The Peter Pan of English monarchy Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of 15. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use the child to further their own ends, but who were also playing a long game—assuming that Edward would long outlive them and become as commanding a figure as his father had been. Stephen Alford's wonderful book gives full play to the murky, sinister nature of Edward's reign, but is also a poignant account of a boy learning to rule, to enjoy his growing power, and to come out of the shadows of the great aristocrats around him. England's last child monarch, Edward would have led his country in a quite different direction to the catastrophic one caused by his death.

Edward VI: The Last Boy King (Penguin Monarchs)

Biographies & Memoirs

Alford, Stephen

Historical

Allen Lane.

'Consistently illuminating ... Like all the best stories, it is about the timeless tides of power and influence ... trade deals can sometimes be sexy, thrilling and epic' Sinclair McKay, Spectator
Life in Europe was fundamentally changed in the 16th century by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. To start with England was hardly involved and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened.
Stephen Alford's evocative, original and fascinating new book uses the same skills that made his widely praised The Watchers so successful, bringing to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks and sailors who changed London forever. In a sudden explosion of energy English ships were suddenly found all over the world - trading with Russia and the Levant, exploring Virginia and the Arctic, and fanning out across the Indian Ocean. 
London's Triumph is above all about the people who made this possible - the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic and desirable. Their ambitions fuelled a new view of the world - initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which we still live with today.

London's Triumph: Merchant Adventurers and the Tudor City

Reference

Penguin

The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback
Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of fifteen. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use the child to further their own ends, but who were also playing a long game - assuming that Edward would long outlive them and become as commanding a figure as his father had been. 
Stephen Alford's wonderful book gives full play to the murky, sinister nature of Edward's reign, but is also a poignant account of a boy learning to rule, learning to enjoy his growing power and to come out of the shadows of the great aristocrats around him. England's last child monarch, Edward would have led his country in a quite different direction to the catastrophic one caused by his death.

Edward VI (Penguin Monarchs)

Penguin Uk

William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520–1598), was the closest adviser to England’s Queen Elizabeth I and—as this revealing and provocative biography shows—he was the driving force behind the Queen's reign for four decades. Cecil’s impact on the development of the English state was deep and personal. A committed Protestant, he guided domestic and foreign affairs with the confidence of his religious conviction. Believing himself the divinely instigated protector of his monarch, he felt able to disobey her direct commands. He was uncompromising, obsessive, and supremely self-assured—a cunning politician as well as a consummate servant.
This comprehensive biography gives proper weight to Cecil's formative years, his subtle navigation of the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, his lifelong enmity with Mary Queen of Scots, and his obsession with family dynasty. It also provides a fresh account of Elizabeth I and her reign, uncovering limitations and concerns about invasions, succession, and conspiracy. Intimate, authoritative, and enormously readable, this book redefines our understanding of the Elizabethan period.

Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I

Yale University Press

The first modern biography of the most powerful politician in late Tudor England William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520–1598), was the closest adviser to England’s Queen Elizabeth I and—as this revealing and provocative biography shows—he was the driving force behind the Queen's reign for four decades. Cecil’s impact on the development of the English state was deep and personal. A committed Protestant, he guided domestic and foreign affairs with the confidence of his religious conviction. Believing himself the divinely instigated protector of his monarch, he felt able to disobey her direct commands. He was uncompromising, obsessive, and supremely self-assured—a cunning politician as well as a consummate servant.
This comprehensive biography gives proper weight to Cecil's formative years, his subtle navigation of the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, his lifelong enmity with Mary Queen of Scots, and his obsession with family dynasty. It also provides a fresh account of Elizabeth I and her reign, uncovering limitations and concerns about invasions, succession, and conspiracy. Intimate, authoritative, and enormously readable, this book redefines our understanding of the Elizabethan period.

This book is a reconstruction of the kingship and politics of the third Tudor king of England, Edward VI (born 1537), who reigned between 1547 (from the age of nine) until his death in 1553. The reign has often been interpreted as a period of political instability, mainly because of the king's age. This book explores how the reign was remarkably stable; and also how, during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) the Edwardian idea of what it was to be a monarch--and many of the same men who had served Edward VI as councillors and courtiers--dominated Tudor politics.

Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI

History

Europe

Cambridge University Press

Traditionally historians have argued that the court of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was factional, divided among competing subjects who were manipulated by their Queen. This book provides a different account: of councilors who were united by two connected dangers, namely Catholic opposition to Protestant England and Elizabeth's refusal to marry or to settle England's succession. Working from the papers of the Queen's secretary, William Cecil, the author has set this crisis in the context of events in Scotland, Ireland and mainland Europe, and has explored fully the long-term political impact of this succession crisis in the 1560s.

The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558–1569 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)

The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)

In a Europe aflame with wars of religion and dynastic conflicts, Elizabeth I came to the throne of a realm encircled by menace. To the great Catholic powers of France and Spain, England was a heretic pariah state, a canker to be cut away for the health of the greater body of Christendom. Elizabeth's government, defending God's true Church of England and its leader, the queen, could stop at nothing to defend itself.
Headed by the brilliant, enigmatic, and widely feared Sir Francis Walsingham, the Elizabethan state deployed every dark art: spies, double agents, cryptography, and torture. Delving deeply into sixteenth-century archives, Stephen Alford offers a groundbreaking, chillingly vivid depiction of Elizabethan espionage, literally recovering it from the shadows. In his company we follow Her Majesty's agents through the streets of London and Rome, and into the dank cells of the Tower. We see the world as they saw it-ever unsure who could be trusted or when the fatal knock on their own door might come. The Watchers is a riveting exploration of loyalty, faith, betrayal, and deception with the highest possible stakes, in a world poised between the Middle Ages and modernity.

The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I

Bloomsbury Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alford, Stephen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Alford, Stephen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alford, Stephen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Edward VI: The Last Boy King (Penguin Monarchs)

London's Triumph: Merchant Adventurers and the Tudor City

Edward VI (Penguin Monarchs)

Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I

Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I

Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI

The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558–1569 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)

Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI

The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)

The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I