Elizabethan Essays

The age of Elizabeth I exercises a fascination unmatched by other periods of English history. Yet while the leading figures may seem familiar, many Elizabethan personalities, including the queen herself, remain enigmatic; their attitudes to life, politics and religion often difficult to comprehend. Patrick Collinson redraws the main features of the political and religious struggle of the reign. In engaging with the virgin queen herself he tackles the old conundrum: was she a religious woman? He also investigates the no less inscrutable religious position adopted by the by the notorious turncoat, Andrew Perne, the reliability as a historian of the martyrologist John Foxe (whose religion is in no doubt) and the religious environment which shaped William Shakespeare.

The age of Elizabeth I exercises a fascination unmatched by other periods of English history. Yet while the leading figures may seem familiar, many Elizabethan personalities, including the queen herself, remain enigmatic; their attitudes to life, politics and religion often difficult to comprehend. Patrick Collinson redraws the main features of the political and religious struggle of the reign. In engaging with the virgin queen herself he tackles the old conundrum: was she a religious woman? He also investigates the no less inscrutable religious position adopted by the by the notorious turncoat, Andrew Perne, the reliability as a historian of the martyrologist John Foxe (whose religion is in no doubt) and the religious environment which shaped William Shakespeare.

Now back in print, this comprehensive collection of essays by Simon Adams brings to life the most enigmatic of Elizabethans--Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Adams, famous for the unique depth and breadth of his research, has gathered here his most important essays looking at the Elizabethan Court, and the adventures and legacy of the Earl.Together with his edition of Leicester's accounts and his reconstruction of Leicester's papers, Adams has published much upon on Leicester's influence and activities. His work has reshaped our knowledge of Elizabeth and her Court, Parliament, and such subjects of recent debate as the power of the nobility and the noble affinity, the politics of faction and the role of patronage. Sixteen essays are found in this collection, organized into three groups: the Court, Leicester and his affinity, and Leicester and the regions. This volume will be essential reading for academics and students interested in the Elizabethan Court and in early modern British politics more generally.

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The twenty-eight essays of this collection, first published in 1962, are the work of distinguished British, Canadian, and American scholars. The essays range widely over the field of Elizabethan drama, concentrating attention on Shakespeare and Marlowe but not neglecting earlier dramatists such as Kyd and Greene or later ones such as Heywood and Massinger. Among the general topics treated are the staging of the interludes, intrigue in Elizabethan tragedy, and Jacobean stage pastoralism. This title will be of interest to students of English literature.