Bad Queen Bess?

The plots, spymasters and double agents of Elizabeth's reign have attracted a good deal of attention of late. But the role of plot talk, conspiracy theory, and libellous secret histories, designed to unveil what was really going on in the courts and counsels of princes to popular audiences and publics, has not. Bad Queen Bess? describes the world of claim and counter claim, the appeals to various publics launched by the Elizabethan state and its Catholiccritics and enemies. It argues that central aspects of Elizabethan policy are unintelligible outside of the context provided by these exchanges which were also foundational for a new style of public politics,framed by the unique confluence of religious division, confessional and geo-political conflict, and dynastic uncertainty bequeathed to post-reformation England by the peculiar marital and religious histories of Henry VIII and his children.