Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and
Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The
Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last
monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch - was born at Greenwich on 7
September 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Her
early life was full of uncertainties, and her chances of succeeding to the
throne seemed very slight once her half-brother Edward was born in 1537. She was
then third in line behind her Roman Catholic half-sister, Princess Mary. Roman
Catholics, indeed, always considered her illegitimate and she only narrowly
escaped execution in the wake of a failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554.
Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister's death possibly from
cancer in November 1558. She was very well-educated (fluent in six languages),
and had inherited intelligence, determination and shrewdness from both parents.
Her 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English
history. During it a secure Church of England was established. Its doctrines
were laid down in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism. Elizabeth herself refused to 'make windows into
men's souls ... there is only one Jesus Christ and all the rest is a dispute
over trifles'; she asked for outward uniformity. Most of her subjects accepted
the compromise as the basis of their faith, and her church settlement probably
saved England from religious wars like those which France suffered in the second
half of the 16th century.
Although autocratic and capricious, Elizabeth had astute political judgment
and chose her ministers well; these included Burghley (Secretary of State),
Hatton (Lord Chancellor) and Walsingham (in charge of intelligence and also a
Secretary of State). Overall Elizabeth's administration consisted of some 600
officials administering the great offices of state, and a similar number dealing
with the Crown lands (which funded the administrative costs). Social and
economic regulation and law and order remained in the hands of the sheriffs at
local level, supported by unpaid justices of the peace.
Elizabeth's reign also saw many brave voyages of discovery, including those
of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert, particularly to the
Americas. These expeditions prepared England for an age of colonisation and
trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognised by establishing the East
India Company in 1600.
The arts flourished during Elizabeth's reign. Country houses such as Longleat
and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high point,
theatres thrived - the Queen attended the first performance of Shakespeare's A
Midsummer Night's Dream. The image of Elizabeth's reign is one of triumph
and success. The Queen herself was often called 'Gloriana', 'Good Queen Bess'
and 'The Virgin Queen'. Investing in expensive clothes and jewellery (to look
the part, like all contemporary sovereigns), she cultivated this image by
touring the country in regional visits known as 'progresses', often riding on
horseback rather than by carriage. Elizabeth made at least 25 progresses during
her reign.
However, Elizabeth's reign was one of considerable danger and difficulty for
many, with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France
through Scotland. Much of northern England was in rebellion in 1569-70. A papal
bull of 1570 specifically released Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance,
and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots against her life
were discovered. One such plot involved Mary, Queen of Scots, who had fled to
England in 1568 after her second husband's murder and her subsequent marriage to
a man believed to have been involved in his murder. As a likely successor to
Elizabeth, Mary spent 19 years as Elizabeth's prisoner because Mary was the
focus for rebellion and possible assassination plots, such as the Babington Plot
of 1586. Mary was also a temptation for potential invaders such as Philip II. In
a letter of 1586 to Mary, Elizabeth wrote, 'You have planned ... to take my life
and ruin my kingdom ... I never proceeded so harshly against you.' Despite
Elizabeth's reluctance to take drastic action, on the insistence of Parliament
and her advisers, Mary was tried, found guilty and executed in 1587.
In 1588, aided by bad weather, the English navy scored a great victory over
the Spanish invasion fleet of around 130 ships - the 'Armada'. The Armada
was intended to overthrow the Queen and re-establish Roman Catholicism by
conquest, as Philip II believed he had a claim to the English throne through his
marriage to Mary.
During Elizabeth's long reign, the nation also suffered from high prices and
severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s. The
war against Spain was not very successful after the Armada had been beaten and,
together with other campaigns, it was very costly. Though she kept a tight rein
on government expenditure, Elizabeth left large debts to her successor. Wars
during Elizabeth's reign are estimated to have cost over £5 million (at the
prices of the time) which Crown revenues could not match - in 1588, for example,
Elizabeth's total annual revenue amounted to some £392,000. Despite the
combination of financial strains and prolonged war after 1588, Parliament was
not summoned more often. There were only 16 sittings of the Commons during
Elizabeth's reign, five of which were in the period 1588-1601. Although
Elizabeth freely used her power to veto legislation, she avoided confrontation
and did not attempt to define Parliament's constitutional position and rights.
Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would
have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her
sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could
have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage
prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies. However, the
'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal
happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, 'married'.
Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called 'Golden Speech' of
1601 when she told MPs: 'There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price,
which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.' She seems to have been very
popular with the vast majority of her subjects.
Overall, Elizabeth's always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive leadership
brought successes during a period of great danger both at home and abroad. She
died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, having become a legend in her
lifetime. The date of her accession was a national holiday for two hundred
years." -- Text by: Historic
Royal Profiles
A
History of England from the
Defeat of the Armada to the Death of Elizabeth
By Edward Potts Cheyney
Published by Longmans, Green, and co., 1914
The strongest personal influence upon the course of events was undoubtedly that
which was exercised by the queen. In November, 1588, Elizabeth was in the
fifty-fifth year of her age and had been reigning just thirty years. She had
still the erect and spare figure that made so many observers think of her as a
tall woman, though she was but of medium height. She was evidently in the prime
of life. Her activity and endurance were great and her health almost constantly
good. She was always impatient of her ailments, such as they were. Secretary
Cecil writing to Essex that the queen was unable to sign a letter says "The
queen hath now a desperate ach in her right thomb, but will not be knowen of it;
nor the goute it cannot be, nor dare not be, but to signe will not be indured."
Again we hear of her with an inflammation of the chest, and "her mind altogether
averse from physic." 1 Representations of her during this the later period of
her life show the familiar smooth, somewhat retreating forehead, arched brows,
narrow face, long profile of nose and chin, light eyes and hair, that appear in
paintings, engravings, coins and on her tomb. Contemporary writers describe her
more vividly. Her sharp eyes and features, loud voice, vivacious manner and
constant activity are repeatedly mentioned. She was her father's own daughter
and played the queen well. It was not only her native flatterers speaking in her
presence, but foreign visitors in their private correspondence who described her
royal manner. One speaks of her " terrible eyes," another of her "stately air,"
a third of her "majestic deportment "; a foreign ambassador is daunted by her
anger and leaves her presence in confusion; a courtier records that "When she
smiled it was a pure sunshine that everyone did chuse to baske in if they could;
but anon came a storm from a sudden gathering of clouds, and the thunder fell in
wondrous manner on all alike." l
Her usual manner, however, was pleasant and affable, sometimes even insinuating.
Many of her courtiers she called by their first names, several by fanciful
nicknames she had fastened upon them. Foreigners she often flattered by speaking
to them in terms of intimacy and confidence. She was often merry, not
infrequently uproarious, easily pleased by the coarser forms of humour. "Her
Highnesse loveth merrie tales," is the testimony of a courtier. One gets a
glimpse of her in the midst of the Armada campaign, laughing to excess at the
clown Tarlton playing the god Luz, armed with a flitch of bacon for a shield and
a long staff for a spear, pretending to fight with her little pet dog Perrico de
Faldas and appealing to her to "call off her mastiff." She expressed her
humorous feelings with disconcerting frankness. Sir John Harington, her godson
and long time courtier, records in his memoranda, "The queen loveth to see me in
my last frize jerkin — she spit on Sir Matthew's fringed clothe, and said, 'the
fool's wit has gone to ragges.' Heaven spare me from suche jibing." He quotes
another and a still more characteristic jest of the queen on the subject of
clothes and the duties of clergymen. "One Sunday, April last, my Lord of London
preached to the Queen's Majesty, and seemed to touched on the vanities of
decking the body too finely. Her Majesty told the Ladies, that if the Bishop
held more discourse on such matters, she would fitte him for heaven, but he
should walk thither without a staff, and leave his mantle behind him. Perchance
the bishop hath never sought her Highnesses wardrobe, or he would have chosen
another text." 2
It is hard to judge of Elizabeth's religion. She was certainly not devout. She
seldom talked or apparently thought of religious matters, paid scant respect to
clergymen, and took no interest in the church controversies of the time, except
when they became matters of state. On the other hand, she was regular in all
formal religious observances, her state papers are full of expressions of
recognition of her position as a Christian ruler, and she shared in the practice
of pious appeal and ascription usual at the time. She even composed certain
eloquent prayers for public uses. But her devotion was quite impersonal. In her
times of depression she sought her consolation rather in the classics than in
the Bible. Harington remarks, "Her Highnesses was wont to soothe hir ruffled
temper with reading every morning. . . . She did much admire Seneca's wholesome
advising, when the soul's quiet was flown away." When her ally Henry IV changed
his religion she found refuge and comfort in translating the De Consolatione
Philosophies. A contemporary, though hostile, writer expresses what is probably
a correct judgment of her belief, when he says, " She considers it of the first
importance that she should live peacefully and pleasantly and pass her days in
well-being. She is not greatly influenced by either hatred or love of any
particular religion or sect."
