The Watchers
A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I
Allen Lane
Hardback
: 30 Aug 2012
£20.00
Synopsis
Elizabeth I was a ruler who radiated a sense of power and purpose. Her long and successful reign was the apotheosis of the Tudor dynasty. Her subjects themselves felt that they were living in exceptional times and her reign has always been remembered as a uniquely glamorous and exciting time.
Across much of Europe, however, Elizabeth was viewed very differently. She was 'Jezebel', the bastard offspring of Henry VIII's illegal second marriage, a woman (unimaginable as a ruler in most European states) and a Protestant heretic. The pope proclaimed that it would not be a sin to murder her and the most powerful rulers of Europe conspired to destroy her, their plans most fully realized by the Spanish Armada. If Elizabeth's reign was a golden age, then it was a precarious one and one that required constant, anxious surveillance against sometimes overwhelming threats.
The Watchers is a beautifully written, surprising and gripping account of the constant battle by spies, codebreakers, ambassadors and confidence-men to protect the queen. It was a reign that required endless watchfulness - of the coasts, of the Catholic seminaries, of Elizabeth's own subjects. Drawing on extraordinary secret files, Stephen Alford brings to life this shadow world, where nobody could be trusted and where a single mistake could have changed England's history drastically. The stakes could not have been higher - priests coming secretly ashore were hunted down and executed, and assassination plots, real and imagined, sprung up everywhere.This is a very different and utterly compelling account of an extraordinary reign.
» Read the opening pages of The Watchers by downloading the Penguin Taster here
Product details
Format :
Hardback
ISBN: 9781846142604
Size : 153 x 234mm
Pages : 416
Published : 30 Aug 2012
Publisher : Allen Lane
Other formats for The Watchers:
» ePub eBook: eBook : £11.99
The Watchers
A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I
£20.00
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