The early part of the 1520’s was filled with many tales; royal bestsellers provoking a flame war in print; royal visits that saw new bridges built over the Fleet River; scandalous and brutal murders involving beautiful young noble women. Around them all, London continues, coping with mild mass hysteria, Mayors who refuse to take their posts, and a plague outbreak that causes the city to go so quiet with fear, that December it was known as ‘The Still Christmas’.

Cover art features portrait of Charles V, copy by Ruben’s from an original by Titian.