The events of 1601-1603 (and the gunpowder plot of 1605) ensured that England remained protestant and consciously anti-catholic, in a state that was determinedly in favour of the civil control of church matters. The main issue of the period turned on the transition from Tudor to Stuart rule, with the enthronement of James VI and I, rather than the problematic Arbella Stuart (Whose case is also treated in the pages of this book). Like his volume on earlier plots in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Plots and plotters in the reign of Elizabeth I (Dublin, 2002), Francis Edwards' new study draws heavily on archival records, immersing his reader in a world of espionage, interrogation and intrigue.