Abstract
The all-glorious, all-virtuous, incomparable, invict and matchless pattern of princes, the glory, honour and mirror of womankind, the admiration of our age, elizabeth, Queen of England, was by the father’s side truly royal, being daughter to Henry VIII, grandchild to Henry VII, and greatgrandchild to Edward IV.
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Bibliography
There are no comprehensive, up-to-date general surveys of the reign: D. M. Palliser, The Age of Elizabeth (1983) is a thoughtful study of economic and social issues, but R. Ashton, Reformation and Revolution, 1558–1660 (1984) has only about two hundred pages to spare for our period and is conservative in approach. Among older works, good sense is to be found in G. R. Elton, England under the Tudors (2nd edn, 1974), and energetic enthusiasm in A. L. Rowse, The England of Elizabeth (1950). There are lively, but very brief, essays in S. Adams (ed.), Queen Elizabeth I: Most Politick Princess (1984). The best biographies of Elizabeth are: M. Creighton, Queen Elizabeth (1896), J. E. Neale, Queen Elizabeth (1934), J. Hurstfield, Elizabeth I and the Unity of England (1960), and P.Johnson, Elizabeth I: A Study in Power and Intellect (1974); those who find the nationalism of the first and the romanticism of the rest unpalatable may prefer the more astringent tones of C. Erickson, The First Elizabeth (1983) — which is, however, weakened by an uncritical reliance on the suspect reports of Spanish ambassadors. The classic composite modern interpretation of Elizabethan politics will be found in the 4500 pages of: Neale’s biography; J. E. Neale, Essays in Elizabethan History (1958); J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (1949); J. E. Neale, Elizabeth I and her Parliaments (2 vols, 1953, 1957); C. Read, Mr Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth (3 vols, Oxford, 1925); C. Read, Mr Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth (1955); and G. Read, Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth (1960). W. MacCaffrey’s The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime (1969) is a lively and innovative version of the years 1558–72, but his Queen Elizabeth and the Making of Policy, 1572–1588 (Princeton, NJ, 1981) adds less to what was known and does not respond to the nuances of recent work. The constitutional and administrative structure of the kingdom is documented and discussed in G. R. Elton, The Tudor Constitution (2nd edn, Cambridge, 1982), and the realities of government and politics surveyed briefly in A. G. R. Smith, The Government of Elizabethan England (1967), and more extensively in P. Williams, The Tudor Regime (1979). Much new work is in process: in particular, the provision of good general studies of the period can be expected to improve soon with the appearance of Patrick Collinson’s volume in the Arnold ‘New History of England’ series, and the Penry Williams contribution to the new Oxford histories. Further bibliographical guidance may be sought from C. Read, Bibliography of British History: Tudor Period, 1485–1603 (2nd edn, Oxford, 1959) and M. Levine, Tudor England, 1485–1603 (Cambridge, 1968).
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© 1984 Christopher Haigh
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Haigh, C. (1984). Introduction. In: Haigh, C. (eds) The Reign of Elizabeth I. Problems in Focus Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17704-2_1
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