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Books on Queen Elizabeth I
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Biographical
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The Life of Elizabeth I
by Alison Weir
Hardcover
Paperback
Published by Ballantine Books, September 1998
"Acclaimed Tudor biographer Weir paints a vast
canvas but maintains a sharp focus on Elizabeth's
charismatic character and her reactions to people
and events around her. This volume represents the
culmination of years of research by Weir. Here she
brings her characteristic exhaustive attention to detail,
an experienced sense of narrative pace and style,
and a passion for her subject." —Kirkus Reviews
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Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne
by David Starkey
Hardcover
Paperback
Harpercollins; November 21, 2000
"[A] deft account of the religious, political, and dynastic
maelstrom of mid-16th-century England that reads "like a
historical thriller." The book carefully picks its way through
the finer points of contemporary religious conflict and the
peculiarities of Tudor court ceremony, while exploring also
the formation of Elizabeth's character in relation to a murdered
mother, a charismatic father, a tortured sister, and a predatory
guardian. Highly readable, and written with verve and pace,
this is a fascinating account of the young Elizabeth."
—Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk
David Starkey Interview
Read Additional Reviews at Amazon.com
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The First Elizabeth
by Carolly Erickson
Published by St. Martin's Press, September 1997
"Elizabeth's personal and psychological
development, with special attention to the
roles played in her life by Seymour, Leicester,
and d'Alencon. Erickson examines Elizabeth's
consummate political skill as well as her
often shrewish treatment of of her courtiers
and ladies in waiting." —Brown University
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Elizabeth I
by Anne Somerset
Published by St Martins Press, November 1, 1992
"In this biography, the author examines her
domestic and foreign conflicts, her sexuality
and her religion, unravelling the complexities
of Elizabethan politics and bringing alive life
in the Tudor court." —Bookpages
16 pages of black-and-white illustrations.
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Young Elizabeth: The First Twenty-Five Years
by Alison Plowden
Sutton Publishing; Rev. Ed. 1999 (1971)
"This is the first of a four-part historical biography....
A captivating portrait of the young Elizabeth Tudor,
bringing to life her many identities as ruler, woman,
and politician. Alison Plowden tells the story of
Elizabeth's difficult childhood, ... her adolescence,
her early years at court, her relationship with Mary
Tudor and her eventual accension to the throne."
—Amazon.com
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 | | Queen Elizabeth I
by J. E. Neale
Reprint Edition, Paperback
Published by Academy Chicago Pub, 1992
"Classic biography of Queen Elizabeth I of
England that also covers her reign: the wars
with Spain and the Spanish Armada, the long-
standing struggle with Mary, Queen of Scots;
Elizabeth's subtle and resourceful foreign and
domestic policies; and the abortive marriage
projects, plots and intrigues." —Bookpages
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Elizabeth I : Profiles in Power
by Christopher Haigh
Published by Longman Publishers, 1989
"This book avoids the pitfalls of sentiment and
anachronism that have surrounded analyses of
Elizabeth I. It examines her in terms of her power
rather than her policies, and does so through an
exploration of her relations with other politicians
and with the key institutions of sixteenth-century
political life." —The Publisher.
"A sustained reflection on the nature of
Elizabethan power relations that will challenge
historians for a long time to come."
—History Today
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Elizabeth I
by Wallace MacCaffrey
Published by Edward Arnold, 1994, Repr.
"This political biography shows Elizabeth as
a princess who subordinated her private self
to a necessary public persona. After a brief
investigation of the early experiences that
developed Elizabeth's political skills, MacCaffrey
concentrates on her response to the problems
of her reign." —Brown University
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Elizabeth I; The Shrewdness of Virtue
by Jasper Ridley
Published by Fromm Intl, May 1, 1989
"Ridley emphasizes the interplay of psychology
and politics, and Elizabeth's role in the critical
decisions that shaped events. He portrays
Elizabeth as "a very religious and conscientious
woman, a convinced Protestant, determined to
do her duty, as she saw it, to God and her people.""
—Brown University
"This work by the award-winning biographer on
the controversial ruler who ushered in England's
Golden Age is quite simply, one of the best ....
Carefully researched, balanced, and entertaining
(as befits the subject), it belongs on the shelves
of most libraries. No Tudor buff will want to miss it."
