This third volume of English Books and Readers, first published in 1970, carries the story of the English book trade down to the eve of the Civil War. The author gives an account of the total output of books and pamphlets in the period, irrespective of their qualities as literature.

1603 was the year that Queen Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudors, died. Her cousin, Robert Carey, immediately rode like a demon to Scotland to take the news to James VI. The cataclysmic time of the Stuart monarchy had come and the son of Mary Queen of Scots left Edinburgh for London to claim his throne as James I of England. Diaries and notes written in 1603 describe how a resurgence of the plague killed nearly 40,000 people. Priests blamed the sins of the people for the pestilence, witches were strangled and burned and plotters strung up on gate tops. But not all was gloom and violence. From a ship's log we learn of the first precious cargoes of pepper arriving from the East Indies after the establishment of a new spice route; Shakespeare was finishing Othello and Ben Jonson wrote furiously to please a nation thirsting for entertainment. 1603 was one of the most important and interesting years in British history. In 1603: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft, and the Birth of the Stuart Era, Christopher Lee, acclaimed author of This Sceptred Isle, unfolds its story from first-hand accounts and original documents to mirror the seminal year in which Britain moved from Tudor medievalism towards the wars, republicanism and regicide that lay ahead.

Anne Clifford’s memoir for the year 1603 and her diary of 1616-1619 are invaluable records of the daily life and social and family relationships of a noblewoman of her time. In them she records her travels, her reading, her religious observances, her relationships with her mother, her husband, and her child, and the progress—or lack thereof—of her legal efforts to obtain what she viewed as her inheritance, extensive estates in the north of England. The two texts offer a unique view of the life, feelings, experience, and self-fashioning of this extraordinary woman, and they bring to life the history and literary culture of the period in a refreshing and direct way. This Broadview edition includes an illuminating introduction that places these texts in their historical and literary context. The appendices include poems dedicated and addressed to Clifford, her funeral sermon, and the “Great Picture” of the Clifford family.

Originally published in 1966, this text established itself as the standard work in 17th century English history in the course of time. The second edition includes a rewritten commentary and has been thoroughly revised and updated in several important areas.

Stretching from the North Sea to the Solway Firth, the Border region has a sharply diverse landscape and was a battleground for over 300 years as the English and Scottish monarchs encouraged their subjects to conduct raids across their respective borders. This Warrior title will detail how this narrow strip of land influenced the Borderer's way of life in times of war. Covering every aspect of militant life, from the choice of weapons and armor to the building of fortified houses, this book gives the readers a chance to understand what it must have been like to live life in a late-medieval war zone.

This edited collection presents new research on the development of printing and bookselling throughout Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, addressing themes such as the Reformation, the transmission of texts and the production and sale of printed books.

This graphic depiction of a turbulent era in British history examines the lives of commoners and the nobility. The author combines vivid description with provocative argument to describe these exciting and dramatic events.

This book explores the complex events and the increasing religious and political discord that followed the coronation of James I and which culminated in the English Civil War.