Elizabeth : the struggle for the throne / David Starkey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Starkey, David.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Elizabeth.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603.

Great Britain--History--Edward VI, 1547-1553.

Great Britain.

History.

Great Britain--Kings and rulers--Succession.

Kings and rulers.

Great Britain--History--Mary I, 1553-1558.

Queens--Great Britain--Biography.

Queens.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

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

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : HarperCollins Publishers, [2001]

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 stepfather 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. 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.

Contents:

Introduction: The Struggle for the Throne ix

1 Birth 1

2 Family 6

3 Infancy and Mother's Death 16

4 Childhood and Education 23

5 Rehabilitation 30

6 Stepmother: Catherine Parr 35

7 Reformed Religion 42

8 Royal Father 50

9 Father's Death 54

10 Brother: King Edward VI 61

11 Stepfather: Thomas Seymour 65

12 Adulthood 76

13 Hatfield: Further Education 79

14 The Dudleys 89

15 Property 92

16 Rival Sisters 100

17 Exclusion: Edward VI's Will and Death 107

18 Queen Mary 118

19 The Spanish Marriage 123

20 Rebellion 129

21 Retribution 135

22 The Tower 141

23 Prisoner's Progress 147

24 Imprisonment: The Politics of Protest 151

25 Imprisonment: Personal Resistance 159

26 A New Dynasty? 166

27 A New England? 171

28 A Royal Pregnancy? 177

29 Parliamentary Revolt 185

30 Elizabeth's First Adventurers 192

31 Honourable Imprisonment 201

32 Marriage with Menaces 205

33 Two Portraits: Mary and Elizabeth 214

34 Power Ebbs 217

35 Power Flows 221

36 The Enemy: Cardinal Pole 231

37 Two Deaths 235

38 Accession: A New Government 235

39 Between Old and New 250

40 Coronation 263

41 Religion Reformed 275

42 The Limits of Religious Reform: Practice 289

43 The Limits of Religious Reform: Persons 300

44 Promise Fulfilled 307.

Notes:

Originally published: London : Chatto & Windus, 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [325]-351) and index.

ISBN:

0060184973

OCLC:

45417300