Book Review: “In Search of a Kingdom” by Laurence Bergreen

In Search of a Kingdom by Laurence Bergreen

Despite the title, this book is mostly about Frances Drake—Queen Bess gets only a supporting role.  Tsk.

Still, it’s an interesting story, to say the least.  Piracy! Exploration! Mutiny! More Piracy! Raids on Spain!  The Spanish Armada!  Drake was a busy guy.

As Bergreen tells it Drake’s circumnavigation and pirate campaign single-handedly saved England with an infusion of enough stolen loot to pay off the national debt and run the country for a while.  This also saved Elizabeth from the necessity of marrying a French prince, which would have ended her sovereignty, and likely converted England back to Catholicism.

Of course, looting of this magnitude did annoy the victims, especially the Spanish king. Despite Elizabeth’s ingenuous denial of responsibility, this led more or less directly to war.  So, in this version, it looks like Drake caused the invasion by the Spanish Armada, and then defeated it, with a bit of looting in the process, of course.

The English victory is famous and has been a cultural touchstone since the time.  But at the time, it was an ambiguous and uncertain victory, and was followed by a series blunders and defeats.

Drake’s circumnavigation was also ambiguous. The result was a brilliant and astonishing feat of exploration, only the second recorded circumnavigation, and far faster and better run than Magellan’s disaster. 

But the whole trip basically a long, audacious, improvised pirate raid.  A very successful operation, but mostly criminal.

What about Elizabeth?  Bergeen sees her as a troubled and vacillating woman, not to mention deceptive and dishonest.  She was also paranoid, with really good reason.  It was no picnic trying to serve her–you could be hauled up for treason at any moment.

She liked Drake, and she really liked the cash he produced.  Drakes virulent anti Catholicism was amenable to ER I, though his pirate heart was hard to trust. 

Through out the book, we see these two sticky-fingered SOBs having trouble trusting each other to divide the spoils fairly.

Bergreen gives us some glimpses of the psychology of this amazing man.  Drake seemed only at home when he was at sea—a captain in total, absolute, command of his own destiny.  The rest of his life was unremarkable.  As mayor or Plymouth and MP, he did no more than show up.  At sea, he was a terrible leader when cooperation and coordination was needed. But when he struck out on his own raid voyage, he was the best pirate captain of his day, possibly of all time.

One of the more interesting parts of the story is how Drake seemed to get along with people, including captured enemies and natives he encountered and lived among.  Remarkable, for his time, indeed, for any time. Even more remarkable, given how poorly he got along with many Englishmen. 

In part, this may reflect his total self-centered confidence.  Maybe it is easy to get along with the natives if you truly believe yourself to be a king.

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1. Laurence Bergreen, In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire, New York, HarperCollins, 2021.

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