Primary Works from the Elizabethan Age

Bacon, Sir Francis.
Howard, Henry, Earl of Surrey.
Jonson, Ben. "Song to Celia
The King James Bible.
Lanyer, Aemilia.  "Eve's Abology in Defense of Women."
Marlowe, Christoper.  Doctor Faustus.
Shakespeare, William.
        A Midsummer Night's Dream.
        All's Well That Ends Well.
        Antony and Cleopatra.
        As You Like It.
        Comedy of Errors.
        Coriolanus.
        Cymbeline.
        Hamlet.
        Henry IV, Part 1 and 2.
        Henry V.
        Henry VI, Part 1, 2, and 3.
        Henry VIII:  All is True.
        Julius Caesar.
        King John.
        King Lear.
        Love's Labour's Lost.
        Macbeth.
        Measure for Measure.
        Merchant of Venice.
        Merry Wives of Windsor.
        Much Ado About Nothing.
        Othello.
        Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
        Richard II.
        Richard III.
        Romeo and Juliet.
        Taming of the Shrew.
        Tempest.
        Two Gentlemen of Verona.
        Winter's Tale.
        Timon of Athens.
        Titus Andronicus.
        Troilus and Cresida.
        Twelfth Night.
Spenser, Edmund.  The Faerie Queene.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas.  "Whoso List to Hunt."

Elizabethan History
Fraser, Antonia.  The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England.  The Wives of Henry VIII.
Lindsay, Karen.  Divorced, Beheaded, Died.  Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.
Weir, Allison.  The Life of Elizabeth I. The Children of Henry VIII.  The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
Williamson, David.  The National Portrait Gallery's History of the Kings & Queens of England.
Wilson, Derek.  In The Lion's Court.
 

