Hello and Welcome to Western SIEV Episode three h three Gloriana. Throughout the winter
of fifteen sixty eight sixty nine, the Duke of Norfolk grew increasingly restless over
what he saw as the infiltration of hardline Protestants you know them as Puritans into
Elizabeth's government. Chief amongst these was none other than William Cecil. That November,
in fact, it seemed that Cecil would finally fall from power completely when
a Spanish ship carrying eighty five hundred pounds ran a ground near Southampton. The
money had been loaned to fill up the second by Genoese bankers, was supposed
to go to pay his troops fighting in the Netherlands, but Elizabeth confiscated the
money and claimed she would repay the loan herself. Norfolk did his best to
lay the scandal squarely at Cecil's feet, hoping that might bring him down.
While Philip was furious, he had his hands full with the Dutch revolt and
did little. Instead of declaring war on England as some feared he might,
Philip seized all the English ships and property he could in the Netherlands and used
the funds from that to pay his men. As best as he was able.
In January fifteen sixty nine, Mary Stewart was moved to Tutbury Castle and
placed in the care of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who would remain her jailer
for the next fifteen years. Mary hated the place and immediately continued her efforts
to plot against Elizabeth. She continued passing messages to the Spanish stat with her
support, she could make England Catholic again. Norfolk continued scheming all the while
to wed Mary himself. His plan was to use the marriage and the promise
to maintain the Protestant faith as the basis to restore Mary to her Scottish throne.
Then Elizabeth would be forced to recognize her as her heir, taking the
wind out of the sails of the Catholic faction, which would no longer be
able to use the now Protestant Mary as their champion. Elizabeth was likely not
aware of any of this, though we still cannot confirm that today. Cecil
opposed the idea now. On ash Wednesday, Robert Dudley approached the Queen with
complaints against Cecil, but it backfired. Elizabeth erupted in a fury and declared
she would hear no ill words said about her. Secretary. Dudley and Norfolk,
who had found common cause in their campaign against Cecil, real they had
to back down. William Cecil, for his part, realized he needed to
be more careful to not offend Norfolk or Dudley, and honestly did his best
going forward to be on friendlier terms with both. But with Elizabeth clearly behind
him, everyone realized Cecil was essentially untouchable. Meanwhile, Mary had identified a
potential escape route from her prison. Norfolk had at first dismissed the idea of
marrying her as treason, but as the months went by he had given the
matter deeper consideration. It seemed to him that if her previous marriage to Bothwell
could be annulled, it made sense for the Queen of Scots to marry a
loyal English lord who could safeguard Queen Elizabeth's interests when Mary had been restored to
her throne. Added to this, of course, he would gain a crown
for himself. In May fifteen sixty nine, Mary was overjoyed to receive a
formal proposal of marriage through the Bishop of Ross, which Elizabeth was in theory
to have sanctioned, and by June Norfolk and her were exchanging the kind of
letters that could only be seen as courtship. Signing herself quote your assured Mary
end quote, the former Scottish Queen sent what she wrote as my Norfolk a
cushion embroidered by herself, which showed a knife cutting down a green vine,
said to represent Elizabeth. Neither party cherished any romantic notions. By the way,
this was not about love. This was a union of ambition. Knowing
that the Queen would be against the marriage, since she would anticipate that a
man who was ambitious to be the King of the Scots could also covet the
throne of England, the Duke attempted in June to canvass the backing of his
old rival Cecil, but Cecil was deeply suspicious of Mary Stuart, and he
warned Norfolk that the only way out of this was to confess everything to Elizabeth.
Dudley, fearful of the consequences of his involvement, also confided in Cecil,
who, though he may have recalled the recent conspiracy against himself, did
not actually betray the confidence. Actually, what it turns out is no one
none of these three men, Cecil Dudley Norfolk wanted to divulge the marriage plan
to Elizabeth until they were certain they could convince her that it was to her
advantage. Norfolk, in the end, was too fearful of Elizabeth's anger to
take Cecil's advice and come clean. But someone talked, and by the end
of July, the Duke's proposed marriage to Mary Stewart was common knowledge at court.
