I have just finished ‘Our Man in Rome’ by Catherine Fletcher and really enjoyed it. This book got some excellent reviews and thoroughly deserved them.
It is a fascinating look at Henry VIII’s attempts to get a divorce but instead of viewing events from the perspective of those waiting in England, we get to see what occurred on the front line in Rome and how Gregorio Casali used all his talents to try to persuade the Pope to grant it.
It was all the more interesting for me, having seen one of the documents relating to the divorce at the Lux In Arcana Exhibition in Rome.
This is what Catherine writes about it.
‘In mid-June, the nobility of England were corralled into signing an appeal for the divorce, which was then dispatched for presentation at the papal court.’ (p.13)
