The complex and convoluted tale of Henry VIII’s break with Rome continues as the myriad passions of the King run headlong into his own doubt, a sudden need for international travel, the issues caused by him consummating his relationship with Anne Boleyn and more.

Meanwhile Westminster was being completely rebuilt, lepers were being cast out onto the streets, and murderous cooks are being boiled alive- welcome to London at the start of the Reformation!

Cover features detail from ‘Portrait of Henry VIII’, c 1520’ by unknown artist.

Surprisingly, the forces that drove the most dramatic changes in England, were born, cultivated and found expression within London. The Story reaches a moment of grand political crisis- Chancellors fall, parliament flexes its muscles, the capricious King makes up arguments as he goes along, and London carries on, providing intellectual and emotional fuel for it all. And while this happens, Thomas More, the judge from Milk Street, ascends the highest position in all the land, while still presiding over cases of London criminality, and being the face of the kings sudden desire to start killing heretics… welcome to the open salvos of the Reformation.

Cover includes a detail of the portrait of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1527),

A episode that explores one thing above all else- the rather soap opera type melodrama of Henry VIII seeking to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon; but while this story dominates domestic and to a degree international politics over these years there is more than just that happening… London has to cope with drought and food shortages, a brutal outbreak of Sweating Sickness, and a growing campaign of religious dissent within the city. A fraught two years indeed…

Cover includes sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger, recently identified by one team as possibly being that of Anne Boleyn; this claim is contested by many.