In fact, it turned out most of the counselors were in favor of
it. Elizabeth, who learned of the plan through mere court gossip, decided
she would meet with Norfolk and give him the chance to come clean, though
he evaded her questions. But in August some supporters of the marriage were dismayed
when the Earl of Moray in Scotland informed the Queen that the Scottish lords were
not going to accept Mary Stuart back as Queen no matter who her husband was.
Neither would Spain support any project that would see Elizabeth replaced with Mary.
In June, the Duke of Alba told the Spanish ambassador in England, who
was in secret communication with Mary, that Spain was not going to support any
conspiracy against Elizabeth, at least not now. Philip, for the moment,
his hands full in the Netherlands, had decided to remain neutral, But this
ambassador actually didn't listen and continued to encourage Norfolk's marriage ambitions, as well as
encouraging rebellion amongst the Northern English magnates who tended to be more Catholic. Meanwhile,
Norfolk, though he hadn't had the gall to tell Elizabeth any of this,
continued his machinations while simultaneously refusing to admit anything to the Queen, despite
reputed efforts to get him to do so. Norfolk seems to have felt he
had gone too far with Mary to back out, but he still did not
want to confess his actions to Elizabeth for fear of retribution. On September the
sixth, Elizabeth summoned Norfik to her presence and told him in no uncertain terms,
to stop all these plans. A marriage to Mary was simply out of
the question. Yet Norfolk persisted almost as soon as he was out of the
Queen's presence, though he was smart enough to at least plead illness when summoned
again to the North. However, a much more dangerous threat to Elizabeth's power
was brewing. The North had long been a hotbed of resistance. It had
never been reconciled to the new religion, and there were several powerful lords there,
notably Northumberland and Westmoreland, who could raise powerful private armies. Now,
it seemed, after eleven years apiece, the North was getting ready to muster
its strength. Elizabeth and Cecil had always been aware of the situation in the
North. What they could not afford, and what they both now feared,
was Norfolk joining them and bringing the East into rebellion at the same time as
the North. However, Norfolk, in reality, was actually quite sick and
in no position to raise himself from his bed, let alone raise East Anglia
in revolt. He was busy writing to the Queen begging for her forgiveness.
Norfolk, fearful that he would be blamed for the rebellion no matter what he
did, now, wrote to Westmoreland begging him to call it all off.
But on the third of October Norfolk was arrested on his way to Windsor and
confined to the tower. As we're said, several others who were suspected of
treason. On the sixteenth of October, Cecil warned Elizabeth that the real threat
to her throne lay with Mary Stuart, not any of the lords to the
north, and use this information to remind her where her duty lay. Quote.
There are degrees of danger. If you would marry, it should be
less. Whilst you do not, it will increase. If her person be
restrained here or in Scotland. It will be less if at liberty greater.
