Dr. David Starkey has been making, in my opinion, some rather strange comments about the biases of female historians. He criticizes some for zeroing in on the ’soap opera’ of key figures’ love lives rather than their achievements or failures. The TV show “The Tudors” seems to have inspired these comments.

Although Starkey is correct to criticize the TV show for its inaccuracies and its prurient emphasis (what Starkey describes as a “bonkorama”), he blames female historians for this interpretation of the court of Henry VIII. ‘But it’s what you expect from feminised history, the fact that so many of the writers who write about this are women and so much of their audience is a female audience. Unhappy marriages are big box-office.’

It is unfair to blame women historians for a television production which satisfies its viewers in much the same way that Ugly Betty or Desperate Housewives satisfy their audiences. The problem is, however, according to Starkey, that Henry has been de-emphasized in the re-telling of this tale. Read more…

iowabelle British Royals, Historical Royals David Starkey, Henry VIII, House of Tudor

According to Dr. David Starkey in the Sunday Times, Henry VIII was a real mama’s boy. Looking at handwriting comparisons (that of Henry, his mother, Elizabeth of York, and his younger sister Mary), Starkey draws the conclusion that he was emotionally dependent on women because of the close similarity of the samples. An exhibition opening in April at the British Museum will display the samples.

The Times quoted Starkey as saying “Henry was brought up very, very unusually, in a female household.” As we all know, Henry was merely the second son and during his formative years he was of little interest to the dynastically-minded father, Henry VII, who was consumed with establishing the questionable legitimacy of Tudor rule. Prince Arthur died at age 15, when Henry was only 11. Elizabeth died the following year, after attempting to give her husband another son.

Read more…

iowabelle British Royals, Historical Royals David Starkey, Henry VIII, House of Tudor