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Elizabeth I
Glitteringly detailed and engagingly written, the magisterial Elizabeth I brings to vivid life the golden age of sixteenth-century England and the uniquely fascinating monarch who presided over it. A woman of intellect and presence, Elizabeth was the object of extravagant adoration by her contemporaries. She firmly believed in the divine providence of her sovereignty and exercised supreme authority over the intrigue-laden Tudor court and Elizabethan England at large. Brilliant, mercurial, seductive, and maddening, an inspiration to artists and adventurers and the subject of vicious speculation over her choice not to marry, Elizabeth became the most powerful ruler of her time. Anne Somerset has immortalized her in this splendidly illuminating account.
656 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
March 15, 2011
I have just finished all 672 pp. of Anne Somerset's Elizabeth I and feel I now know more about her than I ever did before, for all the biographies I've read. I appreciate now her lifelong intent never to marry, but her interest in playing the marriage game as a political pastime. I understand her dilatoriness in all matters of foreign polity and of finance as if it were newly introduced to me, as indeed it was. I marvel at her love for her people, that great bond of love that kept her going throughout her life, though she dithered on the side with one favorite after another. And, how near the end of her life, when she was bankrupted by acting as she had to do in foreign affairs and the people groaned against her, how it hurt her.
Reading the book was an awe-inspiring experience. Exhausting but utterly fulfilling. If you're a history buff or have an interest in Elizabeth I and are up for a challenge, this is your book!
Reading the book was an awe-inspiring experience. Exhausting but utterly fulfilling. If you're a history buff or have an interest in Elizabeth I and are up for a challenge, this is your book!
January 20, 2025
beautiful and insane woman. book just okay, a lot of time spent going "this was an unfair criticism" "this was a fair criticism" and not a lot of time explaining, i'm begging you, the economies, or literally anything not to do with the church, spain, or various sexy and stupid courtiers. of course, this is not to say i did not enjoy the courtiers. the thematic arrangement confused me; i'm also stupid. psycho to mention ireland only 80% of the way in and to render so offhand the invention of the transatlantic slave trade. i would simply, for a dollar, love some ramifications, or some analysis of possibilities.
a bunch of enormously funny stories of elizabeth either going crazy from eroticisms or mercilessly heckling a little man trying to do his job. a long boring stretch in the middle, a likely place to find it, and then of course old elizabeth came and found me in my house and ate me like a sucker.
the whole book was quite brief with all other women excepting the Big Marys, saying only that elizabeth of course had her ladies and maids of court and hated for them to marry, and then suddenly at the end her cousin the countess of nottingham died and thus elizabeth took to bed, stopped eating stopped drinking and died too. this was the first time we heard mention of this countess. i beg you, what. i'm not even saying they were fingerbanging, i just think mayhap the heart is somewhat missing.
a bunch of enormously funny stories of elizabeth either going crazy from eroticisms or mercilessly heckling a little man trying to do his job. a long boring stretch in the middle, a likely place to find it, and then of course old elizabeth came and found me in my house and ate me like a sucker.
the whole book was quite brief with all other women excepting the Big Marys, saying only that elizabeth of course had her ladies and maids of court and hated for them to marry, and then suddenly at the end her cousin the countess of nottingham died and thus elizabeth took to bed, stopped eating stopped drinking and died too. this was the first time we heard mention of this countess. i beg you, what. i'm not even saying they were fingerbanging, i just think mayhap the heart is somewhat missing.
October 22, 2016
Oh my goodness I finally finished this! This was one beast of a book and I recommend this highly, but only to those that are interested in Elizabeth I and her court affairs, because it encompasses everyone around her. It give explicit detail in some things, there is 50 pages devoted to detailing her travels, who it affects, burdens, etc. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.
The writing style is wonderful. I really admired Somerset for this, and how much knowledge and understanding of the Queen is in this book is incomprehensible. Somerset does a wonderful job of giving almost every detail and of trying to stay neutral in all situations laid out.
I found with this that I am not the biggest fan of this queen like everyone else is. I may take this back in a few weeks when I think about it but right now, no. I do like her, and I admired the way she handled many things but there were things that she made spin out of control and in that way she was able to blame it on the other party. For instance with her cousin Mary, although Elizabeth had a right to be aggravated by her cousins behaviour (even after having warned her), Mary had a right to be furious. Elizabeth's treatment of her was wrong, because after a period when it was safe Mary should have been released. I'm not a queen so forgive me, it's just my opinion but in this she lost some respect. I understand why she had to execute her but it should never have come to that.
In other instances I could not comprehend why she would let Essex rule her in the manner he did. After Somerset detailed his first few tantrums I was already hoping for him to be killed. Thankfully she did it, but it was a bit too late. The signs were so obvious that he was selfish and ruthless, the opposite of his stepfather. He aggravated me a lot.
Everything else just pieced together and the way this book told her story was magnificent. So if you are a history buff looking for a book that'll take about 1-2 weeks depending on how much time you devote (because this needs devotion) I 100% recommend it.
