The Tudors in Love: The Courtly Code Behind the Last Medieval Dynasty

The dramas of courtly love have captivated centuries of readers and dreamers. Yet it’s too often dismissed as something which only existed in books - just the usual legends of King Arthur, told and retold in thousands of ways.

Not so. In this ground-breaking history, Sarah Gristwood reveals the way chivalric romance made and marred the Tudor dynasty. From Henry VIII declaring himself as the ‘loyal and most assured servant’ of Anne Boleyn to Elizabeth I’s poems to her suitors, the Tudors re-enacted the roles of the devoted lovers and capricious mistresses first laid out in the romances of medieval literature.

Tudors in Love dissects the codes of love, desire and power, unveiling romantic obsessions that have shaped the history of this nation. In the #MeToo era, re-examining the history of the social codes behind modern romance has never been more vital.