Elizabeth had few generous impulses. No one of the great men of her time, in
literature, learning, civil, military or naval life was fully recognized or
adequately rewarded by her. She was occasionally liberal to her favorites, but
never lavish, except for her own personal adornment or gratification. While her
mariners and soldiers starved, her unpaid servants suffered and patriots found
themselves neglected or disowned, her signature was being affixed to warrants
for £1,700 for a pearl chain for herself, or £1,200 "for a great diamond with a
pendant," or "£761, 45, 4d for fine linen for her Majesty's own person."2 It is
to be remembered that all sums of money named during this period must be
multiplied by a factor which can perhaps be fairly chosen as five or six, to
transform them into modern values, and such sums as those just given, as will
later appear, are not unusual in connection with her personal expenditures. But
in matters not involving money or serious sacrifice on her part, she often spoke
or wrote kindly and thoughtfully, as in a letter of condolence to Lord and Lady
Norris on the "bitter accident" of the death of their two sons in Ireland; or
that to the earl of Pembroke addressed to "My very good old man." Occasionally
we get a still more attractive glimpse of her, as for instance yielding to the
persuasions of her maid of honor Bridget Carew, or pinning up the dress of the
little Lady Talbot, kissing her and taking her with her in the state barge. In a
very real sense also she was conscientious. As the lord keeper testified of her
"She will have her wyndinge sheet unspotted."
Elizabeth's intellectual powers were
moderate. She had been thoroughly educated in her youth and retained the habit
of reading through her whole life. Translations from Horace, Plutarch, Boethius
and Xenophon still remain in her own handwriting to testify to her interest in
the classics. Although she sometimes displays in these translations a royal
disregard of rhythm and even of accuracy, they give no mean impression of her
ability in the use of both her own and the classical languages, a power of which
we have abundant other proof. Besides those that remain, we know she made
translations of many letters of Cicero and Seneca and the whole of Sallust's
Jugurthine War and some parts of Euripides, and most of this was done in the
later years of her life. Some of her speeches, letters and prayers were vigorous
and picturesque, and like most other educated people of her time she wrote some
poetry. On the other hand nothing exists to show that she had any real
appreciation of the higher learning, thought or poetry of her own time.
She showed little originality or power of initiative in statesmanship. All the
bold or constructive ideas of her reign came from her ministers or from entirely
outside the government. Moreover, patriotic as she was, she was slow to respond
to such ideas. Unimaginative and opinionated, she never understood the great
questions, realized the great crises, or perceived the great possibilities of
her position.
She was a hard mistress to serve. Irresolute and yet obstinate, she frequently
refused to act or decide, procrastinated, delayed, hesitated, while her
ministers watched disaster approach or opportunity vanish. Even her most
influential advisers found it impossible to overcome this inveterate trait of
indecision. Their correspondence shows them driven almost to despair in times of
exigency at the queen's vacillation and unreasonableness. An endorsement by a
clerk on a letter of 1600 still exists in faded handwriting, to testify to this
habit. "A letter which Her Majesty willea me to write to her Secretary, and to
send it by post, but before I had fully ended the letter she sent to me to bring
it to her before it was closed, which I did upon the point of six o'clock, and
then Her Majesty having read and scanned it three or four times and sometimes
willing me to send it away, and sometimes altering that purpose, commanded me at
last to stay both the letter and the post." 1
Those ministers who had served her longest naturally conformed themselves most
successfully to the requirements of her character. Burghley writes in 1591 to
the French ambassador, who had retired from the court in vexation at the queen's
behavior, reminding him that they were both servants of an almighty king in
heaven and of great princes upon earth, that both of these must be obeyed, and
that they could only wait in patience till the heavenly ruler should change the
mind of the earthly one. Or again, he writes to Walsingham, "I am very sorry
that our counsels . . . doth not like her — but fiat wluntas sua." Burghley was
inclined to charge her irresolution to her sex. He writes: "Many times she
yeldeth 1 State Papers, Dom., Elizabeth, cckxiv, as overcome with argument, but
yet that which is natural to her sex hundredth resolution. I hope time will gain
that which is necessary. Corda reginarum in manu dei." Occasionally even these
devoted servants lost patience at being held responsible for her vacillation and
its results, as in a letter of Burghley to Walsingham, November, 1588, "All
irresolutions and lucks ar thrown upon us two in all her speeches to everybody.
