The Birth Of The Elizabethan Age: England In The 1560s

The 1560s saw the settling of a number of issues that had been plaguing Tudor England since the reign of Henry VIII. With the accession of Elizabeth I the Henrican succession was complete, Protestantism finally victorious and entangling dynastic wars ended. No sooner were these resolved, however, than they rose again in new forms as fear over the succession, religious dissent and ideological commitment began to reshape foreign and domestic concerns. The high politics of the decade, as well as its religious history, concentrated on these issues.

Norman Jones draws heavily on both primary and secondary works to provide a fascinating account of life in the 1560s through the voices of contemporaries. His account will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in this period.

This is the first of a new series of books that will tell the history of early modern England from the perspective of those living at the time. Norman Jones' fascinating account details both the individual preoccupations (such as illness and famine) and the larger historical changes (such as fears over the succession and the establishment of Protestantism) which dominated life during the 1560s.