I thought I’d do a walkthrough of my history bookshelves, as pictures on my Instagram of different books that I’ve bought or been sent by publishers are always very popular. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt through the #HistoryGirls community on Instagram, it’s that historians and history lovers are always looking for new reading material!

And, no, before anyone asks, I haven’t read all of these yet. I’m steadily working my way through them. I’ve had some very lovely publishers (The History Press and Pen & Sword Books) send me some complimentary copies for review and these are currently top of my list, though this lockdown has slowed me down rather than speeding me up! I promise, I will get there.

Shelf 1 – Monarchy and Wars of the Roses

This shelf starts with my books on the monarchy in general, before moving onto the Plantagenets, Wars of the Roses, Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, the Princes in the Tower, and Richard III.

From left to right:

• John Burke – An Illustrated History of England
• David Loades – The Kings and Queens of England
• J.P. Brooke-Little – Royal Heraldry: Beasts and Badges of Britain
• The Royal Line of Succession: Official Souvenir Guide
• Andrew Gimson – Kings and Queens: Brief Lives of the Monarchs Since 1066
• David Starkey – Monarchy: England and Her Rulers from the Tudors to the Windsors
• Mike Ashley – A Brief History of British Kings and Queens
• Elizabeth Norton – She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of England
• Alison Weir – Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
• Peter Ackroyd – History of England Volume 1: Foundation
• E.F. Jacob – The Fifteenth Century 1399-1485
• Ian Mortimer – The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England
• Desmond Seward – The Demon’s Brood: The Plantagenet Dynasty That Forged the English Nation
• David Grummitt – A Short History of the Wars of the Roses
• Desmond Seward – A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses
• Sarah Gristwood – Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses
• Michael Jones – Bosworth 1485: Psychology of a Battle
• John Ashdown-Hill – Elizabeth Widville: Edward IV’s Chief Mistress and the ‘Pink Queen’
• Amy Licence – Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville: A True Romance
• Jeffrey James – Edward IV: Glorious Son of York
• Andrew Beattie – Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower
• Alison Weir – The Princes in the Tower
• David Horspool – Richard III: A Ruler and His Reputation
• Philippa Langley & Michael Jones – The Search for Richard III: The King’s Grave
• Michael Hicks – The Family of Richard III
• Kristie Dean – The World of Richard III
• Amy Licence – Richard III: The Road to Leicester
• Matthew Lewis – Richard III: Fact and Fiction
• Peter A. Hancock – Richard III and the Murder in the Tower
• Matthew Lewis – Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me

Shelf 2 – General Tudors and Henry VII

This shelf consists of all my books on the Tudor dynasty as a whole, then just manages to start Henry VII and Elizabeth of York on the end.

From left to right:

• David Loades – Chronicles of the Tudor Kings
• Frances Wilkins – Growing Up in Tudor Times
• Peter Marsden – 1545: Who Sank the Mary Rose?
• Rosemary Weinstein – Tudor London
• Peter Ackroyd – The History of the England Volume 2: Tudors
• Amy Licence – In Bed with the Tudors: The Sex Lives of a Dynasty from Elizabeth of York to Elizabeth I
• Leanda de Lisle – Tudor: The Family Story
• David Loades – The Tudors: History of a Dynasty
• Chris Skidmore – The Rise of the Tudors: The Family That Changed English History
• Terry Breverton – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tudors But Were Afraid to Ask
• Tracy Borman – The Private Lives of the Tudors
• Timothy Venning – An Alternative History of Britain: The Tudors
• Kirsten Claiden-Yardley – The Man Behind the Tudors: Thomas Howard, 2^nd Duke of Norfolk
• A Guide to Tudor and Jacobean Portraits
• John Matusiak – A History of the Tudors in 100 Objects
• David Loades – The Tudor Queens of England
• Alex Woolf – The Tudor Kings and Queens
• Carola Hicks – The King’s Glass: A Story of Tudor Power and Secret Art
• J.D. Mackie – The Earlier Tudors 1485-1558
• Annie Bullen – The Little Book of the Tudors
• Alison Weir – The Lost Tudor Princess
• Alison Plowden – The House of Tudor
• Dave Tonge – Tudor Folk Tales
• Jane Bingham – The Tudors: The Kings and Queens of England’s Golden Age
• Elizabeth Norton – The Lives of Tudor Women
• Ruth Goodman – How to be a Tudor
• Jasper Ridley – A Brief History of the Tudor Age
• G.J. Meyer – The Tudors: The Complete Story of England’s Most Notorious Dynasty
• John Guy – The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction
• Christopher Morris – The Tudors
• Phil Carradice – Following in the Footsteps of Henry Tudor

Shelf 3 – Henry VIII and the Six Wives

This shelf has the rest of my books about Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, all of my Henry VIII books and those overarching books about the Six Wives.

