The human and financial cost of war between 1544 and 1604 strained English government and society to their limits. Paul E. J. Hammer offers a new narrative of these wars which weaves together developments on land and sea. Combining original work and a synthesis of existing research, Hammer explores how the government of Elizabeth I overhauled English strategy and weapons to create forces capable of confronting the might of Habsburg Spain.

The final decades of the reign of Elizabeth I were marked by the meteoric career of her last great favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565-1601), and the outbreak of bitter political divisions at Court and across the realm. This revisionist 1999 study challenges the traditional 'romantic' image of Essex as a military incompetent and political dabbler. Studying his career between his arrival at court in 1585 and his appointment as earl marshal at the end of 1597, the book casts Essex in a new light and re-examines his role in the outbreak of factionalism in Elizabethan politics. Using an unparalleled range of manuscript and printed sources it explores the forces which drove Essex's career, why true political success remained frustratingly beyond his grasp, and how his efforts to achieve this success helped to fuel the polarisation of Elizabethan politics.

This collection of hitherto unpublished material sheds important light on the English court and its relationship with a wider political society in the sixteenth century. The 'Journall' of political events covering 1547-52 and 1559-1562, possibly by the 'commonwealth man' John Hayles, offers arresting insights on court politics, foreign affairs and events in the life of London. It is published alongside a related account of the rivalry between the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland. Court religious ceremonial is illustrated through an edition of regulations for the royal chapel. The memoir of Jean Malliet, sent to England to solicit a loan for the beleaguered city of Geneva in 1582-3, demonstrates the 'Calvinist international' at work. A tranche of letters from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir Christopher Hatton offers fresh material on court politics in this period.

The final decades of the reign of Elizabeth I were marked by the meteoric career of her last great favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565-1601), and the outbreak of bitter political divisions at Court and across the realm. This revisionist 1999 study challenges the traditional 'romantic' image of Essex as a military incompetent and political dabbler. Studying his career between his arrival at court in 1585 and his appointment as earl marshal at the end of 1597, the book casts Essex in a new light and re-examines his role in the outbreak of factionalism in Elizabethan politics. Using an unparalleled range of manuscript and printed sources it explores the forces which drove Essex's career, why true political success remained frustratingly beyond his grasp, and how his efforts to achieve this success helped to fuel the polarisation of Elizabethan politics.

This collection of hitherto unpublished material sheds important new light on the English court and its relationship with a wider political society in the sixteenth century. The 'Journall' of political events covering 1547-52 and 1559-1562, possibly by the 'commonwealth man' John Hayles, offers arresting insights on court politics, foreign affairs and events in the life of London. It is published alongside a related account of the rivalry between the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland. Court religious ceremonial is illustrated through an edition of regulations for the royal chapel. The memoir of Jean Malliet, sent to England to solicit a loan for the beleaguered city of Geneva in 1582-3, demonstrates the 'Calvinist international' at work. A tranche of letters from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir Christopher Hatton offers fresh material on court politics in this period.