Historical Fiction Set in the Elizabethan Age
Barnes, Margaret Campbell.  Brief Gaudy Hour.  Anne Boleyn  from the age of eighteen to the trial for her life (1522-1536).
Barnes, Margaret.  King’s Fool.  The shrewd observations of Henry VIII’s jester present a  behind-the-scene court.
Barnes, Margaret.My Lady of Cleves. Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII (1572- 1588).
Beahn, John E.  A Man Born Again.  Fictional autobiography of St. Thomas More.
Brady, Charles Andrew.  Stage of Fools.  Sir Thomas More, called a fool for  placing God before loyalty to Henry VIII.
Byrd, Elizabeth.  Mary, Queen of Scots:  Immortal Queen. Mary,  Queen of Scots’ life, focusing on  intrigues of Scottish court.
Claremont, Francesca.  Catherine of Aragon.
Charques, Dorothy.  The Nunnery. Doubt about the status of religion and romance in Henry VIII’s reign, set 1535.
Chidsey, Donald Barr.  Reluctant Cavalier.  An unwilling  courier in secret diplomatic negotiations; voyages of Sir Fancis Drake.
Davidson, Diane?  Feversham. Sir Thams Cheyney tries to save Alice Arden and lover for murdering husband with four others.
Eckerson, Olive.  My Lord Essex.  Excellent character portrayal in this romance of  Elizabeth and Essex.
Ellis, Amanda Mae.  Elizabeth, the Woman.  Elizabeth amidst pageantry, extravagance, and cruelty of Tudor England.
Eyre, Katherine W.  Another Spring.  Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554) for  a younger reader.
Farrow, John.  The Story of Thomas More.
Fisher, Edward.Best House in Stratford.Shakespeare:family man,playwright,actor; friend of B.Jonson(Silver Falcon Trilogy,vol. 3).
Fisher, Edward. Shakespeare and Son.Young Shakespeare attracted to theatre despite his father’s plans.(Silver Falcon Trilogy,v. 1).
Fisher, Edward. Love’s Labour’s Won. Shakespeare’s "lost years," 1583-1593 from playwright to partnership with R.Burbage (Silver Falcon Trilogy, v. 2).
Foote, Dorothy Norris.  The Constant Star. Frances Walsingham and marriages, first to Sir Philip Sidney, then to Earl of Essex.
Ford, Madox (a.k.a. Ford Madox Hueffer). The Fifth Queen and How She Came to  Court.  Henry VIII’s reception of Catherine Howard after his disappointing  marriage to Anne of Cleves (vol. 1 of trilogy).
Ford, Madox.  The Fifth Queen Crowned.  Catherine Howard’s reign as queen of  Henry VIII (vol. 3 of trilogy).
Ford, Madox.  Privy Seal.  The downfall of Cromwell after he had displeased Henry  VIII (vol. 2 of trilogy).
Freemantle, Anne.  James and Joan.  Early life of James I (1566-1625)for a  younger reader.
George, Margaret.  The Autobiography of Henry III.  As told by his fool, Will Somers.
George, Margaret.  Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles. Beautifully written novel of Mary's life.
Goudge, Elizabeth.  Towers in the Midst.  Intellectual life in Oxford during the reign of  Elizabeth I (1558-1603).
Hale, John.  Mary Queen of Scots.  Mary, betrayed by her own romantic nature, loses kingdom and life.Novel from movie script.
Harwood, Alice.  Lily and the Leopards.  Sweet and innocent Lady Jane Grey sacrificed for her family’s ambition (1530- 1554).
Harwood, Alice.  Merchant of the Ruby.  Tudor England (1483-1490).
Harwood, Alice.  No Smoke without Fire.  Mary Stuart’s loving illegitimate brother, Earl of Moray, and his devotion to Scotland.
Harwood, Alice.  Seats of the Mighty.  The loyalty of James Stuart, illegitimate half- brother tof Mary Queen of Scots.
Harwood, Alice.  So Merciful a Queen, So Cruel a Woman.  Elizabeth keeps eye on youmger sisters of Lady Jane Grey.
Haycraft, Molly Costain.The Reluctant Queen.Love of Mary, sister of Henry  VIII, for commoner, despite marriage to Louis XII.
Haycraft, Molly Costain.Too Near the Throne.Lady Arbella Stuart, with claim to the throne, a threat to Elizabeth and James I.
Henkle, Henrietta.  All the Living.  An exciting year (1600)for William  Shakespeare,involved with the Dark Lady of sonnets.
Hibbert, Eleanor (a.k.a. Jean Plaidy). The Captive Queen of Scots.
Hibbert, Eleanor. Gay Lord Robert. Romance of Robert Dudley and Elizabeth with mysterious death of his wife,Amy Robsart.
Hibbert, Eleanor.  The King's Pleasure.  Anne Boleyn’s swift rise to power and her sudden downfall.
Hibbert, Eleanor.  The King’s Secret Matter.Catherine of Aragon strives to preserve her rightful position for self,daughter Mary.
