But there is no doubt in my mind as to its significance. Writing this book about Henry VIII, therefore, has involved using newly available material and reinterpreting known sources. Every historian knows that some sources are untrustworthy, and those for the reign of Henry VIII are frequently informed by religious bias. I have been dealing with Tudor sources for 36 years now, and am very familiar with many of them, but one can never afford to be too complacent. The important thing is to read the sources properly and think seriously about their meaning.
Misinterpretation is all too easy.
I usually base my conclusions on a balance of probabilities, after having examined as many facts as I can discover. The King and His Court was a mammoth task. There is so much information available that it would be impossible to include it all. I have in fact used just a quarter of my research for the book. Yet I never feel that my research is wasted, because the advantage of having a knowledge of so much background material lends added authority to what I finally write in the text.