The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569

ISBN-13: 9780521622189 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 288 str.

Stephen Alford; Anthony Fletcher; John Guy

Opis

Traditionally historians have argued that the court of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was factional, divided among competing subjects who were manipulated by their Queen. This book provides a different account: of councilors who were united by two connected dangers, namely Catholic opposition to Protestant England and Elizabeth's refusal to marry or to settle England's succession. Working from the papers of the Queen's secretary, William Cecil, the author has set this crisis in the context of events in Scotland, Ireland and mainland Europe, and has explored fully the long-term political impact of this succession crisis in the 1560s.

Recenzje

'The book makes good use of Cecil's massive personal archive, the most extensively by far of any contemporary statesman or politician … the book does, certainly, reveal a familiar figure in a new light and disposes of Macaulay's caricature of him as a wooden yes-man.' Lincolnshire History and Archaeology

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. William Cecil and early Elizabethan political culture; 2. The politics of Britain and the development of the British succession crisis, 1558–1559; 3. Anglo-British negotiations for a settlement, 1560–1563; 4. New Tudor politics and the domestic impact of the succession issue, 1560–1563; 5. The Darnley marriage and weaknesses in the Elizabethan polity, 1564–1566; 6. Cecil, parliament and the succession, 1566–1567; 7. Cecil's proposal for the settlement of Britain, 1567–1568; 8. The crisis of 1569 and an alternative remedy; Conclusion: the early Elizabethan polity; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.