Susan Doran, a noted early modern English historian, has produced a remarkable book about Queen Elizabeth I, one which will be of interest and is accessible to the general public and yet is also of great value to scholars in the field. Even those who are experts about the life and reign of Elizabeth will learn something new. Throughout Elizabeth’s life she was surrounded by people: kinfolk, courtiers, and councilors were all part of the queen’s life — some to whom she became close, some who offered her significant advice, and some of whom were dangerous and she could not trust. Rather than simply produce a chronological discussion of Elizabeth’s life, Doran divides her text into three sections that each range much of her life: kin, courtiers, and councilors. The section on kin includes parents and siblings, the Suffolk cousins, Mary Stuart, and, finally, Mary’s son James. For courtiers, Doran focuses on Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; Sir Christopher Hatton; Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; and the women who served Elizabeth. The final section has chapters on Sir William Cecil, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Sir Robert Cecil. One danger of this approach would be repetition, something Doran skillfully avoids.
The book is filled with rich details, and not the usual ones that are repeated time and again. For example, there is a detailed description of Katherine Grey’s 1568 funeral, for which Elizabeth had seventy-seven mourners sent down from court. Also fascinating was the 1579 accusation of Margaret, Countess of Derby, that she consulted a conjurer to learn how long the queen would live, and how well Elizabeth treated her despite the severity of the accusations.
Hardly surprising, given her long and distinguished career, is that Doran demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the secondary literature and has uncovered some remarkable new primary research. The book also contains much thoughtful analysis. One of many examples is Doran’s study of the meanings of Elizabeth’s New Year’s gifts to her father and stepmother Katherine Parr in 1544 and 1545; the first year she probably gave Henry a handwritten French translation of Erasmus’s Dialogus Fidei, and Katherine received a handwritten English translation of Margaret of Navarre’s The glasse of the synnefull soule. In 1545 she translated into English the first chapter of John Calvin’s Institution de la religion chrestienne, and for Henry Elizabeth translated one of Katherine’s English prayers into Latin, French, and Italian. Her gifts, Doran posits, demonstrated her need to remind Henry of her royal lineage, her ambivalence about her father, her love for Katherine, and how already she was aware and cautious enough to be subtle in what she did. We also see this caution and subtlety in the reigns of her half-brother and half-sister, helping to keep Elizabeth alive in very dangerous situations. Doran points out what is often not remarked upon, that the last time Elizabeth saw Mary, in February 1558, she rode into London accompanied by a great company of lords and nobility, to make obvious that she was the heir to the throne.
Doran is particularly valuable in her chapter on Sir Christopher Hatton, demonstrating that he was far more than the “meer vegetable of the court” that Sir Robert Naunton described him to be. Hatton was not only attractive and a fine dancer, but he was, as Doran carefully proves, extremely loyal to the queen and served her effectively both as a privy councilor and lord chancellor. Much of the criticisms of Hatton were due to snobbery, and they grew even more intense as Elizabeth trusted Hatton with more and more responsibilities. From 1572 onward they also gave each other elaborate and expensive New Year’s gifts. The chapter on Robert Cecil is first rate as well, giving us great insight into Elizabeth at the end of her reign.
There were a few sections that I wish had expanded the circle a little further. While the chapter on the women who served Elizabeth is excellent, I wish it had discussed more of the women who came to court. It would also have been interesting in the section on kin to include Ethelreda Malte, who may well have been Henry VIII’s illegitimate daughter and thus Elizabeth’s half-sister, possibly being one of those who waited on Elizabeth during her time in the Tower, and put there by another half-sister, Mary. These are very minor criticisms of a truly outstanding study. Elizabeth I had many circles around her. Centuries later the queen is encircled again by a noted historian who has produced a superb study.