The writing style is wonderful. I really admired Somerset for this, and how much knowledge and understanding of the Queen is in this book is incomprehensible. Somerset does a wonderful job of giving almost every detail and of trying to stay neutral in all situations laid out.
I found with this that I am not the biggest fan of this queen like everyone else is. I may take this back in a few weeks when I think about it but right now, no. I do like her, and I admired the way she handled many things but there were things that she made spin out of control and in that way she was able to blame it on the other party. For instance with her cousin Mary, although Elizabeth had a right to be aggravated by her cousins behaviour (even after having warned her), Mary had a right to be furious. Elizabeth's treatment of her was wrong, because after a period when it was safe Mary should have been released. I'm not a queen so forgive me, it's just my opinion but in this she lost some respect. I understand why she had to execute her but it should never have come to that.
In other instances I could not comprehend why she would let Essex rule her in the manner he did. After Somerset detailed his first few tantrums I was already hoping for him to be killed. Thankfully she did it, but it was a bit too late. The signs were so obvious that he was selfish and ruthless, the opposite of his stepfather. He aggravated me a lot.
Everything else just pieced together and the way this book told her story was magnificent. So if you are a history buff looking for a book that'll take about 1-2 weeks depending on how much time you devote (because this needs devotion) I 100% recommend it.
August 31, 2020
Fantastic biography. Outstanding.
August 21, 2012
Nothing short of brilliant. So full of detailed information and not just a biography but social history too.
July 19, 2020
Absolutely terrific.
March 5, 2012
This biography is full of details and facts! It's amazing how Ms. Somerset was able to compile such a complete picture of Elizabeth's life! Before reading this book, I had no clue who Queen Elizabeth I was; but now, I feel like she is a like a familiar celebrity in our modern world! Also, this book helped me break that old English stereotype of proper English ladies and gentlemen sipping tea.and eating little cakes. These people in the 1500's were human too, and there are similar scenarios are portrayed in Elizabethan England that occur today! Scandalous affairs, clandestine plots to overthrow authority, and so much more! Elizabeth's life was very interesting.
July 3, 2022
Highly readable, very informative and entertaining, mercifully not psychologising Elizabeth’s staying single and the virginity rhetoric. The book focuses on Elizabeth as a political actor in a highly dynamic and dangerous epoch, especially as the only female and the only protestant sovereign in Europe. You learn a lot about the limits of her power because of the non-existence of a state bureaucracy, how she could and did exert her power and widened her grip on the country. About her conservatism regarding what legitimates royal power, her pragmatism towards religious questions, and about the central role of the court and her Virtuoso management of great egos clashing.
December 12, 2018
Anne Somerset’s Elizabeth I has taken me a long while to complete, but that was due to busyness on my part, not sluggish writing on Somerset’s part. Elizabeth I is simply wonderful and enlightening. I have an enormous respect for Elizabeth I for the way she took on the responsibilities and challenges of her role in a time when the heavy burden of massive political power was doubled by the fact that she was a woman. She literally had to use every tool at her disposal to maintain stability in England during her reign, and she did it effectively. Somerset illuminates clearly how Elizabeth I was able to do this. I love that Somerset kept her eye on the ball and stuck to to big picture. So many biographers want to delve in the the potentially but unknowable salacious gossip. Somerset kept in on track. Great read!
February 11, 2011
Somerset outdoes herself in this highly detailed work. Though it can at times be information overload, it still reads as a detailed account of a remarkable forty four year history of a realm on its way out of the backwaters to nationhood amongst the superpowers of the day. I especially enjoyed the details of issues and things beyond the court such as the wars in the Netherlands, and Ireland which are so often glossed over in other books on her reign.
November 7, 2022
There are few historical figures in British history who could have their lives rendered into as sweeping a biographical narrative as Queen Elizabeth I. Historian Anne Somerset’s book makes evident the extent to which she researched Elizabeth’s time as queen, which lasted from 1558 to 1603.
Elizabeth did not have too hard of an act to follow. Her half-sister Queen Mary had unleashed bloody terror against non-Catholics, carrying out a harsh reign of religious intolerance which Elizabeth would work to undo. The relationship between these two female monarchs was strained, as they both shared the same father (Henry VIII) but Mary’s mother was Catherine of Aragon while Elizabeth’s was the since-executed Anne Boleyn. The question of legitimacy hanging over Henry’s marriage to and divorce from Catherine, and how this would impact the eligibility of his offspring for the crown, made it hard for Mary and Elizabeth to ever get along with one another.
Although this is discussed at the book’s outset, the complicated sparring between Elizabeth and another Mary-Mary Queen of Scots-consumes a disproportionate amount of the narrative. Elizabeth’s continual putting off of marriage left the line of succession in limbo, and a number of individuals obviously wanted to lay claim to it in the event of Elizabeth’s passing.
Mary Queen of Scots, a cousin of Elizabeth, held one of the strongest claims. This Scottish Mary was originally married to Francis II of France and had previously succeeded to the Scottish throne at only six days old. Her third marriage (the second one, to Lord Darnley, was short and ended with his suspicious death) to Lord Bothwell produced the boy who would ultimately become King James after Elizabeth’s death in 1603. Her Catholicism made other European powers, particularly Spain and France, eager to see her run the country instead of the Protestant Elizabeth.
