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The Elizabethans
The acknowledged master of the all-encompassing single volume of history demonstrates the profound impact the Elizabethan age has had on contemporary Britain.
With all the panoramic sweep of his bestselling study of The Victorians , A. N. Wilson relates the exhilarating story of the Elizabethan Age. It was a time of exceptional creativity, wealth creation and political expansion. It was also a period of English history more remarkable than any other for the technicolour personalities of its leading participants.
Apart from the complex character of the Virgin Queen herself, we follow the stories of Francis Drake, a privateer who not only defeats the Armada, but who managed to circumnavigate the globe with a drunken, mutinous crew and without reliable navigational instruments. Then there were political intriguers like William Cecil and Francis Walsingham, so important to a monarch who often made a key strategy out of her indecisiveness.
Favourites like Leicester and Essex skated very close to the edge as far as Elizabeth's affections were concerned, and Essex made a big mistake when he led a rebellion against the crown.
There was a Renaissance during this period in the world of words, which included the all-round hero and literary genius, Sir Philip Sidney, playwright-spy Christopher Marlowe and that 'myriad-minded man', William Shakespeare. Life in Elizabethan England could be very harsh. Plague swept the land. And the poor received little assistance from the State. Thumbscrews and the rack could be the grim prelude to the executioner's block.
But crucially, this was the age when modern Britain was born, when the country established independence from mainland Europe -- both in its resistance to Spanish and French incursions and in its declaration of independent religious liberty from the Pope. After Sir Walter Raleigh established the colony of Virginia, English was destined to become the language of the great globe itself, and the foundations were laid not only of later British imperial power but also of American domination of the world.
In The Independent's judgement, A. N. Wilson's book on The Victorians was 'a masterpiece of popular history, comprehensive and sound but with the author's trademark wit and iconoclasm'. With The Elizabethans , Wilson reveals himself again as the master of the definitive, single-volume study.
With all the panoramic sweep of his bestselling study of The Victorians , A. N. Wilson relates the exhilarating story of the Elizabethan Age. It was a time of exceptional creativity, wealth creation and political expansion. It was also a period of English history more remarkable than any other for the technicolour personalities of its leading participants.
Apart from the complex character of the Virgin Queen herself, we follow the stories of Francis Drake, a privateer who not only defeats the Armada, but who managed to circumnavigate the globe with a drunken, mutinous crew and without reliable navigational instruments. Then there were political intriguers like William Cecil and Francis Walsingham, so important to a monarch who often made a key strategy out of her indecisiveness.
Favourites like Leicester and Essex skated very close to the edge as far as Elizabeth's affections were concerned, and Essex made a big mistake when he led a rebellion against the crown.
There was a Renaissance during this period in the world of words, which included the all-round hero and literary genius, Sir Philip Sidney, playwright-spy Christopher Marlowe and that 'myriad-minded man', William Shakespeare. Life in Elizabethan England could be very harsh. Plague swept the land. And the poor received little assistance from the State. Thumbscrews and the rack could be the grim prelude to the executioner's block.
But crucially, this was the age when modern Britain was born, when the country established independence from mainland Europe -- both in its resistance to Spanish and French incursions and in its declaration of independent religious liberty from the Pope. After Sir Walter Raleigh established the colony of Virginia, English was destined to become the language of the great globe itself, and the foundations were laid not only of later British imperial power but also of American domination of the world.
In The Independent's judgement, A. N. Wilson's book on The Victorians was 'a masterpiece of popular history, comprehensive and sound but with the author's trademark wit and iconoclasm'. With The Elizabethans , Wilson reveals himself again as the master of the definitive, single-volume study.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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About the author
A.N. Wilson
117 books242 followersAndrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views. He is an occasional columnist for the Daily Mail and former columnist for the London Evening Standard, and has been an occasional contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, The Spectator and The Observer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 11, 2025
A.N. Wilson has written an overview of the years of Elizabeth I that covers the more famous events of her reign, as well as far few forays into social history. Not having read too much on the Elizabethan era in any great since depth for very a long time, it was interesting to read again on the likes of Drake and Raleigh and others. I did want more social history.
Released in 2012 Wilson writes his first sentence in the preface as follows:-
We have lived to see the Elizabethan world come to an end. This makes now a very interesting time to be reconsidering the Elizabethans, but it also makes for some difficulties. As human societies and civilisations change, it is natural for them to suppose that what they do, what they think, what they eat and drink and believe is superior to what went before. While the Elizabethan world was still going on and in some respects it was still continuing, in modified form, until the Second World War British and American historians were able to see the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as a glory age. This was how the Elizabethans saw themselves.
If one is comfortable that that age from the crowning of Elizabeth I to 2012 was a ‘glory age’ then I would suggest that history has moved on rapidly in the last decade in my opinion. Glory years these are not.
Wilson has written a history of the Elizabeth I era that is not influenced by hagiography, as some Tudor writers are prone to be. He has had no issue pointing out the failures of Elizabeth I even with what is seen by many as a Golden Age in English history. For example, the Irish issues are covered with balance and those so-called swashbuckling mariners of those times are given the respect they deserve within the norms of those times.
Wilson is strongest in the social history areas that he covers, the literature and theatre of the times, the promiscuous sex lives that seemed to hardly bother anyone. I wanted more in this area. I was interested to read Chapter 21 London and the Theatres.
English migrants to London fell into two broad categories. There were those who came driven by ambition, and there were those who came driven by hunger. 'In London we find rich wives, spruce mistress pleasant houses, good diet, rare wines, neat servants, fashionable furniture, pleasures and profits the best of all sort', as one such ambition young man wrote.
On the other hand, there were those who had been driven off the land for the simple Malthusian reason that existent crops could not sustain country produced land an increased workforce. Population growth in the country produced land shortage, reduced the size of smallholdings and led to a fivefold increase in food prices. In the course of the sixteenth century the real value of wages halved. The poor became poorer. Living-in servants, apprentices and day-labourers were the lucky ones. Many simply drifted towards London with the vague hope that it would provide them with some form of livelihood. The number of homeless beggars was vast.
In 1581 Elizabeth was riding by Aldersgate Bars towards the fields of Islington when she found herself surrounded by a crowd of beggars, ‘which gave the queen much disturbance'. That evening, William Fleetwood, the Recorder, arrested seventy-four of them who had dispersed in the fields, where they lived in a kind of shanty-town. Eight years later, a mob of some 500 beggars threatened to disrupt Bartholomew Fair. They had formed their own collective and were trying to sell stolen goods at a fair of their own - Durrest Fair.
Yet it was a fluid underclass, never a settled one. No state-sponsored social-welfare system existed. In the absence of religious houses, there was nowhere for the indigent or the starving to find charity. The beggars took what they could, and then found work or moved on. It all had a cruel effectiveness. The authorities, ever anxious about the double dangers of plague and insurrection, kept a merciless eye on the swarming hordes.
Wilson has end noted his research throughout, and Durrest Fair is noted from Peter Ackroyd’s London – The Biography. Curiosity got me and I can find nothing on the www about Durrest Fair though plenty on Bartholomew Fair. I have only read one Ackroyd book and was not that sure as to his research in Foundation his first volume of his history of England.
Wilson has supplied plenty of endnotes as stated and I will have to trust most of them. He has supplied an extensive bibliography that would be useful to anyone that is keen to read further on Elizabeth I and her times, and any of his references to other events he discussed. I have found his style of delivery frustrating on some events but others times ideal. The occasional reference to modern culture and topical comparisons to the preiod of writing is not generally my style, but the first paragraph I have quoted above gave him opportunities to use historical comparisons.
Be all that as it may, this is a worthy read for those that have an interest in the subject, and they should enjoy this telling of the Elizabethan era.
Released in 2012 Wilson writes his first sentence in the preface as follows:-
We have lived to see the Elizabethan world come to an end. This makes now a very interesting time to be reconsidering the Elizabethans, but it also makes for some difficulties. As human societies and civilisations change, it is natural for them to suppose that what they do, what they think, what they eat and drink and believe is superior to what went before. While the Elizabethan world was still going on and in some respects it was still continuing, in modified form, until the Second World War British and American historians were able to see the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as a glory age. This was how the Elizabethans saw themselves.
If one is comfortable that that age from the crowning of Elizabeth I to 2012 was a ‘glory age’ then I would suggest that history has moved on rapidly in the last decade in my opinion. Glory years these are not.
Wilson has written a history of the Elizabeth I era that is not influenced by hagiography, as some Tudor writers are prone to be. He has had no issue pointing out the failures of Elizabeth I even with what is seen by many as a Golden Age in English history. For example, the Irish issues are covered with balance and those so-called swashbuckling mariners of those times are given the respect they deserve within the norms of those times.
Wilson is strongest in the social history areas that he covers, the literature and theatre of the times, the promiscuous sex lives that seemed to hardly bother anyone. I wanted more in this area. I was interested to read Chapter 21 London and the Theatres.
English migrants to London fell into two broad categories. There were those who came driven by ambition, and there were those who came driven by hunger. 'In London we find rich wives, spruce mistress pleasant houses, good diet, rare wines, neat servants, fashionable furniture, pleasures and profits the best of all sort', as one such ambition young man wrote.
On the other hand, there were those who had been driven off the land for the simple Malthusian reason that existent crops could not sustain country produced land an increased workforce. Population growth in the country produced land shortage, reduced the size of smallholdings and led to a fivefold increase in food prices. In the course of the sixteenth century the real value of wages halved. The poor became poorer. Living-in servants, apprentices and day-labourers were the lucky ones. Many simply drifted towards London with the vague hope that it would provide them with some form of livelihood. The number of homeless beggars was vast.
In 1581 Elizabeth was riding by Aldersgate Bars towards the fields of Islington when she found herself surrounded by a crowd of beggars, ‘which gave the queen much disturbance'. That evening, William Fleetwood, the Recorder, arrested seventy-four of them who had dispersed in the fields, where they lived in a kind of shanty-town. Eight years later, a mob of some 500 beggars threatened to disrupt Bartholomew Fair. They had formed their own collective and were trying to sell stolen goods at a fair of their own - Durrest Fair.
Yet it was a fluid underclass, never a settled one. No state-sponsored social-welfare system existed. In the absence of religious houses, there was nowhere for the indigent or the starving to find charity. The beggars took what they could, and then found work or moved on. It all had a cruel effectiveness. The authorities, ever anxious about the double dangers of plague and insurrection, kept a merciless eye on the swarming hordes.
