Elizabeth I

(Hardback)

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Description

Elizabeth I, who reigned over Shakespeare's England and defeated the Spanish Armada, is familiar both from her portraits and as Gloriana, the Virgin Queen. Yet the reality of her character and her personal attitudes are harder to detect behind the public mask. "Elizabeth I", a major biography by a leading Tudor expert to mark the 400th anniversary of her death in 1603, looks in detail behind the public life at the private woman. It treats at length her early years and examines her actions and policies a queen. By any standards, her life was an extraordinary one: her father, Henry VIII, executed her mother Anne Boleyn, for whose sake he had set up the Church of England; her sister Queen Mary, came near to having her executed. Coming to the throne in 1558, she remained the only unmarried queen regnant in England's history, holding, for a woman, unprecedented power. She faced major religious and political problems at home and abroad for much of her reign, coping with them by a combination of guile, procrastination and shrewdness. David Loades's biography brings out her remarkable talents and unique achievements.

Reviews

'Everything a scholarly biography should be, and a good read too'.

Author Bio

DAVID LOADES is Professor of History at the University of North Wales, Bangor, UK.