Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII

Catherine Howard, Queen of England, poses a historical quandary for me. After reading three biographies telling her life story, King Henry VIII’s fifth wife has me completely baffled. Given her colorful life story and head-scratching major life decisions, she seems to have historians is a state of perpetual disagreement, as well. Was Catherine Howard misguided? Silly? Consensually promiscuous? The repeated victim of sexual abuse? The ultimate pawn of her powerful family? A victim of the “all the king’s men”, each vying for political, and subsequently religious control, of the King’s patronage? Was she stupid or simply misunderstood? Historians spiritedly disagree — the arguments on several sides plausible.Prior to reading Gareth Russell’s Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII, I was heavily inclined to believe that poor Catherine Howard, like many women who came before and since, was the tragic victim of a male dominating society — in short, a woman, who in lacking the choice to forge her own destiny and with no male protector, was the victim of circumstance, poor childhood mentoring, sexual predators, and political infighting. Ultimately the pawn of her powerful uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, she was used in enticing King Henry VIII away from a marriage he didn’t want in any case to manipulate the fall of Norfolk’s greatest nemesis, Thomas Cromwell, and to gain advantage for the conservative faction. After all, given the political intrigues of King Henry VIII’s court of vipers, this would seem simple common sense, wouldn’t it?Now I am admittedly confused. Gareth Russell, thorough in his research, convincing in his analysis, and eloquent in his telling of Catherine Howard’s life story, has me questioning my long-held thoughts and opinions. This in itself is no easy accomplishment. Once I have set my mind to an interpretation of history, I am not easily moved from it. Fortunately, this is not a weakness of Gareth Russell’s. His analysis shows plainly that he researched the history of Catherine’s Howard’s life and let the information he uncovered tell the story. In all frankness, with our modernized heightened awareness of historical male dominance and inclination to lay the blame for female historical figures’ freely given decision-making to misogyny, his conclusions would be easier if he “went with the flow”. Instead, Gareth Russell resists the temptation to go an easier road, and in doing so, remains respectful of Catherine Howard’s legacy, as well as the legacy of the other historical figures he explores.From a literary standpoint, Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII is exquisitely written. Gareth Russell’s writing style simply stated rivals that of Stacy Schiff and David McCullough. Consequently, though the biography covers the very complex ground of 16th-century history and explores extensive historical content, it is an amazingly “easy read”. As a writer, I know just how difficult a task this is to accomplish. Beyond the outstanding historical content, this book provides a wonderful writing lesson in the art of biography composition. I do hope Gareth Russell continues in the genre, moving on to historical figures of longer life and increased complexity.Write this down and take it to the bank. Gareth Russell is one “big bio” away from joining the world’s elite biographers composing in the English language today.

5 starsBased on amazing scholarship and clear reasoning, this is a beautifully written history of Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII.Mr. Russell has written a comprehensive illustration of 16th Century privileged life. He describes everything from clothing to jewelry and all the other small details of daily life in the royal household. The author goes on to discount some of the most popular myths about Catherine, such as the Norfolk's (her family of origin), pushing her into the king's way. He spent a bit of time examining her servants and ladies-in-waiting, for some of them certainly had plenty to say about Catherine. Mr. Russell also examined just how big a part the Dowager Duchess aunt played in the whole drama and how much she really knew about Catherine's behavior while she lived with her. I really liked the way he carefully examined each rumor and fact that we previously understood about the young woman.He goes on to examine the volatility of King Henry VIII by this stage in his life and his mercurial temperament, as well as the politics of the time. Henry was so apt to fly into a rage at any time, it was best to keep one's head down.There are several lengthy quotes in the book, especially from various letters that still survive, including the fatal letter that Catherine sent to Thomas Culpeper.I found this book fascinating, very well researched and clearly written. There are numerous footnotes and a copious bibliography for those who wish to investigate Catherine's life further.This is my second Gareth Russell book, and I do believe that I'll read the rest of his output as soon as I am able.

This author must have used every bit of research he found. It was loaded with deep detail on people and happening that didn't really have anything to do directly with Catherine and Henry's story. Some, I found myself skipping, but when he spoke of the royal pair, it was very well written. Though I have read copious amounts of Tudor history, I learned a lot of detail I hadn't known. He writes about the way life was then, in England and in Henry's court. Lots of details about the royal life style. I liked his take on Henry as a man and king...he was clearly lacking. We begin to feel sorry for Catherine early on. The author is also good at telling us what is untrue that only comes to us as tradition. Things we think were true are often not supported by research. I would recommend this book as serious Tudor history.

