seeped down to the brazier to warm the
water in the font she was even
Elizabeth
Part I- From Prison to Palace
in January 1559 Elizabeth the first was
crowned queen of England she was the
last of the great Tudor dynasty a bright
star who dazzled both the nation and the
world
the achievement of most stars fades
quickly but Elizabeth has lasted for
nearly four centuries and it's easy to
see why she reigned for 45 tumultuously
ears her ships defeated the Spanish
Armada and sailed around the globe in
her time Shakespeare wrote plays and
Spencer wrote poems English noblemen and
foreign princes wooed her but she the
Virgin Queen made love to that loyalist
of audiences the English people
Elizabeth was one of the daughters of
King Henry the eighth but the right of
women to succeed to the throne was still
in doubt and her pather would be
perilous
her father would kill her mother and she
will be disinherited her sister would
imprison her in the tower and threatened
her with execution
men would love her
for her royal status and not for herself
she will be sexually abused by her own
stepfather most monarchs are handed
their crowns on a plate Elizabeth got
hers by coming and courage
Elizabeth sex was a disappointment to
Henri astrologers the shirred him that
the baby to be born in September 15 33
would be a boy he already had one
daughter the 17 year old Mary what he
wanted was a son and heir but although
Elizabeth was a girl
the Magnificent christening plan for the
longed-for Prince went ahead
Monsieur know every detail had been
proclaimed princess the title of the
heir to the throne Elizabeth a goat a
bachelor nomine Patris at fee its aunty
according to the French ambassador the
whole occasion was so perfect that
nothing was lacking actually things were
far from perfect at Elizabeth's baptism
because Elizabeth was the child of the
second marriage and Henry's second
marriage like many second managers today
arouse very strong feelings for instance
the Imperial ambassador refused
point-blank to attend the baptism he
even refused to recognize and the Lin
Elizabeth mother as Henry's wife instead
he sneeringly referred to her as the
whore and as for little Elizabeth she
was the bastard even one of the
officiating clergy when he was asked had
the baby been baptized in hot water or
in cold replied hot but not hot enough
Henry divorced his first wife Catherine
of Aragon because she had not given him
a son but now her replacement
ambolyn was having her own gynecological
problems after two miscarriages she
finally had a baby boy but it was
stillborn
alan failed in her principal duty as
royal breeding machine meanwhile Henry
had fallen in love with another woman
Jane Seymour
an the end came with terrifying
swiftness she was accused of multiple
adultery with four of the gentlemen the
King's Chamber and have incest with our
own brother all of the cues were found
guilty and Anne herself was executed
here on tower green on the 19th of May
1536 Henry showed a single gesture of
mercy
towards a woman that he once loved so
much and her head was removed at a
single stroke with a sword
rather than being hacked off with the
axe
Elizabeth was only three and her mother
was executed as a traitor and a whore
for many children this would have been a
lifelong trauma but Elizabeth seems to
have airbrushed her mother from her
memory
it was to be Henry who filled her world
Hamblin's fall marked a major step down
in the world for the young elizabeth her
parents marriage was declared null and
void
she was now illegitimate and unable to
inherit the throne so instead of the
right high and mighty princess the Lady
Elizabeth inherit tricks of the crown of
England she became the Lady Elizabeth
the King second bastard daughter
Elizabeth sudden loss of status through
the little court where she had been
brought up into confusion even her
governess lady Bryan didn't know what to
do and wrote to the Kings Minister
Thomas Cromwell for guidance how should
the little girl be treated by the way
could she please have some more clothes
she'd outgrown absolutely everything she
had
but above all where should she eat more
shield enough to eat here in the Great
Hall served on the DES or should she
continue to eat in her chamber where
it'll be easier to keep her away from
the rich foods that were so bad for her
teeth and her digestion whatever her
status no one could forget that
Elizabeth was Anne B’s daughter and
it was in order to Mary Ann that Henry
had broken away from Rome and made
himself head of the church in England
it was a revolution and one of its
victims was the monasteries they were
amongst the greatest English landowners
the assets were seized and their
buildings dismantle one of them was
Glastonbury Abbey then the largest
church in England when I look out from
my church across the other side of the
road from these ruins I'm filled with a
feeling or sense of sadness a sense of
loss sense of disbelief to a degree that
such destruction could have taken place
in a country that was supposedly very
religious son Catholic this Abbey here
was a place of pilgrimage the abbey
contained a statue of Our Lady witches
with Catholic school st. Mary and people
would have come from far and wide to pay
their respects to say their prayers to
make their offerings and ask for various
helps within the space of nine years