If found guilty of her husband's murder, she shall be a person hairless at
least less. If passed over in silence, the scar of the murder will
wear out, and the danger greater. End quote. Elizabeth announced in her
Privy Council that she wanted Norfolk tried for treason, but Cecil didn't consider the
Duke's actions to be within the definition. Quote whereupon I am bold to wish
your Majesty would show your intent, only to inquire into the fact, and
not to speak of it as treason end quote. In fact, there wasn't
actually much evidence that Norfolk's intentions had been treasonable, and there was certainly not
enough to convict him. The Queen did not care. She wanted Norfolk tried
and executed, but as usual With time, her temper receded. Eventually she
conceded that to proceed against Norfolk without legal cause was to become a tyrant,
and she was no tyrant. Norfolk would remain in the tower for a time,
but he would not be tried. Still, when Westmoreland and Northumberland learned
of Norfolk's fate, and with the promise of Spanish aid, they mustered their
armies twenty five hundred strong and marched south. Their goal was Tutbury, where
Mary Stuart was held. And this is the first time that Elizabeth really begins
to suspect that Mary was behind the whole affair. She even allowed her counselors
to draw up an execution warrant in the event it was discovered that in fact
she was involved. Around the same time, there were risings in smaller districts,
and so on November the twenty fifth, Mary was moved to the Midlands,
firmly Protestant territory. The ports around England were closed. Windsor prepared for
a siege, but unable to catch Mary before she was moved. The Northern
rising quickly lost steam. By the twentieth of December, it was over without
a fight. A twenty eight thousand royal army, led by the Earl of
Sussex, pursued the rebellious Earls North when they fled into Scotland. Perhaps the
most worrying aspect of the Northern Rising had been Philip the Second's willingness potentially to
support it, which demonstrated just how hostile now he was starting to become towards
Elizabeth. He had instructed the Duke of Alva to send Mary Stuart ten thousand
ducats. Urged on by Cecil, Elizabeth determined to show her suspect that any
rebellion against her authority would be punished with the utmost of severity. Quote you
are preceded thereunto for the terror of others with expedition. Spare no offenders.
We are in nothing moved to spare them end quote. Such was her command
to the Earl of Sussex, and the Earl wasted no time in rounding up
the lesser rebels and making a great example of them. Reprisals were unusually savage,
and no village was to be without at least one execution. Quote.
He would write back the bodies to remain till they fall to pieces, where
they hang End quote. By February fourth, fifteen seventy, between six hundred
and seven hundred and fifty commoners had been hanged and two hundred gentry had been
deprived of their estates and goods, which were distributed to loyal noblemen. The
Queen, however, thought it was unfair that those who had helped to plan
the revolt had escaped with their lives while lesser men suffered the ultimate penalty.
Westmoreland ultimately fled to Flanders Northumberland evated capture until later on in fifteen seventy,
but then he was arrested in Scotland, returned to York and put to death.
Plans to execute Mary Stuart, however, were quietly abandoned. Elizabeth came
out of the whole affair her position much stronger. When she opened the Royal
Exchange at London in January fifteen seventy, she was positively beaming. On that
very same day, the regent in Scotland, the Earl of Moray, was
assassinated by the Scottish lords, who feared he wanted to make himself king.
Elizabeth was distraught as she thought about all the chaos along her northern border.
The kings of both France and Spain urged Elizabeth to use this up opportunity to
restore Mary to her throne. The continuing problem of the Queen of Scots was
greatly exacerbated when on February twenty fifth, fifteen seventy, Pope Hious the Fifth,
inspired by old reports of the Northern Rising, impulsively published a bull regnance
in Excelsis excommunicating Elizabeth quote the pretended Queen of England, the serpent of wickedness
end quote. The bull deprived her of her kingdom, absolved all true Catholics
from their allegiance to her, and extended the anathema to all who continued to
support her. This was effectively an invitation to Elizabeth's subjects and to foreign princes
to rise against her in what would amount to a holy crusade. It also
actively encouraged Mary Stuart's supporters to set her up in Elizabeth's place. Most sinister
of all, it subverted the loyalty of Elizabeth's Catholic subjects and made every single
one of them a potential traitor to be regarded with suspicion. From now on,
each one of them would face a choice of loyalty. It would no
longer be possible to compromise on matters of conscience. One could not be a
loyal Englishman and an art and Catholic. This in turn led to the hardening
of attitudes on part of the English Protestants, who became even more patriotic and
even more protective toward their queen their loyalty, prompting them to press increasingly for
Mary Stuart's execution and for tougher laws against Catholics. The bill's ultimate effect was
to turn Catholicism into a political rather than religious issue in England, and because
of this it ultimately failed in its purpose. Most english people ignored it.
A man who nailed it to the door of the Bishop of London's palace in
Saint Paul's Churchyard was arrested, tortured, and executed. In the North,
where the bull might have once been well received, Catholic power had already been
effectively crushed. Nor did the great Catholic monarchs of Spain and France hastened to
invade England on the contrary. Actually, both Philip the Second and Charles the
ninth angrily condemned the Pope for taking such hasty action without consulting them first.
