All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil

Alford's book "All His Spies" provides a compelling portrait of Robert Cecil, a pivotal figure in Elizabethan and Jacobean politics, and his spy network. It delves into the dangerous, gritty, and on-a-knife-edge turn-of-century England, showcasing Cecil's skills in managing the succession, warding off threats, and steering monarchs. The book offers an engaging and original perspective on a tumultuous period in English history, highlighting Cecil's determination, espionage network, and luck in keeping England uninvaded and creating a lasting British monarchy.

Format: Hardback
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 04 July 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Alford triumphs in recreating the historical moment, immersing himself in Cecil's vast archive to draw the reader deep into his working environment, capturing the closeness of his study and the chaos of the court. This is turn-of-century England as it really was—dangerous, gritty, and on a knife edge.

The Times praises A compelling portrait of a pivotal, yet often neglected, figure in Elizabethan and Jacobean politics. Alford's account of Robert Cecil and his spy network bristles with narrative energy and succinctly wise judgment.

Peter Marshall hails From the acclaimed author of The Watchers, the untold story of Robert Cecil—the ultimate Tudor spy-master. Robert Cecil, statesman and spymaster, lived through an astonishingly threatening period in English history. Queen Elizabeth had no clear successor, and enemies both external and internal threatened to destroy England as a Protestant state, most spectacularly with the Spanish Armada and the Gunpowder Plot.

Cecil stood at the heart of the Tudor and then Stuart state, a vital figure in managing the succession from Elizabeth I to James I & VI, warding off military and religious threats, and steering the decisions of two very different but equally wilful and hard-to-manage monarchs. The promising son of Queen Elizabeth's chief minister, Lord Burghley, for Cecil, there was no choice but politics, and he became supremely skilled in the arts of power, making many rivals and enemies.

All His Spies is a wonderfully engaging and original work of history. Many readers are familiar with the great events of this tumultuous time, but All His Spies shows how easily these dramas could have turned out very differently. Cecil's sureness of purpose, his espionage network, and good luck all conspired to keep England uninvaded.

Weight: 708g
Dimension: 240 x 163 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780241423479