With this religious question largely at the forefront, Mary Queen of Scots was involved in a number of intrigues which involved fomenting uprisings in England in order to overthrow Elizabeth and install herself on the throne. It was advantageous that her kingdom in Scotland shared a northern border with England over which troops could be sent to invade and stir up trouble.
When these plots failed, Mary was ultimately imprisoned by Elizabeth and kept in captivity for years. Despite being in captivity, Mary continued to scheme against her cousin with foreign powers. Elizabeth was reluctant to put her to death not only because she was a relative, but also because she did not like the precedent of ordering the execution of a fellow monarch. The supremacy of royalty’s claims to power was something Elizabeth believed firmly in, and this caused her to put off frequent pleadings for Mary’s execution. She only gave into these demands when Mary was convicted of treason in 1587 after the Babington Plot, which was yet another failed effort to take her out. By this point, even Mary’s son James (the future king of England) had seen the writing on the wall and forsaken his own mother’s effort to overthrow Elizabeth.
A second subplot that takes up a lot of the storyline is Elizabeth’s frequent dabblings with men whom she never ends up marrying. The rarity of a queen ruling in her own right absent a husband gave her tremendous bargaining power with other European royal houses; she frequently led various suitors on before always finding a reason why the match was not right. It perhaps progressed furthest with Francis, Duke of Alençon, a son of King Henry and Catherine de Medici of France. The two seemed on the cusp of an engagement only to see it crumble as Elizabeth backed out, preventing what admittedly would have been a challenging match between Catholic France and Protestant England. This near marriage to the duke was but a smaller part of the complicated nature of sixteenth century European politics: Anglo-French rivaled Anglo-Spanish relations as a headache for Elizabeth and her advisers to manage.
Somerset hardly wrote a completely flattering portrait of Elizabeth. Although there is much good to write about, she makes her out to be duplicitous at best during her dealings with potential mates. In this instance and occasionally in the foreign policy realm she comes across looking a bit too afraid to commit to big things. There is also documentation of rages she flew into against various people in her court, and at times these resembled a fight between a mother and teenager, as on at least one occasion an adviser she chewed out essentially went to his room and slammed the door.
The book also does not look the other way when it comes to her treatment of Catholic subjects.
While her half-sister Mary had been ruthless toward Protestants on her way to earning the Bloody Mary moniker, Elizabeth strove to find religious common ground between both branches of Christianity. But thanks to the complicated religious/political dynamics and their connection to national security (she was even excommunicated by Pope Pius V at one point), Elizabeth often found herself dealing out harsh punishment to Catholics. Although it was nowhere close to the terror wrought by the former queen, the book claims that 183 Catholics (123 of whom were priests), were executed during her forty-five year reign, including the repeated racking and torturing of a priest named Campion who had come on a mission from Rome. Priests and laymen who said mass could be fined, as many in England came to equate following Catholicism with wanting Elizabeth’s ouster. Somerset could have mostly avoided this sad aspect of the queen’s time in power, but she strives to lay out both the good and bad elements alike.
Despite her occasional bouts with anger, Elizabeth was shown to have a gracious demeanor and reassuring touch when meeting her subjects while out and about in the kingdom. To hear the author describe it, Elizabeth fostered a sense of awe in many Englanders. During one of her frequent peregrinations across the country, the French ambassador observed the queen was “more beautiful than ever, bedizened like the sun, and mounted on a fine Spanish horse, and with so many people before her that it was a marvellous thing. They did not merely honour her, but they worshipped her kneeling on the ground, with a thousand blessings and joyful remarks.�
The royal court’s pageantry was consciously kept up, and reading about the queen’s frequently lavish travels around England and the sheer abundance of entertainment at court made clear the extent she went to in order to maintain appearances. Her speechmaking ability was heralded: the 1588 speech to her troops as the Spanish Armada bore down and the Golden Speech thirteen years later to Parliament following monopoly reform were held up as prime examples of her public communication skills.
Elizabeth was a supporter of music and theater, and she also played lute and virginals. This was a side of her which appealed to a lot of the visitors to her court, although she was certainly not helped by her stinginess when it came to granting knighthoods. The number of these were halved in her first twenty-five years as queen, as she did not want this to become a diluted honor.
A third and final thread which remains in frequent focus is the war in Low Countries. Elizabeth wanted neither Spain nor France to gain a stronghold in the Netherlands from which to then attack England, and the butchery Spain’s Duke of Alba was doling out to the Protestants in those provinces made it next to impossible for the queen to look the other way. But paying for overseas war was pricey, and Elizabeth sought to aid the Netherlands without committing too many troops or making territorial claims. Her job was complicated when she sent her friend and adviser, the Earl of Leicester, as head of the English forces taking on Spain in the Netherlands. Leicester gets a bit heady after a grand welcome from the Dutch, and he subsequently accepted the title of Governor General. This presumptuousness caused Elizabeth to fly into one of her rages, and she has to be talked down from stripping her longtime confidant of his new title.
