Lord Burghley and Episcopacy, 1577-1603 examines the selection and promotion of bishops within the shifting sands of ecclesiastical politics at the Elizabethan court, drawing on the copious correspondence of leading politicians and clerical candidates as well as the Exchequer records of the financial arrangements accompanying each appointment. Beginning in 1577, the book picks up the narrative where Brett Usher's previous book (William Cecil and Episcopacy, 1559-1577) left off, following the fall of Archbishop Grindal, which brought the Elizabethan church to the brink of disaster. The book...