from the Reformation dissolution of the
monasteries this went from being one of
the grandest Catholic churches in this
country - pretty well what we see around
us today
hardly one stone on top of another the
damage to the Catholic Church wasn't
just physical it was spiritual - out of
these ruins would grow a new Protestant
faith
Henry's religious revolution would
divide his country and his family Henry
had now embarked on his third marriage
to Jane Seymour in just over a year she
gave him the son that he craved Edward
legitimate and the boy was now undoubted
heir
Eduardo read Pettis a bit lazier day
Elizabeth his half-sister was no more
than a minor royal she had once been
princess herself now she was an
attendant that had baby brother's
christening Sarah and
she also lost her governess to Edward as
lady Brown was transferred to look after
the young prince a replacement was cat
Ashley a well-educated and devout woman
who became very close to Elizabeth her
father on the other hand scarcely saw
her for royal children like Elizabeth
who were brought up in the country away
from the royal court there Henry
communicated with her by messenger
in December 15:39
he sent Sir Thomas Risley to convey his
Christmas greetings
she gave humble thanks inquiring again
of His Majesty's welfare and that with
us greater gravity as if she'd been 40
years old children in the sixteenth
century had to join the starched and
corseted adult world as quickly as
possible they're expected to look like
their parents and to behave like them
even slight misdemeanors were severely
punished one royal tutor advised never
have the rod offer boys back and the
daughter especially should be handled
without cherishing but Elizabeth was
lucky the tutors belong to the new
school which thought that kindness was a
better teacher than the came but then
the young princess was a model pupil and
she studied languages from the age of
four she became fluent in French Italian
Latin and Greek sir in chivay tofu am ia
tickler the me on the floor amenities
predestined Tokyo V de Paz wasn't power
less type to retort a my Orem could eat
a seat here too but he was how she
learned languages that mattered as well
she was taught by the method of double
translation this means that the little
girl had to translate a passage from
Latin into English and then back again
into Latin getting it absolutely right
word for word now for most children this
kind of thing would have been an
absolute torment but Elizabeth seems to
have reveled in it she must have had the
mind of a computer programmer or an
expert solver of crossword puzzles
because she continued to do translations
for the whole of the rest of her life
she did them fun for relaxation but she
also did them as a kind of mental
to keep her emotions under control just
as nowadays some people might practice
yoga or meditation Elizabeth was the
kind of daughter of whom any father
would be proud and this painting shows
Henry's confidence in her it
commemorates his decision in 1544 to
reinstate both his daughters in the
succession no woman ever sat on the
English throne before now if Edward died
without an heir
first Mary and then Elizabeth would
become Queen Henry then sailed for
France to fight a war leaving his wife
catherine parr as regent in charge of
the kingdom Elizabeth now witnessed
firsthand that an intelligent
well-educated woman could rule
effectively at about this time Elizabeth
acquired a new tutor Roger Ascham
he worked with the brightest minds at
Cambridge but he found Elizabeth more
than their equal the Lady Elizabeth
shines like a star the constitution of
her mind is exempt from female weakness
no apprehension can be quicker than hers
she demonstrated her abilities in an
extraordinary New Year's gift for her
father it's a work of prose but it shows
the twelve-year-old girl to a beam in
her way just as much of a child prodigy
as the young Mozart is bound in red
cloth of gold heavily embroidered with
Henry's initials top and bottom and but
you can actually see it more clearly on
the back in the middle a cipher that's
the interlaced initials for Henry and
Catherine spelt with a K Catherine Parr
the covers of work of a professional
embroidery but inside it's all
Elizabeth's own work and what work
page after page are perfect beautiful
rhythmic metallic handwriting it shows
just how far she'd come on in a year her
New Year's present of the year before
that her stepmother is filled with
mistakes correction second thoughts but
here nothing first the Latin then the
French then the Italian not a mistake
not a mistranslation not a lot just
perfection but it's the introductory
letter that really takes us into
Elizabeth's own mind she addresses her
father a very striking phrase matchless
and most kind father she even has our
own views on the importance of the state
of kingship the state of kingship which
philosophers say is equivalent to that
of a God upon earth in love with her
father perhaps even more in love with
the idea of monarchy
Elisabet have never been more secure in
her royal status she basked in Henry's
attention
in 1546 she had this portrait painted
for him and it shows her as she wished
to be seen by her father so she studious
one finger marking a page in a book
she's pious the book open on the left
and beside her is certainly the Bible
she is the virtuous Renaissance princess
