call for recs

[bedlamsbard]

Does anyone have a rec for a good book on Elizabethan England, maybe a biography of Elizabeth I? (I looked in the library. Mary has a shelf, Elizabeth has two bookcases worth of books, I don't know where to start, and I don't know which biographies are readable + accurate + actually like Elizabeth.) My knowledge of England post, oh, maybe the thirteenth or fourteenth century is pretty light, and as my honors thesis deals with Elizabethan lit, I kind of need to know something about the general goings-on of the time. (Sadly, most of my interest in Renaissance Europe has previously been limited to Italy, because I like a good plot as much as the next girl. And by that I mean, I have very, very thin knowledge of Renaissance Europe, unless you count my Age of Reformation class this semester, and that's mostly the Holy Roman Empire.)

Right now, I have, on my Shakespeare professor's recommendation, The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance, but I'm not sure when I'm going to get to it, possibly not till spring break, which I expect to spend most of reading. I've also got A World Lit Only By Fire, and then some more specialized stuff on Italy for my own amusement. (I like Italy. By the gods, they know how to plot. Look, I'm just glad I finally reached the point where politics -- the historical ones, at least -- amuse the hell out of me.)

Right now I need more books like I need a hole in the head; remind me to take a picture of my bookshelf tomorrow when the light's good so that y'all can see the madness. But this is sort of the thing I need to know at some point in the near future.

Comments

[snacky]

I liked Alison Weir's The Life of Elizabeth I, but I don't know if it's academic enough for your purposes.

[aella_irene]

Alison Weir is the sort of author whose sources and citations should be checked very thoroughly. And then double checked.

[bedlamsbard]

I don't need deeply academic, since I'm mostly reading for background knowledge rather than Hardcore Research, but the general consensus seems to be that Weir is somewhat less than accurate...

[somnolentblue]

Carole Levine does Elizabeth I, Roy Strong is good on some of the court and art stuff, Paul Hammer does (I think) Essex. If you want Reformation religion in England I like Duffy's The Stripping of the Alters, although he's coming from a rather specific background with rather specific goals.

[bedlamsbard]

Thank you! I'm not looking for anything super specific, just reading for general background knowledge so that I can get more of the context of The Faerie Queene.

[kayloulee]

I did a tonne of Elizabeth I stuff in late high school and first year of university. I remember that there's a HUGE historiographical debate over what sort of ruler, exactly, she was, and how her rule has been (mis)-represented by various historians with agendas, particularly during WWII and the Cold War.

David Starkey is famous for his championing of Elizabeth as a great ruler - the fastest way of characterising his writing is that he's an Elizabeth fanboy from way back. He's a very good writer, very accessible, but you've got to be aware that he loooooves Liz, yes he does.

There's another guy, Christopher Haigh, who AFAIK basically works from the opposite perspective from Starkey.

the Wiki page for Elizabeth I has a fantastic list of references that is really jogging my memory. Looking at the list, I really recommend Susan Doran's work, and I think that A R Rowse was the guy whose work on Elizabeth I was really influenced by WWII and the Cold War.

[clanwilliam]

I'll second Starkey, with the Elizabeth fanboy caveat, and also agree with aella_irene that Weir should be avoided.

[bedlamsbard]

Thank you! I'm not reading for anything but general knowledge so I have more context for working with Spenser, but biographies tend to cover a lot of material but with a tight enough focus it's not too difficult to get lost. (I read a really great biography of Julius Caesar over break. Ah, Julius Caesar. I really like Caesar. But I digress.) I added the caveat about the author actually liking Elizabeth because I read a book where the author really didn't seem to, and it just struck me as weird and distracting throughout the whole work.

...I think the last book I read about Queen Elizabeth was the Royal Diaries novel. Which was, let me say, a while ago. And also a novel.