I've always loved 'What if?' history. The notion of the butterfly effect fascinates me. The wind blows a different way, the whole course of history is changed. If John of Gaunt had not loved Katherine Swynford, there would have been no Tudor dynasty at all. If Henry V had not become ill and died, could England have held on to the French territories longer? If Edward IV could have reined in his drinking and gluttony, perhaps he could have lasted long enough for his son to inherit safely. If. If. If. In this book, Timothy Venning explores the various possible avenues that events could have gone down had things gone just slightly differently.

Reading this, I was struck again by just how many premature deaths plagued the Tudors. The early chapters ask what would have happened if Arthur Tudor had survived or at least lasted a little longer, possibly even to father children. How would things have been different if Henry Tudor had lived until an older age? Would he have married again? Interestingly, Venning seems to accept that Arthur Tudor had had long-term ill health and might not make it to maturity. A bigger question mark for me has always been around Henry Fitzroy and the hypothetical scenario around his greater longevity was very interesting. Healthy until shortly before his death, Henry Fitzroy was a strong male with a close blood relationship to the king. He would have been well-placed to be Regent for his younger brother which would have changed much of the wrangling which plagued Edward VI's reign. I always think of Henry Fitzroy as the phantom of the feast, the boy who could have changed everything.

Venning takes a bird's eye view of the time period, considering how events abroad impacted things back in Britain. I have always had the habit of considering the Tudors as purely a domestic drama, like my favourite ever soap opera, so it was thought-provoking to realise how the global stage also played a part. If Henry had not changed his foreign allegiances at the last moment, his younger sister Mary would have married Charles of Spain, as had long been planned. By switching abruptly to France, she ended up marrying the much older King Louis, who then died only a few months later so she came home again and married Charles Brandon. Charles of Spain lasted decades longer, so Mary's heirs would have been born abroad and thus discounted by Henry VIII in terms of inheriting the throne, just like the Scottish children of Margaret Tudor. This would have meant no Lady Jane Grey, putting a very different spin on the succession crisis of 1553.

Another point was Francis I of France's disastrous defeat at Pavia in Italy. The long-term impact of this meant that Charles of Spain was in the ascendant and the Papacy was under his thumb. Had things gone the other way, the Pope might have felt more at liberty to look favourably on Henry VIII's request for an annulment. Having grown up under the reign of of John Paul II, I had failed to appreciate how many Popes were around during the medieval period. A pontiff other than Clement might easily have made a different decision which might have saved Britain from the reformation. But Venning concedes that Henry would always have needed the revenue which came from dissolving the monasteries.

I was also interested by Venning's verdict on Edward VI. Again, Venning points out that he was broadly healthy until his final illness. He could quite easily have had a long reign. While he is remembered by history as the Boy King, at fifteen he was already showing himself to be highly detail-oriented and unwilling to compromise. Taking more after his parsimonious grandfather than his fun-loving father, Edward VI would probably have been a tricky monarch to deal with. His sister Mary would likely have found herself having a very difficult life. As Venning explored the possibilities, I particularly enjoyed his imagining of Edward VI married to Mary Queen of Scots. I had to agree when Venning observed that their personalities were likely to have been incompatible. As were their religions. There would have been a quite glorious amount of strife.

An Alternative History is like a mirror image to a typical history book. Rather than what did happen, we explore all the things that didn't. The book is imperfect. I noticed a surprising number of superficial errors. Margaret Tudor was widowed at twenty-three rather than thirty-four. Mary Tudor's daughters were called Frances and Eleanor rather than Frances and Margaret. There were a number of times when Venning wrote Henry VII when he meant VIII and vice versa. There was also a puzzling amount of repetition even within paragraphs. I was also surprised that Venning did not choose to explore the hypothetical around what would have happened if either of Mary I's phantom pregnancies had resulted in a child. But I suppose he could not cover every single possible twist in the tale. This was an enjoyable, light read which spins the Tudor period on its head. I finished it glad that we never had a long Edwardian period, far better for all that it was Good Queen Bess who emerged supreme.

An Alternative History of Britain: The Tudors is a series of questions with meandering, nonanswers. It lacks structure and does not contain a meaningful conclusion. If you are into "what about-ism," you man enjoy this. Sadly, I did not.

An interesting read that I'm glad to have discovered. I'll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did thought the subject was interesting to me I had a hard time finishing it.

Venning's book is imaginative and unique. His paths to speculation are filled with well-researched information, but also are fun and easy to get into.

This was a fun book to read. Alternate histories are always fun to read, and this one did not disappoint on that front. I liked the writing style of the book. The Tudor era is also a fascinating era in my opinion, so I enjoyed reading it.