The wrong is intolerable." * Sometimes she tricked her ministers. One of her
courtiers states that "Her wisest men and best counselors were oft sore troubled
to knowe her wile in matters of State. So covertly did she pass her judgment as
seemed to leave all to their discrete management, and when the businesses did
turn to better advantage, she did moste cunningly commit the good issue to her
own honor and understanding; but when ought fell out contraire to her wile and
intent, the Council were in great strait to defend their own acting and not
blemished the Queen's good judgment." Another official records an additional
weakness. "Amongst her manifold and rare virtues of nature and arte this was the
only detraction, that she had not power to give where it was merited, ... If she
had disposed of twenty or thirty thousand pounds to the comfort of her long worn
thredbare pore old servants, and paid her debts, she had died, as she did, the
mirror of her sex
Her experience was less varied than might at first thought be supposed. Except
for her brother and sister, she was the first English monarch in the long line
since the Norman Conquest who had not crossed the Channel. She never saw
Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, and during her seventy years of life was never more
than one hundred and twenty-five miles from her birthplace. She was even more
than other sovereigns deprived of the stimulation that comes from open
discussion with others on an equal plane. Without parents whom she knew,
husband, brother, sister or child, habituated from girlhood to caution,
reticence, deceit and concealment of her real opinions, separated from all
others by her position, she lived alone, though in a crowded court, and never
spoke to others or heard speech from them such as they used to one another. Most
of the praise and some of the blame directed toward her came to her ears; but it
all came through artful and indirect ways, and she was seldom called upon to
justify the one or to defend herself against the other. Such success as her
administration attained was in spite of her deficiencies as a ruler rather than
a result of her abilities. From repeated dangers the country was extricated only
by good fortune, and golden opportunities in a long series were wasted largely
by the queen's incapacity to see them or unwillingness to make use of them.
Her relations with her ministers and courtiers, her allies and enemies, will
come out more fully later. But it will always remain impossible to give a
complete analysis of Elizabeth's character. A writer of the next generation
says, "For her own mind, what that really was, I must leave, as a thing doubly
inscrutable, both as she was a woman and a queen." 1 But her mind was trebly
inscrutable both as a woman and a queen because of its complexity. Stripped,
however, of the flattery and the abuse of her own time, and tested as far as
possible by what she did and said, Elizabeth stands an unlovely but not an
unheroic figure; exasperating to those who had to work with her and to the
modern student who has to trace her career, but so thoroughly representative of
her own age, so many-sided, so queenly, so long the occupant of a throne, and
above all so fortunate that the extravagant laudation of her own time and the
tradition of her greatness that has survived to ours are easily comprehensible,
however they may fade away on greater familiarity with her mind and her actions.
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and
Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The
Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last
monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was
Queen of England and
Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called
The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth
was the fifth and last monarch of the
Tudor dynasty. The daughter of
Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother,
Anne
Boleyn, was executed three years after her birth, and Elizabeth was
declared illegitimate. Her brother,
Edward VI, cut her out of the succession. His will, however, was set
aside, and in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister, the Catholic
Mary, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on
suspicion of supporting
Protestant rebels.
Elizabeth set out to rule by good counsel,[1]
and she depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by
William Cecil, Baron Burghley. One of her first moves as queen was to
support the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became
the
Supreme Governor. This
Elizabethan Religious Settlement held firm throughout her reign and later
evolved into today's
Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry, but despite
several petitions from parliament, she never did. The reasons for this choice
are unknown, and they have been much debated. As she grew older, Elizabeth
became famous for her virginity, and a cult grew up around her which was
celebrated in the portraits, pageants and literature of the day.
