What was it like to live as a royal Tudor? Why were their residences built as they were and what went on inside their walls? Who slept where and with who? Who chose the furnishings? And what were their passions? The Tudors ruled through the day, throughout the night, in the bath, in bed and in the saddle. Their palaces were genuine power houses - the nerve-centre of military operations, the boardroom for all executive decisions and the core of international politics. Houses of Power is the result of Simon Thurley's thirty years of research, picking through architectural digs, and examining financial accounts, original plans and drawings to reconstruct the great Tudor houses and understand how these monarchs shaped their lives. Far more than simply an architectural history - a study of private life as well as politics, diplomacy and court - it gives an entirely new and remarkable insight into the Tudor world. Includes- Baynard's Castle Bridewell Palace Coldharbour Durham Place Eltham Palace Friars' churches at Greenwich and Richmond Kennington Palace Blackfriars Palace of Westminster Somerset Place St James's Palace St Paul's Suffolk Place Tower of London Westminster Abbey Whitehall Palace (formerly York Place) Dartford Priory Enfield Esher Place Hampton Court Palace Hanworth House Havering-atte-Bower Nonsuch Palace Oatlands Palace Richmond Palace Syon Monastery Wanstead House Windsor Castle Woking Palace Abingdon Abbey (now in Oxfordshire) Reading Abbey Ditton House Basing House Birling House Cobham Hall Dover Castle Knole Leeds Castle Otford Rochester Priory St Augustine's Priory, Canterbury Westenhanger Castle Woodstock Palace Guildford Friary Woking House Cowdray House Petworth House Beaulieu (formerly New Hall) Ingatestone Hall Ruckholt Manor Ewelme Manor Thornbury Castle Wolfhall Loughborough Hall Burghley House Collyweston House Fotheringay Castle Grafton Manor Nottingham Castle Ludlow Castle Kenilworth Castle Royal House, Langley Tickenhill Manor Ampthill House Ashridge Priory Berkhampstead Castle Hatfield House Hitchin Hundson House Manor of the More Theobalds House Tyttenhanger House Kenninghall Place Hengrave Hall Newcastle Warkworth Castle Hull Manor Middleham Castle Pontefract Castle York Abbey