Young Elizabeth: The First Twenty-Five Years [Paperback]

Alison Plowden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999 | Series: Military Handbooks

Elizabeth I is perhaps England's most famous monarch. Born in 1533, the product of the doomed marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was heir to her father's title, then disinherited and finally imprisoned by her half-sister Mary. But in 1558, on Mary's death, she ascended the throne and reigned for 45 years. Respected by her subjects and idolized by subsequent generations, Gloriana was fiercely devoted to her country and its people. In this first volume of her Elizabethan quartet, Alison Plowden charts the history of Elizabeth's first 25 years, telling the tale of Elizabeth's difficult childhood and her alternate status as princess and bastard, culminating in her coronation and the beginning of the legend.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This revised first volume of Plowden's highly praised Elizabethan quartet covers the first 25 years of the life of England's Virgin Queen. Given the extraordinary drama of Elizabeth's reign, readers may be forgiven for imagining that Princess Elizabeth's childhood and youth could not be as interesting as her later years as queen. But as Plowden makes clear, the young princess, who grew up knowing that her beloved father had had her mother executed, needed all her intelligence and courage just to survive long enough to claim the throne. One day a princess, the next a bastard, Elizabeth grew up amongst associates whose foolish plots endangered her and enemies who openly wished for her death, all of which makes for a thoroughly engrossing read. Moviegoers unhappy about the many inaccuracies in the recent film Elizabeth can rest assured that this is a well-researched biography. A strong addition to academic and public libraries; recommended even for libraries that have purchased other recent titles (e.g., Alison Weir's The Life of Elizabeth I, LJ 7/98) about Elizabeth. Given the recent revival of interest in the era, this is certainly a reasonable purchase.AElizabeth Mary Mellett, Brookline P.L., MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A lucid, well-researched, but unpedantic narrative of 16th-century English royal life and death at a brutal time when a successful noble was one who kept his or her head while others were losing theirs during perennial struggles for power and position. Biographer Plowden (The Young Victoria, 1981, etc.) relates the oft-told story of Henry VIII and his search for a male heir. His union with Catherine of Aragon produced only Mary. The frustrated Henry had his first marriage declared ``null and void'' and married Anne Boleyn, who gave birth to Elizabeth. After the troublesome Anne was beheaded, he married Jane Seymour, who did have a short-lived male heir, Edward VI. To continue his matrimonial marathon after Seymour's natural death, Henry married and divorced Anne of Cleves, followed by Catherine Howard, whom he beheaded, and then married Catherine Parr, all without a living male heir. Henry broke with the Roman Church, thereby forging a divided England. After his death, his devout Catholic daughter, Mary, became queen and an enemy of Protestants. Plowden portrays the teenage Elizabeth as a threat to Mary, who kept the former a prisoner in the Tower of London but was unable to find hard evidence of treason before the Privy Council Court. Elizabeth became a heroine of the Protestants and a popular figure. Plowden's assessment of the 25-year- old Elizabeth, who became queen after Marys death: sharp tongued and a hard bargainer with acting ability but also with hysterical tendencies perhaps inherited from her mother. From her father she inherited physical energy, family pride, vanity, personal magnetism, political instincts, and earthy peasant cunning, thanks to her Tudor Welsh ancestors. She was an apt scholar who learned discretion, self-discipline, and self-reliance, and the author suggests she used her femininity to disarm critics. Plowden proves that history can be fascinating, readable, and entertaining. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing; Revised edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750921927
• ISBN-13: 978-0750921923
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,169,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( E ) > Elizabeth I

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars confusing beginning, but still a brilliant success, June 25, 2002

By 

Morpho menelaus (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Young Elizabeth: The First Twenty-Five Years (Paperback)

Books should be judged on whether they achieve their purpose. Plowden's purpose in this book appears to be the creation of a scholarly, yet readable biography of Elizabeth I's pre-queen years. This she does with consummate skill. The writing is superb, and the scholarship seems excellent. Plowden selects details calculated to wet the reader's curiosity and to draw a thorough picture of her subject. She has definite opinions, but she does not do all her readers' thinking for them.

I found this book and the rest in Plowden's Elizabeth quartet very appealing. Based on these books, I've been collecting biographies on all sorts of other tantalizing personalities that the writer mentions in passing.

Note: I am an English masters student, not a historian. I am therefore better qualified to judge the quality of the writing than the quality of the research.

One criticism: The book begins with a very swift overview of the complex circumstances leading to Elizabeth's birth. The part pertaining to Henry VIII is easily digestible, but the earlier section involving Henry VII, Katherine of Valois, Owen Tudor, and the War of the Roses proceeds at baffling speed. If you are not already familiar with this convoluted period of English history, the multitude of characters entering and exiting the stage may overwhelm you. My advice: hang in there; it gets better.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed look at the early life of this intriguing woman, August 15, 2002

By 

C. Quinn (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Young Elizabeth: The First Twenty-Five Years (Paperback)

Elizabeth I is one the most famous woman in history, and yet history books concentrate on the accomplishments of her reign without paying much attention to the woman behind them. This book is a wonderful introduction to Elizabeth the woman- well researched and detailed, it is never-the-less an enjoyable read for the non-historian. By reviewing the early incidents which shaped Elizabeth and her view of the world, Plowden lays the groundwork for explaining her actions thoughout her long reign. I haven't read the rest of the series yet, but I am looking forward to doing so in the near future.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Excellent!, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Young Elizabeth: The First Twenty-Five Years (Paperback)

I think this excellently written book gives a historically accurate insite of the early life of Elizabeth I. I would recomend this book to anyone who is interested in Elizabeth I and Tudor history. :)