Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Elizabeth I's Final Years: Her Favourites and Her Fighting Men

Elizabeth I's Final Years: Her Favourites and Her Fighting Men

Stedall, Robert

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralHistorical FiguresBritish History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1399083155
ISBN13: 9781399083157
Publisher: Pen & Sword History
Published: Jun 20 2022
Pages: 344
Language: English
Elizabeth I's Final Years outlines the interwoven relationships and rivalries between politicians and courtiers surrounding England's omnipotent queen in the years following the death in 1588 of the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth now surrounded herself with magnetically attractive younger men with the courtly graces to provide her with what Alison Weir has called 'an eroticized political relationship'.

With these 'favorites' holding sway at court, they saw personal bravery in the tiltyard or on military exploits as their means to political authority. They failed to appreciate that the parsimonious queen would always resist military aggression and resolutely backed her meticulously cautious advisors, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and later his son Robert.

With its access to New World treasure, it was Spain who threatened the fragile balance of power in Continental Europe. With English military intervention becoming inevitable, the Cecils diverted the likes of Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Essex, despite their lack of military experience, away from the limelight at court into colonial and military expeditions, leaving them just short of the resources needed for success. The favorites' promotions caused friction when seasoned soldiers, like Sir Francis Vere with his unparalleled military record in the Low Countries, were left in subordinate roles.

When Spanish support for rebellion in Ireland threatened English security, Robert Cecil encouraged Elizabeth to send Essex, knowing that high command was beyond his capabilities. Essex retorted by rebelling against Cecil's government, for which he lost his head.

Both Elizabeth and Cecil realized that only the bookish Lord Mountjoy, another favorite, had the military acumen to resolve the Irish crisis, but his mistress, Essex's sister, the incomparable Penelope Rich, was mired by involvement in her brother's conspiracy. Despite this, Cecil gave Mountjoy unstinting support, biding his time to tarnish his name with James I, as he did against Raleigh and his other political foes.

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