Book Four: The Tudors in Love by Sarah Gristwood

Despite a title that could indicate a romance novel, Gristwood's book is a serious study of courtly love as a framework for the history of the Tudor dynasty. While some historians question the validity of the concept of courtly love, Gristwood deems it important to consider how the Tudors used the legends and stories to give themselves credibility and legitimacy in a time of dynastic uncertainty.

Gristwood traces the development of courtly love from King Arthur and Queen Guinevere through the Tudor reign. I wasn't that interested until Gristwood got to the Lancasters and the Yorks. I wish I had understood a little about courtly love when I first wrote about Anne Boleyn for my high school term paper. I remember an awkward phrase or two on that subject. 

I recommend this book to other Tudor history geeks, but not to the general public. I'll add that I found some of writing a bit confusing because of the overuse of the parenthetical expressions. I lost track of some of the sentence subjects.