This fascinating three-volume set by John A. Wagner and Susan Walters Schmid contains 900 captivating entries covering people, events, terms, ideas, and institutions relating to the Tudor era. Its scope spans the entire Tudor period (1485–1603), with coverage of influences from the pre-Tudor age and the Jacobean period (after 1603). The set’s geographic reach extends to the British Isles, America, Asia, Russia, and the most important states of continental Europe.

Of the 900 entries, 750 are revised and updated from two earlier works—The Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World (1999) and Bosworth Field to Bloody Mary (2003), also published by ABC-Clio—with the inclusion of 150 new entries. This updated reference set offers the reader an exhaustive overview of a vibrant period and its motley cast of personalities. It is truly a pleasure to casually wade through the volumes and discover an entertaining story or a provocative figure.

This enhanced reference set begins with a “List of Entries” and a “Guide to Related Topics” which list related entries under 25 broad topics, such as “Arts and Science,” “Court and Courtiers,” and “Royal Residences.” It also provides an extensive chronology and maps of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and London. The entries in the encyclopedia are concise and clearly written, averaging 600–700 words, and provide a well-rounded introduction for its intended audience: high school and college students and general readers. Each entry includes multiple bold-faced cross-references to corresponding entries and ends with a recommended bibliography of scholarly and popular titles.

At the end of the encyclopedia the editors generously provide the reader with an extraordinary nine appendixes presenting a potpourri of period information: genealogies; lists of monarchs, bishops, popes, and speakers of Parliament; chronologies of rebellions, uprisings and battles of the Tudor period; an annotated bibliography of historical novels, films, and television programs set during the Tudor period; websites; and an extensive bibliography and index.

Although The Encyclopedia of Tudor England is a stellar reference source, libraries that already own the reference title Tudor England: An Encyclopedia (Garland, 2001) may find the new work to be redundant and may consider it an optional purchase. Recommended for public libraries and academic collections.