Wilson has end noted his research throughout, and Durrest Fair is noted from Peter Ackroyd’s London – The Biography. Curiosity got me and I can find nothing on the www about Durrest Fair though plenty on Bartholomew Fair. I have only read one Ackroyd book and was not that sure as to his research in Foundation his first volume of his history of England.
Wilson has supplied plenty of endnotes as stated and I will have to trust most of them. He has supplied an extensive bibliography that would be useful to anyone that is keen to read further on Elizabeth I and her times, and any of his references to other events he discussed. I have found his style of delivery frustrating on some events but others times ideal. The occasional reference to modern culture and topical comparisons to the preiod of writing is not generally my style, but the first paragraph I have quoted above gave him opportunities to use historical comparisons.
Be all that as it may, this is a worthy read for those that have an interest in the subject, and they should enjoy this telling of the Elizabethan era.
December 10, 2013
After some quite shaky moments where I wanted to hurl this book from my sight, I ended up thoroughly enjoying and learning from A.N. Wilson’s, The Elizabethans, a rigorous and highly entertaining study of England and its people throughout the long reign of Elizabeth the First.
The book commences with a statement that rapidly needed explication: that is, that we are only now, in the Twenty-First Century, seeing the end of the Elizabethan world. Startled by this observation at first, I then understood what was meant, as in the first two chapters Wilson quickly covers Elizabeth’s disastrous campaigns in Ireland and attempt to oppress and subjugate its peoples before examining the beginnings of English expansion and colonialism in the New World. Shocking the reader with some cold, hard facts about English geographical growth and plans for domination (I think one of the terms used was “Seeding” – but that may have been another book) it soon becomes clear that Wilson is being deliberately provocative in order to insist the reader suspend contemporary judgement and the sins of “isms” (racism, sexism, classism etc.): that we view the Elizabethan world through Elizabethan eyes, politics, religious upheavals and belief systems and that we, as far as possible, withhold judgement (and for the sake of better words, “politically correct” assumptions and thus criticisms about actions and decisions – though this is very, very hard) and instead seek to immerse ourselves in this rich, brutal, decadent, paranoid, artistic and amazing time.
While I initially struggled with some of Wilson’s assumptions (and though he is an historian, he makes many, liberally sprinkling the text with terms like “possibly” and “maybe” and words that, as one chapter is titled (borrowing a quote from Edmund Spenser’s The Fairie Queen), lie “twixt earnest and twixt game”, sitting somewhere between fact and writerly elaboration) – let me give you an example of one of the worst.
It happens on page 207. This is where I almost put the book down never to pick it up again. In chapter 17, when writing about Sir Philip Sidney and Ireland, Wilson discusses William of Orange and the Protestant upheavals in the Netherlands:
English involvement in the Low Counties was something about which Queen Elizabeth nursed ambivalent feelings. In the years 1585-6 the English soldiers serving there, and the people of the Netherlands, suffered acutely from an excess display of all her worst character traits – vacillation, tight-fistedness, hysterical rages. Presumably [another one of those twixt words] the ill-fated campaigns in which thousands of Englishman, including Sir Philip Sidney, perished coincide with her menopause (my emphasis).
Yes, you read it right. I was astounded. Elizabeth’s menopause was the reason so many men died and suffered needlessly? Good God.
After my initial shock at this blatant, frankly offensive and bold postulation, I found myself reconsidering how to read and respond to the book. The information is wonderful, the scope wide and fascinating and the characters that people this landscape so interesting. Sure, Wilson peppers the history with his observations and witticisms and, frankly, obvious adoration for as well as somewhat misogynistic attitude towards Queen Elizabeth, but it was like being in the presence of a really, really knowledgeable professor at university who discourses freely around a subject about which he knows a great deal and isn’t afraid to offer his own opinion and interpretation of people and events. I imagined him pausing or raising an eyebrow, daring a response with a twinkle in his eye (yeah, I know, I am now twixting). In other words, I felt he was challenging us to think, pushing us to move outside known historical squares and ruminate on what might have been… even menopause, I guess…
Instead of continuing to be offended or concerned, I chose to sit back and go along for the ride, enjoying the gossip, his asides, the facts, the summations and learning more about Elizabeth, Dudley, Dee, Essex, Burghley, Hawkins, Walsingham, Marlowe, Jonson, Sidney, Harrington, Lyly, Campion, Raleigh, Burbage and so many more than I might have from a more, shall we say, circumspect book or author (and I have read and enjoyed many).
The times are beautifully evoked – from the narrow dirty streets of London, the sermons at St Paul’s, the lawlessness of Bankside and the Stews, the piracy and profligacy – and not just of Drake, Raleigh et. al., to the dreadful conditions of the poor who suffered more than any others through plagues and failed harvests and the ravages of constant threat of invasion and wars offshore. The religious schism of the times, the ideological fracturing that occurred and the people that both fell into and profited from the cracks that followed are beautifully and imaginatively rendered.
By the time I finished, I found I really, really liked this book. Furthermore, I liked Wilson and his historical chutzpah – comments about women and menopause and the attribution of blame (as well as other problematic and taxing statements) aside. That he concludes the book by referring to Elizabeth as a distinguished monarch (even with all her flaws and faults) who the British can thank for the country (or, I guess, curse) they live in now reveals the esteem in which he holds this woman of history, but it’s not an esteem that is without qualification or, as I said, awareness of her very real failings. Wilson wears his little British heart on his leather-padded elbow sleeve and I admire him for it.
Wilson is the sort of bloke I wish I’d had as my history lecturer – and I had some marvellous ones. If you want to take a confronting, rollicking and always interesting ride through Elizabethan times, then this is the book for you.
The book commences with a statement that rapidly needed explication: that is, that we are only now, in the Twenty-First Century, seeing the end of the Elizabethan world. Startled by this observation at first, I then understood what was meant, as in the first two chapters Wilson quickly covers Elizabeth’s disastrous campaigns in Ireland and attempt to oppress and subjugate its peoples before examining the beginnings of English expansion and colonialism in the New World. Shocking the reader with some cold, hard facts about English geographical growth and plans for domination (I think one of the terms used was “Seeding” – but that may have been another book) it soon becomes clear that Wilson is being deliberately provocative in order to insist the reader suspend contemporary judgement and the sins of “isms” (racism, sexism, classism etc.): that we view the Elizabethan world through Elizabethan eyes, politics, religious upheavals and belief systems and that we, as far as possible, withhold judgement (and for the sake of better words, “politically correct” assumptions and thus criticisms about actions and decisions – though this is very, very hard) and instead seek to immerse ourselves in this rich, brutal, decadent, paranoid, artistic and amazing time.
While I initially struggled with some of Wilson’s assumptions (and though he is an historian, he makes many, liberally sprinkling the text with terms like “possibly” and “maybe” and words that, as one chapter is titled (borrowing a quote from Edmund Spenser’s The Fairie Queen), lie “twixt earnest and twixt game”, sitting somewhere between fact and writerly elaboration) – let me give you an example of one of the worst.
It happens on page 207. This is where I almost put the book down never to pick it up again. In chapter 17, when writing about Sir Philip Sidney and Ireland, Wilson discusses William of Orange and the Protestant upheavals in the Netherlands:
English involvement in the Low Counties was something about which Queen Elizabeth nursed ambivalent feelings. In the years 1585-6 the English soldiers serving there, and the people of the Netherlands, suffered acutely from an excess display of all her worst character traits – vacillation, tight-fistedness, hysterical rages. Presumably [another one of those twixt words] the ill-fated campaigns in which thousands of Englishman, including Sir Philip Sidney, perished coincide with her menopause (my emphasis).
Yes, you read it right. I was astounded. Elizabeth’s menopause was the reason so many men died and suffered needlessly? Good God.
After my initial shock at this blatant, frankly offensive and bold postulation, I found myself reconsidering how to read and respond to the book. The information is wonderful, the scope wide and fascinating and the characters that people this landscape so interesting. Sure, Wilson peppers the history with his observations and witticisms and, frankly, obvious adoration for as well as somewhat misogynistic attitude towards Queen Elizabeth, but it was like being in the presence of a really, really knowledgeable professor at university who discourses freely around a subject about which he knows a great deal and isn’t afraid to offer his own opinion and interpretation of people and events. I imagined him pausing or raising an eyebrow, daring a response with a twinkle in his eye (yeah, I know, I am now twixting). In other words, I felt he was challenging us to think, pushing us to move outside known historical squares and ruminate on what might have been… even menopause, I guess…
Instead of continuing to be offended or concerned, I chose to sit back and go along for the ride, enjoying the gossip, his asides, the facts, the summations and learning more about Elizabeth, Dudley, Dee, Essex, Burghley, Hawkins, Walsingham, Marlowe, Jonson, Sidney, Harrington, Lyly, Campion, Raleigh, Burbage and so many more than I might have from a more, shall we say, circumspect book or author (and I have read and enjoyed many).
The times are beautifully evoked – from the narrow dirty streets of London, the sermons at St Paul’s, the lawlessness of Bankside and the Stews, the piracy and profligacy – and not just of Drake, Raleigh et. al., to the dreadful conditions of the poor who suffered more than any others through plagues and failed harvests and the ravages of constant threat of invasion and wars offshore. The religious schism of the times, the ideological fracturing that occurred and the people that both fell into and profited from the cracks that followed are beautifully and imaginatively rendered.
By the time I finished, I found I really, really liked this book. Furthermore, I liked Wilson and his historical chutzpah – comments about women and menopause and the attribution of blame (as well as other problematic and taxing statements) aside. That he concludes the book by referring to Elizabeth as a distinguished monarch (even with all her flaws and faults) who the British can thank for the country (or, I guess, curse) they live in now reveals the esteem in which he holds this woman of history, but it’s not an esteem that is without qualification or, as I said, awareness of her very real failings. Wilson wears his little British heart on his leather-padded elbow sleeve and I admire him for it.
Wilson is the sort of bloke I wish I’d had as my history lecturer – and I had some marvellous ones. If you want to take a confronting, rollicking and always interesting ride through Elizabethan times, then this is the book for you.
November 28, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the brilliant people of the Elizabethan era; those who affected and effected by the Queen herself. They made the era what it was and it was great to get some insight into their lives and individual works. I did not enjoy the personal commentary of the author throughout the book and some of his sentences were windy and interrupted by tangental thoughts that made some of the chapters difficult to read. Overall, it was a very educational book and makes me want to read more detailed histories on some of the more famous people of that era.
