The source from which each quotation is taken will in many cases be clear from the text or the Bibliography. Where a quote is unattributed, it will in every case have been drawn from one of the many collections of contemporary documents, the chief of which are:
Acts of the Privy Council
Archaeologia
Calendar of the MSS at Hatfield House
Calendar of the MSS at Longleat
Calendars of State Papers, Foreign and Domestic
The Cecil Papers
Collection of State Papers relating to the Reign of Elizabeth, edited by William Murdin
The Devereux Papers
The Dudley Papers
The Egerton Papers
Simonds D'Ewes: Journals of all the Parliaments during the Reign of Queen- Elizabeth
N. Fourdinier: Amy Robsart
Lives and Letters of the Devereux Earls of Essex
Memoirs of the Reign of Elizabeth, edited by Thomas Birch
Sir Robert Naunton: Fragmenta Regalia
Original letters: several collections
Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council
Progresses and Public Processions of Elizabeth I, edited by . Nichols
Queen Elizabeth and Some Foreigners, edited by Victor von Klarwill
Queen Elizabeth and her Times, edited by Thomas Wright
The Rolls of Parliament
I. Rymer: Foedera
The Sidney Papers
State Papers: various collections
Full details of these and the many other works consulted are listed in the Bibliography