The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars A Readable, but Sometimes too Sympathetic and Detailed Biography Alison Weir’s The Life of Elizabeth I (1998) is a detailed and readable biography of Elizabeth I. The introduction of Weir’s history explicates the social, religious, international, political, and cultural context surrounding Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne after the death of her half-sister Mary. The book then goes on to depict the coronation of Elizabeth, her early challenges as the 25-year-old unmarried ruler of England, like the religious divide between Catholics and Protestants, the pressure put on her to marry, the pressure put on her to name an heir, and then the roughly 45 years of her reign, including the difficulty of balancing Spain and France against each other. Weir focuses on Elizabeth’s ability to remain the virginal unmarried queen mother of England while stringing along various international princely suitors and playing off their countries against each other and indulging in probably unconsummated romances with her favorite courtiers, like Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and later his step-son Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. There were many interesting things I learned and/or enjoyed reading about in the book: --How second-rate and divided a power England was compared to France and Spain, with the country being split between Catholic and Protestant and economically challenged; --How closely the European powers and England were to each other in terms of ambassadors, spies, royal marriages, and so on; --How complicated Elizabeth was: her dissimulating, dissembling, prevaricating, procrastinating, and circumventing personality, her soft spot for handsome and manly men, her intelligence and education and many interests and abilities (languages, education, translation, hunting, dancing, etc.), her knack for (usually) choosing the most capable and loyal men as her advisors and administrators, her rage at people who married without her permission, her reluctance (compared to other rulers then) to execute people, and her lack of concern for the suffering of animals (e.g., much bear baiting going on then); --How tenuous and contingent Elizabeth’s hold on power seemed to her (and probably was) throughout her reign (partly because she was Protestant in a world of Catholic powers and partly because she was thought by many to have been Henry’s bastard); --How envious and rivalrous were her favorites and advisors; --How fraught was her relationship with Mary Queen of Scots; --How lonely and miserable was Elizabeth’s death. I did get impatient during the first dozen chapters, which seemed at times an endless reiteration of Elizabeth’s courtship games. In Chapter 9, Weir even refers to “her old game” of stringing suitors and their supporters along. Apart from a partially successful treaty with Scotland and France and a debacle for the army she sent to France to retake Calais, there is little matter concerning how she ruled in the first dozen chapters, when I often wondered how Elizabeth was actually ruling during her first years—what she was doing (or even what were her small council and parliament doing) vis-à-vis taxes, the poor, and so on. It takes till Chapter 13 for Weir to focus on Elizabeth’s qualities and practices as a ruler. Things do pick up when Elizabeth’s relationships between Mary Queen of Scotts, Leicester, and especially Essex develop. I also sensed that Weir at times reveals her sympathies for Elizabeth and England a bit too strongly. At one point we read, “Fortunately, news had come from Ireland that . . . Mountjoy was making headway against the rebels, which disposed the Queen to clemency,” so Elizabeth didn’t strip the men knighted by Essex (against her direct command) of their titles, so their wives could still be called Lady Something instead of returning to Mistress Something. For whom and in what way was this “Fortunately”? At another point we read, “Neither the log book nor the Golden Hind survive today. The ship was rotting by 1599. By then, Drake was himself dead and already a legend, occupying an enduring place in the affections and the imagination of Elizabeth’s subjects and successive generations for many centuries.” Weir could write a bit more about how Drake from the Spanish point of view was a nefarious pirate. I also felt that sometimes Weir presents a few more details than necessary. The book has tedious moments, concerning the fashions of the 16th century, including different types of jewelry and collar frills etc. Or concerning a house that Amy Dudley stayed in that still stands (though it looks different than it did when she was there), and Mr. Foster is buried there. Or concerning Blunt, whose tomb may still be found at Kitminster Church. Or concerning a new kitchen Elizabeth had made at Hampton Court, one that survives today as a tearoom within the palace. Twice we learn that Elizabeth preferred silk stockings after once trying them. Twice we learn about her face-whitening make-up. About the audiobook reader Davina Porter, I was glad that she doesn’t try French/Spanish/German/Dutch/Italian accents when reading the many quotes from the letters or diaries etc. of various ambassadors etc., but she does read with a Scottish accent for Scottish figures and with a broad country accent for Sir Walter Raleigh, which seems out of place given her avoidance of continental accents. She also assumes gruff or condescending or irritated etc. voices to gussy up Weir’s prose more than is necessary in an already lively book of history and biography, and often tries to make, for instance, passages dealing with executions extra moving. Generally I found her trying a bit too hard to dramatize the history (though that may be a matter of taste). Finally, people interested in detailed, readable, popular histories and the reign and age of Elizabeth I should like this book. View all my reviews
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