SOURCE: A review of The Wives of Henry VIII, in The New York Times Book Review, December 20, 1992, p. 11.

In the following review, Goreau considers Fraser's perspective on Henry VIII and his wives.

"Who does not tremble when he considers how to deal with a wife?" asked Henry VIII in 1521.

That the King was writing on behalf of marriage, emphasizing the precious and sacred charge involved in such a union, must surely be one of the odder ironies of history. Odder still, given subsequent events, was that his motive in writing "The Defence of the Seven Sacraments" was to refute Martin Luther's heretical challenge to Pope and church. For Henry's efforts, the Pope granted to him and his successors the title Defender of the Faith.

Just six years later, Henry initiated the divorce that ultimately propelled England into the maw of schism. The divorce (never, of course, recognized by...