The Age of Plunder: The England of Henry VIII, 1500-47

A thought-provoking social and economic of Henry VIII’s reign. Ideal for readers of Ian Mortimer, Christopher Hill and E. P. Thompson. Henry VIII is one of the most famous monarchs to have ruled England.

Yet, what was life like for those that he ruled?

How were they impacted by the wars with France, his marital disasters and the religious Reformation that his chief ministers implemented?

The Age of Plunder does not dwell upon the lives of political and religious leaders such as Wolsey, Cromwell and Cranmer, but instead provides a vivid depiction of Tudor England from the perspective of those who tended the crops, sat at the looms and worked in the mines.

The scholarship is as sound, the sympathy as warm and the judgements as pugnacious as ever. New Statesman

This is a provocative and stimulating book, packed with statistical information, but saved from indigestibility by well-chosen and unusual examples drawn from the author’s vast knowledge of local history.
The Agricultural History Review

In this book W. G. Hoskins reveals how inhabitants of early sixteenth century England were witnesses to the greatest act of plunder since the Norman Conquest, but this time by the native governing class.