The fighting in Ireland comes under scrutiny during the latter portion, and brutal actions employed by the English while putting down Catholic uprisings do not bode well for Elizabeth’s legacy. Although the author does not make it look as if Elizabeth was an excessive Irish-phobe (especially considering public opinion in England at the time), she nevertheless does not come out looking saintly or merciful as the guerrilla fighting unfolds.
Although Elizaebeth showed respect toward her advisers, she was unwilling to let them run all over her on the grounds of her sex. They were strong contributors to a lot of her success: aside from the Earl of Leicester, the Cecils and Francis Walsingham were able advisers as well. But this did not mean her court was free of intrigue: a rivalry between the Cecils and the Earl of Essex ended with the latter recruiting the Duke of Southampton in a failed effort to carry out a coup (known as Essex’s Rebellion) in 1601 to rid the court of the Cecil family’s influence.
Her fortitude, as demonstrated by assertiveness in the face of a male-dominated culture (and skepticism among advisers who held the reigns of two previous female monarchs, Matilda and Mary, in particularly low esteem) proved to be a tremendous credit when it came to governing England. The failure of the Spanish Armada and of the Catholic League to assert control over Protestantism in the Low Countries dimmed that country’s star vis-a-vis England during Elizabeth’s years as monarch. She also kept France in check as well through smart diplomacy, not the least of which was using her status as a single queen as bait to ensure their good behavior.
Elizabeth I grants readers a balanced look at Elizabeth’s near half-century as queen. It is neither overly critical or doting, and the rich storylines and excellent pacing combine to make it a masterpiece of historical writing.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
Elizabeth did not have too hard of an act to follow. Her half-sister Queen Mary had unleashed bloody terror against non-Catholics, carrying out a harsh reign of religious intolerance which Elizabeth would work to undo. The relationship between these two female monarchs was strained, as they both shared the same father (Henry VIII) but Mary’s mother was Catherine of Aragon while Elizabeth’s was the since-executed Anne Boleyn. The question of legitimacy hanging over Henry’s marriage to and divorce from Catherine, and how this would impact the eligibility of his offspring for the crown, made it hard for Mary and Elizabeth to ever get along with one another.
Although this is discussed at the book’s outset, the complicated sparring between Elizabeth and another Mary-Mary Queen of Scots-consumes a disproportionate amount of the narrative. Elizabeth’s continual putting off of marriage left the line of succession in limbo, and a number of individuals obviously wanted to lay claim to it in the event of Elizabeth’s passing.
Mary Queen of Scots, a cousin of Elizabeth, held one of the strongest claims. This Scottish Mary was originally married to Francis II of France and had previously succeeded to the Scottish throne at only six days old. Her third marriage (the second one, to Lord Darnley, was short and ended with his suspicious death) to Lord Bothwell produced the boy who would ultimately become King James after Elizabeth’s death in 1603. Her Catholicism made other European powers, particularly Spain and France, eager to see her run the country instead of the Protestant Elizabeth.
With this religious question largely at the forefront, Mary Queen of Scots was involved in a number of intrigues which involved fomenting uprisings in England in order to overthrow Elizabeth and install herself on the throne. It was advantageous that her kingdom in Scotland shared a northern border with England over which troops could be sent to invade and stir up trouble.
When these plots failed, Mary was ultimately imprisoned by Elizabeth and kept in captivity for years. Despite being in captivity, Mary continued to scheme against her cousin with foreign powers. Elizabeth was reluctant to put her to death not only because she was a relative, but also because she did not like the precedent of ordering the execution of a fellow monarch. The supremacy of royalty’s claims to power was something Elizabeth believed firmly in, and this caused her to put off frequent pleadings for Mary’s execution. She only gave into these demands when Mary was convicted of treason in 1587 after the Babington Plot, which was yet another failed effort to take her out. By this point, even Mary’s son James (the future king of England) had seen the writing on the wall and forsaken his own mother’s effort to overthrow Elizabeth.
A second subplot that takes up a lot of the storyline is Elizabeth’s frequent dabblings with men whom she never ends up marrying. The rarity of a queen ruling in her own right absent a husband gave her tremendous bargaining power with other European royal houses; she frequently led various suitors on before always finding a reason why the match was not right. It perhaps progressed furthest with Francis, Duke of Alençon, a son of King Henry and Catherine de Medici of France. The two seemed on the cusp of an engagement only to see it crumble as Elizabeth backed out, preventing what admittedly would have been a challenging match between Catholic France and Protestant England. This near marriage to the duke was but a smaller part of the complicated nature of sixteenth century European politics: Anglo-French rivaled Anglo-Spanish relations as a headache for Elizabeth and her advisers to manage.
Somerset hardly wrote a completely flattering portrait of Elizabeth. Although there is much good to write about, she makes her out to be duplicitous at best during her dealings with potential mates. In this instance and occasionally in the foreign policy realm she comes across looking a bit too afraid to commit to big things. There is also documentation of rages she flew into against various people in her court, and at times these resembled a fight between a mother and teenager, as on at least one occasion an adviser she chewed out essentially went to his room and slammed the door.
