Penry Williams

Elizabeth I

As the second Elizabethan age closes in disillusionment, Penry Williams reconsiders whether the first deserved the same fate.

Published March 1 1998

The Return of the Armadas; & The Life of Sir Walter Ralegh

Penry Williams discusses books on the Elizabethan era and threat from Spain

Published November 1 1995

Treason in Tudor England

Penry Williams reviews a title on espionage and counter-espionage in the 16th-century

Published May 31 1986

English Politics After Bosworth

The accession of Henry Tudor to the throne of England in 1485, the Crown had been fought over by the great magnates. When Elizabeth I died 118 years later, the Crown was master over them via the Court with the gentry its willing accomplices. Penry Williams examines the means by which the Tudors achieved this political dominance.

Published August 31 1985

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Lords of the Northern Forest

The Hudson's Bay Company was one of the central forces moulding the development of the vast tracts of land that today are Canada - but as Barry Gough explains here, the circumstances of its launch in 1670 also reveal much about the commercial forces, personalities and rivalries of Restoration England.