Gruesome but not gratuitous, this darker take on the Tudors, from 1485 to 1603, covers forty-five ‘events’ from the Tudor reign, from the death of Richard III to the botched execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and a host of horrors in between. Attention is paid to the gruesome ways the Tudors dispatched villains and lawbreakers, from beheadings to burnings and the dreaded hanging, drawing, and quartering. Other chapters cover diseases prevalent during Tudor times, including the ‘Sweating Sickness’ and cures that were often worse than the disease. The day-to-day living conditions of the populace are examined, along with social taboos and punishments like stocks and exile. Tudor England was not a nice place by 21st century standards, but the book explains how it was still a familiar home to our ancestors.