but this tranquility could not last
Henry
her father was dying
at 13 Elizabeth was about to lose the
giant of a father whom she revered next
decade would be the most threatening
period her life
Christmas 1546 was a gloomy wall at
court a long time the King had suffered
from an old jousting injury to his leg
which had turned into a chronic ulcer
pus would build up causing the leg to
swell the pain was intense on the 30th
of December
Henry completed his will and then the
descent was Swift as henry lay dying in
his bedchamber outside in the long
gallery Edward Seymour Prince Edward's
uncle was pacing up and down with his
advisors they were plotting the takeover
of power in the new reign towards two
o'clock in the morning Henry died
clutching the hands of Archbishop
Cranmer Elizabeth's Godfather to make
sure that there was a smooth transfer of
power and his death was kept secret for
three full days finally all was ready
and Seymour brought together Edward now
Edward the sixth and his favorite sister
Elizabeth and told them that their
father was dead one account describes
how the two children threw themselves
into each others arms weeping
uncontrollably little King Edward the
sixth had stepped into his father's
shoes but there were several sizes too
big for him he was just nine years old
and to begin with he was the pawn of his
powerful royal palace and so was
Elizabeth her father's will have left
her rich and her place in the line of
the succession made her a tempting
target one man in particular Thomas
Seymour had his eyes on her
the SEMA brothers as uncle's to the
young king were the most powerful family
in the land Thomas the younger brother
was bitterly jealous of his elder
brother Edward because Edward had made
himself Duke of Somerset and Lord
protect a druid built very Pomeroy
Castle in Devon it's still owned by his
descendant John Seymour Thomas I think
was a a wonderfully flamboyant and
colorful character like his brother he
was very ambitious and he took the most
of the opportunities that were presented
to him he was headstrong I think he
probably didn't think a great deal about
what was going to happen as a result of
his actions but he was undoubtedly out
to favor himself and make the most of
his opportunities in his life which he
did Thomas plotted his advancement to
power from his base Sudeley castle in
Gloucestershire his first idea was to
marry one of Henry the eighth's
daughters either marry or Elizabeth
would have done but the council vetoed
that idea so Seymour went for the next
best thing and proposed to Henry's Widow
Catherine Parr Catherine had already
been passionately in love with him even
before she married Henry so she accepted
him like a shot Elizabeth was living
with Catherine so this meant that
Seymour wasn't only her stepfather he
was also her guardian as a position of
trust which he abused shocking
but first Catherine Parrs involvement
made Seymour's games seem innocent
enough elizabeth fal'cie more intriguing
plain he was 40 she is just 14
but Seymour saw a relationship with
Elizabeth as a means of drawing closer
to the throne his game who darker
catherine parr was deceived by these
antics but cat Ashley was worried he
romped with her in the garden and cut
her gown into a hundred pieces
Seymour now got hold of the key to
Elizabeth's bedroom he would come into
her room
partly dressed early in the morning
sometimes he would tickle her and slap
her buttocks
Elizabeth was confused by Seymour's
behavior and by her reaction to it
Seymour was a handsome sexually charged
man and she was flattered by his
attentions but she was also scared by
them so sometimes she behaved as though
it was all again and play hide and seek
behind the curtains of the bed on other
occasions though Elizabeth would react
as though her maidenly modesty had been
outraged she get up early and makes sure
that she was dressed so as to avoid
Seymour's attentions on the other hand
cat Ashley
Elizabeth's governess knew exactly what
was going on but when she reproved
Seymour for risking Elizabeth's
reputation he brazen dit out he no
intention of stopping his behavior he
said because he meant no harm by it but
when Catherine Parr became pregnant
seamos flirtation with Elizabeth grew
more serious
but first Catherine could not believe
what was happening finally she was left
in no doubt
your grace
following a painful interview during
which Elizabeth hardly spoke a
stepmother sent her away it was the last
time Elizabeth saw Catherine when she
moved to sued Lee to have the baby
Elizabeth route to her wishing her luck
but Catherine died shortly after the
birth of her child and she was buried
here that sued Lee in her final delirium
all her fears and jealousies about
Seymour's behavior had revived with very
good reason because Seymour soon renewed
his suit to marry Elizabeth and this
time he had the powerful backing of cat
Ashley Elizabeth herself too was
enthusiastic but she the good sense to
say firmly that she wouldn't consider
the marriage without the backing of the
council see more for his part hot-headed
and impetuous as usual was too impatient
to wait Thomas was becoming more and
more keen to attain some personal power
and to further his career and one way of
doing this was to get Edward the king
the young King completely on his side
and I think he decided that he was going