Favorite Quote(s):
1. "At home, the system of double-think, of turning a blind eye, of nodding and winking, which has often made English life so confusing for social observers, left their inner and religious life rather more ambiguous, rather less easy to categorize than the busy-bodies would have liked." (Pages 73-74)
2. "Deem it no gloire to swell in tyranny/ Thou art of blood; joy not to make things bleed. - Philip Sidney's Old Arcadia" (Page 111)
3. "John Hooker (alias Vowell)..." (Page 143)
4. "('He was of so hard a complection,' wrote one contemporary [of Sir Richard Grenville, cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh], '[that] he would carous three or foure glasses of wine, and in a braverie take the glasses between his teeth and crash them in peeces and swallow them downe, so oftentimes the blood ran out of his mouth.')" (Page 228)
5. "But he [Richard Hooker] recognised that how Christians organise their Church is determined by where they find themselves in history." (Page 286)
6. "But she [Queen Elizabeth I] could not die happy. She was too introspective, too solitary, too intelligent a being for that." (Page 364)
Rate Procedure:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I loved the book so much I would reread it again and would recommend to a friend.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Thoroughly enjoyed the book, could not put it down, would recommend to a friend, but do not need to read again.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Probably a good book that I enjoyed but there was something about it I did not love (e.g. The writing style, the POV, etc.). I would only recommend to a friend if it was their "type" of book.
⭐️⭐️ - A book I have below average feelings for and it would not come with a recommendation from me but I would mention it in conversation if related to the book topic at issue.
⭐️ - I finished the book but I hated every second of it.
Favorite Quote(s):
1. "At home, the system of double-think, of turning a blind eye, of nodding and winking, which has often made English life so confusing for social observers, left their inner and religious life rather more ambiguous, rather less easy to categorize than the busy-bodies would have liked." (Pages 73-74)
2. "Deem it no gloire to swell in tyranny/ Thou art of blood; joy not to make things bleed. - Philip Sidney's Old Arcadia" (Page 111)
3. "John Hooker (alias Vowell)..." (Page 143)
4. "('He was of so hard a complection,' wrote one contemporary [of Sir Richard Grenville, cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh], '[that] he would carous three or foure glasses of wine, and in a braverie take the glasses between his teeth and crash them in peeces and swallow them downe, so oftentimes the blood ran out of his mouth.')" (Page 228)
5. "But he [Richard Hooker] recognised that how Christians organise their Church is determined by where they find themselves in history." (Page 286)
6. "But she [Queen Elizabeth I] could not die happy. She was too introspective, too solitary, too intelligent a being for that." (Page 364)
Rate Procedure:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I loved the book so much I would reread it again and would recommend to a friend.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Thoroughly enjoyed the book, could not put it down, would recommend to a friend, but do not need to read again.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Probably a good book that I enjoyed but there was something about it I did not love (e.g. The writing style, the POV, etc.). I would only recommend to a friend if it was their "type" of book.
⭐️⭐️ - A book I have below average feelings for and it would not come with a recommendation from me but I would mention it in conversation if related to the book topic at issue.
⭐️ - I finished the book but I hated every second of it.
July 14, 2023
A decent overview of the Elizabethan era and the many historical figures it encompassed. Still, a few things bothered me about this book. The author makes a passing comment about the start of the Dutch Revolt coinciding with the onset of menopause in Queen Elizabeth I and possibly impacting her decisions (or lack thereof), before going on to say that the situation would have challenged any monarch, regardless of gender. Why then, was the comment necessary to put in print at all? Later on in the book, the author states as fact that Henry VIII had syphilis when actually this is highly debated by scholars and it's virtually impossible to definitively diagnosis any disease at a five-century remove. These kinds of statements made me wary of using this book to absorb too much new information from the text, although I was intrigued by the author's connection between the Elizabethan era and more recent conflicts in Ireland.
July 2, 2024
Problem sa ovakvim knjigama jeste što sa njima ne bi trebalo da bude bilo kakvih problema. Ako ste upoznati sa autorovim senzibilitetom i volite istoriju, Elizabetanci bi trebalo da vam imponuju. Jer lijepom broju slučajeva kad se god engleski pisci dohvate sagledavanja istorijske ere kroz sopstveni durbin, u najmanju ruku biće vam garantovane zanimljive anegdote iz svakog aspekta života i fascinantni uvidi – ujedno i kritika i uvod u jedno doba. U to ime valja pomenuti sada već opskurni trio fascinantno ciničnih nebeletristističkih knjiga o padu Britanske imperije Džejmsa Morisa (danas Džin Moris), Pax Britannica: The Climax of the Empire (1968), Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress (1973) i Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat (1978). Dodajmo ovdje i jednu noviju: Opadanje i propast Britanskog carstva 1781-1997 Pirsa Brendona (Eminent Edwardians, The Dark Valley). Može se reći da Vilsonovi časovi istorije podsjećaju na pomenute Morisove i Brendonove, samo što Vilson u svoje pregledima ne zaobilazi ni kulturna i naučna zbivanja, pa ni ateizam.
Sad zamislite studije – tekstove, eseje – o pojedinim periodima crnogorske istorije i koliko svaka, uprkos zanimljivoj istoriji, zvuči suvoparno i teško poput školskih udžbenika. Uostalom, zbog čega neka istorijska nebeletristika ne bi trebala da se čita poput dobrog trilera? Kao što rekoh, naposljetku sve zavisi od pisca, koliko i od same istorije. Vilsonova biblografija je krcata raznorodnim izvorima; a na pojedine i sâm ustremljuje kritičko oko.
A.N. Vilson je, između ostalog, poznat kao pisac Zaljubljenog Dantea (2011), donekle i jedinstvenom studijom o Danteovom vremenu i Božanstvenoj komediji. Istovremeno je potpisao tridesetak što istorijskih, a što proznih naslova, među kojima ima i nekoliko značajnih literarnih i teoloških biografija kao što su one o Isusu i apostolu Pavlu (pored sjajne Božije sahrane (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...) o padu vjere u tzv.
Zapadnoj civilizaciji, ovdje posebno vrijedi istaći njegovu Tolstojevu kritičku biografiju iz 1988 (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...), i danas jednu od najkvalitetnijih na tržištu).
No, možda je najbolje reći da je Vilson, barem trenutno, najpoznatiji zbog nekoliko sličnih obimnih istorijskih pregleda, objavljenih zaredom: Viktorijanci (2002), Poslije Viktorijanaca: propast Engleske u svijetu (2005), Naša vremena: Era Elizabete II (2008).
Najnoviji istorijski pregled/vodič, Elizabetanci, su, na neki način, dio pomenute trilogije, jer upošljavaju istu formulu opisivanja jedne burne ere u jednom tomu.
Za razliku od školskog udžbenika, Vilsonova istorija nema linearan karakter. On bira o čemu će pisati, ne bi li istjerao svoju poentu do kraja. Stoga ćemo zateći vinjete i eseje o znamenitim ljudima i piscima tog doba (Marlou, Sidni, Šekspir), kao i o bitnim događajima (španska Armada, oplovljavanje Zemlje, Vartolomejsku noć). Jedno poglavlje biće u potpunosti posvećeno ulozi ceremonije u ovjekovječavanju titule kraljice.
Ipak se radi o eri kad je Britanija prvi put stekla premoć u Evropi, za vladavine kraljice Elizabete (1533-1603), o začetku njihove mornarice, a sa time i moderne engleske istorije, na koju Vilson ne gleda kao na veličanstveno doba poput istoričara što su o tome pisali do Drugog svjetskog rata.
Kako ističe Vilson, njegove američke i engleske kolege Elizabetance su gledale na isti način na koji su Elizabetanci u superlativu vidjeli sebe, međutim „stvari kojih su se Elizabetanci ponosili, mi danas smatramo besramnim.“ A time prevashodno misli na irsko pitanje i mitove koje za sobom povlače protestantizam, engleska crkva, pomorska istraživanja i svjetska ekspanzija – za koje Vilson, iz današnje perspektive, smatra da više nemaju nikakvog kredibiliteta.
Štaviše, on tvrdi da je Elizabetansko doba o kom piše u stvari trajalo do nedavno i da je i te kako uticalo na današnji engleski svijet, bez obzira koliko se moderna vjerovanja većinom razlikuju od ondašnjih. Pa opet, kaže on, „suditi o tome je neizbježno.“
Ovdje ćemo naći i Elizabetance koje je istorija držala u zapećku. Najpoznatiji je Ričard Heklvit (Hakluyt; 1552-1616), najveći geograf svog doba, čija je knjiga Principalne navigacije „za istraživače i navigatore uradila isto što je Džon Foks učinio za protestantske mučenike“.
Radilo se o jednom od onih Engleza koji su u novoj geografiji vidjeli bezgranične političke mogućnosti, i koji je radikalno redefinisao poziciju Engleske u svijetu; bio je među prvima koji je zagovarao naseljavanje Sjeverne Amerike. Radilo se o dobu gdje je pisani materijal i te kako ostavljao traga, i Vilson pokazuje kako je Heklvitova knjiga, zajedno sa Topografijom Londona Džon Stoua, Hronikama Rafaela Holinšeda i Šekspirovim istorijskim komadima apsolutno oblikovala engleski „kolektivni nacionalni identitet“.
Najveći strah dolazio je od Španije. Vilson primjećuje da ipak ništa nije tako promijenilo elizabetansku istoriju kao priča o španskoj Armadi. Prevashodno je to bio sukob dvije religije, španskog katolicizma i britanskog protestantizma.
Autor se pita šta bi se desilo da je 1588. godine trijumfovala Armada? Između ostalog, zaključuje Vilson, danas bi pola svijeta govorilo španskim jezikom. Na ovom mjestu proziva revizionističku knjigu Felipea Fernandeza-Armestoa, Španska Armada: ratno iskustvo 1588, gdje ovaj očito dobar istoričar kao da namjerno želi obesmisliti čitavu bitku. Armesto piše:
„Da nije bilo lošeg vremena koji je Armadu odvelo s kursa, ta bitka protiv Engleza uopšte ne bi bila viđena kao poraz.“
Bez obzira na sve, zaista postoji nešto groteskno u nama kada jedno usko teološko pitanje rješavamo velikom navalnom bitkom.
