George W. Bernard

George W. Bernard is a British historian who specializes in the reign of King Henry VIII, specifically the English Reformation of the 1530s – both in England and globally – and the "reign" of Anne Boleyn. He is most famous for his arguments for the strength of Henry VIII as a ruler not controlled by faction, and for his theory that Anne Boleyn was guilty of adultery in 1536, based on a poem by Lancelot de Carles. He is commonly pitted up against David Starkey and Eric Ives, who forcefully present the opposite argument. Since 1981, he has taught at the University of Southampton as Professor of Early Modern History. He works alongside a former student, Mark Stoyle. In 2001–11 he was editor of the English Historical Review.

Books

• The Late Medieval English Church: vitality and vulnerability before the break with Rome (2012)
• Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions (2010)
• The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the remaking of the English Church (2005)
• Religion, Politics and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (2004)
• Authority and Consent in Tudor England: essays presented to C. S. L. Davies (with Steven Gunn, 2002)
• Edward VI (with J. Loach and P.Williams, 1999)

Book sections

• Reflecting on the King's Reformation (2013)
• Religion, Politics, and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (2003)
• The Tyranny of Henry VIII (2002)
• Vitality and Vulnerability in the Late Medieval Church: pilgrimage on the eve of the break with Rome (1998)

Papers

Bernard has also published a wide range of papers and reviews, more information can be found on his personal web page. He has also released other books, including 'Power and Politics: Essays by G. W. Bernard' which are collated from collections of his earlier papers. The themes of these include architecture, Henrican politics, Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell and Geoffrey Elton's arguments, and also in-depth studies of the role and significance of nobles in the Early Modern period.