I enjoyed reading through this biographical work of Arthur Plantagenet. Although he lived through some of the more tumultuous times of England, the surviving writings, and those of contemporaries give us a pretty good picture of this uncle of Henry VIII.

Sarah-Beth Watkins did a fabulous job in fleshing this person out, bringing another figure hidden by history back into the light. I enjoyed reading through this book! Highly recommend this one for history buffs.

Arthur Plantagenet. Sounds familiar? No? If you don't know who this personage was, Sarah Beth Watkins will enlighten you in this illuminating biography of one of the illegitimate children of Edward IV. He lived and died at the Tudor court, his family's letters are treasure trove for everyone interested in this period. Yes, Henry VIII did have a (half) uncle. This is Arthur's incredible story. Highly recommended.

A well researched, thorough examination of everything we know, possibly know, and definitely don’t know about Henry VIII’s uncle, Arthur. I’m especially appreciative of how honest and extensive this book is. Even when it would be easier to give a simpler answer, she covers everything. History is complex, sometimes contradictory, and we rarely have straightforward answers. The information we have is carefully gleaned from receipts and brief mentions from diplomats and notables of the day. Therefore, we can speculate and sometimes come close to being certain about various facts, but it isn’t the whole picture. Watkins does a fantastic job of giving a meticulous, but not condescending, look at what we know about various stages of his life and things we can only guess. She puts the history in perspective. At times I found it necessary to write down names for reference later and the text could be a bit dry. For me this was essentially a bonus, but may not be what some readers are looking for. Personally, I cannot wait to track down and read her other works.

"Everyone knows" that Edward IV had sex with lots of women and had lots of illegitimate children - that is, until Watkins actually drills down into the historical record and isn't able to find much proof of these known "facts". At least, nothing that would hold up in court. So was it a case of being so common knowledge no one write anything down, or was it salacious detail added to the War of the Roses legend later on by Tudor propagandists to make Henry VII look good by comparison?

Hard to say, but, given the available evidence, Watkins has to throw some doubt on Arthur "Plantagenet" (a surname, we find, he didn't start using until later in life) paternity, although she finds a few possible cases for the families he might have been connected to on his mother's side.

Its both frustrating and fascinating, chasing shadows and rumors, like trying to pin down clouds, but Watkins gives it her all as she tries to trace the origins of this peripheral figure of the Tudor court.

As he gets older, he is more in the records, and there is a TON of written records about his life once he was appointed to oversee Calais as he 1) write lots <i>and</i> lots of letters back to court to whine about why everything going wrong in Calais was not is fault and 2) all of his letters to court and to Cromwell were carefully stored in the State's evidence locker after first Cromwell and then Arthur were accused of treason.

So his known life sheds a lot of light on the Calais political situation in the 1530's and 1540's. We also, as he reports on this person and that, to whine about "no one wants to work anymore" basically, we get a lot about the more minor figures of the Tudor era who don't always make it to the main history books, and we see just how big a supporting cast were running around the court and country at any given moment.

A great look at the Tudor court from a more lower decks POV.

Another Pen and Sword book that's just lousy. I won't ask for any more. It's not as badly written as the other one I tried this week, but it does suffer from the same feeling of being written from a box of index cards.
In this case I'm afraid part of the problem is that the subject is not that interesting. I did not expect to be bored by a Plantagenet but I was. The first chapter, reviewing possibilities for Arthur's mother, was somewhat interesting. On the other hand, I don't think anybody has ever called Eleanor Butler Edward 's mistress...
I hope this will go through a final copy edit as there are a number of egregious typos (for example, Edward IV did not reign from 1461 to 1683!).
I did not finish this book as it felt like a bad use of my time

When we think of those who made an impact in history, we tend to think of those who have been born to a married couple and therefore were considered legitimate children, especially when it comes to royal children. However, we know that illegitimate royal children, like William the Conqueror, greatly impacted history. Illegitimate royal children may have been barred from becoming king or queen of their respective countries of birth, but that does not mean they didn’t impact how their home country was governed. One of these children who affected politics during the Tudor dynasty was Arthur Plantagenet, the illegitimate son of Edward IV. In her latest book, “Arthur Plantagenet: Henry VIII’s Illegitimate Uncle,” she explores the life of this man who gives us extraordinary insight into the running of Calais and how Henry VIII treated other family members.

I want to thank Pen and Sword Books and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book. I have enjoyed the previous books I read by Sarah-Beth Watkins, and when I heard that she was writing a new book about Arthur Plantagenet, I was thrilled to read it. I have only heard about Arthur Plantagenet as a side character in other biographies and novels during Henry VIII’s reign, so I was looking forward to learning more about this man.

Watkins begins by exploring the possible birth dates and Arthur’s birth mother, which is a difficult challenge because Edward IV was known for having several mistresses that we know about and probably others who have remained secrets in history. While some illegitimate children were not acknowledged by their royal fathers, it looks like Edward IV accepted Arthur and allowed him to have a good education that would have followed his legitimate sons’ education regime. After the shocking death of Edward IV and the reign of Richard III, we see Arthur establishing himself in the court of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York; we have records of Elizabeth of York taking care of her illegitimate half-brother. Arthur was so close to Elizabeth of York that he attended her funeral.

Arthur’s rise during the reign of Henry VIII focuses on this title. We see how Arthur started as a Spear of Honour and worked his way up to Viscount Lisle after Charles Brandon became Duke of Suffolk. He was a Knight of the Garter, the Vice Admiral of the Tudor Navy, and finally became Lord Deputy of Calais. Arthur was married twice to Elizabeth Grey and Honor Greenville, and although Elizabeth was the one who gave Arthur his daughters, Honor was the one who we know the most about because of the Lisel Letters.