Naravno da se ne možemo saosjećati sa španskim imperijalizmom, niti sa engleskim šovinistima što su se borili protiv njih, piše Vilson. Ali gnušanje prema habzburškoj autokratiji ili engleskom nacionalizmu, kao i čuđenje kod ratovanja oko Pričesti, u opasnosti je da nas načini ravnodušnim prema činjenicama. Ipak, to jeste bio nevjerovatan poduhvat. A oni što su učestvovali u njemu ne misle ništa drugačije. „Radi se o zbivanju od izuzetne istorijske važnosti“ i autor ga upoređuje sa (vazdušnom) Bitkom za Britaniju, 1940, odnosno za prvi poraz Njemaca u Drugom svjetskom ratu.
A šta je s jadnim Ircima? Irska je bila prva britanska „dobrovoljna“ kolonija, a istovremeno i najneuspjeliji britanski kolonijalni eksperiment. Zapravo, način ophođenja prema Irskoj utemeljen u elizabetanskom dobu biće repliciran tokom buduće istorije Engleske.
Prvi pokušaj je bio da se namame Irci tako što bi se tim ljudima nametnuli u potpunosti strani običaji i zakoni. Kako je ovo namamljivanje imalo tek parcijalan uspjeh, Engleska se onda okrenula prisili. Jedna od metoda prisile bila je naseljavanje irskog tla engleskim, velškim i škotskim življem. Poslije toga, kad nit nježno ubjeđivanje nit konfiskacija imovine nije postigla željeni rezultat – drugim riječima, ustoličavanje engleskog zakona na irskoj zemlji – pribjeglo se otvorenom nasilju i pokolju. Vilson piše da i danas pojedini irski istoričari ne prezaju od upoređivanja Elizabetanaca u Irskoj sa koljačima iz Trećeg rajha.
Tipična elizabetanska slika Irske došla je od poznatog putnika i visokog državnika, Finsa Morisona, koji je 1616. godine objavio putopis i o drugim zemljama, poput Turske i Poljske:
„Irci zbore čudnovatim jezikom, koji nema porijeklo ni u jednom prvobitnom jeziku... Oni svojevoljno jedu djetelinu, nadasve gorkog ukusa, a koju, dok bježe ili dok ih jure tamo-amo, čupaju u trku poput zvijeri... Većina ovih divljih Iraca ne jede (svježe) meso, osim onog što krepa od kakve boleštine, ili pak od zdrave strvine, a obično ga traže tako što slijede neizbježni smrad crkotine... Vjerujem da nijedan čovjek ne očekuje od ovih prikaza da uopšte i posjeduje krevet, a nekmoli perjane postelje i čaršave, već, poput nomada koji se svako malo sele, sa stokom dijele pašnjake, pretežno spavajući pod vedrim nebom, a u najboljem slučaju u udžericama sagrađenim od blata, ili u zdanjima od debala prekrivenim busenima trave, budući da upravo u takvima stanuju njihovi najprestižniji vladari.“
Po ovom pitanju, Vilson se osobito ustremljuje na pjesnika Edmunda Spensera (1552-99), koji je u istoriografskom spisu, Pogled na sadašnje stanje Irske, doslovno zagovarao genocid nad jednim narodom. Poput onih Britanaca u Indiji koji su se zaljubili u arhitekturu, jezik i kulturu, a kojoj su, ironično, prijetili totalnim iskorijenjivanjem prilikom boravka na njihovom tlu, Spenser je takođe postao pasionirani obožavalac irskog folklora i literature, kao i njihovih pejzaža.
Istovremeno je bio popularizator elizabetanskih neistina izdvojenih iz srednjevjekovnih hroničara i fantazista, da je Irska od pamtivijeka pripadala Engleskoj. Spenser je, inače, potpisao Vilinsku kraljicu (The Faerie Queenie) jednu od najvećih engleskih epskih poema i sigurno jedan od kreativnih vrhunaca elizabetanskog doba, i to sasvim zahvaljujući keltskoj mitologiji.
No, bez obzira na Spenserov genocidalan um, Vilson, vječiti poštovatelj dobrog slova, priču o njemu ipak okončava riječima da je Spenserova smrt u 47. godini života i fakat da je Vilinska kraljica ostala nezavršena „znatan gubitak za literaturu, porediv jedino sa ubistvom Marloua i preuranjenom smrću Filipa Sidnija“ (Arkadija).
Prethodna informacija preuzeta je iz poglavlja naslovljenog „Tajron“, prema irskom Erlu od Tajrona koji se 1587. suprotstavio elizabetanskoj opresiji sa neznatnim uspjehom. Evo još nekih imena poglavlja koja slikovito ukazuju na njihovu sadržinu: „Ljudi na vlasti“; „Biblioteka u Mortlejku“; „Čija crkva?“; „London i pozorište“; „Heklvit i carstvo“; „Seks i grad“... Uz ovako zanimljive, odmjerene i donekle i pesimističke preglede razgoropađene engleske istorije i šekspirijanskog doba, svaki racionalan muškarac/žena nastojali bi da njihovi čitalački apetit obuhvate što više slične istorijske nebeletristike, a ako je ko poznat po netipičnim ponderacijama, to je sigurno Vilson. Njegovi fobični i staromodni uvidi o evoluciji rok-muzike – zapravo o Bitlsima – u knjizi Naša vremena: Era Elizabete II nedvosmisleno je nešto što ne zavrijeđuje površno čitanje, no i pored toga njegovi naslovi ostaju vrlo dobri, ako ne i značajni, istorijski pregledi.
Posljednje poglavlje Elizabetanaca govori o Hamletu i sahrani kraljice Elizabete, koja je naposljetku ipak otišla kao većma tolerantan vladar, odnosno koliko je to u onom vremenu moglo biti moguće. Vilson piše da se i na odru nadala da će engleski narod naposljetku ukapirati njene zavještane lekcije. Sudeći prema prvih 57 godina nakon kraljičine smrti, izgledalo je da Englezi izuzetno sporo uče – iskustvo sa Stjuartima u apsolutnoj monarhiji na kontinentalnoj osnovi, pa građanski ratovi, pa trijumfi puritanskog apsolutizma i ukidanje Parlamenta...
Međutim, istorija je beskrajna igra. Možda su neki od faktora koji su pomogli da Britanija ispliva kao velesila u eri posle 1660-ih, kao zemlja sa enormnim intelektualnim, trgovačkim, naučnim i političkim resursima dijelom i proistekli iz zavještanja njihovog najuvaženijeg monarha, a sa time i progresivnog iskustva elizabetanskog doba. Ovo „možda“ iz prethodne rečenice u potpunosti je preuzeto od Vilsona.
2012
March 2, 2013
A. N. Wilson's 'The Elizabethans' offers the reader a glimpse into the reign of Elizabeth I, her court and the significant events and political, religious and cultural issues of the period. It's magnificently written with sweeping prose that keeps the reader's attention and is generally a joy to read.
Although this is written to be a general overview of the Elizabeth's reign I do feel the book assumes the reader already has a basic knowledge of the period, so it's probably not the best place to start if your looking for an introduction to Elizabethan England. The book also tends to focus more on the courtly figures not the common man so you won't be getting any 'daily life' chapters. There are also a lot of references to Shakespeare's plays and other period texts. Without a knowledge of these some sections of the book could be rather confusing.
Wilson does like to include his own opinions quite regularly but I never feel they detract too much from the history he's trying to tell. I did find his unnecessary over-emphasis on our/his difficulty to view certain events of the period, such as the settlement in Ireland, from an Elizabethan moral standpoint rather than a 20th century one somewhat annoying as I don't really think it's that much of a problem for an objective modern reader.
Whilst I don't necessarily agree with his blatant adoration of the Queen herself - he believes her less likeable qualities such as her dithering nature and sudden bouts of ruthlessness when under threat helped her maintain her reign against the odds whilst he extolls her intelligence and politically savvy mind - it does make an interesting argument to explain her longevity in power.
Overall this is a good book, perhaps more suitable for someone already familiar with the period, but still mostly accessible to the casual reader.
Although this is written to be a general overview of the Elizabeth's reign I do feel the book assumes the reader already has a basic knowledge of the period, so it's probably not the best place to start if your looking for an introduction to Elizabethan England. The book also tends to focus more on the courtly figures not the common man so you won't be getting any 'daily life' chapters. There are also a lot of references to Shakespeare's plays and other period texts. Without a knowledge of these some sections of the book could be rather confusing.
Wilson does like to include his own opinions quite regularly but I never feel they detract too much from the history he's trying to tell. I did find his unnecessary over-emphasis on our/his difficulty to view certain events of the period, such as the settlement in Ireland, from an Elizabethan moral standpoint rather than a 20th century one somewhat annoying as I don't really think it's that much of a problem for an objective modern reader.
Whilst I don't necessarily agree with his blatant adoration of the Queen herself - he believes her less likeable qualities such as her dithering nature and sudden bouts of ruthlessness when under threat helped her maintain her reign against the odds whilst he extolls her intelligence and politically savvy mind - it does make an interesting argument to explain her longevity in power.
Overall this is a good book, perhaps more suitable for someone already familiar with the period, but still mostly accessible to the casual reader.
January 31, 2023
Review - Particularly good on aspects which involved the entire nation, such as the religious settlement of 1559 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada, however it also looks at the wider social atmosphere of England under Elizabeth I. Not a political biography as so many books are, this offers a completely different perspective on Elizabethan England.
General Subject/s? - Tudors / History
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 15/20
General Subject/s? - Tudors / History
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 15/20
November 28, 2015
This book delved into the different aspects of Elizabethan lifestyle, foods, government and upper and lower classes of people. It was very informational.
July 15, 2018
Review in English (not my mother tongue) and Spanish (below).
English
The book covers the history of the reign of Elizabeth I, from the time of her accession to her death. The approach is multiple, but more than a biography of the queen, or a narrative of his reign, it focuses on the notable characters of the kingdom: Walsingham, Dudley, Raleigh ... Almost does not refer to the "social" facts: the daily life of the common man, the economy, etc.
The prose is absolutely excellent at the micro level and only ok at the macro level. By this I mean that it is extremely pleasant to read, the paragraphs are very well constructed, and in general it is a delight; but the text is not too well organized. There are things that should be in a single chapter, and yet they are divided into three. It is difficult to follow the author, because it does not offer reminders to the reader, nor does it properly introduce the characters.
Both things are important. On the one hand, the excellence of the prose is unforgettable. The chapter in which it narrates the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots is better than the best scene of execution that you have seen in any movie. And it is obvious that Wilson has a very good command of the history of the period and the literary works of the time.
However, I often found myself consulting Wikipedia to understand the sequence of events or to remember who he was referring to when talking about a certain character.