From left to right:

• Thomas Penn – Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England
• Alison Weir – Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen
• Joan MacAlpine – The Shadow of the Tower: Henry VII and His Background
• David Loades – Henry VIII
• David Starkey – Henry: Virtuous Prince
• John Matusiak – Martyrs of Henry VIII: Repression, Defiance, Sacrifice
• J.J. Scarisbrick – Henry VIII
• George Cavendish – The Life of Cardinal Wolsey
• John Guy – The Children of Henry VIII
• Robert Hutchinson – Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII
• Alison Weir – Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII
• John Matusiak – Henry VIII: The Life and Rule of England’s Nero
• Philippa Jones – The Other Tudors: Henry VIII’s Mistresses and Bastards
• Kelly Hart – The Mistresses of Henry VIII
• Alison Weir – Henry VIII: King and Court
• David Starkey – The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics
• Robert Hutchinson – Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII’s Most Notorious Minister
• Derek Wilson – A Brief History of Henry VIII
• Robert Hutchinson – The Last Days of Henry VIII
• Sarah Morris & Natalie Grueninger – In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Amy Licence – The Six Wives and Many Mistresses of Henry VIII
• Karen Lindsey – Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII
• Alison Weir – The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Lauren Mackay – Inside the Tudor Court: Henry VIII and His Six Wives Through the Eyes of the Spanish Ambassador
• Antonia Fraser – The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• David Starkey – Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII

Shelf 4 – Six Wives

This shelf is broken down into books on each of the Six Wives – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn (by far the biggest section, as you can see!), Jane Seymour (zero books), Anne of Cleves (zero books), Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr.

From left to right:

• David Loades – The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Amy Licence – Catherine of Aragon: An Intimate Life of Henry VIII’s True Wife
• Giles Tremlett – Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen
• Patrick Williams – Katharine of Aragon
• Paul Friedmann – Anne Boleyn
• Elizabeth Norton – Anne Boleyn: In Her Own Words and the Words of Those Who Knew Her
• Alison Weir – The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
• Elizabeth Norton – The Boleyn Women: The Tudor Femmes Fatales Who Changed English History
• David Loades – The Boleyns: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Family
• Amy Licence – Anne Boleyn: Adultery, Heresy, Desire
• Lissa Chapman – Anne Boleyn in London
• Lacey Baldwin Smith – Anne Boleyn: The Queen of Controversy
• Susan Bordo – The Creation of Anne Boleyn: In Search of the Tudors’ Most Notorious Queen
• Alison Weir – Mary Boleyn: The Great and Infamous Whore
• Carolly Erickson – Mistress Anne
• Eric Ives – The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn
• Francis Bacon – The Tragedy of Anne Boleyn
• Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
• Retha Warnicke – The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn
• Josephine Wilkinson – Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress
• Josephine Wilkinson – Anne Boleyn: The Young Queen to Be
• Elizabeth Norton – Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII’s Obsession
• G.W. Bernard – Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions
• Joanna Denny – Anne Boleyn
• Marie Louise Bruce – Anne Boleyn
• Josephine Wilkinson – Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen
• Conor Byrne – Katherine Howard: Henry VIII’s Slandered Queen
• Robert Hutchinson – House of Treason: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty
• Linda Porter – Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII

Shelf 5 – The Later Tudors

This shelf goes through Edward VI, Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I, onto Mary Queen of Scots and the English Reformation. As you can probably tell from the number of books on the later Tudors compared to the likes of Henry VIII, my primary focus is on the earlier period.

From left to right:

• Hester Chapman – The Last Tudor King: A Study of Edward VI
• Leanda de Lisle – The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: Mary, Katherine and Lady Jane Grey
• Nicola Tallis – Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey
• Alison Plowden – Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen
• Anna Whitelock – Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen
• Phil Carradice – Bloody Mary: Tudor Terror 1553-1558
• J.A. Froude – The Reign of Mary Tudor
• Alison Plowden – Elizabethan England
• David Cecil – The Cecils of Hatfield House
• Robert Stedall – Elizabeth I’s Secret Lover: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
• John Guy – Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years
• Anna Whitelock – Elizabeth’s Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen’s Court
• Carole Levin – The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power
• J.B. Black – The Reign of Elizabeth 1558-1603
• David Birt – Elizabeth’s England
• Robert Hutchinson – Elizabeth’s Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War That Saved England
• David Starkey – Elizabeth
• Nicola Tallis – Elizabeth’s Rival: The Tumultuous Tale of Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester
• Chris Skidmore – Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart
• Alison Weir – Elizabeth the Queen
• David & Judy Steel – Mary Stuart’s Scotland
• Mary Was Here: Where Mary Queen of Scots Went and What She Did There
• Antonia Fraser – Mary Queen of Scots
• Lynda Telford – Tudor Victims of the Reformation
• Diarmaid MacCulloch – Reformation: Europe’s House Divided 1490-1700
• Derek Wilson – A Brief History of the English Reformation

Shelf 6 – Palaces and Places

The bottom shelf currently stores largely my guidebooks and BBC History magazines, along with a couple of my more general history books.

From left to right:

• David Souden – The Royal Palaces of London
• Christopher Hibbert – Tower of London
• The Private Life of Palaces
• Simon Thurley – Houses of Power: The Places That Shaped the Tudor World
• Suzannah Lipscomb – A Journey Through Tudor England
• Nigel Jones – Tower: An Epic History of the Tower of London
• Terry Deary – The Peasants’ Revolting … Crimes
• Merry Wiesner-Hanks – Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe

Guidebooks:

• Richard III and Henry VII Experience in York
• Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens
• Framlingham Castle
• The Jewel Tower
• The Palace of Westminster
• Westminster Abbey
• The Church of Saint Michael at Framlingham
• St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
• Tower of London
• Hampton Court Palace
• The Mary Rose
• Imperial War Museum London
• Windsor Castle
• Tower Bridge

Are there any books missing that you would thoroughly recommend? Sound off in the comments!