Elizabeth herself announced defiantly that no ship of Saint Peter would ever enter any of
her ports. Otherwise She was dismissive, and the mainly Protestant Londoners echoed her
feelings when they described the bull as quote a vain crack of words that made
a noise. Only after the bull, Elizabeth considered Catholic's traders. If you
were Catholic, you were a trader. And if you died, it wasn't
Martyr Dumb for your faith had committed treason. This was a major change for
Elizabeth. Before fifteen seventy she had never demonstrated any personal animosity toward English Catholics.
That would no longer be the case. This was also when Cecil started
to organize an efficient espionage network that could detect conspirators. Now getting back to
diplomacy, France kept pressuring Elizabeth to restore Mary. Everyone at court urged Elizabeth
not to do it, but in the end, the Queen sent Mary a
series of conditions that she would need to meet before Elizabeth would consider releasing her.
These included sending James her Son south to England as a hostage to her
behavior. It was not until October, but ultimately Mary agreed to the terms.
But by then, in fact much earlier, by July, the Earl
of Lennox had been appointed the new regent. If there was an opportunity to
restore Mary, it had already passed. All of these conspiracies lent more urgency
to the argument that Elizabeth needed to marry and produce an air. Thus,
in August she sent an envoy to the Emperor to try and restart the negotiations,
but the Archduke said he was no longer interested. In fact, shortly
afterwards he married a Bavarian princess. Then in September a new proposal of marriage
arrived, this time from Charles the ninth brother and heir, the nineteen year
old Henri, Duke of Anjous. Charles and Catherine de Metici hoped by this
project to unite England and France in a defensive alliance against Spain. Elizabeth was
interested, if only for the political advantages and much needed friendship that prolonged negotiations
with France could bring her, and Cecil began to drop a list of quote
unquote commodities to be gained from the union putting out feelers as to how serious
the French were about it. To this end, he sent the fiercely Protestant
Sir Francis Walsingham to Paris, where he would act as Elizabeth's envoy. But
once again religion proved to be the sticking point. Elizabeth insisted that her husband
adopt her religious that his English religious customs. Anjou would not. He actually
wasn't a very good match anyway. Anjou was a notorious womanizer and also a
bisexual. In fact, later in life he would appear at court in elaborate
female costumes, not something likely to impress the puritanical Walsingham. Now I want
to pause here and talk actually for the rest of the episode about just what
kind of queen Elizabeth was. She had now ruled for a round twelve years,
far more than her siblings combined, and she's going to rule for another
thirty three. Elizabeth would once famously say, quote to be a king,
and where a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is
pleasure to them that bear it. At the same time, she reveled and
jealously guarded the privileges of her sovereignty She would also write, quote, I
am answerable to none from my actions, otherwise than I shall be disposed of
my own free will, but to Almighty God alone. End quote. God,
she believed firmly, had persevered and brought her through so many trials to
give her the throne, and she was convinced that she reigned by God's special
favor. In fifteen seventy six, she told Parliament, quote and as for
those rare and special benefits which many years have followed and accompanied me with happy
reign, and I attribute them to God alone these seventeen years. Again,
she's writing in fifteen seventy six, God hath both prospered and protected you with
good success under my direction, and I am nothing doubt that the same maintaining
hand will guide you still and bring you to the ripeness of perfection end quote.
So as you can see, Elizabeth firmly believed that she had been divinely
appointed to be queen. She alone was able to fully comprehend the complexities and
mysteries of church and state. Quote. She is our God on earth,
would later remark Lord North. Elizabeth would have to agree, but she was
no tyrant. Nothing was more important to Elizabeth than that she ruled with her
subject's love. Sir Walter Raleigh would later note that she was a queen for
the small as well as the great. She was a stickler for justice.
