The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty

Tracy Borman's The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit, and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty is an ideal read for anyone with a layperson's interest in Tudor history. It's focused on the actual end of the Tudor dynasty and the beginning of the Jacobean. I've read a number of biographies of Elizabeth I and this historical moment is generally reported along the lines of "Elizabeth stopped talking and lay on her death bed, but managed through a gesture to convey her determination that James VI should be the next King of England, becoming James VI and I."

There's always a bit of speculation about whether Elizabeth's gesture actually meant this or if her counsellors chose to see this because they were committed to putting a man on the throne, and show more he was the best available candidate.

Borman complicates the Tudor to Jacobean story in several ways:

• Borman goes into detail about the decades James spent trying to persuade Elizabeth to name him her heir, the voluminous correspondence, and the way Elizabeth refused to name James in advance.

• Borman also explores the different figures in Elizabeth's court who he communicated with and tried to win to his side, particularly once it became clear that Elizabeth's death was immanent.

• Borman considers the role gender played in all this political maneuvering. Elizabeth was determined not to name an heir so that there was no candidate others could embrace while she lived. Her counsellors, frustrated with Elizabeth's style of rule wanted a return to "normal," and normal meant male and regal, so who better than a man who was already a king? The general populace dreaded going through another reign by a woman who might or might not ever bear children—and, not surprisingly, they were also hungry for "normal."

What readers come to appreciate that the story of the naming of James as an heir began long before Elizabeth was on her deathbed and was continuously pursued by James himself.

Borman is clear about her sources, and the book comes with an excellent bibliography.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title; the opinions are my own. show less