In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and siblings.[2]
One of her mottoes was "video et taceo" ("I see, and say nothing").[3]
This strategy, viewed with impatience by her counsellors, often saved her from
political and marital misalliances. Though Elizabeth was cautious in foreign
affairs and only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly
resourced military campaigns in the
Netherlands,
France and
Ireland, the defeat of the
Spanish armada in 1588 associated her name forever with what is popularly
viewed as one of the greatest victories in English history. Within 20 years of
her death, she was being celebrated as the ruler of a golden age, an image
that retains its hold on the English people. Elizabeth's reign is known as the
Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of
English drama, led by playwrights such as
William Shakespeare and
Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers
such as
Francis Drake,
John
Hawkins and
Walter Raleigh.
Historians, however, tend to be more cautious in their assessment. They
often depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered,[4]
sometimes indecisive ruler,[5]
who enjoyed more than her share of luck. Towards the end of her reign, a
series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity to the point
where many of her subjects were relieved at her death. Elizabeth is, however,
acknowledged as a
charismatic
performer and a dogged survivor, in an age when government was ramshackle and
limited and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems
that jeopardised their thrones. Such was the case with Elizabeth's rival,
Mary, Queen of Scots, whom she imprisoned in 1568 and eventually had
executed in 1587. After the short reigns of Elizabeth's brother and sister,
her 44 years on the throne provided valuable stability for the kingdom and
helped forge a sense of national identity.[2]
Early life
Elizabeth's parents, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
Elizabeth was born in
Greenwich Palace in the Chamber of Virgins on 7 September 1533 between
three and four o'clock in the afternoon[6]
and named after both her paternal and maternal grandmothers,
Elizabeth of York and
Elizabeth Howard.[7]
She was the second legitimate child of
Henry VIII of England to survive infancy; her mother was Henry's second
wife,
Anne Boleyn. At birth, Elizabeth was the
heiress presumptive to the throne of England. Her older half-sister, Mary,
had lost her position as legitimate heir when Henry annulled his marriage to
Mary's mother,
Catherine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne.[8][9]
King Henry had desperately wanted a legitimate son, to ensure the Tudor
succession. After Elizabeth's birth, Queen Anne failed to provide a male heir.
She suffered at least two miscarriages, one in 1534 and another at the
beginning of 1536. On 2 May 1536, she was arrested and imprisoned. Hastily
convicted on trumped-up charges, she was
beheaded
on 19 May 1536.[10][11]
Elizabeth, who was 2 years 8 months old at the time, was declared
illegitimate and deprived of the title of princess.[12]
Eleven days after Anne Boleyn's death, Henry married
Jane
Seymour,[13]
who died 12 days after the birth of their son,
Prince Edward. Elizabeth was placed in Edward's household and carried the
chrisom, or
baptismal cloth, at his christening.[14]
Elizabeth Tudor, c. 1546, by an unknown artist. The simplicity of
this portrait contrasts with the ornate icons that came later.[15]
Elizabeth's first governess, Lady
Margaret Bryan, wrote that she was “as toward a child and as gentle of
conditions as ever I knew any in my life”.[16]
At the age of four, Elizabeth passed into the care of
Catherine Champernowne, better known by her later, married name of
Catherine “Kat” Ashley, who remained Elizabeth’s friend for life. Champernowne
clearly made a good job of Elizabeth’s early education: by the time William
Grindal became her tutor in 1544, Elizabeth could write
English, Latin,
and
Italian. Under Grindal, a talented and skillful tutor, she also progressed
in
French and
Greek.[17]
After Grindal died in 1548, Elizabeth received her education under
Roger
Ascham, a sympathetic teacher who believed that learning should be fun.[18]
By the time her formal education ended in 1550, she was the best educated
woman of her generation.[19]
Thomas Seymour
The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, a manuscript
translation from the French, by Elizabeth, aged 11, presented to
Catherine Parr in 1544. The embroidered binding with the monogram KP
for "Katherin Parr" is believed to have been worked by Elizabeth.[20]
Henry VIII died in 1547, when Elizabeth was 13 years old, and was succeeded
by her half brother,
Edward VI.
