[The Elizabethan Renaissance; The cultural achievement, A L Rowse]
A L Rowse was not a man to keep his opinions to himself; he is quoted as describing 1960’s England as a "Slacker State":

"I don't want to have my money scalped off me to maintain other people's children. I don't like other people; I particularly don't like their children; I deeply disapprove of their proliferation making the globe uninhabitable. The fucking idiots - I don't want to pay for their fucking”.

A L Rowse was an author, historian, biographer, poet and probably self publicist. A man who became deeply misanthropic and was not averse to sharing his opinions; something of this comes across in his otherwise excellent history of the Elizabethan age (Queen Elizabeth I, 1558 - 1603), published in 1972. Fortunately he saw the Elizabethan age as a golden age and his passion for and knowledge of his subject ranks with the two historians Jacob Burckhardt and J H Huizinga to whom he inscribes the frontispiece of his book (although of course they were historians of an earlier era).

The cultural achievement is the third part of Rowse’s trilogy of books on the Elizabethan age. It covers Drama (particularly the importance of Shakespeare), language literature and society, words and music, Architecture and Sculpture, Painting, domestic arts, science and society, nature and medicine and mind and spirit (religion). There is an epilogue which attempts to place the Elizabethan age in perspective, that is perspective with the rest of Europe and succeeding ages.

Rowse’s forthright opinions and his ability to make his history lively are a feature of this book, together with his in depth knowledge of the period. If you are looking to read a historian that presents various shades of grey then this is not it. A L Rowse certainly has his heroes; Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Hariot, Sir Philip Sydney and the Queen herself, but this is tempered with realistic portraits and an assessment of their impact on their society.

Rowse on George Chapman (Elizabethan dramatist, translator and poet):

Chapman reacted into an obscure intellectualism, which he justified by regarding himself as a superior spirit, with a hatred of the common man, and this he expressed obsessively……. The public reacted by never demanding a second edition of his books……. Others have seen in this strangulated poet the rival poet of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Such people have no sense of literature, and should get out of the field.

Rowse’s call for other critics, who do not agree with him to “get out of the field” is typical of his attitude, he is not above referring to such historians/writers as idiots and perhaps he has more in common with the Elizabethan poet George Chapman than he would have cared to believe.

I am sure there are more balanced histories of the Elizabethan era, but they may not be able to match Rowse’s peerless knowledge, or his passion for his subject. Perhaps we can mention his name in the same breath as Burckhardt and Huizinga and so I rate this as 4 stars. ( )