Tudor England: An Encyclopedia

Almost 60 years ago, when our present Queen ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II, the hope and optimism that engendered was very quickly encapsulated, symbolised, and tagged with the phrase, the New Elizabethan Age. Without stopping to enquire whether the vision conjured up was ever translated into any sort of reality, it said much for the first Elizabethan Age when the general acceptance of the reformed religion promised stability at last, when the arts flourished, business boomed, and overseas discovery and exploration in the name of trade presaged the first British Empire. Social upheaval, waiting to explode in the...