Heretic Queen: Queen Elizabeth and the Wars of Religion

By Susan Ronald

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When Elizabeth I came to the throne, it was to reign over a country deeply divided by religion and still reeling from the Marian religious persecutions. In Heretic Queen, Susan Ronald tells the story of Elizabeth’s attempt to find a middle ground between religious extremes.

This is a well-written, fast-paced account, in which due attention is given to the international situation as well. Those wishing to use the book as a reference source, however, may be disappointed, for while Ronald does include end notes, they are not abundant as they might have been. This means that the reader is left to puzzle out the source of some assertions, such as Ronald’s claim that over 25 percent of Tudor children were born dwarfish and misshapen. For the general reader not concerned with such niceties, however, this is an absorbing read.