Henry VIII, Mary I - 'Bloody Mary' - Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen- these Tudor monarchs have achieved an almost mythical status and their world still resonates with glamour, mystery and terror. The Tudor era opened new worlds of the mind and spirit- of Renaissance and Reformation, of adventure in search of land and gold, but older worlds of traditional religion and a shared faith, and of an autonomous Gaelic Ireland were destroyed. Susan Brigden's superb book gives a remarkable sense of both the atmosphere of this great period in English history and of its epochal events.