This was a truly fun read for me! I have a fairly decent knowledge of the events of British history--particularly the Tudor period--but not as solid an understanding of the systems and structures of the time. I have often found myself wondering, "what if....." for specific events, such as "What if Henry VIII had not been reconciled to his children before he died?" and while the possibilities are captivating, I have little grasp on how realistic each of the scenarios would be. Enter this book--enjoyable and accessible but well-researched and grounded in a solid grasp of history. It has filled the gap between history and historical fiction. I will certainly be picking up other Alternative History of Britain titles next!

Alternative histories are always fun and there isn’t a historian alive (myself included) that hasn’t enjoyed playing make believe.
As such this book is a fun, lively read. It is well researched and interesting.

I have always been fascinated by British history, especially the Tudor Dynasty, and this was an interesting read for me. It helped that I was already familiar with them before reading this book, as the details keep right into descriptions, expecting that you already have rudimentary knowledge. The author did an excellent job detailing everything. It was obvious that Mr. Venning is passionate about his subject and is well versed. I loved the concept of the book and the fact that events were described chronologically. A lovely trip through time.

I would like to thank Timothy Venning, Pen & Sword and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The proof history is made by bad decisions.

*I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.* Thank you so much to Pen&Sword and NetGalley for granting me this copy.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Timothy Venning masterfully created all hypothetical scenarios at a certain point in the history of Britain's Tudors, stating what would have happened if decisions and responses had been made any other way.

The first thought that sprang to mind was how soap operas are nothing new or invented by someone, but constitute a summary of life and the history of humankind itself from different cultural and/or personal perspectives. The Tudors could have done everything much better and been considerably more strategically intelligent.

Another aspect to analyse from the way in which Vennings tells us this important section of history, I found to be how easy it is for people to establish all possible scenarios for others. We tend to believe we know what is or was best for others, why a certain step they took was a mistake; however, we not only have the whole perspective and -as with a piece of art- can see the whole situation from the right spot -or not-, but also see the issue from our own perspective, which is not necessarily correct for the other person.

His sense of humour was finely sarcastic, asking the right rethorical and not so rethorical questions to set on each title and hypothesising about the reasons each royalty member had, to do what they did at a specific point, and which were the consequences of these actions.

A funny and creative way to explain history.

If you're interested in the intricate relationships that made your culture -including gossip- what it is, I would highly recommend to read this book.

Anne.

I was always fascinated by the Tudors and this was a perfect read for me! It helped that I already knew much about them before reading this book, because it doesn't really explain many things, but jumps straight to the story. At times it was slow to read because the author digressed a lot. It was obvious that the author is passionate about this and knows a lot. I loved the whole concept of the book and the fact that events were described chronologically, which helped to make sense of the whole book better!

Alternative histories are always fun to play with. What if something was just a tiny bit different? The impact on our world might have been huge. In the case of Tudor history Timothy Venning presents the reader with a variety of 'what ifs', always well founded on historical facts and probability.
And yet I had not as much fun with this book as I had hoped I might. First of all the writing style is a bit long-winded and laborious. Venning goes of on tangents too often. I get it that in order to understand the alternatives, one first has to get the facts right. But often enough I forgot what the original 'what if' was after having read through all the facts.
I also would have liked to see more of the impact these alternatives might have had on Tudor Britain and later periods. Imagine a world that had no Elizabethan era, because Edward VI had a longer reign? That sort of thing. But of course speculations like that leave the more solid ground of historically acurate inference behind. But that's where the fun is.

DIFFERENT, INTERESTING, ALTERNATIVE HISTORY

Actual rating: 3.5 ⭐

I had heard about the concept of alternative history while studying history at the University of Copenhagen, but I have never really dabbled in it or taken much interest in it. However, this was a very interesting look into the intricacies of the Tudor period - put the whole era into a new perspective. However, this is not a book for folks who know nothing about the Tudors. Getting into this alternative history takes serious knowledge of the actual, factual history.

👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Knowledge: I was seriously impressed by Venning's obvious knowledge of the subject matter. He demonstrated great knowledge of all the different avenues of Tudor history, even those that weren't directly related to English history. I was always very impressed by his ability to take the subject and make it understandable and easy to comprehend.

Structure: The structure of this book, how it was centered around a series of hypothetical question and arranged chronologically, made this easy to get into and follow.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

Digress: Sometimes I felt like Venning digressed a bit. Like he got carried away. On the one hand it displays passion and interest in the subject, on the other I do feel like it is the ob of the author to adhere to his own structure and not go down tangents.

