The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime: Elizabethan Politics, 1558-1572 by Wallace T. MacCaffrey
Upon acceding to the throne in 1558, Elizabeth I was faced with a host of problems: military defeat on the Continent; a bankrupt treasury; lack of direction in foreign and domestic policies; the threat of religious civil war; and challenges to the legitimacy of her succession. Covering the first 15 years of Elizabeth's rule, this volume illuminates the new pattern of power relationships on which the regime securely established itself.