Elizabeth I
Subtitle: a study in insecurity
By: Helen Castor
Series: Penguin monarchs. The House of Tudor; Penguin monarchs
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 114
ISBN-13: 9780141980881
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Kings and rulers; Biography; History
Description: In the popular imagination, as in her portraits, Elizabeth I is the image of monarchical power. The Virgin Queen ruled over a Golden Age: the Spanish Armada was defeated; English explorers reached the ends of the earth; a new Church of England rose from the ashes of past conflict; the English Renaissance bloomed in the genius of Shakespeare, Spenser and Sidney. But the image is also armour. In this illuminating new account of Elizabeth's reign, Helen Castor shows how England's iconic queen was shaped by profound and enduring insecurity-an insecurity which was both a matter of practical political reality and personal psychology. From her precarious upbringing at the whim of a brutal, capricious father and her perilous accession after his death, to the religious division that marred her state and the failure to marry that threatened her line, Elizabeth lived under constant threat. But, facing down her enemies with a compellingly inscrutable public persona, the last and greatest of the Tudor monarchs would become a timeless, fearless queen.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-105) and index.