Her god son later revealed how well she understood how to deal with her subjects.
Quote. Her mind was oft time, like the gentle air that cometh
from a westerly point in a summer morn. It was sweet and refreshing to
all around. Her speech did win all affections, and her subjects did try
to show all love to her commands. For she would say, her state
did require her to command what she knew her people would willingly do from their
own love of her. Herewith did she show her wisdom fully, For who
did choose to lose her confidence? Or who would withhold a show of love
and obedience when their sovereign said it was their own choice and not her compulsion.
Surely she did play her tables well to gain obedience. Thus, and
without restraint again, she could put forth such alterations when obedience was lacking,
as left no doubt as to who her daughter was end quote. Elizabeth traveled
on progresses as many times as she could. She understood full well that this
was an age of personal monarchy, and her people was support a monarch.
They saw a monarchy, at least believed that they knew. She wrote effective
speeches in which she would justify her actions to her subjects, something her father
never would have thought to do. She was also, from all accounts,
an excellent public speaker, but she was Henry's daughter and was not about to
let anybody to forget it. She constantly reminded her counselors just how much sterner
her father had been. I might use the word tyrannical, she used the
word stern. Her command of statesmanship was exceptional. Elizabeth was both astute and
pragmatic. Above all, she had two goals. She wanted to provide England
with a peaceful and a stable government. She wanted to maintain law and avoid
war at all costs. Her judges that they must stand pro Veritai for the
truth rather than pro Reggina for the Queen Cecil would later write in tribute quote,
there was never so wise woman born as Queen Elizabeth. For she spake
and understood all languages, knew all estates and dispositions and princes, and particularly
was so expert in her knowledge of her own realm, as no counselor she
had could tell her what she did not know before end quote. But for
all of this, Elizabeth remained mired in a society deeply prejudiced against women in
leadership roles. The example of Queen Mary the First had seemed only to confirm
suspicions that women inherently made bad sovereigns. A typical example of this male prejudice
occurred when a French envoy asked the council to be present that his audience with
the Queen, implying that the matters of state he had come to discuss were
beyond female understanding. Back came a furious answer from Elizabeth. Quote the ambassador
forgets himself in thinking us incapable of conceiving an answer to his message without the
aid of our council. It might be appropriate in friends where the king is
young, But we are governing our realm better than the French are theirs?
End quote. Elizabeth was no feminist. She accepted the creed of the day
that women had serious limitations. She always spoke of herself as quote, a
woman wanting both wit and memory, and quote in a self composed prayer,
she actually thanked God for making her a weak woman, but his instrument,
nonetheless, to combat prejudice and underline her position. She invariably referred to herself
as a prince of princess, comparing herself with kings and emperors, and with
some success. At the very end of her reign, she would tell Henry
Before of France, quote, my experience in government has made me so stubborn
as to believe that I am not ignorant of what becomes a king and quote.
Elizabeth was a master of using any skill, any attribute to her advantage.
She flirted tactically with the men of court to keep them loyal. This
stratagem also kept her Privy Council largely devoid of faction and strife. She was
so successful as a monarch that at her death her subjects considered her one of
the best English monarchs of all time, not merely a great queen. Poets
and dramatists did plenty for her. In his famous poem The Fairy Queen,
Edmund Spencer referred to her as Gloriana. As loved as she was, Elizabeth
was also a master of procrastination. Consider the following from Sir Thomas Smith,
one of Elizabeth's secretaries of state, quote, it maketh me weary of my
life. This time passeth almost irrecuable, the advantage lost, the charges continuing,
nothing resolved. I neither can get the letters signed, nor the letter
already signed. But day by day and hour by hour, it has deferred
upon until anon noon and tomorrow. The lack of a resolute answer from her
Majesty drives me to the wall end quote. In fact, as she grew
older, Elizabeth became increasingly reluctant to sign any sort of document at all.
