In Search of a Kingdom

January 1, 2021
Upon Elizabeth I's accession to the throne, England was a poor country, insular, and deeply divided on matters of religion. But it was also the dawn of the age of exploration, and England had in Francis Drake a bold, skilled, and crafty seaman. Drake determined to circumnavigate the globe and outdo Magellan. Spain had already established a lucrative business in Central and South America, but they lacked a strong enough naval force to protect their treasure ships. Drake took advantage of this and raided Spanish ships and ports, making off with tons of booty. Spain loudly protested such blatant piracy, conveniently forgetting that they had themselves stolen it from America's Indigenous peoples. Returning after his nearly three-year voyage, Drake made England rich almost overnight. When Spain tried to retrieve its wealth and overthrow Elizabeth, she summoned Drake, whose naval prowess defeated the Spanish Armada with no little assistance from the English Channel's tempestuous weather. Drake thus laid the foundations of the nascent British Empire. With a keen sense of adventure and a sharp grasp of personalities on sea and land, Bergreen (Over the Edge of the World, 2008) details Drake's round-the-world adventures as well as political intrigues and mutinous sailors. Includes maps and bibliography.

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January 22, 2021

Bergreen (Casanova: The World of a Seductive Genius), who followed the tragic course of Ferdinand Magellan's around-the-world voyage in his bestselling Over the Edge of the World, now tells the story of another circumnavigation, this one undertaken by English pirate Francis Drake. Unlike Magellan, Drake survived his journey, returning to England with a fortune in gold and other valuable goods looted from the ships of England's arch-nemesis, Spain. Bergreen shows how Drake's successful piracy proved crucial to the survival of the cash-strapped reign of Elizabeth I, who unofficially endorsed Drake's raids on Spanish shipping and territories. The exploits of El Draque (The Dragon, as he was known to Spanish sailors) proved pivotal in encouraging England's command of the seas and imperial ambitions, though personal profit was of more importance to Drake than selfless patriotism. Elizabeth is as much a force in the narrative as Drake, with Bergreen recounting the machinations of her court to give full historical context to Drake's marauding. Unfortunately, the book as a whole is marred by inconsistencies in chronology and repetitions that detract from an otherwise compelling story. VERDICT An intriguing-but-flawed exploration of an often-overlooked aspect of Elizabethan history.--Sara Shreve, Newton, KS

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Starred review from February 1, 2021
The swashbuckling life and times of the explorer who achieved what Magellan could not--and made England's fortune in the process. In his latest wide-ranging work, Bergreen, who has written biographies of Columbus, Marco Polo, Magellan, Casanova, and others, trains his well-honed historical eye on Francis Drake (circa 1540-1596). A Protestant preacher's son who cut his teeth on slaver ships (under his cousin John Hawkins) and decided that accumulating booty from the Spanish was his preferred trade, Drake took off from Plymouth in 1577 with a small fleet and the tacit approval of Queen Elizabeth I to drive the Spanish from mineral-rich regions of South America and beyond. Demonstrating his deep knowledge of the era, the author energetically recounts Drake's action-packed journey, which included a near mutiny and the execution of the ringleader. In 1580, Drake returned along with a handful of survivors, having successfully circumnavigated the globe, a feat that Magellan, murdered in the Philippines, was unable to accomplish. Drake also delivered a staggering amount of gold and jewels, which, Bergreen shows, essentially saved the queen from an ill-suited marriage to a French duke, bolstered the state's woeful finances, and allowed her to build up the English navy in preparation for the eventual invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588. Drake's success allowed England to challenge the seemingly invincible Spanish empire for the first time--and begin to establish its own. "For Elizabeth," writes the author, "the expedition was a challenge to the global order, which ranked Spain dominant and England a second-rate island kingdom." The narrative is long but never boring, as Bergreen masterly portrays the principal characters in this drama: the relentless, arrogant Drake; the cautious, cunning Elizabeth; and the mortified Spanish king, Philip II, and his spy in London, Bernardino de Mendoza, who informed his liege of Drake's every outrageous move. A smooth, dramatic, and well-fleshed world history perfect for library collections.

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