The book also does not look the other way when it comes to her treatment of Catholic subjects.
While her half-sister Mary had been ruthless toward Protestants on her way to earning the Bloody Mary moniker, Elizabeth strove to find religious common ground between both branches of Christianity. But thanks to the complicated religious/political dynamics and their connection to national security (she was even excommunicated by Pope Pius V at one point), Elizabeth often found herself dealing out harsh punishment to Catholics. Although it was nowhere close to the terror wrought by the former queen, the book claims that 183 Catholics (123 of whom were priests), were executed during her forty-five year reign, including the repeated racking and torturing of a priest named Campion who had come on a mission from Rome. Priests and laymen who said mass could be fined, as many in England came to equate following Catholicism with wanting Elizabeth’s ouster. Somerset could have mostly avoided this sad aspect of the queen’s time in power, but she strives to lay out both the good and bad elements alike.
Despite her occasional bouts with anger, Elizabeth was shown to have a gracious demeanor and reassuring touch when meeting her subjects while out and about in the kingdom. To hear the author describe it, Elizabeth fostered a sense of awe in many Englanders. During one of her frequent peregrinations across the country, the French ambassador observed the queen was “more beautiful than ever, bedizened like the sun, and mounted on a fine Spanish horse, and with so many people before her that it was a marvellous thing. They did not merely honour her, but they worshipped her kneeling on the ground, with a thousand blessings and joyful remarks.�
The royal court’s pageantry was consciously kept up, and reading about the queen’s frequently lavish travels around England and the sheer abundance of entertainment at court made clear the extent she went to in order to maintain appearances. Her speechmaking ability was heralded: the 1588 speech to her troops as the Spanish Armada bore down and the Golden Speech thirteen years later to Parliament following monopoly reform were held up as prime examples of her public communication skills.
Elizabeth was a supporter of music and theater, and she also played lute and virginals. This was a side of her which appealed to a lot of the visitors to her court, although she was certainly not helped by her stinginess when it came to granting knighthoods. The number of these were halved in her first twenty-five years as queen, as she did not want this to become a diluted honor.
A third and final thread which remains in frequent focus is the war in Low Countries. Elizabeth wanted neither Spain nor France to gain a stronghold in the Netherlands from which to then attack England, and the butchery Spain’s Duke of Alba was doling out to the Protestants in those provinces made it next to impossible for the queen to look the other way. But paying for overseas war was pricey, and Elizabeth sought to aid the Netherlands without committing too many troops or making territorial claims. Her job was complicated when she sent her friend and adviser, the Earl of Leicester, as head of the English forces taking on Spain in the Netherlands. Leicester gets a bit heady after a grand welcome from the Dutch, and he subsequently accepted the title of Governor General. This presumptuousness caused Elizabeth to fly into one of her rages, and she has to be talked down from stripping her longtime confidant of his new title.
The fighting in Ireland comes under scrutiny during the latter portion, and brutal actions employed by the English while putting down Catholic uprisings do not bode well for Elizabeth’s legacy. Although the author does not make it look as if Elizabeth was an excessive Irish-phobe (especially considering public opinion in England at the time), she nevertheless does not come out looking saintly or merciful as the guerrilla fighting unfolds.
Although Elizaebeth showed respect toward her advisers, she was unwilling to let them run all over her on the grounds of her sex. They were strong contributors to a lot of her success: aside from the Earl of Leicester, the Cecils and Francis Walsingham were able advisers as well. But this did not mean her court was free of intrigue: a rivalry between the Cecils and the Earl of Essex ended with the latter recruiting the Duke of Southampton in a failed effort to carry out a coup (known as Essex’s Rebellion) in 1601 to rid the court of the Cecil family’s influence.
Her fortitude, as demonstrated by assertiveness in the face of a male-dominated culture (and skepticism among advisers who held the reigns of two previous female monarchs, Matilda and Mary, in particularly low esteem) proved to be a tremendous credit when it came to governing England. The failure of the Spanish Armada and of the Catholic League to assert control over Protestantism in the Low Countries dimmed that country’s star vis-a-vis England during Elizabeth’s years as monarch. She also kept France in check as well through smart diplomacy, not the least of which was using her status as a single queen as bait to ensure their good behavior.
Elizabeth I grants readers a balanced look at Elizabeth’s near half-century as queen. It is neither overly critical or doting, and the rich storylines and excellent pacing combine to make it a masterpiece of historical writing.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
April 1, 2024
That was a tome! But well worth the time & effort.
November 7, 2018
Pure history, and hard work for me ...but beautifully written and readable. Fictional treatments choose their facts and tend to treat ER I as shadowy and mysterious (a circumstance she certainly encouraged) so this book was filled with facts and relationships hinted at elsewhere but clearly laid out here. For me, the fascination was in the complexity of running a government with far flung representatives at a time when communications were at the speed of a fast horse or a wind-blown vessel. Especially interesting, too, was how completely marginal some of the events in my recent reading -- for example, the Grace O'Malley saga (completely unmentioned) -- were to the mainstream of Elizabethan history.