It is recommended to read it after having reviewed the reign of Elizabeth on Wikipedia, at least if one is not familiar with it.
The edition is very correct, with color plates in the center. It has notes, bibliography, and alphabetical index.
Spanish
El libro comprende la historia del reinado de Elizabeth I, desde que sube al trono hasta su muerte. El enfoque es múltiple, pero más que una biografía de la reina, o una narración de su reinado, se concentra en los personajes notables del reino: Walsingham, Dudley, Raleigh... Casi no hace referencia a los hechos "sociales": la vida diaria del hombre común, la economía, etc.
La prosa es absolutamente excelente a nivel micro y sólo regular a nivel macro. Con esto quiero decir que resulta extremadamente agradable de leer, los párrafos están muy bien construídos, y en general es una delicia; pero el texto no está demasiado bien organizado. Hay cosas que deberían estar en un sólo capítulo, y sin embargo están repartidas en tres. Resulta difícil seguir al autor, porque no ofrece recordatorios al lector, ni introduce propiamente a los personajes.
Ambas cosas son importantes. Por un lado, la excelencia de la prosa es inolvidable. El capítulo en el que narra la ejecución de Mary, Queen of Scots es mejor que la mejor escena de ejecución que hayas visto en una película. Y es obvio que Wilson domina muy bien la historia del periodo y las obras literarias de la época.
Sin embargo, a menudo me encontraba consultando la Wikipedia para entender la sucesión de acontecimientos o para recordar a quién se refería cuando hablaba de un determinado personaje.
Se recomienda leerlo después de haberle dado un repaso al reinado de Elizabeth en la Wikipedia, al menos si uno no está familiarizado con él.
La edición es muy correcta, con láminas en color en el centro. Tiene notas, bibliografía, e índice alfabético.
English
The book covers the history of the reign of Elizabeth I, from the time of her accession to her death. The approach is multiple, but more than a biography of the queen, or a narrative of his reign, it focuses on the notable characters of the kingdom: Walsingham, Dudley, Raleigh ... Almost does not refer to the "social" facts: the daily life of the common man, the economy, etc.
The prose is absolutely excellent at the micro level and only ok at the macro level. By this I mean that it is extremely pleasant to read, the paragraphs are very well constructed, and in general it is a delight; but the text is not too well organized. There are things that should be in a single chapter, and yet they are divided into three. It is difficult to follow the author, because it does not offer reminders to the reader, nor does it properly introduce the characters.
Both things are important. On the one hand, the excellence of the prose is unforgettable. The chapter in which it narrates the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots is better than the best scene of execution that you have seen in any movie. And it is obvious that Wilson has a very good command of the history of the period and the literary works of the time.
However, I often found myself consulting Wikipedia to understand the sequence of events or to remember who he was referring to when talking about a certain character.
It is recommended to read it after having reviewed the reign of Elizabeth on Wikipedia, at least if one is not familiar with it.
The edition is very correct, with color plates in the center. It has notes, bibliography, and alphabetical index.
Spanish
El libro comprende la historia del reinado de Elizabeth I, desde que sube al trono hasta su muerte. El enfoque es múltiple, pero más que una biografía de la reina, o una narración de su reinado, se concentra en los personajes notables del reino: Walsingham, Dudley, Raleigh... Casi no hace referencia a los hechos "sociales": la vida diaria del hombre común, la economía, etc.
La prosa es absolutamente excelente a nivel micro y sólo regular a nivel macro. Con esto quiero decir que resulta extremadamente agradable de leer, los párrafos están muy bien construídos, y en general es una delicia; pero el texto no está demasiado bien organizado. Hay cosas que deberían estar en un sólo capítulo, y sin embargo están repartidas en tres. Resulta difícil seguir al autor, porque no ofrece recordatorios al lector, ni introduce propiamente a los personajes.
Ambas cosas son importantes. Por un lado, la excelencia de la prosa es inolvidable. El capítulo en el que narra la ejecución de Mary, Queen of Scots es mejor que la mejor escena de ejecución que hayas visto en una película. Y es obvio que Wilson domina muy bien la historia del periodo y las obras literarias de la época.
Sin embargo, a menudo me encontraba consultando la Wikipedia para entender la sucesión de acontecimientos o para recordar a quién se refería cuando hablaba de un determinado personaje.
Se recomienda leerlo después de haberle dado un repaso al reinado de Elizabeth en la Wikipedia, al menos si uno no está familiarizado con él.
La edición es muy correcta, con láminas en color en el centro. Tiene notas, bibliografía, e índice alfabético.
February 8, 2019
When we think of Elizabethan England, we often think of it as the “Golden Age” of earning and discoveries. While that is true, like any age, there were good elements and bad elements. We tend to overlook the bad elements with Elizabeth’s “Golden Age” and move on to the good elements. However, we cannot get a full image of the age if we only look at the good elements. That is why A.N. Wilson wrote the book “The Elizabethans”:
In this book, I hope we shall be basking together in wholehearted appreciation of all of this [the good elements], but it is no longer possible to do so without a recognition of the Difficulty- hence my title for the opening chapter. The Difficulty is really a moral one: things which they, the Elizabethans, regarded as a cause for pride, we- the great majority of educated, liberal Western opinion- consider shameful. Things of which they boasted, we deplore. ( Wilson, 2).
So what was the Difficulty that Wilson was mentioning? To Wilson, that is the issue of Ireland and the “New World” and how the English dealt with the native peoples of these new colonies. These were constant problems in this age that would affect how future generations would view the men and women who made Elizabethan England great. Of course, there were the deaths of Mary Queen of Scots and Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, that would affect Elizabeth greatly.
Now that we got the bad elements out of the way, let’s dive into what made it good, the “Golden Age”. Wilson decided to break down his book into sections which correspond with the different decades of the reign of Elizabeth I. Each different decade had elements that made it difficult like the Northern Rebellion, St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Mary Queen of Scots, and of course the Spanish Armada. What made this era known as the “Golden Age” were the people who took those difficult moments and made the best of the situation. Men like Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, and Spenser. Of course, there were also men like Richard Hakluyt, Robert Dudley, Robert Devereux, and John Hawkins, who made the Elizabethan age a bit more interesting.
“The Elizabethans” by A.N. Wilson is the story of the age, both the good and the bad. And of course, it is the story of Elizabeth and how she herself handled all the changes that were happening in her lifetime. Wilson wrote this book in such a way that it grabs your attention for the age and gives you a better understanding of what it meant to be someone who lived in Elizabethan England. I would highly suggest this book for anyone who wants a great resource into this “Golden Age” of Elizabethan England and the men and women who made this arguably one of the most complex and interesting times in English history. This is a must-read for anyone who has any interests in Elizabeth, the England she ruled, and the effects that it had on the rest of the world not only in her generation but for generations to follow.
In this book, I hope we shall be basking together in wholehearted appreciation of all of this [the good elements], but it is no longer possible to do so without a recognition of the Difficulty- hence my title for the opening chapter. The Difficulty is really a moral one: things which they, the Elizabethans, regarded as a cause for pride, we- the great majority of educated, liberal Western opinion- consider shameful. Things of which they boasted, we deplore. ( Wilson, 2).
So what was the Difficulty that Wilson was mentioning? To Wilson, that is the issue of Ireland and the “New World” and how the English dealt with the native peoples of these new colonies. These were constant problems in this age that would affect how future generations would view the men and women who made Elizabethan England great. Of course, there were the deaths of Mary Queen of Scots and Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, that would affect Elizabeth greatly.
Now that we got the bad elements out of the way, let’s dive into what made it good, the “Golden Age”. Wilson decided to break down his book into sections which correspond with the different decades of the reign of Elizabeth I. Each different decade had elements that made it difficult like the Northern Rebellion, St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Mary Queen of Scots, and of course the Spanish Armada. What made this era known as the “Golden Age” were the people who took those difficult moments and made the best of the situation. Men like Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, and Spenser. Of course, there were also men like Richard Hakluyt, Robert Dudley, Robert Devereux, and John Hawkins, who made the Elizabethan age a bit more interesting.
“The Elizabethans” by A.N. Wilson is the story of the age, both the good and the bad. And of course, it is the story of Elizabeth and how she herself handled all the changes that were happening in her lifetime. Wilson wrote this book in such a way that it grabs your attention for the age and gives you a better understanding of what it meant to be someone who lived in Elizabethan England. I would highly suggest this book for anyone who wants a great resource into this “Golden Age” of Elizabethan England and the men and women who made this arguably one of the most complex and interesting times in English history. This is a must-read for anyone who has any interests in Elizabeth, the England she ruled, and the effects that it had on the rest of the world not only in her generation but for generations to follow.
March 14, 2020
This book is DENSE. It presents a well rounded and complete picture of the Elizabethan Age in 375 fact and narrative packed pages. Organized chronologically, not only does the narrative trace the historical events of the age, focusing primarily on Elizabeth I, with the conflicts and challenges of the monarchs of England during her early life and those she faced during her reign, but as the major historical figures of the time appear, the author also presents short biographies of each of these figures. As well, the book treats the cultural and social and personal changes of the age, from houses and dress to the great Elizabethan writers, taking time to tell the stories of the explorers, pirates, and colonizers who played their part in this colorful age. One caution: the author takes a chapter to discuss Elizabethan sexual attitudes and practices with detail and frankness. More sensitive readers may want to skip this chapter. The author chooses details and narrates in such a way as to capture readers' focus and interest.
September 13, 2021
Not just illuminating, but beautifully written, with many original insights by Wilson. Oddly - after reading this entire book - I'll likely mostly remember the final chapter in which he presents a highly original explanation of how Shakespeare's "Hamlet" relates to that era.
November 16, 2019
Sometimes interesting, frequently meandering and dull. Overall, a tedious read.
October 10, 2022
An appropriate read i thought, at the end of the 2nd Elizabeth's reign, the book covers many of the pivotal points of Elizabeth's life, the people around her, and contextualises it with the events in the wider world and it's complex geo-politics and religious schisms, at the nascence of the renaissance. Subterfuge, religion, colonialism and slaving are all covered honestly, and with pertinent reminders that to view their world with our eyes can easily skew how we perceive their actions ... whilst rightly condemning many of those actions, such as the proposed genocide of the Irish, as a way of dealing with their rebellion against English colonialization ... well worth the 4 stars IMHO
July 18, 2012
Several books exist depicting life during the time of Queen Elizabeth. Adding to the list, A.N. Wilson attempts to stick out in the crowd with his work, “The Elizabethans”.
