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Unavailable for many years, this wonderfully entertaining and informative book tells the story of treason in Tudor England.
Tudor England abounded with traitors, great and small, whose ill-timed, and self-defeating antics guaranteed their failure. Yet from the inept and calamitous intrigues of “Sweet-Lips” Gregory Botolf in 1540, and Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour during the reign of Edward VI, to the bungled palace coup by Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, during Elizabeth’s reign, treason didn’t prosper.
Tudor England accepted unquestioningly the conspiracy theory of history; it assumed the existence of evil; and it instinctively believed that a greater and usually malicious reality lay behind outward appearance. Sensible men were forever on guard against their Iago, dedicated to evil for its own sake, who lurked under the guise of a trusted friend or servant. Father’s advised their sons, “Love no man: trust no man.” By looking at the behaviour of the flamboyant Robert Devereux (who bore all the hallmarks of paranoia) as a case study in political hysteria, Lacey Baldwin Smith examines the ways in which insecurity in the midst of political and religious revolution was obsessive and self-perpetuating, and produced throughout the kingdom a state of hysteria that was unique to the sixteenth century.
Tudor England abounded with traitors, great and small, whose ill-timed, and self-defeating antics guaranteed their failure. Yet from the inept and calamitous intrigues of “Sweet-Lips” Gregory Botolf in 1540, and Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour during the reign of Edward VI, to the bungled palace coup by Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, during Elizabeth’s reign, treason didn’t prosper.
Tudor England accepted unquestioningly the conspiracy theory of history; it assumed the existence of evil; and it instinctively believed that a greater and usually malicious reality lay behind outward appearance. Sensible men were forever on guard against their Iago, dedicated to evil for its own sake, who lurked under the guise of a trusted friend or servant. Father’s advised their sons, “Love no man: trust no man.” By looking at the behaviour of the flamboyant Robert Devereux (who bore all the hallmarks of paranoia) as a case study in political hysteria, Lacey Baldwin Smith examines the ways in which insecurity in the midst of political and religious revolution was obsessive and self-perpetuating, and produced throughout the kingdom a state of hysteria that was unique to the sixteenth century.
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About the Author:
Lacey Baldwin Smith is Professor of English History at Northwestern University, Illinois.
Review:
'A stimulating and at times exciting study...Professor Baldwin Smith undoubtedly produces some excellent material.", Antonia Fraser, Guardian ."The paranoia which Professor Baldwin Smith describes was above all the product of guilt...it has many fascinating nuggets of information about the period.", Auberon Waugh, Daily Mail ."Any new book by Lacey Baldwin Smith is an event, and to me [Treason in Tudor England] is particularly welcome.", John Kenyon, Observer ."Lacey Baldwin Smith's subject in this book is a richly rewarding one...well-structured and well-written.", R C Richardson, Times Educational Supplement ."A stunning evocation of a brutal age from one of our finest historians.", Alison Weir
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- PublisherPimlico
- Publication date2006
- ISBN 10 1844135519
- ISBN 13 9781844135516
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages352
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