Sometimes she refused to even give verbal assent. One of her favorite mottos was
quote I see all and I say nothing. Elizabeth could be resolute and tough
when she had to be, and on two known occasions she did not shrink
from authorizing the torture of offenders, which was officially illegal, but in her
view necessary in the interests of national security. In both cases, the victims
were involved in plots against the Queen's life, but even so, the jailers
in the tower were aware that her anger would fall upon them if they exceeded
their warrant. She absolutely hated executions and issued reprieves to condemn felons whenever she
could, so long as it seemed in the interest of justice. Ceco called
her very merciful, and she followed major trials with interest and intervened if she
felt was necessary. She was, in most respects we'd say, conservative,
who respected the old medieval ideal of a hierarchical order than the Christian universe,
and she cherished traditional notions of degree priority in place. Sir fran Sus Bacon
would later write, quote, her majesty loveth piece. Next she loveth not
change. When of her secretaries, Robert Beale, warned his successor to quote
avoid being new fangled and by all means bringing in new customs end quote.
For all this, Elizabeth could be maddeningly unpredictable, which makes sense given that
she, like her father before her, kept her own counsel. One of
the criticisms often leveled at her was that Elizabeth was mean, and by this
what her critics really meant was that she was stingy with money. She had
to be. Mary had left Elizabeth a huge debt and with an annual income
that rarely exceeded three hundred thousand pounds. Elizabeth had to pay her own expenses
plus those of the court and her government. Elizabeth was frugal. As a
result. She was in many ways Henry the seventh, her grandfather's direct descendant.
One thing Elizabeth was very good at was choosing advisers, and that paid
dividends. She was surrounded with good counselors. Though she was never afraid to
go against their advice. She was not afraid either to place huge demands on
them. One witness recalled she would keep cecil with her quote till late at
night, discoursing alone, and then call out another at his departure, and
try the depth of all around her. Sometime each displayed his wit in private.
If any dissembled with her or stood not well to her advisings, she
did not let it go unheeded and sometimes not unpunished. Elizabeth matched every effort
her advisers made. In that sense. Today, I suppose we would call
her a workaholic. Elizabeth, though generally left day to day matters with her
counsel That was smart. She could take the creditive things went well and avoid
the blame if they did not. Parliament, however, was less easily managed
than the council, to which it was subordinate. The Queen believed that as
the sovereign, she had absolute authority over Parliament, but the Puritans and the
Commons could be relied upon to oppose many measures, and both houses were jealous
of their powers and privileges, seeking constantly to extend them. Clashes between the
Queen in Parliament were therefore inevitable, and Elizabeth was, on some occasions forced
to concede defeat whenever possible. She managed without Parliament in the forty five years
of her reign. It sat for only ten sessions, which lasted a total
of one hundred and forty weeks, less than three years. The Queen attended
only the opening and closing state ceremony, arriving by barge or on horseback.
She wrote her own speeches for all of these occasions. If the Commons or
lords wished to speak to her, they sent a delegation to wherever she was
staying. After they had addressed her on their knees, she would rise from
the throne and bower. Curtsey messengers brought her news of debates, and cecil
conveyed her wishes to both houses. Elizabeth once reminded the speaker quote it is
in me and my power to call Parliament. It is in my power to
end and determine the same. It is in my power to dissent to anything
done in the parliaments. End quote. Certain matters, as we've seen,
such as the succession and her marriage, were considered by her inappropriate for discussion
by Parliament. The Parliament increasingly thought otherwise. In her foreign policy, Elizabeth
sought to preserve England's stability and prosperity in a Europe that was, for the
moment dominated by the two great Catholic powers, France and Spain. She achieved
this by a policy of diplomacy that was not willy understood by her own advisors.
