Tag: disability

Book Review – ‘Disability and the Tudors: All the King’s Fools’ by Phillipa Vincent-Connolly

~ Helene Harrison ~ 2 Comments

Thanks to Pen and Sword Books for giving me a copy of this to review.

This is certainly something new in Tudor history. There has been a spurt of ‘new’ history books, for instance looking at black Tudors and disability. It’s worth reading about to get a more rounded knowledge of the period and context of it.

This book has chapters on all sorts of things from disability at court including court fools, disability in the common people, effects on fertility, depictions in portraits, etc. I found it a thoroughly interesting read. Some sections I found quite hard going, perhaps the sections I found more technical to read. There are several sections of quite extensive repetition, which is probably due to the fact that there is limited information on disability in Tudor times.

I got a sense part way through that I’d read the same sentences before and looking at other reviews just before I wrote this, and after I finished reading the book, I noticed how many instances of plagiarism had been noted by other readers. I won’t indulge in pointing them out as I didn’t notice them when reading myself, but it seems some of them were quite obvious. Something to bear in mind when reading.

But it offers a lot to history and is well-written and researched, looking not only at the disabilities that might have been suffered and how they were perceived then, but also how perceptions and even naming of disabilities has changed. It’s certainly not perfect, but it offers something new to sink our teeth into and expansion of knowledge is never a bad thing. You can tell that the author has experience personally with disability in the sympathetic way she tackles the subject and in perceptions of those with a disability.

Chapters:

  1. Everyday Life in the Community
  2. Tudor Laws and Disability
  3. Superstition and Disability
  4. Religion, Reformation, and Disability
  5. Almshouses and Hospitals
  6. Physicians, Surgeons, Barber-Surgeons, and Healers
  7. The Health of a King and His Decline into Disability
  8. Disabled People in High Places
  9. Disability in the Tudor Court