Prologue - new worlds, lost worlds; rather feared than loved -Henry VII and his dominions, 1485-1509; family and friends -religion and society in early Tudor England; ways to reform - the challenge to the church; imperium - Henry VIII and the Reformation in England, 1509-47; bearing rule - the governors and the governed; rebuilding the temple - the reigns of Edward VI (1547-53) and Mary (1553-8); "perils many, great and imminent" - the challenge of securing peace, 1558-70; wars of religion - churches militant in England, Ireland and Europe, 1570-84; the enterprise of England - new world ventures and the coming of war with Spain in the 1580s; the theatre of God's judgements - Elizabethan world views; court and camp - the last years of Elizabeth's reign; epilogue - lost worlds, new worlds.
No period in British history has more resonance and mystery today than the sixteenth century. New Worlds, Lost Worlds brings the atmosphere and events of this great epoch to life. Exploring the underlying religious motivations for the savage violence and turbulence of the period-from Henry VIII's break with Rome to the overwhelming threat of the Spanish Armada-Susan Brigden investigates the actions and influences of such near-mythical figures as Elizabeth I, Thomas More, Bloody Mary, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Authoritative and accessible, New Worlds, Lost Worlds, the latest in the Penguin History of Britain series, provides a superb introduction to one of the most important, compelling, and intriguing periods in the history of the Western world.