"A fresh and quite original contribution to an understanding of an extremely important period in English history and to a quite remarkable discussion of the role of Queen Elizabeth in the complex diplomacy and policy of the era.... An original, a learned, and very persuasive history of these years.... This is political history at its best."-W.K. Jordan
"It will be both important and useful to other scholars since it is the first effort of such dimensions since Froude to deal in a narrative pattern with the extraordinary complex problems of power that emerged during the first years of Elizabeth I's reign."-J.H. Hexter
Originally published in 1968.
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