Same conclusions: I got the impression that many of the questions and musing ultimately lead back to the same conclusions, which is not necessarily bad per say. It just made me feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again and I wondered whether, perhaps, some of the questions could have been left out.

This was very interesting reading. Being a history buff this intrigued me through out and I'm glad I got to read it. Somethings made me question what the truth is but I nevertheless can't rate this enough as an alternative to other books out there if you want to read something new and fresh.

I would probably even be willing to give 2.5 stars on this one. I am not quite sure what it is, but it was not as good as I hoped it would be. The author takes a look at the possible outcomes of crucial events in the era of the Tudor monarchs. The historical research is there, and Venning clearly knows the period well. None of the possible outcomes are crazy or outlandish, and any one of them could have happened. Even so, I was not enthralled by this one, which is unusual because I do enjoy alternative/speculative histories about my favorite periods and historical figures.

Venning explores some fantastic avenues of the 'what-ifs'. My most favorite situations to play this game with were all discussed here, such as what might history look like had Arthur lived to be crowned king? Same with Edward VI as well, what might things look like had he not died so young? The problem with those two questions, however, is that they were so young when they died, we have literally no idea what kind of men they would have grown to be. Thus, it is impossible to even capture all the possibilities of how the course of history might have changed had either of them ruled. Venning also looks at the what-if regarding Henry Fitzroy and his potential rule, had he not died young as well. Based on everything I have ever read about Henry and his illegitimate son, I think it was entirely possible he was setting the stage for Fitzroy to be crowned, should he have no other sons. Henry could do whatever he wanted, and no 'stain' of illegitimacy was going to stop him.

Venning also considers the possibility of Queen Jane retaining the throne, another of my favorite what-ifs. Now, I am firmly a supporter of Queen Mary taking the throne, as was her right as the eldest child of Henry VIII. I feel nothing but pity for Mary, who was deeply scarred for life by the actions of her father. But, research has also shown that Jane was quite intelligent and astute. Imagine if she had reigned, perhaps she would be the Tudor monarch called Gloriana. The problem would always have remained, however, that the scheming Dudleys were the family to married into and no doubt his father would have pushed for Guildford to rule instead.

When it comes down to it, I think the writing style itself might be to blame for my mixed feelings about this book. In theory it is one I should love; the period and the scenarios, the endless game of what-if; all of that is exactly what I love about history. But sometimes there would be these incredibly long tangents and if it was easy for a Tudor buff like me to get lost, I can only imagine how a more casual reader might come away feeling. Shorter and more concise phrases/sentences would help immensely.

I do wish the author had explored how these various scenarios would have impacted England as a whole. The focus remained on the Tudors themselves, and their court/government. But surely had the Spanish Armada been successful, life for the commoners would have changed drastically as well, and probably in a much more violent and harsh way. Life as England knew it would have been radically altered, not just for the ruling class.

In the end, I would still recommend this to Tudor history enthusiasts, because there is some good here. Just keep in mind the issues I have briefly addressed.

This was really interesting! I've often wondered what if Henry had died from his jousting accident? What if Katherine's son had survived? So many questions and this looks to review what may have been the alternative if these matters had been different.

Definitely worth reading! Highly researched and thorough alternatives proposed.

I read this on the back of reading the Wolf Hall trilogy. It helped sate the book hangover I am currently feeling, missing Cromwells world. A book of what ifs in essence- something’s I have contemplated myself. How would Tudor history have played out if this or that happened- if Catherine of Aragon’s babies had lived, for example. Would Henry have still gone on to so many wives!? A good read and some interesting insights.

Nonfiction is not often a genre of choice, but when I am in the mood there is nothing finer. This book fit the need in the middle of the night when I had insomnia and needed a break from real world drama. I was a history major so the information was not new to me, but nonetheless it was an enjoyable read and refreshed the knowledge.

What if this book had actually explored the consequences of radical differences in Tudor history? What if the author had not just repeated known histories? What if the editor had asked the author to write shorter, more direct sentences? What if the author wasn’t so enamored with the passive voice and long tangents? If this book had been an alternative version of what it is, it might have been interesting and even maybe good.

This was much better than I thought it was going to be and quite intriguing as whole. All the what-ifs gave the reader a lot to think about and contemplate about the Tudor dynasty, in particular King Henry VIII. What if Katherine of Aragon's sons had lived? What if Anne Boleyn's son survived? What if Jane Seymour had lived after the birth of Edward? What if Edward had lived longer? So many questions and more.

I have many books on the Tudor dynasty but never has there been a book of what ifs? Quite fascination actually and a must read if you consider yourself a Tudor dynasty buff. Well written and researched to be historically accurate about all of Henry VIII.s wives.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 6/30/20