Elizabeth I, Queen of England

by Neville Williams

A portrait of Elizabeth I, recounting the many dramatic events, including court intrigues and religious conflict, that were a part of Elizabeth's reign.

Genres: History, Biography, Tudor Period, Nonfiction

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought certainly on the dense side, this was an enjoyable biography of Elizabeth I. I liked the document and painting inclusions, as well as the very useful family tree.
You could kind of tell when this was written partly from the writing style, but also due to some of the author's assumptions about Elizabeth, and women in general, whether Williams was writing about her "womanly vanity" or his own opinions of the Elizabeth/Seymour relationship. I tend to disagree with his reading of that incident, but I don't know enough to necessarily form my own opinion.
Each of the chapters tended to be quite separate from each other, each focusing on a particular incident or theme of Elizabeth's life.

[Kenneth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is book is not good. After the first 50 pages, it’s pretty much just her dating history and explaining how broke she was

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like this book, but at the same time I was not blown over by it. The book covered what I pretty much already knew about her. I thought that Neville glossed over a lot of things and went into detail on stuff that not that pertinent to her life. For example, he could have covered more on her and religion then he did, and less on Elizabeth's suitors. He spent a good chunk of this book covering Elizabeth's potential suit Alencon, Duke of Anjou. I thought the Arthur enjoyed that Elizabeth played with her suitors- leading them to believe that she was going to marry them, but that was not her intention in the long run. some of it was entertaining, but I felt he just spent to much time on it, and shortened things that were more important. I felt that he didn't spend enough time on her relationship with Robert Dudley. I frankly thought he glossed over that. And just to add, if your looking for a source on Elizabeth in regards to the Queen of Scots- this is not your book. The Arthur treated Mary terribly in this, and some things he said about her was simply not true. I don't think that the casket letters were bombshell that Neville Williams made them out to be. Considering that they were found by one of Walsingham men. which makes their authenticity even more suspicious. Considering that Walsingham had been urging Elizabeth to kill Mary before they were discovered?

I have to say I was not overly thrilled with the writing in this book. I thought he skipped around to much. And he did more quoting that was more then necessary. Quotes are nice, but there should be a fair balance of the authors voice and the quotes, which in this book it was not.

The author was not overly for or against Elizabeth, which I did like. Though there was times I felt that he made excuses for her - so people won't see her in a negative light.

The book was okay, like I said earlier not overly thrilled by it.

[Claudia]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12349942

[Marita Gayoso]

The life of Elizabeth I has provoked rivers of ink. She is one of the most interesting characters in history. This book provides good and vast information about her but, most of the time, the narrative employed makes of it a not so enjoyable reading.

[Azra Azra]

Neville Williams. Elizabeth I: Queen of England.