—Library Journal
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Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I
by Jane Resh Thomas
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Published October 1998
"Exploring the answers to some of history's
most persistent and intriguing questions, Jane
Resh Thomas has created a compelling account
of Elizabeth's life that shatters the myths surrounding
her and allows readers an unprecedented view
of the queen as a human being."
—Amazon.com
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The Courtships of Elizabeth
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Elizabeth & Leicester: Power, Passion, Politics
by Sarah Gristwood
Published by Viking Press, 2007
This well-written book studies the relationship
between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,
and the impact their relationship had on Elizabeth both
as woman and as queen. Gristwood explores the question
whether Elizabeth may have ordered the murder of Dudley's
wife and whether Elizabeth's virginity was fact or simply
a political formality. The book ponders the possibility
that the pair had an illegitimate love child. A great read! --AJ
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Monarchy and Matrimony : The Courtships of
Elizabeth I
by Susan Doran
Published by Routledge, March 1, 1996
"Monarchy and Matrimony is an authoritative and
accessible study of Elizabeth I's marriage negotiations.
It provides the definitive answer to the question of why
Elizabeth remainded single, and in so doing throws
new light on many aspects of Elizabethan foreign
policy and domestic politics."
—Christopher Durston, St. Mary's College
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Marriage With My Kingdom : The Courtships of Elizabeth I
by Alison Plowden
Sutton Publishing; January 2000
"Royal marriage in the age of Elizabeth was a political
business. Unions between great families could be the key
to security at home and to the making of great empires.
No one represented a better prize than Elizabeth. She
encouraged attention and spent her life surrounded by
suitors, but she remained, until the end, married only to
her kingdom. This, the third volume of Alison Plowden's
Elizabethan quartet, plots the true story of the Virgin
Queen's courtships and her career as "the greatest
tease in history"." —Amazon.co.uk
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Elizabeth and Essex : A Tragic History
by Lytton Strachey
Published by Harcourt Brace, March 1996, repr.
"In a vivid and novelistic exploration of character,
Strachey presents both the broad view (Essex as
the last glorious embodiment of "the spirit of ancient
feudalism," already overtaken by the business-like
new aristocracy created by Henry VIII) and the
detailed intrigue. He describes Elizabeth as "the
wisest of rulers, obsessed by a preposterous vanity,
[who] existed in a universe that was composed entirely
either of absurd, rose-tinted fantasies or the coldest
and hardest of facts." —Brown University
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Elizabeth's Works
 | | Elizabeth I: Collected Works
Leah S. Marcus (Editor), Janel Mueller (Editor),
Mary Beth Rose (Editor)
Published by University Of Chicago Press, 2002
"The Virgin Queen's letters, speeches, poems, and
prayers—translated from French, Latin, Italian,
Spanish, and ancient Greek, when necessary. From
an early (1544) letter of the Princess Elizabeth
to Queen Katherine to a long letter about Ireland
addressed to Lord Mountjoy (February 1603) shortly
before the queen's death, the editors have put together
an impressive, heavily footnoted volume."
—Reed Business Information, Inc.
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 | | Queen Elizabeth I: Selected Works
(Folger Shakespeare Library)
by Steven W. May (Editor)
Published by Washington Square Press, 2005
"The anthology offers a broad selection of
Queen Elizabeth's works and includes the most
authentic and interesting English texts that
survive in her handwriting... The texts,
presented in modern spelling and set forth
in their historical context, are accompanied
by extensive explanatory notes and introductory
material." —The Publisher.
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 | | Elizabeth I: Her Life in Letters
by Felix Pryor (Editor)
University of California Press, 2003
"Illustrates in color and, where possible, in
actual size, sixty manuscripts—either by Elizabeth
or to her. Each one is accompanied by a running
commentary, explaining the document and placing it
in its historical context, and selected transcriptions
or, where necessary, translations from the originals."
—The Publisher.
