In Bed with the Tudors: The Sex Lives of a Dynasty from Elizabeth of York to Elizabeth I

In Bed with the Tudors: The Sex Lives of a Dynasty from Elizabeth of York to Elizabeth I by Licence, Amy. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781445606934.

Learn what went on behind closed doors in the Tudor court. Illegitimate children, adulterous queens, impotent kings, and a whole dynasty resting on their shoulders. Sex and childbirth were quite literally a matter of life or death for the Tudors - Elizabeth of York died in childbirth, two of Henry VIIIs queens were beheaded for infidelity, and Elizabeth Is elective virginity signalled the demise of a dynasty. Amy Licence guides the reader through the births of Henry VII and Elizabeth of Yorks two sons, Arthur and Henry, Catherine of Aragons subsequent marriages to both of these men, Henry VIIIs other five wives and his mistresses, and the sex lives of his daughters. This book details the experiences of all these women, from fertility, conception and pregnancy through to the delivery chamber, on to maternal and infant mortality. Each womans story is a blend of specific personal circumstances, set against their historical moment: for some the joys were brief, for others it was a question that ultimately determined their fates.