Elizabeth : the struggle for the throne

Format:

Book

Title:

Elizabeth : the struggle for the throne

Author:

Starkey, David.

ISBN:

9780060184971

9780060959517

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

xii, 363 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 24 cm

General Note:

Originally published: London: Chatto & Windus, 2000.

Contents:

Introduction: The Struggle for the Throne -- Birth -- Family -- Infancy and Mother's Death -- Childhood and Education -- Rehabilitation -- Stepmother: Catherine Parr -- Reformed Religion -- Royal Father -- Father's Death -- Brother: King Edward VI -- Stepfather: Thomas Seymour -- Adulthood -- Hatfield: Further Education -- The Dudleys -- Property -- Rival Sisters -- Exclusion: Edward VI's Will and Death -- Queen Mary -- The Spanish Marriage -- Rebellion -- Retribution -- The Tower -- Prisoner's Progress -- Imprisonment: The Politics of Protest -- Imprisonment: Personal Resistance -- A New Dynasty? -- A New England? -- A Royal Pregnancy? -- Parliamentary Revolt -- Elizabeth's First Adventurers -- Honourable Imprisonment -- Marriage with Menaces -- Two Portraits: Mary and Elizabeth -- Power Ebbs -- Power Flows -- The Enemy: Cardinal Pole -- Two Deaths -- Accession: A New Government -- Between Old and New -- Coronation -- Religion Reformed -- The Limits of Religious Reform: Practice -- The Limits of Religious Reform: Persons -- Promise Fulfilled.

Summary:

An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man's world, Elizabeth I was to be famed as England's most successful ruler. This biography, by concentrating on the formative early years--from her birth in 1533 to her accession in 1558--shows how her experiences of danger and adventure formed her remarkable character and shaped her opinions and beliefs. In growing up, Elizabeth experienced every vicissitude of fortune and every extreme of condition. She was three years old at the time of her mother's execution; when she was a young woman, her step-father cut her dress off of her with a knife. She had been Princess and inheritrix of England--then bastardized and disinherited. At sixteen she was the head of a great princely household. Yet she was also an accused traitor on the verge of execution. Amid all this, she had mastered the most advanced classical curriculum of the day. But it was her lessons in the school of life that mattered more--and that taught her her humanity. David Starkey re-creates a host of extravagant characters, madcap schemes and tragic plots, while using original documents to point up the importance of the rituals of power and life at court. Elizabeth, whose own Protestant faith was personal and sophisticated, was extremely judicious in her handling of Reform, as in her choice of advisors and councilors. Here, too, is a fresh view of the famous rivalry between the daughters of Henry VIII: the pious Catholic Mary and her clever sister. While Elizabeth remained utterly devoted to her father, she was also determined not to lose her opportunity for power--and not to make the same mistakes as Mary. The skill with which she achieved her goal proved to be a sign that England had reached a watershed moment in its history. Starkey's close attention to detail and vivid storytelling ability combine to produce a narrative of these extraordinary years that reads like a novel.

Personal Subject:

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603-Childhood and youth.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603

Subject(s):

Queens -- Great Britain -- Biography.

Kings, queens, rulers, etc. -- Biography.

Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1558-1603.

Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603.

Geographic Term:

Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1558-1603.

Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603.

Great Britain

Great Britain -- History -- 1485-1603, Tudors.

Genre:

Biographies

Biographies.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	921 Elizabeth I 2001	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Silver Falls Library	921 ELIZABETH	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man's world, passionately sexual -- though, as she maintained, a virgin -- Elizabeth I was to be famed as England's most successful ruler. This brilliant new biography, by concentrating on the formative early years -- from her birth in 1533 to her accession in 1558 -- shows how her experiences of danger and adventure formed her remarkable character and shaped her opinions and beliefs. A uniquely absorbing tale of one young woman's turbulent, courageous and seemingly impossible journey towards the throne, it is the story of the making of a queen.

In growing up, Elizabeth experienced every vicissitude of fortune and every extreme of condition. She was three years old at the time of her mother's execution; when she was a young woman, her step-father cut her dress off of her with a knife. She had been Princess and inheritrix of England -- then bastardized and disinherited. At sixteen she was the head of a great princely household. Yet she was also an accused traitor on the verge of execution. Amid all this, she had mastered the most advanced classical curriculum of the day. But it was her lessons in the school of life that mattered more -- and that taught her her humanity.

David Starkey re-creates a host of extravagant characters, madcap schemes and tragic plots, while using original documents to point up the importance ofthe rituals of power and life at court. He writes with exceptional clarity about religion and constitutional history. Elizabeth, whose own Protestant faith was personal and sophisticated, was extremely judicious in her handling of Reform, as in her choice of advisors and councilors. Here, too, is a fresh view of the famous rivalry between the daughters of Henry VIII: the pious Catholic Mary and her clever sister. While Elizabeth remained utterly devoted to her father, she was also determined not to lose her opportunity for power -- and not to make the same mistakes as Mary. The skill with which she achieved her goal proved to be a sign that England had reached a watershed moment in its history. Starkey's close attention to detail and vivid storytelling ability combine to produce a narrative of these extraordinary years that reads like a novel. Meticulously researched and enormously compelling, Elizabeth is a masterpiece of biography.

