Elizabethan Archives - Aspects of History

Robert Poley: ‘Genius of the Underworld’

The Elizabethan spy and double agent emerges from the shadows of history in the author's recent series that reimagine his involvement in the Babington Plot, Essex’s rebellion and the mysterious death of Christopher Marlowe.

Peter Tonkin

The central character in Shadow of the Axeand the five Queen's Intelligencer novels that follow it* is Robert Poley. Like many of the other characters in the books, including especially Elizabeth’s darling, the Earl of Essex, Robert Poley does make an appearance in...

Fiction Book of the Month: Peter Tonkin on Shadow of the Axe

The author discusses his lifelong fascination with Elizabethan England, the real-life Robert Poley behind the Queen’s Intelligencer series, and the difficulties of transforming a morally ambiguous historical spy into a compelling fictional character

Peter Tonkin

What attracted you to the time and place you write about? I wrote a minor thesis on the influence of traditional English drama on Shakespeare for my BA then expanded it for my MA. Shakespeare’s times have fascinated me ever since, in terms of the drama, the setting,...

Shadow of A Queen

The exiled queen's presence in England set in motion a deadly game of faith, power, and espionage that would define Elizabeth’s reign.

Peter Tonkin

Shadow of A Queen As I am by no means the first to observe, history, like hindsight, tends to be 20/20 vision. We know how things turned out in the end and we often assume that this was the way they were meant to be - whereas of course the men and women actually...