ELIZABETH I AND HER CIRCLE 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a r egistered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Susan Doran 2015 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2015 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2014946127 ISBN 978–0–19–957495–7 Printed in Italy by L.E.G.O. S.p.A. Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. For Hugo when he is older Acknowledgements I owe a great debt to friends and colleagues who have read and com- mented most helpfully on part or all of this book: Joanna Coates, Alan Doran, Alexandra Gajda, Paulina Kewes, Judith Richards, and Corinna Streckfuss. Additionally, Paulina has my deep gratitude for her encouragement, advice, and generosity in sending me essays and articles that I would otherwise have missed, while I cannot thank Corinna enough for checking the text and the many footnotes, and recommending amendments. All remaining mistakes are of course mine. I am also very grateful to Natalie Mears and Charlotte Merton, who kindly sent me copies of their important unpublished theses, which I have cited frequently, and Caroline McManus, who emailed me her article in the Ben Jonson Journal. Caroline Warman trans- lated a difficult French passage, for which I also offer thanks. I am immensely grateful to Jesus College Oxford for the award of a Major Research Grant that enabled me to spend a month at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. At the library, the then archivist Mary Robinson was particularly helpful, as was Edward Rinderle in arranging the photographic reproduction of HM 68350. The kind offer of accommodation by Carole Levin near the Folger Shakespeare Library allowed me to consult their collection. Finally, I must thank Luciana O’ Flaherty and Matthew Cotton at Oxford University Press for commissioning the book, accepting the changes to my original proposal, and allowing me more time than originally agreed. Their support has been very much appreciated. I would also like express my thanks to everyone in the production team at OUP. vii Contents List of Plates xi Genealogical Chart xiii Chronology xv Conventions xix Introduction 1 PART 1 KIN 1 Parents and Siblings 13 2 The Suffolk Cousins 43 3 Mary Queen of Scots 65 4 James VI of Scotland 90 PART 2 COURTIERS 5 ‘Eyes’: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester 117 6 ‘Lids’: Sir Christopher Hatton 143 7 Her ‘moste humble vassall’: Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex 165 8 The Women who Served 193 PART 3 COUNCILLORS 9 ‘Sir Spirit’: Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley 219 10 The ‘Moor’: Sir Francis Walsingham 247 11 The ‘Pygmy’: Sir Robert Cecil 276 Epilogue 303 Abbreviations 309 Notes 311 Select Bibliography 360 Picture Acknowledgements 380 Index 381 ix