Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
The Earl of Essex was the last great favourite of Elizabeth I. Using an unparalleled range of sources, this revisionist study presents a new picture of Essex and of the outbreak of faction in Elizabethan politics.
Table of Contents
Preface; Introduction: 'A playboy of the western world'?; Part I. Into the Fateful Circle: 1585-1592: 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: 1593-1597: 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.