On the fourteenth day of Christmas On the Tudor Trail gave to me… the chance to win a copy of ‘Katherine Howard: A New History’ by Conor Byrne.
To be in the running to win ‘Katherine Howard: A New History’, leave a comment after this post.
Conditions of Entry
For your chance to win a copy of this book, you must be subscribed to On the Tudor Trail’s newsletter (if you are not already, sign up on our homepage where it says ‘Free Enewsletter Subscription’).
Then simply leave a comment after this post between now and 26 December 2014. Don’t forget to leave your name and a contact email. Please note that I have comment moderation activated and need to ‘approve’ comments before they appear. There is no need to submit your comment twice.
This giveaway is open internationally.
One winner will be randomly selected and contacted by email shortly after the competition closes. Please ensure you’ve added natalie@onthetudortrail.com to your address book to avoid missing my email.
Good luck!
Find Out More
Book Description
In this new full-length biography of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Conor Byrne reconsiders Katherine’s brief reign and the circumstances of her life, striping away the complex layers of myths and misconceptions to reveal a credible portrait of this tragic queen. By reinterpreting her life in the context of cultural customs and expectations surrounding sexuality, fertility and family honour, Byrne exposes the limitations of conceptualising Katherine as either ‘whore’ or ‘victim’. His more rounded view of the circumstances in which she found herself and the expectations of her society allows the historical Katherine to emerge. Katherine has long been condemned by historians for being a promiscuous and frivolous consort who partied away her days and revelled in male attention, but Byrne’s reassessment conveys the mature and thoughtful ways in which Katherine approached her queenship. It was a tragedy that her life was controlled by predators seeking to advance themselves at her expense, whatever the cost.
About the Author
Conor Byrne, author of Katherine Howard: A New History is a British undergraduate studying History at the University of Exeter.
Conor has been fascinated by the Tudors, medieval and early modern history from the age of eleven, particularly the lives of European kings and queens. His research into Katherine Howard, fifth consort of Henry VIII of England, began in 2011-12, and his first extended essay on her, related to the subject of her downfall in 1541-2, was written for an Oxford University competition. Since then Conor has embarked on a full-length study of queen Katharine’s career, encompassing original research and drawing on extended reading into sixteenth-century gender, sexuality and honour. Some of the conclusions reached are controversial and likely to spark considerable debate, but Conor hopes for a thorough reassessment of Katherine Howard’s life.
Conor runs a historical blog which explores a diverse range of historical topics and issues. He is also interested in modern European, Russian, and African history, and, more broadly, researches the lives of medieval queens, including current research into the defamed ‘she-wolf’ bride of Edward II, Isabella of France.
Read the following guest articles by Conor Byrne:
Power and Control: Katherine Howard’s Relationships
The Queen’s Lovers: The men implicated in the downfalls of Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard
Visit Conor Byrne’s website here.
Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for your chance to win a wonderful prize pack donated by novelist Sandra Byrd.
I love Katherine Howard. Would love to read more about her and her short and tragic life. She seemed like she enjoyed herself at least! She also showed much bravery and dignity at the end, for one so young. Looks like a great book!
This sounds so interesting!
Katherine Howard had such a tragic life and it would be great to find out more about it and look passed all the perceptions about her.
I love Katherine Howard! Looks like a fantastic book.
Been looking forward to reading this book since it came out….will be nice to hear a new perspective on this ill-fated young Queen.
I always felt so bad for Katherine Howard! This seems like an interesting book!
Sounds like a fascinating book, definitely want to read this.
Thanks for the chance to win a copy of “Katherine Howard: A New History” by Conor Byrne.
I’ve always been fascinated by Katherine Howard. I’d love to read this and learn more about her!
I always thought Katherine Howard was misunderstood in a lot of ways and feel sorry for what happened to her. I would love to read more about her! 🙂
I don’t have any books on her – I NEED it!!!
Just Amazing… fingers crossed!!
The only one to keep her head.
Thanks for this chance! 🙂
Now this would be an interesting read!
I just found out about this book last night. I really want to read it. I haven’t read many books about her. I would love to learn more about her.
I wonder if Katherine Howard had a choice? I would quite like to read this take on the matter.
I would love to read more about Katherine Howard
I would like to read this as I’ve read very little about Katherine Howard compared to his other wives and would like to know more.
I’ve always suspected Katherine Howard deserved more sympathy than she receives from most readers and historians.
I appreciate that he is looking at Katherine Howard the way her contemporaries would have rather than as we do in modern society. I’m sure he’s had to look past whatever smear campaigns were waged on her to help Henry justify what he did. No one will ever really know but it is interesting to explore from a different angle.
Some more light perhaps on the least known about Queen, what is not to like?
would love to know more about katherine…
What a great contest!
Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this book!
I’m very interested in reading more about her!
A new history is always better than an old one
I am reading her confessions now,and this would be great different pint of view to read.
Another queen to understand. That would be a good read.
I have always wanted to know more about her….always felt bad for her.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this lovely prize.
I’ve always felt for Katherine Howard, so young.
Would love to learn more
A more sympathetic view on Katherine, I must read.