To write a history of the long Tudor century from 1485 to 1603 must surely be adorned in

task. To write one that incorporates political, social and religious change for both the

Tudor monarchs and ordinary people, that encompasses literature and plays, rebellions, warfare,

and the latest scholarship on the role of women is no mean feat. And on top of that, to write

a history that demolishes historical fables, reassessors received wisdom and puts forward

new understandings of the period in clear, lucid prose. Well, that's something not

or indeed. And that is the mammoth task that has been accomplished by today's guest,

in her new book Tudor England, A History, published by Yale University Press. Its author

is Dr Lucy Wooding. She is Langford Fellow and Tudor in history at Lincoln College, Oxford,

and her other books include an excellent biography of Henry the Ith.

Dr Lucy Wooding, thank you so much for inviting me to your rooms here at Lincoln College,

Oxford to talk about your wonderful book. This is Tudor England, A History, and it is a remarkable

piece of work. It is now the authoritative guide, I think, to Tudor England. This is the

one that everyone needs to pick up. It's remarkably clear, I'd and insensitive, and really takes

account of all the new developments in the last half century of writing, and you bring huge

amounts of your own insight and perspricacity to it as well. So thank you so much for writing

this, and just agreeing to speak to me about it. Well, thank you very much. It's incredibly

kind of you, and it's lovely to have you back. This is your college, so it's lovely to have you.

It's always lovely to be here. I very rarely ask people questions about the introduction,

because I always think they think I went and read the rest of it if I say that, but you start

by making a number of quite intriguing and provocative statements about how people have thought

about Tudor England, and you say that many more than depictions of the Tudor past continue to

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