Blood Will Tell

A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII

By: Kyra Cornelius Kramer

Narrated by: Pam Ward

With his tumultuous love life, relentless pursuit of a male heir, and drastic religious transformation, England's King Henry VIII's life sounds more like reality television than history. He was a man of fascinating contradictions - he pursued a woman he loved for almost a decade only to behead her less than four years after their marriage. He defended Catholicism so vigorously that he was honored as defender of the faith, but he went on to break with Rome and have himself declared supreme head of the Church of England. Worst of all, the king who began his reign praised as "hero" and "lover of justice and goodness" ended it having metamorphosed into such a monster that he was called the "English Nero".

What could have caused these incredible paradoxes? Could there be a simple medical explanation for the king's descent into tyranny? Where do the answers lie? Blood will tell.

©2018 Kyra Cornelius Kramer (P)2019 Tantor

Interesting? Absolutely.

This was an interesting look at the actions of King Henry VIII. There’s some clever humor and some information I learned for the first time. The entire book is based on speculation which has to be considered while listening.

Overall wonderful!

I am really glad I listened to this book.
The narrator did a great job and the author bought this history lesson to life. Most of the time I was deeply ingrossed and interested.

a new theory

a very plausible reason for the tyraniccal life of Henry VIII. we'll never know unless we can look at the remains of this Tudor king

Good story with interesting possibilities regarding Henry VIII’s behavioral history

The story was very interesting and the reader told it well. It is fascinating to think that there were possible underlying reasons why Henry the eighth acted as unreasonably as he did in many circumstances. This was a very good read and I enjoyed it immensely.

Plausible explanation of the changing character of Henry VIII

The author presents a well-reasoned explanation of the medical basis for the change in Henry VIII’s behavior about the age of 40 and for the difficult obstetrical histories of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. The story of Henry’s behavior is told in relation to the problems caused by his possible Kell positive blood type and McLeod syndrome or a severe brain injury. One part of the story I found particularly interesting was the fact that Catherine of Aragon and her supporters kept urging her nephew Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, to invade England in order to restore Catholicism and to put Catherine back in her position as Queen. I cannot recall ever having heard that before.