August 14, 2010
Thank you for the time machine Anne! The only detail this book leaves out is that clearly Her Majesty had a libidinous sex life equal to that of a young prince. Actually some of the details are its only flaw. Yes, I wanted to know that the Queen was stylish, but not to the point of redundancy, especially when her domestic and foreign policy was so intricately complex and of course interesting. But what really made her (and this book) stand out was not the wars she fought against stronger powers, nor how she made a weak country strong. But how she did all of the above not only being a women, but a women who did not need nor want one man and refused to let any man eclipse her. This fight was the most precariously difficult for her as it was waged against her whole Kingdom. Yet she prevailed as in all things. Oh, she did have a weakness for certain men, but she still managed to never wed while enjoying the fruits of her Queendom. And the fact that she managed to keep England from not crumbling from within due violent religious strife( like all of the rest of the world powers) was truly amazing.
October 15, 2023
Mi personaje favorito de la realeza.
No me es fácil leer una biografÃa y esta es de mas de 700 Paginas! Son datos históricos reales que pudieran aburrir y ser un reto cuando prefieres la novela, pero vale la pena porque conoces mas a la persona y dejas menos a la imaginación, ni a interpretaciones personales de autores o directores de cine.
La Reina Elizabeth I llevo a su reino a la era de oro, es hija del rey Enrique VIII y Ana Bolena, ella decidió no casarse por varias razones y demostró que no necesitaba hacerlo para ser una buena Reina a diferencia de las creencias.
Su niñez fue difÃcil, sus padres con una historia trágica, su lugar en sucesión al trono fue cambiante e inestable, sus únicas armas fueron su sabidurÃa y enfoque, junto con las personas a quienes admiro y de quienes aprendio, todo eso le permitió sobrevivir y llegar a ser Reina.. estando ahi actuo como sentÃa que debia actuar para sobrevivir cualquier amenaza a ella y a su derecho a la corona, lucho guerras internas y externas.
Se han escrito muchos libros de ella, hay varias pelÃculas, pero esta biografÃa me permitió ver mas allá de lo que creÃa ya entender y apreciarla.
No me es fácil leer una biografÃa y esta es de mas de 700 Paginas! Son datos históricos reales que pudieran aburrir y ser un reto cuando prefieres la novela, pero vale la pena porque conoces mas a la persona y dejas menos a la imaginación, ni a interpretaciones personales de autores o directores de cine.
La Reina Elizabeth I llevo a su reino a la era de oro, es hija del rey Enrique VIII y Ana Bolena, ella decidió no casarse por varias razones y demostró que no necesitaba hacerlo para ser una buena Reina a diferencia de las creencias.
Su niñez fue difÃcil, sus padres con una historia trágica, su lugar en sucesión al trono fue cambiante e inestable, sus únicas armas fueron su sabidurÃa y enfoque, junto con las personas a quienes admiro y de quienes aprendio, todo eso le permitió sobrevivir y llegar a ser Reina.. estando ahi actuo como sentÃa que debia actuar para sobrevivir cualquier amenaza a ella y a su derecho a la corona, lucho guerras internas y externas.
Se han escrito muchos libros de ella, hay varias pelÃculas, pero esta biografÃa me permitió ver mas allá de lo que creÃa ya entender y apreciarla.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2023
I am so happy with this book. I'm thrilled I found a biography that covers the Queen's entire life. This is not the boring history of England; this is the astonishingly brilliant history of a person who was throughout her life underestimated as being "just a woman" but ruled her realm with such success, her reign is now known as the Elizabethan era. The book dives deeply into all the challenges that Elizabeth faced, her supporters, her enemies, the spies, and the men who loved her. It also reveals a lot about her personality that I was unaware of - giving quotes from those who were closest to her. It was a very engaging read and I enjoyed it immensely.
My reading of the book started off a bit rocky. This edition has such small print - like 6.5 font -- that I got tired of straining my eyes. I couldn't find a large print version of this book. I decided to get a Kindle (I've never had an e-reader) just so I can read it in larger print.
My reading of the book started off a bit rocky. This edition has such small print - like 6.5 font -- that I got tired of straining my eyes. I couldn't find a large print version of this book. I decided to get a Kindle (I've never had an e-reader) just so I can read it in larger print.
February 6, 2008
While I trudged through this book, it wasn't because it was poorly written or boring. It was just information overload. Somerset did a great job of recreating moments in Elizabeth's life and her prose was easy to read and follow. This biography is going to be VERY helpful for me...gotta love Elizabeth!!!
November 26, 2017
Very readable. Her conclusions made sense. Full of references to original letters. When she did include quotes, I usually could not understand them since the writing was so complex and roundabout. I did not realize the difficulties she experienced by not marrying. She would pretend to seek engagements with foreign nobles with no intention of accepting them.
January 15, 2018
Simply excellent, lucid observations of history and historical research presented in a thorough and well analyzed manner. I had a look at the BBC’s very good four part series on Queen Elizabeth I and, while I enjoyed the series, the book, I felt, provided a wider range of sentiment about the era and therefore was more objective in comparison.
