A dry novel illustrating the changes in law during Tudor rule in England. The author presents a variety of facts and figures, but the presentation comes across as dry and tedious reading. The information is interesting, but it was a difficult read for me.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Content Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence, torture, and execution; historical accounts of oppression, discrimination and injustice; themes of religion, politics, and power; mature language and terminology

Crime and Punishment in Tudor England: From Alchemists to Zealots covers treason, heresy, witchcraft, theft, murder, adultery, and more. The central theme is how the Tudor dynasty used law and order to consolidate power and control their subjects.

Taylor’s writing style is engaging and clear. I found the book to be exciting and easy to understand. There’s a good balance of facts and anecdotes. She uses quotes from primary sources to illustrate her points and give voice to those involved in the cases. She provides much context and background information on social, political, and religious factors that influenced the legal system at that time. For example, we learn about how the Roman justice system influenced the Tudor era and today.

Taylor does not shy away from describing the gruesome details of the punishments, such as hanging, drawing, quartering, burning at the stake, beheading, and more. This book is not for the squeamish, as she details what happens to the body during these punishments.

Keeping in mind the title From Alchemists to Zealots, Taylor examined Tudor records and included case studies for offenses in alphabetical order. As she states in the book, Tudor records are often patchy as some cases may include offenses but not punishments, or vice versa. Despite this, she does a very good job of describing these offenses and common results.

One thing I loved about this book was the amount of detail. I learned more than I expected to about crime and punishment in the Tudor era. Taylor’s book is well researched and presents perspectives from different classes of life.

1. Potted histories almost always oversimplify to the point of crudeness. The foreword here is no exception -- it's as uncritical & unsubtle as a secondary-school text.
2. The author's sense of humor is cringeworthy. For example, the description of hanging, drawing, and quartering, which was, as she says, "among the most barbaric and tortuous [sic; should be "torturous"] ways to die," is interrupted by this: "I do hope you are not eating liver and onions as you read this." Really? Are we twelve?

All in all, much less interesting and revealing than it should have been, even given the structure as a series of discrete entries rather than an overarching narrative/analysis.

As someone who considers myself to be an anglophile, I knew I would enjoy this book. The author has a very modern way of retelling history and I felt like she was talking to me directly-I didn't feel like I was reading at all. I have always been obsessed with the Tudor dynasty and this book mentioned some of my most researched cases. Richard Roose, Anne Boleyn, Anne Askew Robert Aske, The Seymour Brothers, Katherine Howard and many many more. I walked away learning so much more about Tudor England and I made so many notes. I love a book that can both educate and entertain me. One particular detail mentioned in this book will stay with me for a long time- I don't want to spoil it for anyone but let's just say it has something to do with beheading. If you've read this, then you know. Like I mentioned before this author retold history in a very fun, engaging way and even if you don't like history, you will not be bored with this one.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pen & Sword publishing for my Advanced eReaders Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am a amateur historian and I am currently studying and researching the Tudor era. This was a fascinating book and contained some information that I was not aware of. It's important to note that crime and punishment has been around way before the Tudors, and I feel that this book did an excellent job summarizing the judicial practices that were built on tradition dating as far back as the Roman occupation. Needless to say, the author covers all the details, some of them quite gory, including beheadings, being burned alive, boiled alive, drawn and quarter, and hanged. I did like that the author arranged the crimes in alphabetical order, regaling with stories of heresy, infanticide, blackmail, kidnapping, treason and many other crimes. This was such an interesting read and I do recommend it to people interested in crime and punishment, medieval times and just plain history.

Oh, Tudor England. The many splendored place. While one can argue on the significance of their religious and cultural reforms, one thing is easy to agree on: their crime and punishment situation was as horrifying as it was inadvertently hilarious. As this book so amply demonstrates.
The combination of overzealousness, misguided ideas, absence of scientific knowledge, etc. made for some rather peculiar convictions. And then the barbaric appetites combined with whimsy of kings and queens created for some very disturbing punishments.
They were bloodthirsty, all right, back in Tudor times. You’ll see plenty of evidence of that within these pages. But also, these are real tragedies of real people.
Then, as now, crime was largely reflective of the socioeconomic divisions in the society—as dramatic then as they are now. The poor lives short, brutish lives and were often driven to crime by desperation.
The curious thing about Tudor England was just how much those with money and power managed to get in the wrong, easily enough done with the ever-changing politics.
Told accessibly with an occasional wink-wink humorous touch and plenty of real life cases, this is a great and thorough (without getting bogged down) account of a time and a place that does its title justice. A very interesting read that’ll largely make you glad for modern times. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

*Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

I loved this book! I am a huge history buff and love to read anything involving Tudor England and this did not disappoint. This was fun and engaging and was easy to comprehend. Some nonfiction history books can get very dry, but the author keeps everything interesting. I especially loved the "Tavern Talk" section of her book, they were little fun facts sprinkled throughout the book that were surprising.

Of course this book does cover some dark themes, such as infanticide, murder and sexual assault. However, the book is separated by each topic making it very easy for a reader to skip parts that would be upsetting for them.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Tudor history or criminal justice history.

Have you ever known that person who is very knowledgeable and you can listen to them for hours? Well April Taylor is one of those people. It's like sitting down, with a nice bottle of wine (or whatever you like to drink) and asking all the questions you have on this topic and she answers you with such great insight (and humor too). Her book covers everything - and I mean EVERYTHING! Not a subject is left unturned and April Taylor even warns you ahead of time for the gory/grusome parts (I particularly enjoyed them). This is a definite must read not only for Tudor fans but for all fans for monarchy history. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book provides a terrific mix of entertainment and education, blending useful facts with true accounts of cases and events of the time. Well researched, well written and covering a fascinating period of England’s history, this is another winner for the history buff’s shelf.