She hated war because it threatened her kingdom's stability and her treasury Mike Philip
the Second. She had no desire to found an empire, and in fifteen
ninety three she would tell Parliament quote, it may be thought simplicity in me
that all this time of my reign I have not sought to advance my territory
and enlarge my domains. Her opportunity hath served me to do it. My
mind was never to invade my neighbors or usurp over any I am contented to
reign over mine and to rule as a just prince. Now. Elizabeth was
complicated. She loved to learn. She also spent three hours a day reading
history books and loved philosophy. She also loved practical jokes, as had her
mother, Anne Boleyn, as I mentioned in one of our first episodes on
Elizabeth's reign. She thoroughly enjoyed dancing, hunting, and especially writing, and
liked her father. She enjoyed both hearing and performing musical works. She was
evidently quite skilled at the lute, though she was interested in the more practical
sciences. She also employed astrologers, particularly the noted astrologer and suspected wizard doctor
John d Unlike both of her half siblings, Elizabeth enjoyed good health basically her
whole life, right up to the very end of her reign. She maintained
her faculties, though she did suffer from bouts of anxiety, mostly as the
result of the trauma she experienced early in life. Late in life, the
queen did find herself plagued by headaches. Doctors did as much harm as good
in the sixteenth century, and Elizabeth seems to have recognized this, she consulted
them as rarely as she could. In Tudor times, the royal image was
all important, and much more so than today. Magnificence was regarded as being
synonymous with power. The Tudor monarchs were renound for their splendor no less than
their personal charm. Elizabeth's wardrobe, which was rumored to contain more than three
thousand gowns, became legendary during her lifetime as her costumes grew ever more flamboyant.
The image of a godly Protestant virgin in sober black and white, so
carefully cultivated by Elizabeth during her half sister's reign, soon vanished, and there
emerged an all together more colorful and showy image. The Queen's portraits always show
her in dresses of silk, velvet, satin cloth of gold encrusted with real
gems, pearls, and embroidery. Her favorite colors were black, white and
silver, warm with transparent silver veils. Some of Elizabeth's dresses and other clothings
were presented to her by gifts by her courtiers, and many certainly remained unworn.
These, with other discarded dresses, she gave to her ladies. However,
Elizabeth absolutely appreciated the many gifts of clothing from friends and courtiers. In
fifteen seventy five, having given the Queen a blue cloak of embroidered with flowers
and trimmed with velvet, Bess of Hardock was gratified to learn from a friend
that quote, her Majesty never liked anything you gave her so well, the
color and strange trimming of the garment, with a great cost bestowed upon it,
hath caused her to give out such good speeches of your ladyship as I
have never heard better. One courtier described her physical appearance as follows quote slender
and straight. Her hair was inclined to pale yellow, her forehead large and
fair, her eyes lively and sweet but short sighted, her nose somewhat rising
in the middle. Her countenance was somewhat long, but yet of admiring beauty,
and in a most delightful composition of majesty and modesty. The portraits of
Elizabeth are the subject of quite frankly, more books than I can even recount,
although there is a great demand for her portrait. In the years after
her ascension, she was, according to William Cecil quote very unwilling to have
a natural representation end quote, and therefore there was a large number of lightiness
is that were produced that were probably very inaccurate. The very earliest portraits are
half lengths showing the queen full faced wearing a French hood. Only a few
examples of this survive. She was depicted full face in her coronation portrait.
This painting on a wooden panel has been tree ring dated to around sixteen hundred,
and it's probably a copy of a lost original, which may have been
the work of a Flemish women artist who painted many miniatures for the queen during
the early years of her reign. In reality, all we have to show
us what Elizabeth the First Gloriana looked like our stylized images. Painters, of
course, were keen to flatter the Queen, and she no doubt encouraged them
to do so over her forty five year reign. If we had a photograph
of Elizabeth, the difference between that and one of our paintings would likely be
dramatic, but frankly, for one, I'm happy we don't. So next
week we are headed back to France to follow Catherine de Medici. Charles the
ninth, and of course the Geese family as they try to pull the kingdom
through its ongoing religious turmoil. If you need more Western Sieve in the interim,
check out the link in the show notes for a free seven day trial
of Western SIEV two point zero. We're now deep into the Punic Wars back
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