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 courtly love as a concept, 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.