinctive attitudes towards religion, politics and social life as he moved among stalwart burghers, merchant adventurers and the bejewelled denizens of a glittering court. 
 
The Elizabethan artist Nicolas Hilliard recognised him as 'the greatest Master in [portraiture] that ever was'. Yet the range of Holbein's talent went far beyond painting likenesses. He was constantly in demand for trompe-l'oeil murals and intricate jewellery designs, and he revolutionized book illustration. He produced Catholic altarpieces and Protestant propaganda engravings, woodcuts and drawings depicting the stories of the bible. 
 
In this fascinating biography, acclaimed historian Derek Wilson gives a fresh account of Holbein's motives and paintings, suggesting that they included coded signals and propaganda about political figures of the time. Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man is a controversial reinterpretation which presents the artist as a man inextricably bound up in the stirring events of a creative and turbulent age.

Peter the Great

A revelatory biography of the man who changed Russia, and Europe, for ever.

There has never been a more remarkable national leader in modern history than Peter the Great (1672-1725). He was a giant in every way. In physical stature, willpower, enthusiasm, energy, libertinism and refusal to accept old conventions, he stood head and shoulders above his contemporaries. He grew up in an atmosphere of fear, suspicion and court rivalries which often assumed violent forms. He only gained power, at the age of seventeen, by ousting his half-sister, Sophia, and shutting her up in a nunnery. As a product of the system, Peter was, of necessity, ruthless and tyrannical, personally carrying out the execution of defeated rebels and even effecting the death of his own son. 
 
But there his identification with Russia's past ends. For what has earned Peter his place in history is his tearing his country, kicking and screaming, from its traditional, oriental customs and beliefs and integrating it into the life of Europe. He removed the privileges of the medieval aristocracy, brought the church under state control, and rejected the old Russian calendar in favour of the dating system used in Europe. He even ordered his courtiers and officials to shave their traditional beards and adopt western dress codes. He avidly studied the latest scientific and technological advances and employed them to build a modern army and to create from scratch a Russian navy. These tools he used to devastating effect by destroying the Swedish empire and making Russia (with its brand new capital, St Petersburg) master of the Baltic. 
 
European leaders did not know what to make of this eccentric, unsophisticated tsar who loathed pomp and ceremony, served as a junior officer in his own armed forces and indulged in rowdy, boorish behaviour. Yet, by the end of his remarkable reign, this man, who had made a servant girl his own wife and empress, had married members of his family into the royal houses of Europe. Thanks to Peter the Great Russia was profoundly changed. So was Europe. 
 
Derek Wilson tells his extraordinary story with a verve and atmospheric detail that emphasises vividly the impact this one man made not only in Russia, but in the wider world. Peter the Great created a new Europe in which, for good or ill, Russia was to play a crucial part. His contemporaries were obliged to come to terms with him. And today, it is perhaps even more important for us to understand the historical context and the pivotal role Peter played in the creation of a whole new order.

Derek Wilson graduated from Cambridge in 1961, and spent several years travelling and teaching in Africa before becoming a full-time writer and broadcaster in 1971. He is well known through his books, radio and TV appearances, frequent journalistic features and festival appearances as one of the UK's leading narrative historians. Among his critically acclaimed and bestselling books are: The King and the Gentleman, In the Lion's Court, All the King's Women, Charlemagne and Out of the Storm. For more information please visit the author's website: www.derekwilson.com

Peter I, Emperor of all the Russias, has been a subject of curiosity and scrutiny for almost three centuries. But what was he really like? Physically, he was a strong, tall man (6' 8'' inches) who unlike previous Russian monarchs was not afraid of hard labour. He was an experienced army officer and navy admiral, a skilful shipbuilder and an amazingly energetic personality. 
 
Peter was intelligent, impetuous and also cruel. He quashed several rebellions using whatever means necessary - even mass executions. He personally interrogated his own son, Alexei, suspected of plotting against him (Alexei was the first inmate of a high security political jail in the Peter and Paul fortress). 
 
But the political achievements of this monumental figure were staggering. By bringing Russia into Europe and building it into a great European power, he single-handedly changed the course of history. If his vision was left unfulfilled at the time of his death it was only because it was so vast. The scale of Peter's massive reforms changed Russia, and Europe, for ever.

Derek Wilson

Derek Wilson writes with great conviction and a breathtaking attention to the kind of personal detail that makes his books such compelling reading.

Wilson interrelates the personal and political dimensions of Charles II's life with an effectiveness that few other biographers have matched.

The image of Charles II as a randy monarch who dragged the crown through the moral mire and irredeemably weakened its position has persisted throughout the three centuries since John Evelyn gave his judgement.  That judgement, Derek Wilson argues, is okay as far as it goes.  The Restoration court did set an example of cynical libertinism that provoked opposition not only from outraged preachers, but also satirical journalists and angry mobs who pelted royal mistresses and burned down brothels.  But Charles' bedroom antics are symptoms and not causes of social decadence.  Why did Pepys complain 'there is nothing almost but bawdry at court from top to bottom' or Bishop Burnet observe that throughout the three kingdoms people were 'throwing off the very professions of virtue and piety'? The answers must be sought in the traumatic upheaval of the Civil War and its aftermath in the life of Charles Stuart and his people.  In a society that was shaken loose by violent conflict the position of women changed radically.  Many experienced a new freedom and an enhanced power to influence men and events.  Charles grew up with and actually enjoyed the company of strong women.  Ministers complained of his 'effeminate conversation'.  As well as the notorious, grasping mistresses - the leach-like Lady Castlemaine, 'dearest Fubs' K-roualle, the outrageous Nell Gwynn - Charles was influenced by his domineering mother, Henrietta Maria, his 'pushy' nurse, Christabella Wyndham, his much-loved sisters, Mary and 'Minette', his only great love, Lucy Walter, his long-suffering wife, Catherine of Braganza and a cavalcade of devoted royalist ladies, actresses, whores, and ambitious gold-diggers who surrounded him throughout his exile and after his restoration.  It is this miscellany of relationships that Derek Wilson explores and helps us to understand in All the King's Women. These relationships helped to form Charles II's character, shape the course of political events and, ultimately, seal the fate of the dynasty.

Derek Wilson

Praise for All The King's Women

Derek Wilson writes with great conviction and a breathtaking attention to the kind of personal detail that makes his books such compelling reading.

Wilson interrelates the personal and political dimensions of Charles II's life with an effectiveness that few other biographers have matched.

Books by Derek Wilson

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter