The Elizabethan Age

trilogy by Rowse

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June 26, 2026

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A.L. Rowse's trilogy, The Elizabethan Age, explores England during Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558–1603). This period, often called a "golden age," saw relative peace and a flourishing of arts and culture, sometimes referred to as the English Renaissance.12

The trilogy's volumes cover:
* The England of Elizabeth: Social structure.1
* The Expansion of Elizabethan England: Overseas exploration.1
* The Elizabethan Renaissance: Cultural achievements.1

Elizabethan literature, a significant part of this era, includes works by prominent writers like William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser. The age also saw English exploration and the beginnings of the triangular trade, involving the transport of enslaved people.32

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A.L. Rowse
…work is the historical trilogy The Elizabethan Age (1950–72). Its three volumes, entitled The England of Elizabeth (1950), The Expansion of Elizabethan England (1955), and The Elizabethan Renaissance (1971–72), respectively treat the social structure, overseas exploration, and cultural attitudes and achievements of England during Elizabeth’s reign.
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…work is the historical trilogy The Elizabethan Age (1950–72). Its three volumes, entitled The England of Elizabeth (1950), The Expansion of Elizabethan England (1955), and The Elizabethan Renaissance (1971–72), respectively treat the social structure, overseas exploration, and cultural attitudes and achievements of England during Elizabeth’s reign.
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