Elizabeth I is one of England's most admired and celebrated rulers. She is also one of its most iconic: her image is familiar from paintings, film and television. This wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection of essays examines the origins and development of the image and myths that came to surround the Virgin Queen. The essays question the prevailing assumptions about the mythic Elizabeth and challenge the view that she was unambiguously celebrated in the literature and portraiture of the early modern era. They explain how the most familiar myths surrounding the queen developed from the concerns of her contemporaries and yet continue to reverberate today. Published to mark the 400th anniversary of the queen's death, this volume will appeal to all those with an interest in the historiography of Elizabeth's reign and Elizabethan, and Jacobean, poets, dramatists and artists.

This comprehensive and beautifully illustrated collection of essays conveys a vivid picture of a fascinating and hugely significant period in history. Featuring contributions from thirty-eight international scholars, the book takes a thematic approach to a period which saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the explorations of Francis Drake and Walter Ralegh, the establishment of the Protestant Church, the flourishing of commercial theatre and the works of Edmund Spencer, Philip Sidney and William Shakespeare. Encompassing social, political, cultural, religious and economic history, and crossing several disciplines, The Elizabethan World depicts a time of transformation, and a world order in transition. Topics covered include central and local government; political ideas; censorship and propaganda; parliament, the Protestant Church, the Catholic community; social hierarchies; women; the family and household; popular culture, commerce and consumption; urban and rural economies; theatre; art; architecture; intellectual developments ; exploration and imperialism; Ireland, and the Elizabethan wars. The volume conveys a vivid picture of how politics, religion, popular culture, the world of work and social practices fit together in an exciting world of change, and will be invaluable reading for all students and scholars of the Elizabethan period.

This new study of Tudor international relations is the first in nearly thirty years. Adopting a fresh approach to the subject, this lively collection presents the work of a team of established and younger scholars who discuss how the Tudor monarchs made sense of the world beyond England's shores. Taking account of recent developments in cultural, gender and institutional history, the contributors analyse the important changes and continuities in England's foreign policy during the Tudor age. Tudor England and its Neighbours addresses key questions such as: - Did Henry VII break with the past by pursuing peace with France? - What was the impact of the break with Rome and the introduction of Protestantism on England's relations with other countries? - Was war between Elizabethan England and Spain inevitable? Using new evidence and reinterpreting traditional narratives, these essays illuminate the complexities and the sometimes surprising subtleties of England's international relations between 1485 and 1603.

Introduction: It's only a movie / Thomas S. Freeman -- A tyrant for all seasons: Henry VIII on film / Thomas S. Freeman -- Saints and cinemas: A man for all seasons / Peter Marshall -- Anne of the thousand days / Glenn Richardson -- Lady Jane Grey on film / Carole Levin -- From Hatfield to Hollywood: Elizabeth I on film / Susan Doran -- Lady in waiting: young Elizabeth Tudor on film / Judith Richards -- Kapur's Elizabeth / Christopher Haigh -- Mary Queen of Scots (1971) / John Guy -- The Armada, war and propaganda in the cinema / Will Coster -- Elizabeth: the golden age: a sign of the times? / Vivienne Westbrook -- Shakespeare in love: Elizabeth I as Dea ex Machina / Brett Usher -- The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex and the romanticization of Elizabethan politics / Paul E.J. Hammer -- Oliver Cromwell and the civil wars / John Morrill -- The unfilmed Oliver Cromwell / David L. Smith -- Winstanley / Christopher Durston -- Why don't the Stuarts get filmed? / Ronald Hutton.

The Thames was London's 'grandest street', a stage for royal and civic ceremony as well as a bustling commercial thoroughfare. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, this magnificent catalogue charts 500 years of river-borne pomp and pageantry, including Anne Boleyn's coronation and Nelson's funeral. Illustrated with rarely seen paintings, prints and artefacts, the book also records the shipping, bridges and tunnels and frost fairs of the Thames, and the buildings that line its shores.--publisher's description.

Mary Tudor, England's first sovereign queen, is arguably also England's most vilified and misrepresented monarch. For centuries, she has been branded in popular and academic works as a vicious failure and superstitious tyrant. Infamous for burning hundreds of her subjects at the stake in a futile attempt to undo the English Reformation and restore Catholicism in England, she is widely remembered today as 'Bloody Mary'. In this volume, an outstanding team of international scholars trace and analyse the growth of the Bloody Mary myth, from the time of Elizabeth I through to the present day. Detailing the political, religious and gender assumptions on which the myth is based, they also attempt to recover the 'real' Mary û an educated, pragmatic and resourceful queen û underneath the myth of the villainous tyrant. Based on the very latest research, this book offers a truly revisionist and uniquely balanced portrait of Mary Tudor.