Without question, the most up-to-date and well-researched book on this most shadowy of Henry's wives. Great style, very easy and enjoyable read. Of particular interest is the analysis of alleged portraits - short story, we don't know if any survive, only a couple possible candidates, and the ones most commonly said to be her most likely aren't. Definitely a must for any interested in Tudor history. An aside - and I've never seen any author mention this possibility in fairness, so maybe I'm way off the mark here - but Henry's rants in his illness about his councilors making him kill his most faithful servant coming at the same time of early divorce rumors, and how seriously he took the eventual first accusations that could easily have been written off as slander, make me wonder if there was any chance Cromwell may have found out and filled in Henry in his panic to save himself - hard to believe a man with so many ears out there, so to speak, wouldn't have learned about it, given how many knew - and THAT may be what ultimately cost him his head, caused him to set the hounds on him, so to speak. And it would be easy to see why Henry wouldn't believe it, given Cromwell's track record with throwing wild accusations out there, and didn't want his intended besmirched. Anyways, speculating aside, definitely worth a buy!

Young and Damned and Fair is an exceptionally well-researched and well-written biography of Katherine Howard, the fifth of Henry VIII's six wives. This biography may well be considered the standard for some years to come.Author Gareth Russell carefully examines primary sources and dispels many myths in his magisterial study. He carefully explains that Anne of Cleves rejected the advances of a disguised Henry VIII when they first met, so that this sting to Henry's pride doomed that marriage (p. 105). Katherine's complicated family alliances are likewise clarified, so we learn that Katherine and Thomas Culpepper (*very* distant cousins) only contemplated adultery but did not commit it (p. 380).Lovely tidbits of information abound. On p. 279, we learn that Tudor-era people pronounced "Pontefract" as "Pomfret,' as appears in Shakespearean plays. We then learn about the notorious castle of Pontefract and its ghoulish history across the centuries. Katherine's doomed marriage was set on a collision course at Pontefract, when her former lover Francis Dereham insisted on being hired by her. Poor Katherine had the ill luck to be surrounded by men who could not fathom the need for discretion in the Court of Henry VIII, and this book describes their folly in impeccable detail.So...if you seek a well-informed and in-depth biography of Katherine Howard, buy this outstanding book.

Finalmente una biografia ampia e dettagliata della giovane e sfortunata quinta moglie di Enrico VIII. L'autore ha uno stile colloquiale che rende la lettura scorrevole nonostante si tratti di saggistica storica. Molti gli aneddoti e gli episodi poco noti narrati dall'autore, in grado di stupire anche i più ferrei conoscitori dell'epoca Tudor. Metto 4 stelle e non 5 perché talvolta si sofferma troppo sui conflitti religiosi fra cristiani e protestati tema sicuramente importante ma che è spesso talmente approfondito da far scordare la vera protagonista del libro. Consigliato.

Very nice

The level of research put into this novel is incredible, but to the point where it feels over researched. Details about Catherine’s Uncles daughter (example) who may have met her once seemed unnecessary and I found myself glazing over a bit.That said, it debunked a few things I always thought were true, so I recommend it to anyone interested in Catherine Howard, don’t feel too bad if you glaze over at some points too :)

This takes a detailed account of the life, promotion and fall of Queen Catherine Howard. It is an amazingly good book. Not only does Gareth Russell take an intricately researched look at the finest details of this young woman's life and at her household as Queen, he debunks a lot of long-held views about her. If you want a fresh experience of this part of Tudor history, it is full of surround imagery and it is almost like taking a trip back into time to see it. Best of all it is beautifully written. Gareth Russell has the poetry and art of the true storyteller.. it is exciting, compelling. You cannot wait to get to the next page. It is a truly wonderful piece of work and you get to see Catherine as she really was in her own world. What helps draw the picture is the use of opinions from other parts of Europe which contrast with the attitudes extant in England at the time. It does not lessen the tragedy of her eventual end: 'a butterfly broken on a wheel'. The wheel was her husband's anger and a system that made her pay full price for her youthful mistakes. Gareth Russell is taking history to new places and he has rightly received great praise for this biography. He has the ability to get into the mindset of the people of the time. For all its meticulous research, this is not like a text book, it is a ballad as the graceful Catherine dances before us in her velvets, bejewelled and already doomed.