Catherine Parr, Henry's last wife, soon married
Thomas Seymour of Sudeley, Edward VI's uncle and the brother of the Lord
Protector,
Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. The couple took Elizabeth into their
household at Chelsea. There Elizabeth experienced an emotional crisis that
historians believe affected her for the rest of her life.[21]
Seymour, approaching age 40 but having charm and "a powerful sex appeal",[21]
engaged in romps and horseplay with the 14-year-old Elizabeth. These included
entering her bedroom in his nightgown, tickling her and slapping her on the
buttocks. After Catherine Parr discovered the pair in an embrace, she ended
this state of affairs.[22][23]
In May 1548, Elizabeth was sent away.[24]
Seymour continued scheming to control the royal family.[25][26]
When Catherine Parr died of
puerperal fever after childbirth on 5 September 1548, he renewed his
attentions towards Elizabeth, intent on wedding her.[27]
The details of his former behaviour towards Elizabeth emerged during an
interrogation of Catherine Ashley and
Thomas Parry, Elizabeth’s
cofferer.[28]
For his brother and the council, this was the last straw,[29]
and in January 1549, Seymour was arrested on suspicion of plotting to marry
Elizabeth and overthrow his brother. Elizabeth, living at
Hatfield House, would admit nothing. Her stubbornness exasperated her
interrogator, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, who reported, "I do see it in her face that
she is guilty".[29]
Seymour was beheaded on 20 March 1549.
Queen Mary
Edward VI died, probably of
tuberculosis, on 6 July 1553, aged 15. His will swept aside the
Succession to the Crown Act 1543, excluded both Mary and Elizabeth from
the succession, and instead declared as his heir
Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister
Mary, Duchess of Suffolk.[30]
Lady Jane was proclaimed queen by the Privy Council, but her support quickly
crumbled, and she was
deposed less than two weeks later. Mary rode triumphantly into London,
with Elizabeth at her side.[31]
The show of solidarity between the sisters did not last long. Mary was
determined to crush the Protestant faith in which Elizabeth had been educated,
and she ordered that everyone attend
Mass. This included Elizabeth, who had to outwardly conform.[32]
Mary's initial popularity ebbed away when it became known that she planned to
marry
Prince Philip of Spain, the son of
Emperor Charles V.[33]
Discontent spread rapidly through the country, and many looked to Elizabeth as
a focus for their opposition to Mary's religious policies. In January and
February 1554, uprisings broke out (known as
Wyatt's rebellion) in several parts of England and Wales, led by
Thomas Wyatt.[34]
Mary I
Upon the collapse of the uprising, Elizabeth was brought to court and
interrogated. On 18 March, she was imprisoned in the
Tower of London, where Lady Jane Grey had been executed on 12 February to
deter the rebels.[35]
The terrified Elizabeth fervently protested her innocence.[36]
Though it is unlikely that she had plotted with the rebels, some of them were
known to have approached her. Mary's closest confidant, Charles V's ambassador
Simon Renard, argued that her throne would never be safe while Elizabeth
lived; and the Chancellor,
Stephen Gardiner, worked to have Elizabeth put on trial.[37]
However, Elizabeth's supporters in the government, including
Lord Paget, convinced Mary to spare her sister in the absence of hard
evidence against her. Instead, on 22 May, Elizabeth was moved from the Tower
to
Woodstock, where she was to spend almost a year under house arrest in the
charge of
Sir Henry Bedingfield. Crowds cheered her all along the way.[38][39]
The remaining wing of the Old Palace,
Hatfield House. It was here that Elizabeth was told of her sister's
death in November 1558.
On 17 April 1555, Elizabeth was recalled to court to be closely attended
during the final stages of Mary's apparent pregnancy. If Mary and her child
died, Elizabeth would become queen. If, on the other hand, Mary gave birth to
a healthy child, Elizabeth's chances of becoming queen would recede sharply.[38]
When it became clear that Mary was not pregnant, no one believed any longer
that she could have a child.[40]
Elizabeth's succession seemed assured.[41]
Even Philip, who became King of Spain in 1556, acknowledged the new political
reality. From this time forward, he cultivated Elizabeth, preferring her to
the likely alternative,
Mary, Queen of Scots, who was betrothed to the
Dauphin of France.[42]
When his wife fell ill in 1558, Philip sent the Count of Feria to consult with
Elizabeth.[43]
By October, Elizabeth was making plans for her government. On 6 November, Mary
recognised Elizabeth as her heir.[44][45]
Eleven days later, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne when Mary died at
St. James's Palace on 17 November 1558.
Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25. As her
triumphal progress wound through the city on the eve of the
coronation ceremony, she was welcomed wholeheartedly by the citizens and
greeted by orations and pageants, most with a strong Protestant flavour.
Elizabeth's open and gracious responses endeared her to the spectators, who
were "wonderfully ravished".[46]
The following day, 15 January 1559, Elizabeth was crowned at
Westminster Abbey and anointed by the Catholic bishop of Carlisle. She was
then presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of
organs, fifes, trumpets, drums, and bells.[47]
Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, patterned with
Tudor roses and trimmed with
ermine.
She wears her hair loose, as traditional for the coronation of a queen,
perhaps also as a symbol of virginity.[48]
The painting dates to the first decade of the seventeenth century and is
based on a lost original.[49]
On 20 November 1558, Elizabeth declared her intentions to her Council and
other peers who had come to Hatfield to swear allegiance. The speech contains
the first record of her often-used metaphor of the "two bodies": the body
natural and the
body
politic:
My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden
that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering I am God's
creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring
from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be
the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me. And as
I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body
politic to govern, so shall I desire you all...to be assistant to me, that I
with my ruling and you with your service may make a good account to Almighty
God and leave some comfort to our posterity on earth. I mean to direct all
my actions by good advice and counsel.[50]
Unfortunately for historians, Elizabeth's personal religious convictions
will never be definitely known. Her religious policy favoured pragmatism above
all in dealing with three major concerns. The first concern was that of her
legitimacy. Although she was technically illegitimate under both Protestant
and Catholic law, her retroactively declared illegitimacy under the English
church was not a serious bar compared to having never been legitimate as the
Catholics claimed she was. Perhaps most importantly, the break with Rome made
her legitimate in her own eyes. For this reason, it was never in serious doubt
that the Elizabeth would embrace at least nominal Protestantism. Nevertheless,
Elizabeth and her advisors perceived, rightly or wrongly, the threat of a
Catholic crusade against heretical England. Elizabeth therefore sought a
Protestant solution that would not offend Catholics too greatly while
addressing the desires of the third concern, English Protestants; she could
not afford to appease the more radical
Puritans
though, who were pushing for far-reaching reforms.[51]
As a result, the parliament of 1559 started to legislate for a church based on
the Protestant settlement of Edward VI, with the monarch as its head, but with
many superficially Catholic elements, such as priestly vestments.[52]
The
House of Commons backed the proposals strongly, but the bill of supremacy
met opposition in the
House of Lords, particularly from the bishops. Elizabeth was fortunate,
however, that many bishoprics were vacant at the time, including the
Archbishopric of Canterbury.[53][54]
This enabled supporters amongst peers to outvote the bishops and conservative
peers. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was forced to accept the title of
Supreme Governor of the Church of England rather than the more contentious
title of
Supreme Head, which many thought unacceptable for a woman to bear. The new
Act of Supremacy became law on 8 May 1559. All public officials were to
swear an oath of loyalty to the monarch as the supreme governor or risk
disqualification from office; however, the
heresy laws
were repealed, to avoid a repeat of the persecution of dissenters practised by
Mary. At the same time, a new
Act of Uniformity was passed, which made attendance at church and the use
of an adapted version of the 1552
Book of Common Prayer compulsory, though the penalties for recusancy, or
failure to attend and conform, were not extreme.[55]
From the start of Elizabeth's reign, the question arose whom she would
marry. However, she never married, and the reasons for this are not clear.
Historians have speculated that Thomas Seymour had put her off sexual
relationships, or that she knew herself to be infertile.[56][57]
Until bearing a child became impossible, she considered several suitors. Her
last courtship, ending in 1581 when she was aged 48, was with
Forgotten Founders Historic Documents and Coins of Freedom - By Stanley
L. Klos - Last Exhbit at the 2008 GOP Convention:
http://www.pinellasrepublican.org/
Forgotten Founders Historic Documents and Coins of Freedom - By Stanley
L. Klos
Uncommon Sense: President Obama and
US China Trade 1784-2009
The United Colonies 1st
government began in a Philadelphia Tavern
and the United States 1st federal government ended in a
NYC Tavern!
The Founders convened the government in 11 different capitol buildings and
experienced 15 years of challenges that
included war,
hyper-inflation, a failed
constitution, judicial corruption, armed citizen and U.S. Army rebellions.
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