Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince - Hardcover

Lisa Hilton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0544577841 ISBN 13: 9780544577848

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 2015

Synopsis

Elizabeth, writes Lisa Hilton, was happy to play on the conventions of gender when it suited her weak and feeble womans body to do so. In this biography, Lisa Hilton argues that Elizabeths upbringing, education and royal status effectively negated gender and the Queen saw herself as - and ruled as - a Machiavellian prince. This study of Elizabeth shifts the focus from her gender and sexuality to her statecraft and her view of England as a Renaissance state. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

About this title

Review:

"There is no shortage of biographies of Britain's Elizabeth I (1533-1603), but readers should pay attention to this thoughtful, often ingenious account. British novelist and historian Hilton (Wolves in Winter, 2012, etc.) agrees that Elizabeth stood out because she was a woman, but she claims that biographers often focus on her femininity to the exclusion of qualities shared by fellow rulers. Elizabeth's intellectual upbringing "gave her a princely self-image not in the least circumscribed by femininity." She referred to herself as " 'a prince from a line of princes, ' even when those princes were not necessarily male." Hilton emphasizes that the 16th century marked the end of the medieval concept of "chivalric kingship," which taught that rulers governed according to Christian tenets. When they lied, cheated, or murdered, this was shameful. A Renaissance prince, besides being more educated, understood that in the service of preserving the state, immoral actions were not only essential, but ethical. This was reflected, of course, in Machiavelli's The Prince (first distributed in 1513 but not published until 1532), which was universally read, denounced, and heeded, most skillfully by Elizabeth. With regular nods to Machiavelli, Hilton delivers an enthralling account of a life and reign during which Elizabeth dealt with murderous rival claimants and fended off superpower Spain, a fiercely hostile Papacy, and an increasingly intolerant, stingy Parliament. She was lucky and charismatic, chose competent advisers, never forgot the limitations of her power, and left England far more united and self-confident. Despite this, it took 20 years of experience of her successor, James I, before Britons wistfully realized that Elizabeth had presided over a golden age, an opinion Hilton does not reject. Mildly revisionist, well-argued, and thoroughly satisfying."--Kirkus, STARRED review

"Game-changing . . . How history should be written."
--Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon: A Life

"It is refreshing to be confronted by challenging arguments instead of tired anecdotes. This biography is also full of unusual and interesting insights . . . What I am left with above all are haunting images of a scented room and a face dusted with alabaster--the living cameo of a most exceptional prince."
--Leanda de Lisle, author of The Sisters Who Would be Queen, for the Spectator

"Hilton provides us with an accomplished evocation of a remarkable ruler. Her book is as elegantly fashioned and ingeniously contrived as those pieces of Renaissance jewelry that Elizabeth loved to wear."
--Anne Somerset, author of Queen Anne, for the Mail on Sunday

Book Description:

A definitive portrait of one of the most compelling monarchs England has ever had: Elizabeth I.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0544577841
• ISBN 13: 9780544577848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400