Anne Somerset

In honor of the four hundredth anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I, an detailed biography offers a close-up look at the political, social, and cultural forces that shaped Elizabethan England and Europe, the intrigue-laden Tudor court, and the woman who ruled in a male-dominated world. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

Elizabeth I

An assessment of the short twelve-year reign of Britain's last Stuart monarch recounts how she united England and Scotland as a sovereign state, offering additional insight into the military victories that laid the foundations for Britain's future naval and colonial supremacy.

The Politics of Passion

Queen Anne

Documents a series of high-level murders committed by women in France's seventeenth-century royal court who obtained poisons from Paris's underworld, discussing the investigative commission that exposed the killings and uncovered a threat to King Louis XIV. 20,000 first printing.

Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV

The Affair of the Poisons

Far from just being servants or decorative accessories in court, ladies-in-waiting competed for real positions of power. Many achieved both great success and great notoriety. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, for instance, succeeded in acquiring the confidence of Charles I's French wife, Henrietta Maria, only to betray the Queen to her enemies in Parliament. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, at one time Queen Anne¿s most intimate friend, destroyed herself by her relentless attempts to dominate the Queen. Other ladies-in-waiting became royal mistresses, such as the rapacious Lady Castlemaine, who amassed a fortune and flaunted her hold over Charles II; or the downtrodden Countess of Suffolk, mistress of George II, who was constantly humiliated by both her lover and his wife. Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources, this is the first full-scale study of its kind.

From the Tudors to the Present Day

Ladies in Waiting

From The Tudors to the Present Day

Ladies-in-Waiting

Five years after ascending the throne in 1702, Queen Anne united England and Scotland and became the first queen of modern Great Britain. By the end of her reign, Britain had emerged as a major power; the victories won by her general, the Duke of Marlborough, had humbled France and laid the foundations for naval and colonial supremacy. But while the Queen’s military was performing dazzling exploits, her own attention increasingly rested on a more intimate conflict: her passionate and tormented relationship with Sarah Churchill, the beautiful Duchess of Marlborough, whose scathing wit and personal enmity have long distorted our view of Anne. Award-winning biographer Anne Somerset has drawn extensively on royal archives and previously unpublished material to create a riveting reassessment of a shy, overlooked monarch—one who was both shrewder and more fascinating than we knew.

A revelatory new biography emerges that captures the enigmatic life of England's greatest queen--the uniquely fascinating Elizabeth, who ruled for nearly 45 years, had intellect and presence, and exercised supreme authority in a world where power was exclusively male. Anne Somerset examines the monarch and the woman. 16 pages of black-and-white illustrations.

In the autumn of 1615 the Earl and Countess of Somerset were detained on suspicion of having murdered Sir Thomas Overbury. The arrest of these leading court figures created a sensation. The Countess was both young and beautiful: the Earl was one of the richest and most powerful men in the kingdom, having risen to prominence as the male 'favourite' of the monarch James I. In a vivid narrative, Anne Somerset unravels these extraordinary events, which were widely regarded as an extreme manifestation of the corruption and vice which disfigured the court during this period. It is at once a story rich in passion and intrigue and a murder mystery, for, despite the guilty verdicts, there is much about Overbury's death that remains enigmatic. The Overbury murder case profoundly damaged the monarchy, and constituted the greatest court scandal in English history.

Poison at the Court of James I

Unnatural Murder

The Affair of the Poisons, as it was known, was a scandal at which all France trembled and which horrified the whole of Europe as it implicated a number of prominent persons at the court of the Sun King, King Louis XIV in the late 17th century. It began with the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, who conspired with her lover, Godin de Sainte-Croix, an army captain, to poison her father and two brothers in order to secure the family fortune and to end interference in her adulterous relationship. The marquise fled abroad, but in 1676 was arrested at Liege. The affair greatly worked on the popular imagination, and there were rumours that she had tried out her poisons on hospital patients. She was beheaded and then burned. The Brinvilliers trial attracted attention to other mysterious deaths. Parisian society had been seized by a fad for spiritualist seances, fortune-telling and the use of love potions.

Murder, Infanticide and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV

'Provides a wealth of juicy anecdotal material about five centuries of court life from Henry VIII to Elizabeth II' NEW YORK TIMES For centuries the most beautiful, able and aristocratic women in England competed for positions at court. Some were drawn by the prospect of political power. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, for instance, succeeded in acquiring the confidence of Charles I's French wife, Henrietta Maria, only to betray the Queen to her enemies in Parliament. Some ladies-in-waiting became royal mistresses, such as the rapacious Lady Castlemaine who amassed a fortune and flaunted her hold over Charles II. Others came to court to find husbands only to discover that they were denied permission to marry by their sovereign. Drawing on an enormous variety of sources including the diaries of such shrewd onlookers as Lady Anne Clifford, Lady Cowper and Fanny Burney, Anne Somerset provide a guide to the character, profligate or pious, of each court.

Anne Somerset's penetrating biography of this complex & uniquely gifted woman who ruled in defiance of convention, is unrivalled in its analysis of both Elizabeth's personal life and her career as leader.

Often derided as weak-willed and insecure, Queen Anne was in fact one of Britain’s most remarkable monarchs. In many ways a stolid, conventional woman, she nevertheless presided over some of the most momentous events in British history and led a personal life riven by passion, illness and intrigue.

Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion

Royal scandal, set against the background of the Jacobean court, involving love, bribery, poison, treachery and black magic - 'a hugely enjoyable book' Daily Telegraph 'A gripping detective story ... Wonderfully dramatic ... Probably the juiciest court scandal of the past 500 years' Daily Mail In the autumn of 1615 the Earl and Countess of Somerset were detained on suspicion of having murdered Sir Thomas Overbury. The arrest of these leading court figures created a sensation. The young and beautiful Countess of Somerset had already achieved notoriety when she divorced her first husband in controversial circumstances. The Earl of Somerset was one of the richest and most powerful men in the kingdom, having risen to prominence as the male 'favourite' of James I. In a vivid, enthralling narrative, Anne Somerset unravels these extraordinary events. It is, at once, a story rich in passion, intrigue and corruption and a murder mystery - for, despite the guilty verdicts, there is much about Overbury's death that remains enigmatic. The Overbury murder case profoundly damaged the monarchy, and constituted the greatest court scandal in English history. 'This is a book about murder, witchcraft, adultery, lechery, intrigue and chicanery among the country's most powerful nobility' Time Out

Anne Somerset

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