An Accidental History of Tudor England

With remarkable imagination and ingenuity, the authors conjure a vivid history of everyday death, and life, in Tudor England … Every variety of misadventure that humans suffered, and still suffer, is revealed here. Gunn and Gromelski cast a brilliant light into a lost world – Susan Brigden, historianI love this book. The fascinating - and ill-fated - cast of characters it contains are not kings and queens, nobles or diplomats, but the ordinary people who lived and died in the England of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and their ilk. By exploring Tudor England from the bottom up, it gives us a completely different and endlessly surprising perspective – Tracy Borman, author of THOMAS CROMWELLBrilliant, unpredictable and endlessly fascinating. Many of us think of social history as showing us different ways of living in the sixteenth century but this extraordinary study shows there were just as many different ways of dying. In so doing, it does what all great history books do: it reminds us of what we have in common with our Tudor ancestors as well as what makes us different, and thereby causes us to reflect on life itself - and dying - in all ages – Ian Mortimer, author of THE TIME TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO MEDIEVAL ENGLANDBrilliantly vivid insights from coroners’ reports into the last few days or hours of some 10,000 mostly ordinary Tudor men, women and children involved in fatal accidents. Drawing on sworn testimony from witnesses and neighbours, Gunn and Gromelski combine these stories of lives cut short to create an enthralling social history. Nothing here comes second-hand: daily lives and activities are observed as never before. Fresh, illuminating and wonderfully readable. A surefire bet for 2025’s History Book of the Year awards – John Guy, author of MARY QUEEN OF SCOTSA fascinating window into the lives of Tudor England’s ordinary people - and victims. By unearthing the details hidden in coroners’ reports, Gunn and Gromelski have written a sensitive and brilliant account of how people lived, loved, hated, died, and grieved in the sixteenth century. The academic expertise is as obvious as the authors’ empathy for the people they are studying and bringing to light for the first time – Gareth Russell, author of THE PALACEConsistently compelling and often surprisingly moving. From the neglected accounts of thousands of tiny tragedies, Gunn and Gromelski have painted a fascinating picture of how ordinary Tudor people lived, played, worked and travelled – Peter Marshall, author of HERETICS AND BELIEVERS

Steven Gunn (Author)

Professor Steven Gunn is Professor of Early Modern History at Merton College, Oxford. He writes for BBC History Magazine and History Today, has contributed to radio and television programmes such as In Our Time and Time Team, and speaks regularly to Historical Association branches and sixth-form conferences. He is currently a trustee of the Royal Armouries.

Tomasz Gromelski (Author)

Dr Tomasz Gromelski is Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, and Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University. He is a researcher on the Everyday Life and Fatal Hazard in Sixteenth-Century England and on the Living Standards and Material Culture in English Households projects, based in Oxford and Cambridge respectively.