I have titled this study William Camden – A Life in Context to suggest a wider scope for it than simply a biographical narrative of his life as we know it and think it might have been. Camden, the author of the Britannia and first biographer of Elizabeth, educator, herald, poet, and antiquarian, became for future generations and for many in his own life time, the chronicler of Britain in the age of Elizabeth. The Annals of Elizabeth calls attention to the dialogic between the courts of Elizabeth and James I and creates a complex tapestry of Britain's emergence as a major Protestant player in the European political arena. The Britannia evokes a united Britain having an established place in the international history of Europe, and implicitly lends support to one of James's first acts as king. These two, his most famous works, became landmarks of his generation; as literary products of the man and his generation, they provide windows on the social and intellectual landscape of post-Reformation England, especially from the early restoration of reform under Edward VI, through the stabilization of the realm under Elizabeth, and the redefinition of the monarchy under James.

But Camden was greater than the sum of his parts. More than just the national landscape artist and royal portraitist, he and his work capture and also contribute to the subtle changes taking place in the intellectual and political milieu of England and London from Elizabeth's accession through most of James's reign. Camden’s place in this process is that of chronicler, witness, and participant, rather than analyst.