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Politics
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With the Heart of a King: Elizabeth I of England,
Philip II of Spain, and the Fight for a Nation's Soul and Crown
by Benton Rain Patterson
St. Martin's Press, 2007
"He was the dour Catholic despot bent on stamping out
the Reformation; she was the plucky ruler of Europe's
leading Protestant power... As they move from dalliance
to open war during the expedition of the Spanish Armada,
Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth I of England shape the
16th century into a romance saga... Patterson writes
an enjoyable narrative of the intensely personal politics
of the era, with plenty of intrigue and colorful characters,
including the tragic Mary Queen of Scots and the dashing
Francis Drake. The author sets it all against a backdrop
of Renaissance pageantry and ritualistic burnings and
beheadings of heretics and papists... true-life soap opera
on an epic scale." —Publishers Weekly
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The Reign of Elizabeth I : Court and Culture in the
Last Decade
by John Guy (Editor), Folger Institute
Cambridge Univ Press, September 1995
"This book is about the politics and political culture
of the 'last decade' of the reign of Elizabeth I, in effect
the years 1585 to 1603. It argues that this period was
so distinctive that it amounted to the second of two
'reigns'. It also invites readers, at times provocatively,
to take a critical look at the declining Virgin Queen."
—The Publisher
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Elizabeth I : War and Politics 1588-1603
by Wallace T. MacCaffrey
Published by Princeton Univ Press, April 1, 1994
The third volume in the series studies how
Elizabeth and her ministers governed between
the years of the Armada (1588) and her death
(1603).
"It is the analysis of how war policy was made
which illustrates most effectively the skill of
MacCaffrey's narrative and the depth of his
understanding of Elizabeth.. A superb book,
full of wisdom, learning, and insight."
—Kenneth R. Bartlett, Canadian
Journal of History
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Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy
(Lancaster Pamphlets)
by Susan Doran
Routledge; March 2000
"Describes and assesses England's foreign policy
during the second half of the sixteenth century. It
includes coverage of Elizabeth's relations with
foreign powers, the effect of the Reformation on
foreign affairs, Elizabeth's success as a states-
woman and the war with Spain." —Amazon.com
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Religion
Elizabeth I and Religion 1558-1603
(Lancaster
Pamphlets)
by Susan Doran
Published by Routledge, March 1994
"Susan Doran describes and analyses the
process of the Elizabethan Reformation,
placing it in the English and the European
context. Doran examines the religious views
and policies of the Queen, the making of the
1559 settlement, and the resulting reforms."
—Card Catalog
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Danger to Elizabeth : The Catholics Under Elizabeth I
by Alison Plowden
Sutton Publishing; September 1999
"In the wake of the Reformation, Europe lay deeply
divided by religion. This second volume of the author's
Elizabethan quartet charts the dramatic and many-
faceted struggle between Elizabeth and the Catholics
of England and the rest of Europe who, denouncing the
queen as a heretic, a bastard and a usurper, threatened
to overthrow her and re-establish the supremacy of Rome
in all Christendom. " —Amazon.co.uk
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Gender Studies
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Elizabeth I: The Competition for Representation
by Susan Frye
Reprint edition
Published by Oxford Univ Press, December 1996
"Elizabeth I is perhaps the most visible woman
in early modern Europe, yet little attention has
been paid to what she said about the difficulties
of constructing her power in a patriarchal society.
This revisionist study examines her struggle for
authority through the representation of her female
body." —The Publisher
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Elizabeth I; A Feminist Perspective
by Susan Bassnett
Published by Berg Publishers, December 1988
"Susan Bassnett succeeds very well in what was
surely a formidable task; she has produced a good,
simple concise account of a highly complex woman,
a remarkably difficult thing to do."
—Antonia Fraser, The Guardian
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Miscellaneous
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The Progresses, Pageants, and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I
by Jayne Elisabeth Archer (Editor),
Elizabeth Goldring (Editor), Sarah Knight (Editor)
Oxford University Press, 2007
"This volume is a valuable collection for both
literary scholars and historians and contains
a very helpful bibliography of secondary sources.
It will, no doubt, become the go-to book for anyone
interested in Elizabeth's progresses for years to come."
—Paul Budra, Renaissance Quarterly
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Goddesses and Queens: The Iconography of Elizabeth I
by Annaliese Connolly (Editor), Lisa Hopkins (Editor)
Manchester University Press, 2008
"This collection of essays examines the diversity
of the queen's extensive iconographical repertoire,
focusing on both visual and textual representations
of Elizabeth, not only in portraiture and literature,
but also in contemporary sermons, speeches, and
alchemical treatises." —The Publisher
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All the Queen's Men : The World of Elizabeth I
by Peter Brimacombe
Palgrave; June 2000
This is a book not only about Elizabeth, but of all
the men who surrounded her. Her councillors, her
suitors, pirateers and explorers, artists, poets and
theologians—a fascinating array of the brightest
stars of their day. Opens a window into the court
and society of Elizabethan England. —AJ.
