Author(s): Lisa Hilton

Royalty

The life of Elizabeth I is a perennially compelling subject, one which each generation of historians must reclaim as their own. The popularity of the Tudors in film, television and fiction has in recent years demonstrated an unwaning enthusiasm for the period and has also given birth to a fresh audience who will welcome an accessible, comprehensive biography of Elizabeth which will include all the scandal, drama and intrigue they have come to associate with this unique English queen. Assimilating new discoveries and interpretations about her life from the academic corpus, Lisa Hilton takes a new direction to reconsider Elizabeth's reign, arguing that her royalty negated her gender, and that she saw herself primarily as a price. Hilton carefully grounds this approach in contemporary Renaissance theory, and in turn provides a fresh perspective on Elizabeth's emotional and sexual life, as well as her drive to fashion England as a Renaissance state. Elizabeth was not an exceptional woman, but an exceptional ruler, and Lisa Hilton redefines English history with this vibrant and utterly comprehensive account of her life and times.