The Pirate Queen

<p><strong>A highly colorful swashbuckling read one that will give you new respect for Britain's first Elizabeth. --<em>Seattle Times</em></strong></p><p><strong>An illuminating revisionist biography about Queen Elizabeth I and her merchant-adventurers who terrorized the seas extended the Empire and amassed great wealth for the throne.</strong></p><p>Extravagant whimsical and hot-tempered Elizabeth was the epitome of power both feared and admired by her enemies. Dubbed the pirate queen by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II she employed a network of daring merchants brazen adventurers astronomer philosophers and her stalwart Privy Council to anchor her throne--and in doing so planted the seedlings of an empire that would ultimately cover two-fifths of the world.</p><p>In <em>The Pirate Queen</em> historian Susan Ronald offers a fresh look at Elizabeth I relying on a wealth of historical sources and thousands of the queen's personal letters to tell the thrilling story of a visionary monarch and the swashbuckling mariners who terrorized the seas to amass great wealth for themselves and the Crown.</p>