A.N. Wilson’s “The Elizabethans” is a contradiction in writing which results in my having contradictory views. What do I mean by this? The book’s identity and “purpose” tends to be a bit lost in the overly-ambitious work. Initially, Wilson provides an overview of the struggles and aggravations between the English and Irish and its impact on modern schools of thought. This is heavy academic writing and can instantly deter some readers. Once past this, the book progresses more into the realm which the title suggests: England during the time of Queen Elizabeth.
In a unique way, “The Elizabethans” doesn’t simply divide chapters into sections based on such topics as clothing, food, or occupations like most Elizabethan period studies; but instead tells the ways of England during the era though the eyes of famous figures which provides psychological and philosophical insight. However, it is recommended that the reader already be familiar with these figures as Wilson doesn’t provide introductions.
“The Elizabethans” is very dense with a satisfying amount of sources; however, it is overwhelming in narrative flow. Some history books are entertaining while others are best used as source material for the authors of the entertaining books. Wilson’s work is more a source material and not categorized as easy-to-read. At the same time, Wilson contradicts and attempts to use overly familiar terms at times such as calling Henry VIII a “monster” and Mary’s religious victims as having been “roasted”. Furthermore, Wilson often speaks directly to the reader asserting that he isn’t trying to prove specific points and yet at the same time, he often makes biased comments in a forceful, unarguable tone. Cocky or an expert? You decide.
The scope in “The Elizabethans” is well detailed and all areas in her realm are covered. Yet, I didn’t notice any new information in terms of history. The “new” views were academic debates from Wilson regarding the philosophical fronts which, albeit, are sometimes interesting. Basically, the book is not what one would expect from the way it is marketed which can result in disappointment.
Both the tone and voice in “The Elizabethans” isn’t consistent which causes an up and down flow of equally up and down bouts of boredom and entertainment which some chapters diving into more details than others (the chapter “The New Learning” was quite interesting). The tone changes too often (scholarly, journalistic, and even conversational) while the sections can be disjointed and jump around too much in tangents. “The Elizabethans” also has a social history aspect to it which cuts into the scholarly side and makes it more accessible but adds to the style inconsistencies.
This is certainly the one book to read if you want a one-stop shop for all Elizabethan details making it useful for those readers new to Elizabeth. Sadly though, its overabundance of information makes details hard to retain and slower reading is optimal. Oddly enough, once of the more “touching” chapters was on Mary Stuart versus Elizabeth. Conversely, in this chapter (and many others), Wilson exhibited high school-like quips which aren’t necessary in his writing and cause questioning of his credibility (example: “But the hair, like so much about her, was fake” [241]). Is that necessary to interject?
My main issue are the blaring errors which Wilson (who is remarked as being an “award-winning biographer and celebrated novelist”) so pointedly expressed as truths. Wilson states that Henry VIII died from Syphilis (when it has been argued that this is incorrect because a purchase of mercury—used to care for the disease—is not in many of his account books). Wilson also declares that Elizabeth wished to be buried with her sister Mary and have the tomb with the famous epitaph erected to show her views on religious apathy and tolerance… when this was actually the work of King James.
Wilson did use an extensive amount of source material (although it was 95% secondary) and also featured two sections of color plates (in black and white--- color would have been preferred).
“The Elizabethans” is recommended if conducting research Queen Elizabeth or her reign (although be careful with the blaring errors) but overall, there are much better books available on the topic. I wouldn’t necessarily read from this author again.
A.N. Wilson’s “The Elizabethans” is a contradiction in writing which results in my having contradictory views. What do I mean by this? The book’s identity and “purpose” tends to be a bit lost in the overly-ambitious work. Initially, Wilson provides an overview of the struggles and aggravations between the English and Irish and its impact on modern schools of thought. This is heavy academic writing and can instantly deter some readers. Once past this, the book progresses more into the realm which the title suggests: England during the time of Queen Elizabeth.
In a unique way, “The Elizabethans” doesn’t simply divide chapters into sections based on such topics as clothing, food, or occupations like most Elizabethan period studies; but instead tells the ways of England during the era though the eyes of famous figures which provides psychological and philosophical insight. However, it is recommended that the reader already be familiar with these figures as Wilson doesn’t provide introductions.
“The Elizabethans” is very dense with a satisfying amount of sources; however, it is overwhelming in narrative flow. Some history books are entertaining while others are best used as source material for the authors of the entertaining books. Wilson’s work is more a source material and not categorized as easy-to-read. At the same time, Wilson contradicts and attempts to use overly familiar terms at times such as calling Henry VIII a “monster” and Mary’s religious victims as having been “roasted”. Furthermore, Wilson often speaks directly to the reader asserting that he isn’t trying to prove specific points and yet at the same time, he often makes biased comments in a forceful, unarguable tone. Cocky or an expert? You decide.
The scope in “The Elizabethans” is well detailed and all areas in her realm are covered. Yet, I didn’t notice any new information in terms of history. The “new” views were academic debates from Wilson regarding the philosophical fronts which, albeit, are sometimes interesting. Basically, the book is not what one would expect from the way it is marketed which can result in disappointment.
Both the tone and voice in “The Elizabethans” isn’t consistent which causes an up and down flow of equally up and down bouts of boredom and entertainment which some chapters diving into more details than others (the chapter “The New Learning” was quite interesting). The tone changes too often (scholarly, journalistic, and even conversational) while the sections can be disjointed and jump around too much in tangents. “The Elizabethans” also has a social history aspect to it which cuts into the scholarly side and makes it more accessible but adds to the style inconsistencies.
This is certainly the one book to read if you want a one-stop shop for all Elizabethan details making it useful for those readers new to Elizabeth. Sadly though, its overabundance of information makes details hard to retain and slower reading is optimal. Oddly enough, once of the more “touching” chapters was on Mary Stuart versus Elizabeth. Conversely, in this chapter (and many others), Wilson exhibited high school-like quips which aren’t necessary in his writing and cause questioning of his credibility (example: “But the hair, like so much about her, was fake” [241]). Is that necessary to interject?
My main issue are the blaring errors which Wilson (who is remarked as being an “award-winning biographer and celebrated novelist”) so pointedly expressed as truths. Wilson states that Henry VIII died from Syphilis (when it has been argued that this is incorrect because a purchase of mercury—used to care for the disease—is not in many of his account books). Wilson also declares that Elizabeth wished to be buried with her sister Mary and have the tomb with the famous epitaph erected to show her views on religious apathy and tolerance… when this was actually the work of King James.
Wilson did use an extensive amount of source material (although it was 95% secondary) and also featured two sections of color plates (in black and white--- color would have been preferred).
“The Elizabethans” is recommended if conducting research Queen Elizabeth or her reign (although be careful with the blaring errors) but overall, there are much better books available on the topic. I wouldn’t necessarily read from this author again.
September 17, 2014
Wilson, A.N. The Elizabethans, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2012 (448pp.$30)
The queen died unhappy, ravaged by time and illness, her realm disquieted by civil and religious factions that were equally adumbrated by frequent outbreaks of plague. The magistrates and sheriffs were hanging thieves, brigands and cut-purses in droves. In February 1603 Elizabeth was able to receive the Venetian ambassador to the English court who had come to London complaining about English pirates and corsairs preying on Spanish and Venetian vessels in the Adriatic.
In his diaries the ambassador reported that the queen had a light-colored wig (“hair not made by nature”) and wore great pearls like pears around her forehead. She also bore a great quantity of gems and pearls on her person and even under her gown she was covered with golden-jeweled girdles and single gems, carbuncles, rubies and diamonds. Around her wrists were double rows of pearls of “more than medium size.” But the paper-thin skin of her face was splotched and her few teeth blackened with rot. And then in March the great queen died, her finger so swollen that the Coronation Ring bestowed on her 55 years before had eaten into her flesh and had to be sawn off. Only then could she be separated from power.
A.N. Wilson, prolific author of historical works, novels and critical investigations (including the recently published “Dante in Love” and “The Victorians”) has written a highly readable history of the mid-16th century which he dubs the “birth of modern Britain”. Whether that is so, the reader should decide.
Suffice it to say that “The Elizabethans” is painterly in its delicious sweep, occasionally obstreperous in its reasoning, and wholly enjoyable for its cast of characters, most of whom are doubly or trebly deceptive: After all, it was an age in which an explorer, pirate and slave-runner could also be a poet and playwright. Sir Walter Raleigh comes to mind, a man who not only colonized parts of the American eastern seaboard, searched hopelessly for diamonds and El Dorado along the Orinoco delta, but who also composed histories of the world and love lyrics, finally losing his head in the Tower to the ax of political intrigue. Another, Sir Francis Drake, not only performed the first circumnavigation of the world (Magellan having died in the Pacific on his quest), but also made a fortune slave-trading and buccaneering, later helping to defeat the Spanish in the English Channel as an Admiral.
This was the age of Shakespeare and his shadowy doppelganger Christopher Marlow, who write great plays, spied or double-spied for Francis Walsingham’s Stalinesque bureau that kept track of all the epic plots and counter-plots of the time (and who was stabbed to death in a pub fight), of epic poet Sir Philip Sidney (who also killed Irish peasants while working for the governor) and the administrator and treasurer Robert Cecil, who ran the government with an iron hand.
Naturally, the fight with Spain and its Catholicism looms large, as does the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth’s primary enemy for England’s throne. Even Elizabeth’s flights of love-sickness over Robert Dudley and the second Essex, so well known by now, are given their due. Perhaps the period really did give birth to modern Britain, in the sense that it birthed the outlines of the modern state altogether, with its intrigue-ridden administration, its obsession with money and civil order, its brutal colonization of helpless peoples like the Irish whom the state murdered by the hundreds of thousands, its teeming masses headed for the city where there waited gin and degradation, and of course, the flag-waving knee-jerk nationalism which has come to be the hallmark of modernism itself.
Many books have been written about the Elizabethan Age. One could do worse than Wilson’s as a beginning, considering how well made it is with its considerable attention to detail (its studies in architecture, exploration and disease are alone worth the price of admission), its lustrous illustrations, ample bibliography and substantial index. And despite its occasional journalistic off-handedness in phrase, “The Elizabethans) remains an entertaining and useful popular history.
The queen died unhappy, ravaged by time and illness, her realm disquieted by civil and religious factions that were equally adumbrated by frequent outbreaks of plague. The magistrates and sheriffs were hanging thieves, brigands and cut-purses in droves. In February 1603 Elizabeth was able to receive the Venetian ambassador to the English court who had come to London complaining about English pirates and corsairs preying on Spanish and Venetian vessels in the Adriatic.
