The Danse Macabre by Michael Wolgemut, 1493
Behind the doors of the royal courts of the Tudor dynasty, a unique look at history reveals that occult belief often played a role in the lives of some of England’s most significant and revered monarchs. It was a period when two eras converged: the emerging modern world of the Renaissance, and a time still constrained by superstitions of the past.
Historian Cheryl White unlocks the hidden world of Tudor England, where monarchs Henry VII, Henry VIII, Mary I, and Elizabeth I sometimes navigated political intrigue with the assistance of the dark currents of occult belief. King Henry VIII consulted astrologers before key decisions; the reign of Mary I (Bloody Mary) was haunted by prophecies of doom; and Elizabeth I famously relied on the counsel of the enigmatic Dr. John Dee, court astrologer and royal advisor, who claimed to speak with angels and consulted the stars to determine the best days for statecraft. Behind the grandeur of the Tudor throne and its claim to early modernity lurked a deep fascination with alchemy, astrology, and signs from the divine.
Scholars are intrigued by this complex interplay between the occult and the sacred during the Tudor era, when predictions and omens were observed closely, for example, as Henry VII planned his marriage into the once-rival House of York, and when Henry VIII was desperate for a male heir. Other major events such as coronations, treaties, and military campaigns were often timed according to favorable alignments of the stars.
Drawing from surviving historical accounts, personal letters, and rare texts, including John Dee’s mysterious 1564 work Monas Hieroglyphica, exploring the unity of alchemy and the divine, and the 1584 text by Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, White investigates how this culture of the occult and mysticism became deeply entwined with Tudor power. She represents Tudor history as few have seen it before—through the prism of the supernatural.
White is a professor of history at Louisiana State University at Shreveport where she teaches medieval and early modern European history.
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