March 29, 2020
A very readable account of Elizabeth’s entire reign, I learned a great deal and enjoyed the detail and insight into court life. Elizabeth was a remarkable woman who despite her faults steered England through a very challenging time. It’s quite long though so be prepared for a bit of a slog - if it was shorter I would have given it 5 stars.
January 12, 2019
Currently reading! This book gives great detail into observer's thoughts and feelings of quotes and actions of The Queen. Much more depth and analysis than many Tudor books I have read.
January 6, 2020
A solid, well-researched biography. Not a difficult read, but a very long one.
February 8, 2019
Queen Elizabeth I, “the Virgin Queen�, was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn. She was the step sister to Edward VI and Mary I. Her story is full of so many twists and turns, starting from the very beginning, that it is almost a miracle that she lived and became queen. So what type of trials and tribulations did Elizabeth go through to become one of the most successful rulers in English history? What was her life like? Anne Somerset decides to explore these questions, and more, in her book, “Elizabeth I�.
Anne Somerset puts Elizabeth’s reign into perspective:
When Elizabeth ascended the throne, her kingdom was weak, demoralized and impoverished. A member of Parliament subsequently recalled how at her accession, England was ‘in war with foreign nations, subject to ignorant hypocrisy and unsound doctrine, the best sort under great persecution, some imprisoned, some driven to exile for their conscience, the treasure� corrupt.�. Under Elizabeth, the nation regained its self-confidence and sense of direction. At a time when the authority of the majority of her fellow monarchs was under threat or in decline, she upheld the interests of the Crown while not encroaching on those of her subjects, restored the coinage, and created a Church which, for all its failings, came close to being truly national. While many European countries were being rent by civil war, insurrection and appalling acts of bloodshed , she presided over a realm which (with the exception of her Irish dominions) was fundamentally stable and united. She herself was proud of the contrast between the condition of her own kingdom and that of others�.Besides this, Elizabeth was responsible for raising England’s international standing, defying the most powerful nation in Christendom, and frustrating Philip II’s attempts to overrun both England and France. (Somerset, 570).
Anne Somerset begins her book with Elizabeth’s birth, the fall of her mother Anne Boleyn, and the death of her father Henry VIII. She then transitions to where Elizabeth was during the reigns of her step siblings, Edward VI and Mary I, which includes her take on Elizabeth’s relationship with Thomas Seymour and Catherine Parr. Somerset does not spend a lot of time in this part of Elizabeth’s life because her real focus is Elizabeth I and her reign.
Starting with Elizabeth’s coronation and the first year of her reign, Somerset breaks her chapters down by certain years and the different conflicts that occurred during that time. I did appreciate this aspect of her book, but it did make for very long chapters. The middle of her book had a chapter on Elizabeth’s court and culture, which I found quite appropriate since the court was the center of Elizabeth’s world. Somerset included information that tends to be overlooked in other biographies of Elizabeth I. For example, she went into depth about the Ridolfi Plot, which was before the famous Babington Plot, and is often overlooked. It is that attention to detail which I found rather enjoyable.
While I was reading this book, it felt like I was discovering a new side of Elizabeth I, which I loved. I have read many biographies about Elizabeth I since she was my favorite Tudor queen, but this one felt different. I actually learned a lot of new information about Elizabeth and her reign that I did not know. If you want a fresh take on Elizabeth I, her life and her reign, I highly encourage you to read Anne Somerset’s book “Elizabeth I�.
Anne Somerset puts Elizabeth’s reign into perspective:
When Elizabeth ascended the throne, her kingdom was weak, demoralized and impoverished. A member of Parliament subsequently recalled how at her accession, England was ‘in war with foreign nations, subject to ignorant hypocrisy and unsound doctrine, the best sort under great persecution, some imprisoned, some driven to exile for their conscience, the treasure� corrupt.�. Under Elizabeth, the nation regained its self-confidence and sense of direction. At a time when the authority of the majority of her fellow monarchs was under threat or in decline, she upheld the interests of the Crown while not encroaching on those of her subjects, restored the coinage, and created a Church which, for all its failings, came close to being truly national. While many European countries were being rent by civil war, insurrection and appalling acts of bloodshed , she presided over a realm which (with the exception of her Irish dominions) was fundamentally stable and united. She herself was proud of the contrast between the condition of her own kingdom and that of others�.Besides this, Elizabeth was responsible for raising England’s international standing, defying the most powerful nation in Christendom, and frustrating Philip II’s attempts to overrun both England and France. (Somerset, 570).
Anne Somerset begins her book with Elizabeth’s birth, the fall of her mother Anne Boleyn, and the death of her father Henry VIII. She then transitions to where Elizabeth was during the reigns of her step siblings, Edward VI and Mary I, which includes her take on Elizabeth’s relationship with Thomas Seymour and Catherine Parr. Somerset does not spend a lot of time in this part of Elizabeth’s life because her real focus is Elizabeth I and her reign.
