Great Englishmen Of The Sixteenth Century

Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century (1925) by Sidney Lee – George G. Harrap & Co.

The sixteenth century was a busy time to be English.

There were monarchs changing the national religion, explorers disappearing over horizons, playwrights filling theatres, scholars arguing in Latin, courtiers trying not to annoy the wrong person and quite a lot of important men having their portraits painted while looking as though smiling had not yet been invented.

Sidney Lee’s Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century, published by George G. Harrap & Co. in 1925, looks back at some of the major figures who helped shape Tudor England and the extraordinary century in which they lived.

And extraordinary is not really overstating it.

The period gave England religious upheaval, overseas expansion, literary brilliance, political intrigue, dynastic drama and enough executions to make modern workplace disputes seem wonderfully civilised.

Lee approaches the century through the lives and achievements of notable individuals, using biography as a way into the larger story of Tudor England.

This is history through people rather than merely through dates.

Which is useful, because dates tend not to compose plays, explore oceans or become involved in dangerous disagreements with monarchs.

People do.

The idea of the “great man” of history may feel rather old-fashioned now, but that is part of what makes a book like this interesting.

Published in 1925, it shows not only how the sixteenth century was viewed, but how historical greatness itself was understood a century ago.

There is confidence here.

These were Great Englishmen.

Capital letters practically hover over the title.

Nobody appears to have felt the need to soften matters with “notable individuals who made a significant contribution”.

They were great, and that was apparently that.

Of course, greatness in the Tudor world was often accompanied by ambition, rivalry, danger and the occasional need to remain on excellent terms with somebody capable of ordering your head removed.

Success required talent.

It also helped to know when to agree with the king.

The sixteenth century was also the age in which English literature, learning and national identity were changing rapidly.

Printing was spreading ideas.

Humanism was reshaping scholarship.

The Renaissance was making its presence felt.

And somewhere, almost inevitably, somebody was writing a very long preface.

Sidney Lee himself was a distinguished literary scholar and biographer, and this volume has that pleasingly serious early twentieth-century tone in which history is expected to be instructive, character is important and nobody is allowed to describe anything as “iconic”.

There is no frantic pacing.

No dramatic reconstruction.

No historian wandering through a castle doorway saying, “But what happened next would change England forever.”

The reader is simply expected to read.

A demanding concept, admittedly.

This copy is in Good condition, which is very respectable for a book now around a century old.

It has survived considerably longer than several Tudor political careers and has done so without requiring royal favour.

Ideal for collectors of older history books, readers interested in Tudor England, students of historical biography or anyone who enjoys the particular atmosphere of books written when history still wore a waistcoat.

Also useful for readers who want to compare the reputations of sixteenth-century figures with the way we interpret them today, when greatness tends to arrive with rather more footnotes and significantly more arguments.

Sold by Crappy Old Books, where historical greatness is recognised, royal succession is discouraged, and all disputes over Tudor politics must be settled without recourse to the Tower.

ISBN: None
Condition: Good

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