Hibbert, Eleanor.  Royal Road to Fotheringay.  Story of Mary Queen of Scots, imprisoned as threat to  Queen Elizabeth.
Hibbert, Eleanor.  St. Thomas’s Eve. Happy home life of Sir Thomas More,  which he gave up, along with the King's pleasure.
Hibbert, Eleanor.  The Sixth Wife.  Story of Katharine Parr, who walked a  line as the sixth wife of Henry VIII.
Irwin, Margaret.  Elizabeth and the Prince of Spain.Elizabeth I and Philip II (1558- 1570).Elizabeth, marriage of Mary Tudor and  Philip II, with her own safety subject to Mary’s whims  (vol. 3 of trilogy).
Irwin, Margaret.  Elizabeth, Captive Princess.  From Edward VI's  death to marriage of  Mary to Philip II of Spain (vol. 2of trilogy).
Irwin, Margaret.  The Gay Galliard.  Romance of Mary Queen of Scots and James  Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.
Irwin, Margaret.  Young Bess. Elizabeth Tudor from twelve to death of brother Edward VI (vol.1 of trilogy) for a younger reader.
Kenyon, Frank Wilson.  Mary of Scotland.  The exciting times of Mary Queen of Scots.
Kenyon, Frank Wilson.  Shadow in the Sun.  Queen Elizabeth loved three men but could  not marry any of them.
Letton, J.D. and Francis Letton. Robsart Affair. Queen Elizabeth, Robert Dudley, and death of Dudley’s wife Amy Robsart.
Lewis, Hilda Winifred.  I Am Mary Tudor.  Account of Mary  Tudor, reaction to father’s marriages, brother’s reign, and own rule.
Macleod, Alison.  The Heretic.  Anne Askew, who was burned at the stake as a  heretic during the reign of Henry VIII.
Macleod, Alison.  The Hireling.  Courier Thomas Vaughan  in intrigue at the  court of Henry VIII.(Followed by City of Light).
Major, Charles.  When Knighthood was in Flower.  Henry VIII (1512-1517).
Maynard, Theodore.  Bloody Mary.
Michelson, Miriam.  Petticoat King.  Life in Queen Elizabeth’s Day (1517-1607).
Oliver, Jane (a.k.a Helen Christina Easson). Flame of Fire.Work of scholar Tyndale, who defied laws translating the Bible.
Oliver, Jane.  The Lion and the Rose.  Romance of Mary Queen  of Scots and Lord Darnley.
Oliver, Jane. Mine is the Kingdom.  Scotland under James VI of Scotland, James I of  England (1473-1513).
Oliver, Jane.  Sunset at Noon. James IV of Scotland,a successful king until he invaded Henry VII’s England at Flodden Field1513.
Payne, Robert.  The Roaring Boys. Depcits Shakespeare and his rowdy players (1564-1616) .
Sargent, Daniel.  Thomas More.
Scott, Sir Walter.  Kenilworth.  Period of the Renaissance:  Elizabeth, Raleigh, Leicester,  Shakespeare (1558- 1575).
Siegel, Benjamin.  A Kind of Justice.  A Spanish Jew encounters religious persectution in  Elizabethan England.
Stephens, Eve (a.k.a. Evelyn Anthony). All the Queen’s Men.  Queen  Elizabeth, Robert Dudley, and Mary Queen of Scots.
Stephens, Eve.  Anne Boleyn.  Convincing portrait of the clever woman who held Henry  VIII for ten years.
Vance, Marguerite.  Lady Jane Grey:  Relucktant Queen.  Her tragic story (1485-1603).
Westcott, Jan V.  The Border Lord. Tale of Francis Hepburn, Lord  Bothwell, envied by King James VI  of Scotland(1567-1578).
Westcott, Jan V.  The Hepburn.  Border war and intrigue in Scotland during the reign of  James IV.
Westcott, Jan V.  The Queen’s Grace.  Sweet, sensible Catherine Parr who had four  marriages, including one with Henry VIII.
Westcott, Jan V.  Walsingham Woman.  Frances Walsingham, whose second husband was  Elizabeth’s favorite, Earl of Essex.
Wilson, John Anthony Burgess (a.k.a. Anthony Burgess).  Nothing Like the Sun.  Portrait of Shakespeare.

Elizabethan Narrative and Topical

Anthony, I.W.  Raleigh and His World.
Byrne, M. St. C.  Elizabethan Life in Town and Country.
Davis, W.S.  Life in Elizabethan Days.
Plunket, I.A.  Daily Life in Tudor Times.
Winwar, Frances.  Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada.
 

Name the wife of Henry VIII who asked to rehearse her execution while she was imprisoned in The Tower of London.  Look up the answer in Antonia Fraser's The Wives of Henry VIII, or read a fictional account in Madox Ford's The Fifth Queen Crowned, or CLICK ON THE CROW, icon of The Tower of London, for a brief account of this queen.  She, by the way, is not even mentioned in Shakespeare's play, Henry VIII:  All is True.

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