The Last Office - Geoffrey Moorhouse

 Moorhouse's specialism is the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace and its context, the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Thomas Cromwell on behalf of Henry VIII.   In this study Moorhouse focuses on Durham Abbey, which was unique in many ways.   It was part of the fortress of the Prince Bishop who was technically also the abbot of the abbey; in practice, the Prior was the head of the religious.   The Bishop, meanwhile, was the King's deputy in civil and legal matters in the whole of the North Country and held court in the castle adjoining the abbey.   When Henry VIII made himself Supreme Head of the Church in England, his bishop, Cuthbert Tunstall, found himself in a dilemma.   Fortunately for all concerned, Tunstall was a lifelong equivocator and Durham Abbey was neither in the forefront of dissolutions nor, in the end, resistant to its fate.

Moorhouse is a great source on the Dissolution and in particular its forerunner, the Visitations of 1535 and the Valor Ecclesiasticus, the monetary appraisal that sealed the fate of all religious houses.   No value, of course, was put on their service to local communities, which became ever greater the further they were from London.   They provided hospitals and hospices, alms and alms houses, shelter for the homeless, the orphaned, and the mentally ill.   They drove and underpinned local economies, providing work for local labourers and artisans.   All that was wiped away in less than a decade.   That, not love of supersition and mystic ritual, was what the Pilgrims rose up for.

Moorhouse feels obliged to continue his narrative post-Dissolution.   Given that Durham's transition was peaceful and measured, I personally lost interest.   Notwithstanding that, I find Moorhouse indispensable to my research into the English Reformation. 

The Reign of Henry VIII, Personalities and Politics - David Starkey

This deceptively slim volume is Starkey at his best, one of his earliest books (written in 1995, republished in this form in 2002), before he became a TV character, cartoonish contraversialist and fawning royalist.

The attitude here is what made his name - that Henry VIII was the source of political power, not powerful in himself, and that his court was driven - and riven - by faction.
Because Starkey here is not aiming for sales but for reputation, he does not shy away from explaining his thesis and discussing the views of others. That gives tremendous life to the text. He also paints vivid pen portraits of the key players, not only Wolsey and Cromwell but figures like Anthony Denny, Groom of the Stool and absolute controller of access to the king. Likewise he offers assessments of the court women, especially the queens, that are fresh and which invite debate.


Essential reading, then, for both those new to the idea of court politics and those who simply want a vigorous and invigorating refresher. This Vintage paperback, however, sorely needs a better bibliography. A discursive one is not good enough for a thesis so heavily reliant on court papers of the time.