Haigh, Elizabeth I

Abstract

If Elizabeth I is on your mind, avoid the unfortunate 1998 film bearing her name and direct your attention to this readable assessment of how she exercised power. Haigh's approach is to explore Gloriana's relationship with the people who orbited around her and to key political institutions, including the official Church, the nobility, her Privy Council, the Court, Parliament, the military, and her subjects. In the process, he reveals the means by which Elizabeth survived as a ruler, especially as a female ruler. We also learn about the woman behind the mask of royalty who concentrated her energies not on analyzing and solving national problems but on surviving. Haigh's is an insightful, sometimes critical study of England's greatest icon since King Arthur.