Thanks to the publishers – Pen & Sword History – for giving me access to this book as an E-ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoy reading about people in the past, more precisely the everyday life of people in the past. I’ve gotten the opportunity from the same publishers in the past to read book on the same subject but in Elizabethan and Georgian times which I enjoyed, and I wasn’t really disappointed with McGrath’s book either. It does what it says it was going to do.

The book itself is divided in different chapters exploring different parts of sexual and romantic life. It covers the religious aspect of sexuality in the time period including marriage and married life, but it also goes into slight detail of other topics such as love magic.

All in all, a quick, but interesting, read.

An interesting and entertaining addition to Pen and Sword's series on sex and sexuality across history, "Tudor England" looks at England in the reign of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Marriages, births, what was considered sexy and what wasn't, courtly love, health to make oneself sexy (bathing may have been considered dangerous but being clean and smelling good was still the way to go) are all covered here. Both the royal and high born as well as the every day lives are examined, although since more writing is left behind among the high born we do read more about the upper end of society and their views on things. The Church both before and after the Reformation plays a big role in how women are viewed and attempts at controlling sex and sexuality. We explore both 'medical' and folk remedies for infertility as well as contraceptives and the surprisingly nuanced layers that were involved to define what exactly 'being married' meant. There is, as you would expect, a lot of attention paid to Henry VIII and his wives but they are not the focus of the book by any means.
My one complaint with this book was that it could have used some more editing, as there were some sections that were much more repetitive than necessary. But overall an educational and entertaining book and a good addition to the series.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Tudor period marks the transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era and the book emphasizes the years between 1485 and 1558 (the accession of Queen Elizabeth I to the throne).

Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England explores how the Tudors viewed birth control, marriage rituals, birth rituals; considers views on sex existing within and outside the marriage bed; how the Tudors viewed sexual diversity; life in the brothels; sexual diseases; how they dressed and danced, Renaissance literature and art; how ordinary people conducted sexual relations; how and where they lived; and scandals at court.

Sex and sexuality were dictated by the influence of the Church. The Church has always played a major role in matters of sex. The Church owned a duality of attitude. The temptress Eve was balanced by the importance of the Virgin. Women were seen as inferior versions of men and very susceptible to the devil and dark forces. During the sixteenth century throughout Europe waves of persecution of homosexuals coincided with the persecution of witches. Marriage was the only way to control a woman’s desires.

Even though great changes - new Renaissance ideas and Reformation, the Church tried hard to control people’s sexual lives, but was frequently ignored because humans usually enjoy sex and fall in love despite Church views and laws.

This era also heralded a cultural advance. Many daughters of more prominent Tudors were highly educated.

Sex was not used only to procreate, there were adultery, birth control, "dress to impress" attitude, concern to hygiene and much more. There was also not much of a privacy or secrets.

The book is extremely interesting, very well written, researched, concise, systematic and interdisciplinary. The reader is aware of trends, beliefs and morality of the period. Traditions and moral attitudes inevitably evolve, but sex and sexuality remain part of what it is to be human.

Delightful and fascinating peep into Tudor's bedrooms.

Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England

The Tudor period has long gripped our imaginations. Because we have consumed so many costume dramas on TV and film, read so many histories, factual or romanticised, we think we know how this society operated. We know they ‘did’ romance but how did they do sex?
Most of us know a reasonable amount of history , especially when it comes to the Tudors , but how many of us have an insight to what used to happen ' under the covers ' as it were.
An interesting book on what sex was like for those born at that time.