Author Notes

David Starkey is a historian and commentator, and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He is the author of several works on the Tudor period, including The Reign of Henry VIII and The English Court, from the Wars of the Roses to the Civil War. He lives in London

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The Virgin Queen's posthumous retinue of admirers is threatening to outnumber the acolytes who surrounded her in life; here, in a very accessible way, Cambridge University historian Starkey (The Inventory of King Henry VIII etc.) addresses Elizabeth's young life in all of its "aching vulnerability," following her from childhood into the earliest years of her reign. Eschewing the evocative extravagance of Alison Weir's Life of Elizabeth I, this book's 44 brief chapters move crisply. Starkey's account is innocuously populist: he aspires to telling "a wonderful adventure story," in which allegations of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of Elizabeth's stepfather, Thomas Seymour, remain more spicy than disturbing. Still, despite his admission that he himself has half fallen for Elizabeth, what separates Starkey from other popular historians of the reign is his resolute avoidance of sentimentality. He presents us with a hard-headed queen, quite capable of chopping off the right hand of an obstreperous pamphleteer. He steers clear of the temptation to romanticize her as a national savior, suggesting that the restored Catholicism of the preceding reign (once described by a historian as "the least English episode in our history") was no less quintessentially English than Elizabethan Protestantism, itself eventually destined to degenerate into intolerance. 16 pages of color illustrations not seen by PW. (Dec. 2) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

In brisk, bracing prose, a freelance historian follows Englands first Queen Elizabeth from birth to the early days of her reign. Starkey (Henry VIII, not reviewed) develops the thesis that among the young queens principal virtues was a sort of humanity that distinguished her from most of her predecessors, including her own sister, Bloody Mary Tudor (who burned 300 religious opponents at the stake during her short reign). Starkey believes Elizabeths early life should read like a historical thriller and, at least until the final chapters (which focus on religion), succeeds admirably in breathing fresh life into one of Englands most overstudied monarchs. Unconventionally brief chapters (one consumes less than a page) explore Elizabeths family background and rise to the throne. Starkey sprints through the life and loves of her father, Henry VIII, consigning poor Cardinal Wolsey to a mere prepositional phrase and gliding through the fates of wives four through six in barely a page. Elizabeth, Starkey demonstrates, was an infant phenomenon, mastering Latin, French, and Italian (her Greek was less impressive), while absorbing vital lessons from the political intrigues swirling around her. After her fathers death and her consumptive half-brother Edward VIs brief reign, sister Mary became queen, reestablished Catholicism as the religion of the land, married an unpopular Spaniard, failed to deliver an heir, and died miserably. Arguably Marys principal legacy was her decision to arrest rather than execute Elizabeth, who was patently a participant in several failed attempts to seize power. The Tower made a good classroom, quips Starkey, ending this fluid biography with the observation that Elizabeths decision to both hire and heed capable advisers was crucial to the success of [her] government. Alluding to Adrian Mole and Goldilocks, freely employing clichés (like a duck to water), and cracking wise (a rolling stone gathers dross), Starkey pens a light, even frisky historical narrative. Reveals a livelier Liz: lovely, clever, wise, andlike all the other Tudorspossessed of the besetting sin of rapacity. (16 pp. color photos and illustrations) Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club alternate selection

Library Journal Review

In this impressive biography of Queen Elizabeth I, Starkey (Henry VIII: A European Court in England) concentrates on the first 25 years of the life of this fascinating woman. Starkey, who believes that insufficient attention has been paid to the years before Elizabeth became queen, finds these years of "apprenticeship" most interesting. Readers will likely agree, for this beautifully written and intelligent history takes a familiar story and makes it fresh. The author doesn't hesitate to question widely accepted stories about Elizabeth, tracing many a tale back to unreliable "histories" published years after the fact. Thus, even those widely read in Elizabethan history are likely to learn something new. This very entertaining biography is highly recommended for public and academic libraries, even those that may have recently purchased Alison Plowden's fine The Young Elizabeth (LJ 7/99). High school librarians will also want to take noteDany author who mentions Adrian Mole in a scholarly biography of Elizabeth is certain to appeal to discerning teen readers.DElizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L. MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Introduction: The Struggle for the Throne	p. ix
1 Birth	p. 1
2 Family	p. 6
3 Infancy and Mother's Death	p. 16
4 Childhood and Education	p. 23
5 Rehabilitation	p. 30
6 Stepmother: Catherine Parr	p. 35
7 Reformed Religion	p. 42
8 Royal Father	p. 50
9 Father's Death	p. 54
10 Brother: King Edward VI	p. 61
11 Stepfather: Thomas Seymour	p. 65
12 Adulthood	p. 76
13 Hatfield: Further Education	p. 79
14 The Dudleys	p. 89
15 Property	p. 92
16 Rival Sisters	p. 100
17 Exclusion: Edward VI's Will and Death	p. 107
18 Queen Mary	p. 118
19 The Spanish Marriage	p. 123
20 Rebellion	p. 129
21 Retribution	p. 135
22 The Tower	p. 141
23 Prisoner's Progress	p. 147
24 Imprisonment: The Politics of Protest	p. 151
25 Imprisonment: Personal Resistance	p. 159
26 A New Dynasty?	p. 166
27 A New England?	p. 171
28 A Royal Pregnancy?	p. 177
29 Parliamentary Revolt	p. 185
30 Elizabeth's First Adventurers	p. 192
31 Honourable Imprisonment	p. 201
32 Marriage with Menaces	p. 205
33 Two Portraits: Mary and Elizabeth	p. 214
34 Power Ebbs	p. 217
35 Power Flows	p. 221
36 The Enemy: Cardinal Pole	p. 231
37 Two Deaths	p. 235
38 Accession: A New Government	p. 235
39 Between Old and New	p. 250
40 Coronation	p. 263
41 Religion Reformed	p. 275
42 The Limits of Religious Reform: Practice	p. 289
43 The Limits of Religious Reform: Persons	p. 300
44 Promise Fulfilled	p. 307
Notes on Sources	p. 325
Index	p. 353

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents