The Early Elizabethan Polity

William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569

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by Stephen Alford

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published October 1998, 288 pages, cloth

ISBN 0521622182

Traditionally historians have argued that the court of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was factional, divided between competing subjects who were manipulated by their Queen. This book provides a different account: of councillors who were united by two connected dangers, namely Catholic opposition to Protestant England and Elizabeth's refusal to marry or to settle England's succession. Working from the papers of the Queen's secretary, William Cecil, the author has set this crisis in the context of events in Scotland, Ireland and mainland Europe, and has explored fully the long-term political impact of this succession crisis in the 1560s.