Book Review: Inside the Tudor Home: Daily Life in the Sixteenth Century

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Publication Date: 30 September 2023

Formats: Hardback & Ebook

Blurb

Power. Politics. Prosperity. Plague.

Tudor England; a country replete with sprawling landscapes, dense forests and twisting urban labyrinths. This is a place of stagnation and of progress; of glorious cultural revolution, where the wheel of fortune is forever turning.

From the plush royal palaces to the draughtiest of wattle-and-daub cottages, sixteenth-century England revolved around the people who formed the beating heart of Tudor society. These people celebrated scientific progress and lamented religious persecution; championed the rights of women and the underrepresented; fell in love with sweethearts, cared for pets and mourned the deaths of their loved ones.

In her first book, Bethan Catherine Watts sheds light on the Tudor home and the everyday lives of those who lived there.

Review

Since submitting the manuscript for my next book I have been eagerly catching up on some reading. This book has been on my TBR list for a long time!

When thinking about the Tudors, it can be very easy to get caught up with Henry VIII and his six wives but I am fascinated by the general public. I hoped this book would further my understanding of everyday life during this period in history and I wasn't disappointed.

The book is full of interesting facts and information, written in an easily understandable style. This is a book for everyone, it’s not an academic text, it’s fun, it’s informative, it has humour, and I’m sure I won’t be the only person who found it easy to digest.

Inside the Tudor Home sheds light on the daily life of everyday people and helps to overcome certain misconceptions we have all heard about the Tudors, for example, their hygiene and cleanliness habits are discussed thoroughly. I really enjoyed how Watts takes us on a journey through the Tudor home, helping us understand how people actually lived, how they spent their days and maintained their home and family lives. Are you ever doing chores at home and wonder how the Tudors did those chores? This will probably answer those questions for you!

I think this is one of those books that can be overlooked due to the title which may infer a dull topic (not in my opinion), but it is quite fascinating. Watts brings humour to the subject making it even more enjoyable to read and has clearly done a lot of research in compiling the book. It is certainly a book beneficial to those of us interested in the general population of the time and a great resource for those wishing to garner a more thorough understanding of the period.

If you have read this I would love to know what you thought?

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