With the title of Lord Deputy of Calais came significant responsibilities for taking care of France's last remaining English city. Arthur Plantagenet had to deal with your average repairs, preparing the town for battle, civil disputes, religious quarrels, and plots against King Henry VIII. The time that Arthur and Honor were in Calais was a tumultuous time for England and Henry, and we get to see how Arthur felt about these issues, like the Pole family drama, through his Lisle letters. The connection with the Pole family led Arthur to become a prisoner in the Tower of London for two years as he was connected to the Botolfi plot to take the city of Calais for the Pope.

Watkins brings the life of Arthur Plantagenet to the forefront and gives this hidden illegitimate Plantagenet his time to shine. It was a fascinating read, especially learning about how Calais was maintained and about the Botolfi plot, which I had never heard about before reading this book. If you want an excellent book that introduces the life of Arthur Plantagenet and his role during the reign of King Henry VIII, I would highly recommend you read “Arthur Plantagenet: Henry VIII’s Illegitimate Uncle” by Sarah-Beth Watkins.

Arthur Plantagenet by Sarah-Beth Watkins is an interesting book about the illegitimate son of Edward IV.
This book tells the full story about his life, from birth to death. Watkins is very upfront about what information is available and what is not, and where they got the information from. The book is very in depth, going into great detail of what issues were going on in Calais. Unfortunately, this can get very dry and confusing at times.
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in the less well known nobles, but if you are not familiar with the geography and workings of the Tudor court, you may be very confused.

248 pages

5 pages

Where the heck have I been?

I did not know that Arthur Plantagenet was Henry’s uncle. I did not know that Lord Lisle was Arthur. I knew of Lord Lisle and his somewhat dubious reputation, but didn’t connect the two. I was somewhat relieved to find that Ms. Watkins rehabilitated my idea of Lord Lisle, Arthur Plantagenet.

Other than the fact that Arthur was the illegitimate son of Edward IV, Ms. Watkins explains that there is not much available in the historic record on Arthur’s early childhood. However as he rose at King Henry VIII’s court there is much more evidence of his actions.

The book traces the British monarchy beginning around the reign of King Edward IV. The usurpation of King Richard III upon the death of his brother Edward. Richard met his downfall in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth where King Henry VII was crowned. Henry’s son, also a Henry, was crowned as King Henry VIII following his father’s death.

The book goes on to trace Arthur’s life and his place in the court of King Henry VIII. He is then appointed as the Deputy of Calais, the last remaining land that England held in France. Calais was a very difficult place in which to live, let alone try to govern. There were many plots. A group wanted to overthrow the monarchy, there was smuggling and dirty deals going on everywhere. Many of the crooks thought that Arthur was too dumb to cotton on to their schemes, but he wasn’t. There were those who wanted to incriminate him in their plans to get rid of him. He was the king’s loyal servant and there was no place for him in lawless Calais.

One of the highlights of his time in office was the arrival of Anne of Cleves on her way to meet Henry VIII as his fourth wife.

Arthur was finally called back to London. There were those there who were plotting against him as well. Poor, hapless Arthur didn’t know what he was sailing into. He was incarcerated in the tower for several years. Henry was not sure of his guilt and was reluctant to bring charges against him. Charges were never brought against him. Henry finally decided to let him go and sent him a lavish diamond ring. Apparently Arthur was so overwhelmed that he became excited and died, probably of a heart attack. He was still a young-ish man.

Arthur’s life was very sad and difficult. I really felt for him.

This book is very well written. It is easy to read and understand and well worth the time for anyone interested in Tudor history, or just history in general. I very much enjoyed learning about this little research man, Arthur Plantagenet, It is thoroughly researched, as far as Ms. Watkins was able. She has also included a copious bibliography and an index of her book.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword/Pen & Sword History for forwarding to me a copy of this very good history of Arthur so that I may read, enjoy and review it. The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

***This book is not yet available on GoodReads or BookBub. I will watch for their postings.

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Illegitimate son to Edward IV and the uncle of Henry VIII, Arthur Plantagenet’s life is an intriguing story. Raised in his father’s court, he then became a trusted member of Henry VII’s household and after his death, was a prominent figure at the court of Henry VIII. Henry VIII treated his uncle well in the early years of his reign, making him vice-admiral and then Lord Deputy of Calais in 1533. Arthur did the best he could in his new position in Calais over seven years, including trying to maintain a relationship with Thomas Cromwell against a background of religious change, but there were numerous complaints about him and his paranoid nephew’s suspicions over his loyalty grew – culminating in Lisle’s arrest and imprisonment for two years with no legal reason. Arthur was released from the Tower in 1542, yet tragically died after receiving a diamond ring from his nephew. He was so excited that his heart – that ‘gentlest living heart’ – failed soon after. We owe much of what we know about Henry VIII’s uncle to the seizure and preservation of the Lisle Letters, an impressive collection of correspondence obtained at his arrest that has miraculously survived. Not only do they give details of Arthur’s life, but they are an amazing insight into the religious, political, culture and social background of the 16th century. Placed as he was, Arthur Plantagenet’s story gives a whole new, fresh perspective on a turbulent yet vibrant period of history.

“Arthur Plantagenet” by Sarah-Beth Watkins is an exciting look at one of history’s lesser known figures - the illegitimate son of Edward IV and Uncle to Henry VIII, Arthur Plantagenet. The Tudor Era is one of the most interesting and intriguing periods of our history. A time of utter betrayal and a fight to survive, it was brilliant to be able to take a more detailed look at Arthur Plantagenet and his place within the structure of the Royals. Excellently written and rich in historical detail, this book is an absolute gem and will entrance fans of the Tudor period and everyone who enjoys learning about our history.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an unbiased review.