The Earl of Essex was the last great favorite of Elizabeth I and the leading cultural patron of the final years of her reign. Dazzled by the "romantic" relationship with the queen, modern writers have branded Essex a dandy, a military incompetent, and a political dabbler, and have blamed him for the bitter factionalism that plagued English politics in the 1590s. Using an unparalleled range of manuscript and printed sources, this book presents a very different image of Essex and of the outbreak of factionalism in Elizabethan politics.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface; Introduction: 'A playboy of the western world'?; Part I. Into the Fateful Circle: 1585-92: 1. 'My lord of Essex'; 2. 'Yowr sonne most ready to doe yowr service'; 3. 'To whom muche is geven ...'; Part II. The Quest for Greatness: 1593-7: 4. 'One of her Majestie's privy councillors'; 5. 'Matters of intelligence'; 6. 'The shepheard of Albion's Arcadia'; 7. 'My lord of Essex and his men'; 8. 'Your Majestie's creture and vassall'; 9. 'Yf we lyved not in a cunning world ...'; Conclusion: 'A greater worke then ever any gentleman'; Bibliography.
