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Elizabeth | 
 enlarge | Author: David Starkey
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 3545
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0099286572
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780099286578
ASIN: 0099286572
Publication Date: March 1, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, Good Queen Bess; Elizabeth I holds a unique place in the English imagination as one of the nation's most powerful, charismatic and successful monarchs. Elizabeth is usually imagined as the icy, untouchable figure memorably recreated on screen by Bette Davis and Judi Dench, but that vision of Elizabeth ignores the turbulent years of her early life, from her birth as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in 1533, until her accession to the throne in 1558 following the death of her sister Mary. It is these early years which are the subject of David Starkey's fascinating Elizabeth I, written to accompany his television series about the life of Elizabeth. Starkey argues that in her first 25 years Elizabeth "had experienced every vicissitude of fortune and ever extreme of condition. She had been Princess and inheritrix of England, and bastard and disinherited; the nominated successor to the throne and an accused traitor on the verge of execution; showered with lands and houses and a prisoner in the Tower". He draws on his skills as a respected Tudor historian to produce a deft account of the religious, political and dynastic maelstrom of mid-16th century England that reads "like a historical thriller". The book carefully picks its way through the finer points of contemporary religious conflict and the peculiarities of Tudor court ceremony, whilst also exploring the formation of Elizabeth's character in relation to a murdered mother, a charismatic father, a tortured sister, and a predatory guardian. Highly readable and written with verve and pace, this is a fascinating account of the young Elizabeth. --Jerry Brotton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 Strange July 15, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is not the kind of history that I was expecting - highly populist, focussed more heavily on Elizabeth as a person than on the politics and her decisions as a Queen. Beware.
 Good introduction October 16, 2007
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
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 A brilliant introduction to a fascinating life September 21, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is both extremely thorough and very readable. Not only does it illuminate an area of Elizabeth's life that so many other works on the ruler skate over,it does so in an accessible and informative manner. Elizabeth actually emerges as a real flesh and blood teenager, rather than the formidable figure, with her glownig white face and imposing dress of later years.
Very useful for those developing an interest in the Tudor monarchs.
A brilliant biography on the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her reign. August 30, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
`Elizabeth' by David Starkey is a fantastic account of the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her accession to the English throne in 1558. As such the book examines Elizabeth's upbringing and education, along with her zeal for learning, and the occasions where she encountered danger.
Starkey examines well Elizabeth's intellectual capability and highlights how this precocious nature was not only inherited from her father (and her siblings too shared such aptitude) but also from personal enthusiasm. Not only does it appear that it gave her personal fulfilment and that overall it was enjoyable, but it was also of a means to reunite herself with her father, who had distanced himself after the execution of his second wife and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Starkey also brilliantly observes that we should dismiss the traditional and fanciful idea that it was Katherine Parr who reuniting Elizabeth with her father. In fact as he points out, such a reunion occurred prior to when Katherine's marriage to Henry. Instead the reunion was formed because both father and daughter wanted it, and in the case of Elizabeth she must be credited for employing the effort to seek it.
Starkey also covers well Elizabeth's admiration for her father. We may find it hard to understand why a girl would want to have a relationship with a father who executed her own mother. But Starkey explains Elizabeth's fondness for Henry in an understandable manner. The humiliations that Elizabeth endured in her early childhood were forgotten by the time she ascended into her teens, not because she was fickle but because the harsh actions committed towards her were done when she was very young and so she may have naturally forgotten such actions. She also probably could not remember her mother and may have found it hard to feel passionate for someone who was absent from her life. In contrast Henry was her reminding parent and as Starkey stresses, Elizabeth was impressionable in her early teens so its understanding that she would reach out for her reminding family. This not only included her father but also her new stepmother Katherine Parr who she formed an important relationship with.
Elizabeth's impressionable nature in her adolescence is careful examined throughout the book. This is particularly well observed when Starkey writes about Elizabeth's time in her stepmother's household. After Henry VIII died Katherine Parr married a young ambition nobleman, Thomas Seymour, who unfortunately for Katherine and for Elizabeth took an interest in the young girl that went beyond fatherly affections. The result was a series of behaviour which we may deem as child abuse although Starkey does not endorse the idea that Seymour went so far as to sleep with Elizabeth. Ultimately Starkey also highlights that after Seymour's actions and when the council interrogated Elizabeth as to her relationship with Seymour, she kept her head and even at that age she had a remarkable ability to remain composed and prepared to fight in times of personal trouble.
The biography also covers the other significant occasion where Elizabeth faced near ruin. This is her arrest and interrogation in 1554 during the reign of her sister Mary I. A rebellion, known as Wyatt's rebellion, had occurred in 1554 against the proposed marriage between Mary and the Spanish prince, Philip. After the rebellion had died down the rebels homes were raided and amongst Thomas Wyatt's papers was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth to her sister Mary telling her that she did not wish to leave her country home to avoid the rebels on account of her poor health. Subsequently the council had what they needed to arrest her. Starkey highlights that throughout her interrogation and imprisonment there was the existence of several courtiers who wished her gone, including the Spanish ambassador Renard who summarised to his master Charles V that she was a threat to Mary. But throughout Starkey reminds us that we must not romanticise Elizabeth's time in the tower as some previous historians and even contemporaries loved to do; instead we have to remember that she was not completely defenceless, being as she was the largest landowner in England, the rightful heir to the throne under Henry VIII's will and importantly she had the affections of most of the people.
Overall `Elizabeth' is a fantastic biography on one of the most remarkable women of the sixteenth century. Throughout Starkey conveys well Elizabeth's formation of character and this fighting spirit that she employed not only in her time before becoming queen but also after. He doesn't romanticise her life or attempt to make it more tragic to gain the reader's overwhelming sympathy. He also does not degrade Elizabeth's enemies but instead refers to their positions as well. The central theme that recurs throughout the book is the concept of survival; Elizabeth's early life was not an easy one yet she strove not only to get the crown she wanted but also she fought to stay alive. Starkey does a fantastic job with this biography and if you are interested in this era as a whole then also try his work on the six wives of Henry VIII as `Elizabeth' can be used as a direct sequel to that book.
Worth a look February 16, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
While specialist readers may quibble with the overall merit of Starkey's work, there is no doubt that the man knows how to translate his research into readable prose and bring fresh focus to familiar questions. I found the book enjoyable but not especially enlightening. Unfortunately, I felt I knew more about Starkey by the end of it than Elizabeth. It's a highly speculative argument, which is often compelling; however, it never seems to gel convincingly. It's still worth reading. Just don't expect it to make you feel as clever as Starkey seems.
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