Royal Genealogy in the Age of Shakespeare

First full-length investigation of Elizabethan and Jacobean genealogy, showing how it could be manipulated to legitimise - and oppose. Shakespeare lived in an age when royal genealogy mattered. Queen Elizabeth succeeded her father despite accusations of illegitimacy after Anne Boleyn's beheading. As she defied suitors and potential spouses, and refused not only to produce but even to nominate an heir, factions arose siding with the numerous candidates, particularly Mary Queen of Scots. When, upo