Ruled Britannia

Ruled Britannia is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, published in 2002. It won the Sidewise Award for 2002.

It is set in the year 1597, in an alternate universe where the Spanish Armada was successful. The Kingdom of England (and nominally the whole of Britain) has been conquered and converted to Catholicism under the rule of Queen Isabella, daughter of Philip II of Spain. Queen Elizabeth is imprisoned within the Tower of London as her fellow Protestants are burned as heretics by the Spanish 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 including contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Richard Burbage.