This is the first full-length biography of a pillar of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean state. A devoted servant of the Queen, Popham played a prominent part as her Attorney-General and Lord Chief Justice in the famous trials of Essex and Ralegh. He condemned to death the Gunpowder Plotters, and acquired a reputation as a severe judge. Enterprising and practical, he promoted attempts to settle Englishmen in Ireland and to drain the Fens of Cambridgeshire. Popham's final achievement was to establish the Virginia Company and send out an expedition that set afoot the first English colony in New England. Sir John was not only important but also notorious, becoming a legendary bogeyman in popular imagination. Accounts written hitherto have focused on that aspect, but this book aims to give a balanced account, giving credit to Popham as a visionary statesman and creative entrepreneur at the very center of English government. This book is thoroughly illustrated.