In his diaries the ambassador reported that the queen had a light-colored wig (“hair not made by nature”) and wore great pearls like pears around her forehead. She also bore a great quantity of gems and pearls on her person and even under her gown she was covered with golden-jeweled girdles and single gems, carbuncles, rubies and diamonds. Around her wrists were double rows of pearls of “more than medium size.” But the paper-thin skin of her face was splotched and her few teeth blackened with rot. And then in March the great queen died, her finger so swollen that the Coronation Ring bestowed on her 55 years before had eaten into her flesh and had to be sawn off. Only then could she be separated from power.
A.N. Wilson, prolific author of historical works, novels and critical investigations (including the recently published “Dante in Love” and “The Victorians”) has written a highly readable history of the mid-16th century which he dubs the “birth of modern Britain”. Whether that is so, the reader should decide.
Suffice it to say that “The Elizabethans” is painterly in its delicious sweep, occasionally obstreperous in its reasoning, and wholly enjoyable for its cast of characters, most of whom are doubly or trebly deceptive: After all, it was an age in which an explorer, pirate and slave-runner could also be a poet and playwright. Sir Walter Raleigh comes to mind, a man who not only colonized parts of the American eastern seaboard, searched hopelessly for diamonds and El Dorado along the Orinoco delta, but who also composed histories of the world and love lyrics, finally losing his head in the Tower to the ax of political intrigue. Another, Sir Francis Drake, not only performed the first circumnavigation of the world (Magellan having died in the Pacific on his quest), but also made a fortune slave-trading and buccaneering, later helping to defeat the Spanish in the English Channel as an Admiral.
This was the age of Shakespeare and his shadowy doppelganger Christopher Marlow, who write great plays, spied or double-spied for Francis Walsingham’s Stalinesque bureau that kept track of all the epic plots and counter-plots of the time (and who was stabbed to death in a pub fight), of epic poet Sir Philip Sidney (who also killed Irish peasants while working for the governor) and the administrator and treasurer Robert Cecil, who ran the government with an iron hand.
Naturally, the fight with Spain and its Catholicism looms large, as does the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth’s primary enemy for England’s throne. Even Elizabeth’s flights of love-sickness over Robert Dudley and the second Essex, so well known by now, are given their due. Perhaps the period really did give birth to modern Britain, in the sense that it birthed the outlines of the modern state altogether, with its intrigue-ridden administration, its obsession with money and civil order, its brutal colonization of helpless peoples like the Irish whom the state murdered by the hundreds of thousands, its teeming masses headed for the city where there waited gin and degradation, and of course, the flag-waving knee-jerk nationalism which has come to be the hallmark of modernism itself.
Many books have been written about the Elizabethan Age. One could do worse than Wilson’s as a beginning, considering how well made it is with its considerable attention to detail (its studies in architecture, exploration and disease are alone worth the price of admission), its lustrous illustrations, ample bibliography and substantial index. And despite its occasional journalistic off-handedness in phrase, “The Elizabethans) remains an entertaining and useful popular history.
November 14, 2012
To understand the mindset of the Elizabethans - the war, the plagues, the nasty, brutish, short lives, religious revolution and the utter importance of these entirely alien sectarian battles - it's necessary to understand that the England forged in Elizabeth Tudor's reign came to an end in the reign of Elizabeth Windsor. This is the heart of AN Wilson's theory and his pacy, witty book. Like many Tudor historians Wilson seems to be half in love with Queen Elizabeth, whom he portrays as a woman of almost preternatural wit and with a deftness of touch (political and common) that politicians and royalty - Elizabeth was both - even in today's media savvy age would die for.
Yet another royal biography - really? This is more than, though, a portrait of an age told through its figurehead but also the men, and occasionally women, who frame the era, often mere bit part actors but occasionally more substantial. Burghley, her secretary of state, a mix of cunning, religiosity and utter devotion. Dudley, glamorous Robin, who won her heart but had to be sidelined for reasons of state. His wayward stepson Essex, her last great love, who made the mistake of entering an old queen's bedchamber and seeing her sans makeup and wig, probably a far greater faux pas than losing it in Ireland. Philip, the over-reaching Spanish king and zealot. Campy, daft Christopher Hatton. And of course Mary, Queen of Scots - every epic hero needs an arch-enemy: whom Wilson portrays as glamorous, misguided, dishonest but most damning of all, really quite stupid.
Among this cast of dozens Elizabeth is the stand-out, not just in the set pieces (who couldn't be moved by the Tilbury speech, not least its artifice?) but as a woman in a man's world who managed not only to survive despite almost constant threat throughout her long life, but to thrive, dominate even. And she did it all - the virginity, the Armada, the terrible portraits, for the people, which is probably the secret of her success. On her way to her coronation she was introduced to her judges, and she reminded them of their duty: 'Have a care over my people...they are my people. Every man oppresseth them and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel nor help themselves. See unto them, see unto them, for they are my charge.'
Whether Wilson quite proves his theory - that it's all come to the end of days, and Elizabeth I's legacy: Church, Empire, education and government, are unravelling in the time of Elizabeth II - is debateable. It's certainly an old school conservative view of the course of events but it weaves its way rather unsteadily through this book. Rather than a grand philosophy, better to enjoy this as an entertaining, gossipy and occasionally thrilling mix of an Elizabethan version of Heat, the Spectator and Twitter all rolled into one.
Yet another royal biography - really? This is more than, though, a portrait of an age told through its figurehead but also the men, and occasionally women, who frame the era, often mere bit part actors but occasionally more substantial. Burghley, her secretary of state, a mix of cunning, religiosity and utter devotion. Dudley, glamorous Robin, who won her heart but had to be sidelined for reasons of state. His wayward stepson Essex, her last great love, who made the mistake of entering an old queen's bedchamber and seeing her sans makeup and wig, probably a far greater faux pas than losing it in Ireland. Philip, the over-reaching Spanish king and zealot. Campy, daft Christopher Hatton. And of course Mary, Queen of Scots - every epic hero needs an arch-enemy: whom Wilson portrays as glamorous, misguided, dishonest but most damning of all, really quite stupid.
Among this cast of dozens Elizabeth is the stand-out, not just in the set pieces (who couldn't be moved by the Tilbury speech, not least its artifice?) but as a woman in a man's world who managed not only to survive despite almost constant threat throughout her long life, but to thrive, dominate even. And she did it all - the virginity, the Armada, the terrible portraits, for the people, which is probably the secret of her success. On her way to her coronation she was introduced to her judges, and she reminded them of their duty: 'Have a care over my people...they are my people. Every man oppresseth them and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel nor help themselves. See unto them, see unto them, for they are my charge.'
Whether Wilson quite proves his theory - that it's all come to the end of days, and Elizabeth I's legacy: Church, Empire, education and government, are unravelling in the time of Elizabeth II - is debateable. It's certainly an old school conservative view of the course of events but it weaves its way rather unsteadily through this book. Rather than a grand philosophy, better to enjoy this as an entertaining, gossipy and occasionally thrilling mix of an Elizabethan version of Heat, the Spectator and Twitter all rolled into one.
September 18, 2012
The Elizabethans can best be described as a series of essays covering significant events and issues of Elizabethan's reign (1558-1603). There is no unifying theme, except chronology. Wilson divides the book into the successive decades and subdivides each decade into chapters covering the most historically significant events or issues. The lack of a unifying theme makes the book a little hard to follow, although each chapter, often quite detailed, is interesting and informative in its own right. It's targeted at a British audience, not an American one. Wilson seems to see himself as something of an iconoclast, trying to reinterpret some of the received wisdom.
Wilson tries to explain how a small island nation became a world leader in exploration, literary arts, colonization, drama, and a number of other key areas, including political theory, showing through his discussion how Elizabeth's era generated such powerful cultural changes and, through those changes, introduced the modern era. I suggest that the book would have been much improved if he had followed this theme throughout rather than trying to cover so much in such a short book.
The religious conflicts of Elizabeth's era are the most frequently discussed topic and might be as close to a unifying theme as Wilson has. In one way or another, the religious conflicts contributed to the other major events and conflicts. It's not a book for someone new to the Elizabethan period. The information and even many of the digressions are certainly informative, but some grounding in the period is useful if only to help the reader keep track of the players, especially when Wilson starts talking about how his interpretation differs from the standard view. He's a good writer and the essays are sound. I gave the book four stars because it provides a good summary of the Elizabethan era and good introductions to its most significant figures.
Wilson tries to explain how a small island nation became a world leader in exploration, literary arts, colonization, drama, and a number of other key areas, including political theory, showing through his discussion how Elizabeth's era generated such powerful cultural changes and, through those changes, introduced the modern era. I suggest that the book would have been much improved if he had followed this theme throughout rather than trying to cover so much in such a short book.
The religious conflicts of Elizabeth's era are the most frequently discussed topic and might be as close to a unifying theme as Wilson has. In one way or another, the religious conflicts contributed to the other major events and conflicts. It's not a book for someone new to the Elizabethan period. The information and even many of the digressions are certainly informative, but some grounding in the period is useful if only to help the reader keep track of the players, especially when Wilson starts talking about how his interpretation differs from the standard view. He's a good writer and the essays are sound. I gave the book four stars because it provides a good summary of the Elizabethan era and good introductions to its most significant figures.
September 28, 2015
It's possible that I didn't like this book because it combines two of my pet peeves in history: Anglophilia and obsession with royalty. However, leaving those personal preferences aside, this was still not a good book. Wilson meanders from topic to topic, often within the same chapter. He starts off on one topic and then he's moved on without a proper transition. And this goes for the book as a whole, as he discusses Ireland three separate times, but one at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. He makes a brief reference to English naval shipbuilding early in the book and then drops the point until he hits the Spanish Armada at the two-thirds point. And after almost 400 pages, its hard to say what his point was, other than "the men and women of the Elizabethan Era were important, although the world they created has disappeared in the last hundred years."
A few takeaways that stuck with me:
1. Elizabeth was cheap as hell. She also realized that she had more political stability if she remained unmarried. She was shrewd with respect to balancing Catholic and Protestant interests in developing the Church of England.
2. The first years of the English as a naval power involved their use of piracy against the Spanish.
3. England had to play a delicate game by allying with France, her traditional enemy, because the French were a useful counterweight against the Spanish. That said, the alliance couldn't be too close because of the brutal way that the French repressed their Protestants.
