Overlord

Overlord Synopsis

Henry VIII is one of history's best-known characters and England's most famous monarch. He is simultaneously the virtuous Renaissance prince gone wrong, the psychopathic, paranoid tyrant and the much-married glutton. Yet Henry didn't see himself as simply King of England.

This book tells Henry's story as he saw it: the tale of a titan whose dominions embraced Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England and, if he could achieve his grandiose ambitions, swathes of France. Drawing on archival sources from across the British Isles, Steven Veerapen shows how Henry created an image of himself as a law-abiding and benevolent emperor, and thereby a rival to his European counterparts. By fair means and foul - murder plots, marriage negotiations and military ventures - he did all he could to realise a hitherto overlooked British dream.