A review by saamunds
The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty by Sarah Gristwood, Sarah Gristwood

The idea of courtly love didn't start with the Tudors, but it did seem to end with them as Gristwood's book explores. The beginning of The Tudors in Love starts with explaining the ideals of courtly love, the origins, and the main players who furthered these ideals throughout the courts of Europe and England. It's a good synopsis of a couple of hundred years of royals courts and their ideals on courtly love. Gristwood then focuses on the Tudors and their interactions with courtly love ideals and how these ideals may have led to how their romantic entanglements, or lack thereof, started and ended. The author also posits that the idea and conventions of courtly love have perhaps colored historic interpretation of the Tudor monarchs and how they utilized courtly love as a tool to further their own agendas. This was a good book to use both as a primer on courtly love and the Tudor dynasty and I enjoyed the read. Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the free e-book.