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The Portable Queen : Elizabeth I and the Politics of Ceremony
(Massachusetts Studies in Early Modern Culture)
by Mary Hill Cole
Univ. of Massachusetts Press; May 2000
"Cole places the [queen's] progresses in the sixteenth-
century world of politics and images, where the queen
and her hosts exchanged ceremonial messages that
advanced their own agendas. The heart of the progresses
was the blend of politics, socializing, and ceremony that
enabled the queen to accomplish royal business on the
move while satisfying the needs of those courtiers, towns-
people, and country residents who welcomed her into
their communities." —The Publisher.
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The Cult of Elizabeth : Elizabethan Portraiture and Pageantry
by Roy C. Strong
Pimlico; December 1999
"[Treats of the] enigmatic legend of the Queen herself,
a myth deliberately created and sustained over four
decades by public spectacle and courtly chivalry, by
private sonnet and official oration—the arts moving in
concert in homage to an earthly deity. In this masterly
study, Roy Strong fuses history, politics, religion,
literature, and the visual arts to reveal what actually
constituted the Elizabethan image. The illustrations,
through telling detail and illuminating juxtaposition,
further develop this rich iconographic exploration of
the Elizabethan era. " —Amazon.com.
Extraordinary book with numerous colour plates. —AJ
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Reading the Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I
by Elizabeth W. Pomeroy
Archon; September 1989
A study of 10 contemporary portraits of Elizabeth,
including what the artists perhaps intended to portray,
and what the portraits would have communicated to
contemporary viewers. Includes beautiful color plates
of the portraits discussed. —AJ
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Dissing Elizabeth : Negative Representations of Gloriana
(Post-Contemporary Interventions)
by Julia M. Walker (Editor)
Duke Univ Pr (Txt); April 1998
"The essays in this politically and historically revealing
book demonstrate the sheer pervasiveness and rage of
rhetoric against the queen, illuminating the provocative
discourse of disrespect and dissent that existed over an
eighty-year period, from her troubled days as a princess
to the decades after her death in 1603."
—The Publisher.
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Site copyright ©1996-2008 Anniina Jokinen. All Rights Reserved.
Created by Anniina Jokinen on June 5, 2006. Last updated November 19, 2008.
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The Tudors
King Henry VII
King Henry VIII
Queen Catherine of Aragon
Queen Anne Boleyn
Queen Jane Seymour
Queen Anne of Cleves
Queen Catherine Howard
Queen Katherine Parr
King Edward VI
Lady Jane Grey
Queen Mary I
Queen Elizabeth I
Persons of Interest
Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral
Katherine "Kat" Ashley
Sir Francis Walsingham
William Cecil, Lord Burghley
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Sir Thomas Egerton, Visc. Brackley
William Davison
Sir Walter Ralegh
Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Knollys
Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester
Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich
(more at Encyclopedia)
The Queen's Favorites
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Sir Christopher Hatton
François Duke of Alençon
The Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell
King James VI & I
European Monarchs
Philip II of Spain
Historical Events
Anthony Babington and the Babington Plot
The Spanish Armada, 1588
Elizabethan Literature
See section
16th-century Renaissance English Literature
Elizabethan Theatre
See section
English Renaissance Drama
Tudor Residences
Greenwich Palace
Hatfield House
Richmond Palace
Windsor Palace
Woodstock Manor
Religious Matters
John Knox
William Camden
Archbishop Whitgift
Martin Marprelate Controversy
John Penry (Martin Marprelate)
Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury
Elizabethan Legal System
Common Law
Court of Common Pleas
Court of King's Bench
Court of Star Chamber
Council of the North
Images of London:
London in the time of Henry VII. MS. Roy. 16 F. ii.
London, 1510, the earliest view in print
Map of England from Saxton's Descriptio Angliae, 1579
Location Map of Elizabethan London
Plan of the Bankside, Southwark, in Shakespeare's time
Detail of Norden's Map of the Bankside, 1593
Bull and Bear Baiting Rings from the Agas Map (1569-1590, pub. 1631)
Sketch of the Swan Theatre, c. 1596
Westminster in the Seventeenth Century, by Hollar
Visscher's Panoramic View of London, 1616. COLOR
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Queen Elizabeth I of England
