Chronicles the Queen's decision making throughout her reign. This book talks about Elizabeth's many mythic images and the steps of Elizabethan policy-makers as they grappled with the most crucial political problems of their day. It investigates how Elizabeth and her ministers governed in the years between the Armada of 1588 and her death in 1603.

List of Figures and MapsPrefaceAbbreviationsIntroduction3Pt. IThe English Monarchy at War1Machinery of War: The Council172The Machinery at Work: At Home and Abroad453Paying for the War59Pt. IIWaging the War I: The Enemy - Spain4The Portuguese Voyage, 1588-1589735War on the High Seas and in the Indies, 1589-1595976War on the Spanish Coasts, 1596-1597107Pt. IIIWaging the War II: The Allies - France7The Willoughby Expedition, 15891378Brittany and Rouen1529Brittany and Rouen: The Second Round16310Brittany and Picardy18411The Cecil Mission and Vervins19612Shuffling Towards Peace, 1598-1603220Pt. IVWaging the War III: The Allies - The States General13From Dependency to Alliance, 1588-159424914From Alliance to Collaboration, 1595-1603270Pt. VThe Three Kingdoms15The Northern Neighbor, 1581-160330316Ireland: The Building of a New Order, 1530-159332917Deputy Fitzwilliam and the Macmahon Affair34918Fitzwilliam and the First Rupture With Tyrone37219Russell and the Coming of War38520The Yellow Ford40421The Failure of Essex41822The Triumph of Mountjoy431Pt. VIThe Court: The Revival of Faction23The Rise of Essex, 1584-159145324Essex the Councillor47225England's Glory and the Wide World's Wonder49526The Fall from Grace514Retrospective537Bibliography575Index585