The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569

STEPHEN ALFORD. The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569. Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xii + 271, appendices, bibliography, index. $59.95.

Fortunate is the writer of history who tan weave a narrative that captures elements of mystery, vivid characterizations, and intrigue and plotting in two royal households; happier still is the historian who can do this within a framework of sound analytic investigation. Stephen Alford succeeds in his monograph The Early Elmibeihun Polity, William Cecil and the lirilish Succession Crisis, 1558-1569. Kven as he meticulously provides his readers with a closely-argued explanation of several of the most salient challenges that imperiled the stability of the regime of Elizabeth I in its first precarious decade, Alford never loses sight of the human tensions, prejudices, miscalculations and occasional histrionics that helped to shape the regime. This monograph is an impressive and well-written re-examination of the decision-makers and the processes of deliberation by which they set the tone of the royal government of England for the four and a half decades after 1558; it will be of considerable use to scholars and biographers lor the...