4. There was no such thing as free speech at this time, at least in England. I suppose that makes sense when the Pope and Spanish are major threats to your reign because of a religious schism. The oppression of Ireland also makes sense in this respect, similar to the oppression of Eastern Europe by the Soviets in the Cold War. Unfortunate for the oppressed, but one can understand the motivation of the oppressor, if not the tactics and morality.
A few takeaways that stuck with me:
1. Elizabeth was cheap as hell. She also realized that she had more political stability if she remained unmarried. She was shrewd with respect to balancing Catholic and Protestant interests in developing the Church of England.
2. The first years of the English as a naval power involved their use of piracy against the Spanish.
3. England had to play a delicate game by allying with France, her traditional enemy, because the French were a useful counterweight against the Spanish. That said, the alliance couldn't be too close because of the brutal way that the French repressed their Protestants.
4. There was no such thing as free speech at this time, at least in England. I suppose that makes sense when the Pope and Spanish are major threats to your reign because of a religious schism. The oppression of Ireland also makes sense in this respect, similar to the oppression of Eastern Europe by the Soviets in the Cold War. Unfortunate for the oppressed, but one can understand the motivation of the oppressor, if not the tactics and morality.
July 13, 2012
Taking on the Elizabethan era decade by decade, A.N. Wilson leads readers through the political, social and, above all, religious changes that shaped modern England. Instead of focusing on details like defining the daily routine of a farmer compared to a nobleman, Wilson uses history and the thoughts of people from that era to show us how Elizabethans perceived their own time.
Wilson makes a point to include various theories on different mysteries of the time (from baby-daddy drama to Marlowe's death), but maintains an honest relationship with the reader, making it very clear when he is expressing his opinions and when he is citing facts. This is a great read for anyone who has ever been interested understanding Elizabethan times beyond a book that praises the Queen from the first page to the last. Wilson outlines her weaknesses and makes a point to argue that this time period was crucial in shaping Ireland's fate.
The well-written history's concluding chapter is wrapped up in parallel's with Hamlet. The author took great care throughout the rest of the book to refrain from comparing anything from the Elizabethan era to our own, reasoning that it wasn't possible to compare things from two very different times. Instead, the use of Hamlet to show the eventual down-spiral of Elizabeth's reign, and the savior in the form of a foreign (or in this case, Scottish) power, shows the depth of the author's understanding and appreciation for the subject.
Wilson makes a point to include various theories on different mysteries of the time (from baby-daddy drama to Marlowe's death), but maintains an honest relationship with the reader, making it very clear when he is expressing his opinions and when he is citing facts. This is a great read for anyone who has ever been interested understanding Elizabethan times beyond a book that praises the Queen from the first page to the last. Wilson outlines her weaknesses and makes a point to argue that this time period was crucial in shaping Ireland's fate.
The well-written history's concluding chapter is wrapped up in parallel's with Hamlet. The author took great care throughout the rest of the book to refrain from comparing anything from the Elizabethan era to our own, reasoning that it wasn't possible to compare things from two very different times. Instead, the use of Hamlet to show the eventual down-spiral of Elizabeth's reign, and the savior in the form of a foreign (or in this case, Scottish) power, shows the depth of the author's understanding and appreciation for the subject.
July 9, 2012
What a joy to find a historian whose writing is so magnetic that you forget you're reading history!
Beginning with the provocative assertion that our generation has lived to see the end of the Elizabethan world, Wilson then notes the danger a modern reader can fall into of seeing that world through a lens of anachronistic judgements. Throughout, Wilson helps you to see Elizabethan times with an Elizabethan eye. In so doing, he repeatedly invites the modern reader to examine herself and her times as acutely as he parses Elizabeth's reign. For me, the most exciting thing a history book can do is display how past events inform recent culture and attitudes. Wilson's book does this frequently, and my favorite example occurs in the chapter on the Armada:
"England, from 1588 until the 1950's would be shaped in its self-perception by the experience of the Armada, and by Elizabeth's eloquent vision of herself holding out against 'any prince of Europe' who threatened the island kingdom. Churchill would draw on all this spirit for one last glorious display of collective insular courage in the summer of 1940."
I highly, highly recommend this book to both the voracious and the occasional history reader.
Beginning with the provocative assertion that our generation has lived to see the end of the Elizabethan world, Wilson then notes the danger a modern reader can fall into of seeing that world through a lens of anachronistic judgements. Throughout, Wilson helps you to see Elizabethan times with an Elizabethan eye. In so doing, he repeatedly invites the modern reader to examine herself and her times as acutely as he parses Elizabeth's reign. For me, the most exciting thing a history book can do is display how past events inform recent culture and attitudes. Wilson's book does this frequently, and my favorite example occurs in the chapter on the Armada:
"England, from 1588 until the 1950's would be shaped in its self-perception by the experience of the Armada, and by Elizabeth's eloquent vision of herself holding out against 'any prince of Europe' who threatened the island kingdom. Churchill would draw on all this spirit for one last glorious display of collective insular courage in the summer of 1940."
I highly, highly recommend this book to both the voracious and the occasional history reader.
February 9, 2017
The book is an interesting study of the Elizabethan age, but I feel like it suffers from over-ambition and lack of clear direction. It covers so much that it often loses its way. Each chapter is interesting, but usually devolves from its theme into lengthy tangents before returning, and the chapters are not put together in a very coherent order. There are no clear transitions from topic to topic and the author jumps back and forth between them at random, seemingly finishing off one topic only to suddenly return to it six or more chapters later without warning. It reads more like a series of separate essays re-purposed and roughly stuck together than a cohesive book. It meanders its way along and I'm left a bit mystified as to any overall point or theme - not even the author's rather wishy-washy preface sticks. Still, I learnt some interesting things.
December 21, 2012
It took me quite a while to get through this book but it was worth persevering. While not as easily readable as his "The Victorians" and "After the Victorians" it gave a fantastic perspective on the Elizabethan age. Among many grear insights, it traces the origins of the Irish troubles (it didn't help that it started with a chapter on this). It has a fantastic description of the similarities and differences between the Church of England and the Church of Rome, arguing that it was Elizabeth who created the C of E as we know it today. It concludes by explaining why Hamlet is really an allegory of the Elizabethan court in its final days.
He is excellent on the great thinkers and writers of the period, Sidney, Marlowe, Spenser and Shakespeare among them. And he certainly put Walter Raleigh in a completely new light for me as a truly great man of his day.
He is excellent on the great thinkers and writers of the period, Sidney, Marlowe, Spenser and Shakespeare among them. And he certainly put Walter Raleigh in a completely new light for me as a truly great man of his day.
January 23, 2015
Having read A N wilson's 'Victorians' I knew his writing style would be detailed and scholarly, yet readable. I was not disappointed and this book covered the whole of Elizabeth's reign via many interesting and colourful characters,such as Raleigh and Essex. It also included good overviews of some of the complex political and social probelms experienced by Elizabeth and her court, such as Ireland, religion and the development of seafaring and the New World. Whilst Wilson focuses mainly on the bigger picture, and therefore mostly mentions in detail only the upper classes of society, the book does give an insight into the very different cultural and social reality of the later 16th century whilst relating the lives of our ancestors to our own lives and times.
December 13, 2016
A thorough, methodical investigation of the Elizabethan era. Exploration, intrigue, danger, unrequited love, vast wealth - all were to be found in the time of Elizabeth I. Wilson takes a unique approach to discovering just what made the people of the British Isles tick. The use of theater, literature and travel writings as primary historical sources is becoming more and more in vogue, and Wilson does an excellent job of weaving this cultural history of the Elizabethan Age with more traditional narrative (dynastic or military) history. For anyone interested in a detailed and exhaustive examination of Britain's first great Queen and the millions of lives and hundreds of years influenced by her reign, look no further than A.N. Wilson's "The Elizabethans."
April 1, 2012
“To read or not to read?” I say, read. Wilson’s endeavor was extensive and it was a time commitment for me to read (too many things going on) although it was enjoyed.
The two criticisms from me are 1) the chapter on Elizabethan women, was a few pages on Bess of Hardwick (which is fine, she is an admirable woman) and that was about it 2) there was nothing on portraiture.
Took awhile to get used to Wilson’s rather flippant comments, which were much more palatable in the second half of the book as it covered the literature and social elements rather than the more ‘explosive’ topics of Ireland and New World settlements.
The two criticisms from me are 1) the chapter on Elizabethan women, was a few pages on Bess of Hardwick (which is fine, she is an admirable woman) and that was about it 2) there was nothing on portraiture.
Took awhile to get used to Wilson’s rather flippant comments, which were much more palatable in the second half of the book as it covered the literature and social elements rather than the more ‘explosive’ topics of Ireland and New World settlements.
August 10, 2016
If you are a RenFaire freake, than I suppose you might really, really, enjoy this book. Not only does it cover the drama of the ear and succinctly describe the major players in the court, but also the rebellions, the schisms, the explorations and the cultural environment. I found this book lacking where later books skimp and in fact, later books seem to call this one as a reference often. Well worth it. The personal struggles of the monarch with her family, her church, her rivals- as well as her own indecisveness- it's all here. I like it as much as the one from the 19th C. (The Elizabethan World Picture, by Tillyard). Which is, itself, a gem.
January 14, 2012
Somewhere between Wilson's excellent Victorians and rather patchy After the Victorians. The book has major strengths, not least in Wilson's upfront handling of the 'difficulties', Ireland and slavery, and his excellent handling of the church. It is patchy in places. For example the chapter that deals with Elizabethean women swiftly moves onto other topics. Nevertheless, it is a strong, opinionated and entertaining read.
August 13, 2015
Having befriended a junior member of the English Faculty, I decided to purchase and read this cultural history of England during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was a pleasant refresher.
Wilson makes two controversial points. First, that 'modern' England was established during this period, ending only with the collapse of its empire in the late 1940s. Second, that Shakespeare's Hamlet has significant and intentional reference to the politics of the period and to the personality of its queen.
Wilson makes two controversial points. First, that 'modern' England was established during this period, ending only with the collapse of its empire in the late 1940s. Second, that Shakespeare's Hamlet has significant and intentional reference to the politics of the period and to the personality of its queen.
March 28, 2014
This book has held my interest partly because I disagree with the author on many points! It is a good exercise in examining revisionist history. For example, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe during Elizabeth's reign. Is this achievement less glorious because he was also a slave trader and a pirate? Most modern folks would say so, but the author does not.
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