The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585 1597

ISBN-13: 9780521434850 / Angielski / Twarda / 1999 / 468 str.

Paul E. J. Hammer

Opis

The Earl of Essex was the last great favorite of Elizabeth I and the leading cultural patron of the final years of her reign. Dazzled by the "romantic" relationship with the queen, modern writers have branded Essex a dandy, a military incompetent, and a political dabbler, and have blamed him for the bitter factionalism that plagued English politics in the 1590s. Using an unparalleled range of manuscript and printed sources, this book presents a very different image of Essex and of the outbreak of factionalism in Elizabethan politics.

Recenzje

'Parliamentary historians will find this study invaluable for its thoughtful analysis of the late Elizabethan political scene and will appreciate its firm base in a wide range of manuscript sources.' Parliamentary History

Spis treści

Preface; Introduction: 'A playboy of the western world'?; Part I. Into the Fateful Circle: 1585–92: 1. 'My lord of Essex'; 2. 'Yowr sonne most ready to doe yowr service'; 3. 'To whom muche is geven …'; Part II. The Quest for Greatness: 1593–7: 4. 'One of her Majestie's privy councillors'; 5. 'Matters of intelligence'; 6. 'The shepheard of Albion's Arcadia'; 7. 'My lord of Essex and his men'; 8. 'Your Majestie's creture and vassall'; 9. 'Yf we lyved not in a cunning world …'; Conclusion: 'A greater worke then ever any gentleman'; Bibliography.