"From 1547 to 1558 the Crown of England was held first by a minor and then by the country's first Queen Regnant: Mary. It was Mary who shaped many of the conventions which Elizabeth then exploited, and she gets far too little credit for that. Intrigue and Treason shows how Elizabeth, in fact, deliberately set out to destroy her sister's reputation." "The mid-Tudor court remains relatively unknown, yet it was a critical age for the monarchy and the state. Intrigue and Treason uncovers the politics and culture, the strategies and entertainments of this period."--BOOK JACKET.