Dimensions
162 x 240 x 37mm
Elizabeth I was a ruler who radiated a sense of power and purpose. Her long and successful reign was the apotheosis of the Tudor dynasty. Her subjects themselves felt that they were living in exceptional times and her reign has always been remembered as an age of unique wealth, confidence and adventure.
Across much of Europe, however, Elizabeth was viewed very differently. She was 'Jezebel', the bastard offspring of Henry VIII's illegal second marriage, a woman and a Protestant heretic. The pope denounced her as a heretic schismatic tyrant and the most powerful rulers of Europe conspired to destroy her, their plans most fully realized by the Spanish Armada. If Elizabeth's reign was a golden age, then it was also a precarious one that required constant, anxious surveillance against sometimes overwhelming threats.
The Watchers is a beautifully written, gripping account of the unflagging battle by spies, codebreakers, ambassadors and confidence-men to protect the queen. It was a reign that required endless watchfulness - of the coasts, of the Catholic seminaries, of Elizabeth's own subjects.