Starting with Elizabeth’s coronation and the first year of her reign, Somerset breaks her chapters down by certain years and the different conflicts that occurred during that time. I did appreciate this aspect of her book, but it did make for very long chapters. The middle of her book had a chapter on Elizabeth’s court and culture, which I found quite appropriate since the court was the center of Elizabeth’s world. Somerset included information that tends to be overlooked in other biographies of Elizabeth I. For example, she went into depth about the Ridolfi Plot, which was before the famous Babington Plot, and is often overlooked. It is that attention to detail which I found rather enjoyable.
While I was reading this book, it felt like I was discovering a new side of Elizabeth I, which I loved. I have read many biographies about Elizabeth I since she was my favorite Tudor queen, but this one felt different. I actually learned a lot of new information about Elizabeth and her reign that I did not know. If you want a fresh take on Elizabeth I, her life and her reign, I highly encourage you to read Anne Somerset’s book “Elizabeth I�.
August 10, 2017
It took a long time for me to tackle this beast of a book, although it was infinitely rewarding to do so. Somerset does a masterful job wrangling together all the available information about Elizabeth I's life (at least, so it seems) and weaving it together with insightful analysis. As with so many books about this time period, it can be tedious for a modern-day reader to wade through the Elizabethan language. The names of courtiers alone can be head-spinning. She assumes a certain amount of pre-knowledge of the era, which I found problematic (why, for example, Parliament would be called by a monarch). At times, I felt like I needed to keep a computer close-by, to look up everything she failed to explain or translate for me. Still, sticking with it paid off in a very rewarding study of a fascinating monarch's life. The closing chapter, in which she succinctly paints a picture of Elizabeth I's successes as a monarch, is excellent.
I would hesitate to recommend this book to someone with only a passing interest in Elizabeth's life, since it does require work and commitment. But I would highly recommend it to anyone with a desire to know and understand one of the greatest leaders of the western world.
I would hesitate to recommend this book to someone with only a passing interest in Elizabeth's life, since it does require work and commitment. But I would highly recommend it to anyone with a desire to know and understand one of the greatest leaders of the western world.
June 30, 2019
1996 review
For a long time I was fascinated by the Tudors, particularly Henry VIII and his children. It is a mark of my interests have changed that I should have this book for two or three years before reading it.
It is a very thorough, literate, and readable biography of Elizabeth, looking very even-handedly over her entire reign, and not singling out specific parts for undue emphasis. The author obviously admires her subject -- and I came away with a sense of what a great queen Elizabeth was--and very humane (especially for her time and in light of her father's excesses). I learned a great deal about the events of E's reign, not just the high points, like the Armada and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.
A good book.
For a long time I was fascinated by the Tudors, particularly Henry VIII and his children. It is a mark of my interests have changed that I should have this book for two or three years before reading it.
It is a very thorough, literate, and readable biography of Elizabeth, looking very even-handedly over her entire reign, and not singling out specific parts for undue emphasis. The author obviously admires her subject -- and I came away with a sense of what a great queen Elizabeth was--and very humane (especially for her time and in light of her father's excesses). I learned a great deal about the events of E's reign, not just the high points, like the Armada and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.
A good book.
January 9, 2018
If you're like me, you will come away from this lyrical, comprehensive biography believing that Elizabeth I is one of the great virtuosos in history when it comes to foreign policy. While the continent was engaged in ritual massacre, invasion, and insurrection, Elizabeth took a shaky kingdom and set it on the road to empire.
But we knew that, I think. The real strength of this biography are the vignettes and anecdotes of Elizabeth's courtiers, whom she played against each other even better than she did inbred European monarchs.
Well done.
But we knew that, I think. The real strength of this biography are the vignettes and anecdotes of Elizabeth's courtiers, whom she played against each other even better than she did inbred European monarchs.
Well done.
August 13, 2024
This is a well, thought out research into Queen Elizabeth I. The biography is very digestible, informative, and I like the moments where the author called some things into question because of lack of evidence.
I felt more informed about Elizabeth I’s life and reign. She was dealt a difficult hand but then was able to turn the county around into its golden era. I would definitely read from this author again and more about Elizabeth’s life.
I felt more informed about Elizabeth I’s life and reign. She was dealt a difficult hand but then was able to turn the county around into its golden era. I would definitely read from this author again and more about Elizabeth’s life.
October 19, 2018
I read a lot of history, and a lot of that is specifically British history, with a heavy course of English monarchs. I was looking forward to this book about one of the most fascinating monarchs of England, and to my surprise, I found that I could not get into the book.
This one is "Did not finish", one of about six such books in my lifetime. I'll be darned if I know why, but there it is.
This one is "Did not finish", one of about six such books in my lifetime. I'll be darned if I know why, but there it is.
December 9, 2020
This is a very in depth look at the life and intrigues of Elizabeth’s reign, but written in such a way that it is not overly laborious as some historical texts can be. Recommended for anyone interested in the Tudor dynasty, or just interested in this independent woman who managed her Court and her country in an intelligent and shrewd manner.
March 9, 2021
I found in this offering of Elizabeth I there was less emphasis on the personal relationships between Elizabeth and her favorites and more of a business like approach. If you are looking for more of a story telling experience try Margaret George. I enjoy the book and will put it on my shelf with my other Tudor books.
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