REVIEW: Arthur, Prince of Wales by Gareth B Streeter
For too long, Arthur Tudor has been remembered only for what he never became. The boy who died prematurely and paved the way for the revolutionary reign of his younger brother, Henry VIII.
Yet, during his short life, Arthur was at the centre of one of the most tumultuous periods of England’s history. At the time of his birth, he represented his father’s hopes for a dynasty and England’s greatest chance of peace. As he grew, he witnessed feuds, survived rebellion and became the focal point of an international alliance.
From the threat of pretenders to West Country rebellions, the dramatic twists and turns of early Tudor England preoccupied Arthur’s thoughts. At a young age, he was dispatched to the Welsh border, becoming a figure head for a robust regional government. While never old enough to exercise full power in his dominion, he emerged as a figure of influence, beseeched by petitioners and consulted by courtiers. While the extent of his personal influence can only be guessed at, the sources that survive reveal a determined prince that came tantalisingly close to forging his future.
Finally, after years of negotiation, delay and frustration, the prince finally came face to face with his Spanish bride, Katharine of Aragon. The young couple had shared a destiny since the cradle. Securing the hand of this prestigious pride for his son had been a centre piece of Henry VII’s foreign policy. Yet, despite being 14 years in the making, the couple were to enjoy just five months together before Arthur succumbed to a mysterious illness.
Arthur’s death at the age of 15 was not just a personal tragedy for his parents. It changed the course of the future and deprived England of one of the most educated and cultivated princes in their history. Arthur would never wear the crown the of England. But few Princes of Wales had been better prepared to rule.
‘Arthur, Prince of Wales: Henry VIII’s lost brother’ shows that Arthur Tudor was more than a prince who died. He was a boy that really lived.
Review
“Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” If you’ve read much about Henry VIII – Henry Tudor – you’ve probably heard that little rhyme used to tell the fate of Henry’s six wives. But what if Henry’s older brother, Arthur, hadn’t died so young. What if he had lived long enough to father children and inherit the crown from their father, Henry VII?
Most of what I know about this Tudor prince, who was the heir to both sides of the War of the Roses and was the hope of his nation, is in regards to how he did die young, six months after his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, and how this led to his brother Henry inheriting the crown that should have been Arthur’s and the bride who swore that the marriage had never been consummated. When I saw this title, I decided to find out about Arthur himself.
The book begins as a quick and dirty run down of the dynastic upheavals of the various claimants to the throne of England in the fifteenth century. The crosses and double crosses and double-double crosses and marriages and turn-coating and intrigues are laid out about as clearly as possible. I did laugh when Streeter said that for the most part, the common man didn’t care who reigned. The common man, the merchants, and the landed gentry just wanted a person with a firm grasp on the reins of power.
Once Henry Tudor had won the Battle of Bosworth and been crowned king, things weren’t set and secure by a long shot. He needed an heir and the best way to try and knit the different sides back together was to marry the niece of the defeated Richard III. Though Henry was a Tudor, he was aligned with the House of Lancaster so marrying Elizabeth of York made sense. But as Henry VII never fully trusted many Yorkists, he used the “keep your enemies closer” strategy.
The claims of the various imposters (Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck) who tried to present themselves as The Rightful (Yorkist) King are explained with how the powers behind these claims (Yorkist supporters, King Charles of France) hoped to upset the Tudor apple cart and cause Henry grief. But why was this important? Mainly due to the fact that Arthur was old enough to know what was going on and how easily a dynasty could end on on the losing side and also because Their Catholic Majesties of Spain refused to send their youngest daughter to a country with such a history of recent political upheavals until they were assured that this would no longer be an issue. How convenient that the real and the imposter prisoners in the Tower were discovered in cahoots with plotters and executed. Problem solved.
There are a lot of descriptions of things in Arthur’s life that begin with phrases such as “He might have thought this …” or “He was probably …” as there are records of events in his life but little of what he thought either because he was too young to comment or it was never written down. So yes, there’s lots of restrained conjecture but it appears to be based on other known facts (such as his younger brother’s investment ceremonies) or parsed out of the sparse records.
What I did learn is that Arthur began his public life at age three (!) when he was made a member of the Order of the Bath and invested as Prince of Wales. He appears to have been viewed as intelligent, well educated, well spoken in public, and was beloved by the nation (unlike his father who never was). He was thought handsome and tall (as a youth) for his age, liked music, and had many good friends from childhood including one who arranged for his own burial to be near Arthur’s in Worcester Cathedral.
But what about his health before, during, and after his marriage? Did Arthur and Katherine consummate their marriage? Well, there are arguments either way and based on the evidence presented, some of it based on recently translated letters in Spain, I’m pretty sure of how I feel. It’s also probable that Arthur’s health wasn’t the best and a reason that he succumbed so quickly to whatever killed him.
Given the spotty records of the time and the fact that Arthur didn’t leave a lot of first hand information, the book explores his life and times as well as possible. There is conjecture but, aside from the “what could have been” last chapter, it is based on reasonable evidence. Having finished it, to me poor Arthur is now more a person in his own right rather than just a footnote of his brother’s life. B
~Jayne
NOTE – This hardback book has already been released in the UK but will not be released in the US until later this summer.
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