Book Review - 'Henry the VIII: The Personal History of a Dynast and His Wives
By Francis Hackett
I didn't really like Hackett's work as I felt that it was quite outdated. He adds a lot of description and feelings to the writing, which we don't actually know about for the period. It comes across in places more as a fictional narrative or story than a work of non-fiction. Having been written in 1929 it does offer a different lens on Henry VIII's reign than many modern texts.
Hackett did use a lot of primary sources, quoting from the love letters, other letters, and reports from foreign ambassadors. However, he does give things as fact that we now know aren't true, or at the very least are questionable or debated. For example, Hackett claimed that Anne didn't go to France until 1522 after the affair with Henry Percy, when she was actually there as early as 1514. He claims that it was Mary Boleyn who travelled to the court of Margaret of Austria in 1512 and not Anne. He also has Jane Boleyn with Katherine Howard at Syon until she was moved to the Tower where we know that Jane was in the Tower prior to Katherine's arrival there. These are things which perhaps have been discovered since the 1920s when Hackett wrote, but the book just feels out of date.
Possibly this book is more useful for those exploring the historiography, than actually looking for an account of the commonly accepted 'fact'. It is always important to understand how perceptions have changed, and I think Hackett's work gives an interpretation from earlier in the 20th century which is interesting to compare to more modern 21st century texts to see where things have changed in our understanding.