Amy Licence - Henry VIII's Controversial Aunt, Honor Lisle: Her Life, Letters and influence on The Tudor Court

Not many people know about Henry VIII’s tragic aunt-by-marriage, famously described as “wicked” by John Knox! Yet the life of Honor, Lady Lisle, follows a dizzying narrative arc, just as dramatic and heart breaking as the most famous Tudor biographies.

Born into a West Country family, her second marriage to Arthur Plantagenet propelled her into Anne Boleyn’s court, right at the moment of national and political upheaval, before the pair headed out to run the Tudor enclave of Calais.

Honor’s surviving letters are rich in details of happy family life, domestic arrangements, clothes and food, as well as including news about Henry’s love life and the unfolding Reformation.

A devout Catholic, Honor found herself in a difficult position when instructions arrived to carry through religious reforms in a reluctant, rebellious town.

As the pressure increased upon the couple, and one by one, the giants of the Tudor court fell, did Honor ever fear that she may suffer the same fate? What exactly caused accusations to be made against Honor and Arthur? What role did Honor’s faith play? Just how close did she come to dishonour? Amy Licence will speak about writing the first complete biography of Honor, presenting the story of a significant Tudor woman against the backdrop of immense political change, with all the challenges that posed. “Impressively researched and engagingly written... with a wealth of fascinating detail and evocative descriptions, Amy Licence has crafted a compelling portrait of a woman who lived under the shadow of the Tudors and suffered terrible tragedy as a result.” Alison Weir. “Amy Licence gives us an intimate glimpse into the household at Calais with its cages of quails and its kennels of spaniels, and even into the fashionable woman who commanded, through her husband, a border garrison at a time of war.” Philippa Gregory. “Thick with detail and sharp on analysis, Amy Licence has made vivid the previously opaque world of the often controversial Honor, Lady Lisle.” Dr.

Owen Emmerson.

Amy Licence is a historian of women’s lives in the medieval and early modern period, from Queens to commoners.

Her particular interest lies in the late fifteenth and sixteenth century, in gender relations, Queenship and identity, rites of passage, pilgrimage, female orthodoxy and rebellion, superstition, magic, fertility and childbirth.

She is the author of over thirty-five books, including biographies of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, dynastic studies like “Red Roses” and “Tudor Roses,” and her new biography of Philip II of Spain is forthcoming in 2026.

Amy has been a teacher for almost thirty years and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

She is also a novelist, with the Tudor Marwood series ongoing, taking her heroine through the Tudor court in the 1520s and 30s: books 5 and 6 came out this year.

Amys’ website can be found at amylicence.weebly.com