Shakespeare & The Dragon: Shakespeare Solved ® Series Volume 1 (Shakespeare Solved® Series) Kindle Edition

The year is 1587.A gathering storm looms on the horizon for the whole country. England will soon face one of its greatest trials in history.Shakespeare's life is relatively peaceful. He is twenty-two years old. He is a married father of three young children, living with his family in Stratford-Upon-Avon.He works as a glove maker with his father and his brothers. He teaches catechism at Holy Trinity Church. He works as a clerk in a Bawdy Court.He has dreams of doing something important, and going on a great adventure. He loves writing, and yet writing is a painful struggle.Little does he know that he already has most of the knowledge and the talent that he will need in his future career. The lessons he learned--making gloves, teaching catechism, and clerking--have everything to do with why he becomes a famous playwright.He is a man of deeply held faith--but it is being tested. He fears for his future, and for the future of his country. He is shocked at how England is torn apart due to the Reformation.England wages war with Spain, with no end to the fighting in sight. England is a small and poor country, a David versus the Goliath that was Spain, the only superpower in the world at the time.Queen Elizabeth is brilliant, but capricious and often bad tempered. To maintain her power, she must rely on very powerful men in her court, who are often uncontrollable.The relative peace in England is shattered when Mary, Queen of Scots is executed--on Queen Elizabeth's orders. The whole world seems to turn upside down.Overcome by fear, Queen Elizabeth loses her grip on her power, and on her own sanity.For the next fifteen years, England will be shaken to its foundations. Queen Elizabeth will face wars and rebellion, political intrigue, acts of treason, mysterious deaths, civil turmoil, and a cultural revolution.She will have a terrible crisis of faith that could spell the end of England.After Mary's death, the most powerful men in Elizabeth's court clash--threatening to tear the country apart.But one young man begins to rise in power and influence--the Earl of Essex.Only twenty-one years old, Essex is strong, handsome and brave. But he is also sad and haunted by the deaths of people he loved--especially his father.He might become one of the most important men in the history of England. He might even become the King of England. But he must keep his wits about him. He must not be too ambitious, or let the weight of his destiny crush him.The news of Mary's death reaches her son, King James of Scotland, and the Pope in Rome. Outraged, they begin to plot revenge against Elizabeth.Most importantly, the news reaches King Philip II of Spain--the single most powerful and feared man in the entire world.He has a very unique view of the world and its history. He believes that he has a divinely appointed purpose--to wage war on the world for as long as it takes to bring peace to the world.He has more money, more ships, more soldiers than any other country, and he controls more territory. It was an empire on which the sun never set.But he could not control England.He must make the most fateful decision of his entire life: Will he send an Armada to conquer England?It is a decision that will forever change the world.Shakespeare will soon have to make his own fateful decision--to leave home.He will begin a journey to London.Little does he know that by the end of the year he will become the most famous and the most mysterious man in England.In Volume 1 of the Shakespeare Solved Series, we meet the most important people at the most important moments in the history of England, in the late 16th Century.No matter what you think you know about these people and these events--this story will surprise you.Volume 2 Coming August 2025 Read more