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entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
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by erin thursby
scopes1925@msn.com
Queen Elizabeth’s reign was so complex that her time as queen has been handled from many different perspectives, some religious, some romantic (as she fended off marriage) and many others. The Pirate Queen by Susan Ronald is a non-fiction account of Queen Elizabeth and her use of merchant adventurers, men of fortune and outright pirates to build her realm, laying the foundations for the British Empire.
The detailed narrative covers not just the highlights of history, but delves into historical characters that may not make most history books, but were nonetheless important to the political landscape of the time.
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We find men such as John Hawkins, the adventurer whose pirating ways and financial success paved the way for the brilliant Sir Francis Drake. Even once Hawkins steps back from directly adventuring, he looms large in history as a financial backer.
Elizabeth’s kingdom needed money and these “gentlemen of fortune” could provide her with the booty she needed, taking a percentage of spoils even as she denied giving these pirates her permission to sack cities and raid ships. Best of all, these raids “annoyed the King of Spain” stripping him of his treasure train from the Americas.
Watching Elizabeth’s political maneuverings is almost as thrilling as reading about Drake taking on the Spanish Armanda. Her “answerless answers” and outright lies seem to be the model most modern politicians follow. You might say that she was the first politician. It’s easy to see why Phillip II of Spain painted her as a villainess, and yet, only her wily politicking, “waging peace as if it were war” could have kept England together at the time.
The book is bound to be confused with a musical of the same name, set during Elizabeth’s lifetime (her orders actually figure into the plot of the thing). In the musical, the Pirate Queen refers to a completely different woman, a real Irish pirate.
Elizabeth, though history doesn’t record her as having done any pirating directly, was dubbed “the pirate queen” by her nemesis Phillip II. That was among other, not-so-pleasant names designed to show the ire of the Pope and other international critics.
Despite the book’s pirate focus, religion does, inevitably creep in. It has to. This was a period of time in which battle lines and sides were determined by Catholicism or Protestantism. To be English meant that one was a Protestant. The threats to Elizabeth’s reign and the twenty assassination attempts came from the Catholics of the world, who wanted Elizabeth’s crown to go to her famously Catholic sister, Mary Queen of Scots. Considering all the trouble Catholics gave her, Elizabeth was remarkably tolerant.
Elizabeth manages to keep England in a state of near war with Spain until she is forced to sign off on Mary’s death, which throws the Catholic world into an uproar and compels Philip to finally act.
Ronald’s accounts of the seaborne battles, wherein the nimble ships of the English dance around the slower Armada, makes for thrilling reading. One can see why Francis Drake was a national hero, and how pamphleteers made a mint by selling short accounts of his exploits to the country.
Ronald doesn’t miss the chance to lay out the exact amounts of vast treasure confiscated in war, by raids or by taking ships. The numbers, and their modern equivalent, will crystallize the importance of these pirates to her reign. Indeed, without these nationally sanctioned pirates, Elizabeth would have had to outfit a much larger dedicated navy. Instead, she simply called upon these pirates to do their duty for their country after receiving her financial backing. While they may not have always strictly followed orders, they proved to be more cunning and bloodthirsty than their Spanish counterparts, earning the English a well-deserved reputation for villainy on the high seas.
All in all, the book is a well researched look at the time, when pirating was a legitimate career in England. It’s a dense and satisfying read for those who enjoy unearthing little-known but crucial factors in history.
Susan Ronald has penned a number of historical accounts, including the revered Sauncy Blood Diamond. While she was born in California, she’s lived most of her life on European soil and has been in England for over twenty years. Immersing herself in original sources, she delves deeply into history, giving us a sense of the characters and personalities who shaped history. She’s currently working on The Heretic Queen, which examines the religious angle of Elizabeth’s reign. She, like her father before her, was famously excommunicated and the political landscape was marked by loyalties for or against the Catholic Church. For more information on Ronald’s writing career, projects in progress and general life, take a look at her website, susanronald.com.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
