Acclaimed for their dramatic rendering of the personalities and forces that shaped Elizabethan politics, Wallace T. MacCaffrey's three volumes thoroughly chronicle the Queen's decision making throughout her reign in a way that combines pleasurable reading with subtle analysis. Together in paperback for the first time, these books will find a wide readership among those interested in debunking Elizabeth's many mythic images and in following the steps of Elizabethan policy-makers as they grapple with the most crucial political problems of their day. To determine how policy evolved from the interaction between Elizabeth and her councillors from 1572 to the Armada in 1588, MacCaffrey begins with domestic affairs, focusing on the central problem of religious dissent, both Protestant and Catholic. Turning to foreign affairs, he then examines England's external relations with the Continental monarchies and Scotland. Lastly, he analyzes the two focuses of decision making, the Court and Parliament. Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Elizabethan foreign policy was very much the policy of Queen Elizabeth l herself. It was not foreplanned, envisaged whole in advance. It was built up out of her responses to questions and problems posed by her relations with neighboring and, in the case of France and Spain, far more powerful countries. The responses, inspired by consistant instincts and opinions concerning her own country's true interests, grew into a coherent policy.

The Description for this book, Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime, will be forthcoming.

"A fresh and quite original contribution to an understanding of an extremely important period in English history and to a quite remarkable discussion of the role of Queen Elizabeth in the complex diplomacy and policy of the era.... An original, a learned, and very persuasive history of these years.... This is political history at its best."—W.K. Jordan “It will be both important and useful to other scholars since it is the first effort of such dimensions since Froude to deal in a narrative pattern with the extraordinary complex problems of power that emerged during the first years of Elizabeth I's reign.”—J.H. Hexter Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Completing his major analysis of Elizabethan high politics with this eagerly awaited third volume, Wallace MacCaffrey investigates how Elizabeth I, the unwarlike war leader", and her ministers made the great decisions that shaped English political history in the years between the Armada of 1588 and her death in 1603. As in the previous volumes, the author examines the ramifications of selected themes, such as the Queen's reluctant entry into war with Spain, the integration of Ireland into the English imperial system, and the threat of renewed political faction with the appearance of a new favorite at court, the Earl of Essex. Throughout, MacCaffrey reveals the intentions, motivations, and assumptions that guided Elizabeth's strategy in a struggle fought on many fronts: on the high seas, in the West Indies, on the European continent, and in Ireland. In light of the Queen's desire to uphold her popularity through the maintenance of peace and prosperity, the author explains why she pursued war with Spain by only half-measures and how the brutal conquest of Ulster and the destruction of Tyrone came to be seen as prerequisites for the incorporation of Northern Ireland. A lively narrative outlines international circumstances as perceived by the policy makers, exposing the preconceptions and limited knowledge behind decisions that ultimately worked to England's advantage.

The history of the British Isles is the story of four peoples linked together by a process of state building that was as much about far-sighted planning and vision as coincidence, accident and failure. It is a history of revolts and reversal, familial bonds and enmity, the study of which does much to explain the underlying tension between the nations of modern day Britain. The Making of the British Islesrecounts the development of the nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland from the time of the Anglo-French dual monarchy under Henry VI through the Wars of the Roses, the Reformation crisis, the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Anglo-Scottish dynastic union, the British multiple monarchy and the Cromwellian Republic, ending with the acts of British Union and the Restoration of the Monarchy.