An analysis of the volatile court life and challenges during the youth and early reign of Elizabeth I discusses her attempted seduction by Thomas Seymour, the overwhelming support that favored her sister, and the scandals that prompted the creation of her "Virgin Queen" persona.

A surprising and very personal biography of a woman who may be the world's last great queen, published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of her reign.

A sweeping panorama of the Elizabethan age, a time of remarkable, strange personages and great political and social change, by one of our most renowned historians. A time of exceptional creativity, wealth creation, larger-than-life royalty and political expansion, the Elizabethan age was also more remarkable than any other for the Technicolor personalities of its royals and subjects. Apart from the complex character of the Virgin Queen herself,...

"In 1583, the nineteen-year-old Christopher Marlowe--with a reputation as a brawler, a womanizer, a genius, and a social upstart at Cambridge University--is visited by a man representing Marlowe's benefactors. There are rumors of a growing plot against her majesty Queen Elizabeth I, and the Queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, has charged young Marlowe with tracking down the truth. The path to that truth seems to run through an enigmatic prisoner...

After receiving a threatening letter from the Countess of Norhumberland, Ursula Blanchard, special aide to Queen Elizabeth I, witnesses a series of strange events in her household and is soon accused of being a witch.

"March, 1581. Queen Elizabeth is once again being urged to consider marriage to the Duke of Alenc̦on, a French Catholic twenty years her junior. The prospect of the match is causing unrest throughout the kingdom. Ursula however has more immediate matters to worry about when her 9-year-old son is snatched away while out riding. If she is ever to see him again, Ursula must undertake an impossibly difficult and dangerous mission - and commit an act...

"In 1583, young Christopher Marlowe--student, brawler, rakehell, and would-be playwright--has had a dreadful evening. The first performance of his play in the corner of a very disreputable Cambridge bar is a humiliating flop, and then he's attacked on the streets while in the company of Thomas Kyd. So when Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's spymaster, sends for him, Marlowe is only too happy to go. The assignment is go to Holland, where England's...

Long before the Barbary pirates challenged Thomas Jefferson, English merchants traveled to Marrakesh to trade gunpowder for sugar. Islam and the West crossed paths much earlier than we think--and originally the Muslims had the upper hand. When Queen Elizabeth was excommunicated by the pope in 1570, she found herself in an awkward predicament. England had always depended on trade. Now its key markets were closed to her Protestant merchants, while the...

In the heart of Elizabethan England, Richard Shakespeare dreams of a glittering career in one of the London playhouses, a world dominated by his older brother, William. But he is a penniless actor, making ends meet through a combination of a beautiful face, petty theft and a silver tongue. As William's star rises, Richard's onetime gratitude is souring and he is sorely tempted to abandon family loyalty. So when a priceless manuscript goes missing,...