Book Review: The King’s Traitor: Reginald Pole and the Tudors by Helen Hyde

Available from Amazon UK 

and pre-order from Amazon US

Helen Hyde’s The King’s Traitor is an illuminating contribution to Tudor history that rescues one of the era’s most intriguing but overlooked figures, Cardinal Reginald Pole, from the shadows of history. Drawing on the complex sixteenth-century religious and political landscape, this offers more than a biography, as the  narrative explores the interplay between faith, loyalty and power under the Tudors.

 
Reginald Pole’s life reads like a historical drama: a young nobleman once favoured by Henry VIII, whose refusal to acquiesce to the king’s religious revolution transformed him into the so-called 'King’s Traitor'. He spent years in exile, survived plots against his life, and became a cardinal, and was both admired and vilified.

I particularly liked how the book provides context to an era defined by seismic shifts in religion and monarchy. Helen  Hyde’s narrative helps illuminate why Pole’s stance was so threatening to Henry VIII and why his legacy continues to provoke debate among historians. 

Tony Riches

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About the author

Helen Hyde is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Independent scholar with a passion for Cardinals and men of the church. Helen  studied at the Universities of Lancaster and London and specialises in early modern European history, specifically church patronage, Renaissance Italy, and the political/religious landscape of the Tudor period.