Early Tudors: Henry VII and Henry VIII

The Wars of the Roses left England bleeding and exhausted. Into that wreckage stepped Henry VII, a exiled prince who clawed his way to the throne and built something unprecedented: a centralized monarchy where the king's word was law. His son Henry VIII would go further still, breaking with Rome to seize control of the English church, amassing power that made his father look cautious, and casting the nation into religious upheaval that echoes to this day. But Moberly tells this story as it must be told: not in isolation, but woven into the fabric of Renaissance Europe. Here is the glittering court of Francis I, the vast empire of Charles V, the scheming popes caught between secular powers, and the endless wars for Italy that drew in every major state on the continent. This is history at its most expansive: personal ambition, religious reformation, and geopolitical rivalry colliding to forge the modern world. Written by a respected British educator, this slim volume packs remarkable depth, offering both the grand sweep of political transformation and the vivid details that bring two of England\'s most consequential monarchs to life.