Ruled Britannia
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| Author | Harry Turtledove |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate History, Novel |
| Publisher | New American Library |
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Publication date
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2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 464 pp (hardcover) |
| ISBN | (hardcover edition) & (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 49320560 |
Ruled Britannia is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, first published in hardcover by New American Library in 2002.
The book is set in the years 1597-1598, in an alternate universe where the Spanish Armada is successful in 1588. The Kingdom of England has been conquered and returned to the fold of the Roman Catholic Church under the rule of Queen Isabella, daughter of Philip II of Spain. Queen Elizabeth is deposed and is imprisoned within the Tower of London as her fellow Protestants are burned as heretics by the English Inquisition.
The story is seen from the point of view of two famous playwrights: English poet William Shakespeare, and Spanish poet Lope de Vega; supporting characters include contemporaries Christopher Marlowe, Richard Burbage, and Will Kempe.
Shakespeare, actor and renowned playwright, is contacted by Nicholas Skeres on behalf of members of an underground resistance movement who are plotting to overthrow the Spanish dominion of England and restore Elizabeth I to the throne. To do this, they employ Shakespeare himself, tasking him to write a play depicting the saga of Boudicca, an ancient Iceni queen who rebelled against the Roman invasion of Great Britain in the 1st century A.D. The conspirators hope that the play will inspire its audience, Britons once again under the heel of a foreign enemy, to overthrow the Spanish.
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