to actually abduct the King and as he
lived in the neighboring apartment it
was very easy for him to have
conversations and meetings with the
young king and how it happened I don't
think it's really clear but we do know
that he was found in the Kings apartment
with a sword in his hand the spaniel one
of the many spaniels I think that the
young King had started to bark and I
suppose in desperation Thomas ran it
through with his sword and it was a
great cover for the noise and people
burst in and Thomas was arrested Seymour
was charged with treason his
relationship with Elizabeth made
suspect to a team of interrogators
descended on Hatfield to discover
whether she'd been plotting with him a
clues his confident half Ashley was
arrested and taken to the tower under
threat of torture she described the
scandalous events of the previous summer
her evidence was now used word for word
against Elizabeth another time at hand
'with he romped with her in the garden
romped and cut her gown being black
cloth into a hundred pieces and when I
came and chid Lady Elizabeth she assured
me she could not strive with all for the
Queen held her while the Lord Admiral
cut the dress the Queen suspecting the
often access of the Admiral to the Lady
Elizabeth came suddenly upon them where
they were all alone he having her in his
arms despite the evidence
Elizabeth refused to admit any
wrongdoing then a rumor began that she
was pregnant by Seymour she complained
bitterly to Somerset master tur wit and
others have told me that they'd go with
rumours abroad that I am in the tower
and with child by my lord Admiral these
are shameful slanders I shall most
heartily desire your lordship that I may
come to the court that I may show myself
as I am
tear would tell Somerset he was sure she
was guilty but he could prove nothing
Elizabeth had survived the crisis but
Seymour's guilt was clear in March 1549
Somerset signed his brother's death
warrant and Seymour was beheaded on
Tower Hill
Elizabeth brush with Thomas Seymour
marked a turning point in her young life
it was a blue clinician into the world
of adult politics and adult sexuality
she learned the hard way that a sexual
relationship even a close friendship
might mean danger perhaps death she knew
now that when a man approached her he
got his eyes on the throne as much as on
her from this point onwards she trusted
almost nobody she kept her own counsel
and she concealed her two thoughts it
was her defense against the hostile
world
Elizabeth was left alone in the peaceful
solitude of Hatfield here she continued
her studies she also indulged passion
for riding and hunting
the cleaner on exercise were welcome
antidote to the headaches and sickness
that have plagued her during the
investigation would recur throughout her
life during moments of stress
and about this time Elizabeth's French
cooter John bel main gave us a present
his translation as some puzzles epistle
dicent Gregory on the virtues of the
single life the Saints argument was that
marriage distracted the soul from the
worship of God bearing in mind her
recent experiences with Thomas Seymour
Elizabeth was well aware of the
practical political advantages of
celibacy - it was the same with the rest
of the Saints arguments about the need
for temperance and sobriety of dress
Elizabeth created a sensation of court
by turning up with her hair straight her
face unmade up and virtually no jewelry
she was rehabilitating herself after the
disaster the seymour affair by playing
the Quaker maid there was more to it
than just image Elizabeth was caught up
in the new Protestant mood in England
the crosses and candles of the Catholic
faith were being stripped from altars
everywhere new faith had the
enthusiastic backing the villas of us
brother the young King Edward but by
1553 the 15 year old King was dying of
tuberculosis he was desperate to stop
the religious reforms being undone by
his Catholic sister Mary who would
succeed under the terms of their
father's will so he excluded her from
the succession because she was a bastard
but him Mary was a bastard so too was
Elizabeth instead Edward chose a
Protestant cousin to succeed him the
fifteen-year-old Lady Jane Grey
anxiously Elizabeth waited with her
armed followers at Hatfield to see what
would happen next
in July 1553 Edward died Lady Jane Grey
was proclaimed Queen and Elizabeth and
Mary were denounced as bastards but Mary
was Henry's elder daughter in the eyes
of the people
she was rightful queen she was supported
by many of England's leading families so
henry Bedingfield a substantial norfolk
landowner was one of the first to rally
to Mary's banner his descendant still
lives at ox / Hall so Henry at oxberg
gathered together 160 men armed as they
say kappa PA that is to say with certain
amount of armor leather Jerkins sword
certainly and I'm sure a few horses his
role was to then take this small group
people - first of all kenning hall where
other units such as his word joining up
to make him an army and then from there
to framlingham where the army swelled
and they marched from there to London
with Queen Mary
Princess Elizabeth joined them on route
and as custom dictated at the gates of
the - City of London they left the army
behind and Elizabeth and Mary rode into
the city of London - wild for joy seeing
in chairs from the crowd in the face of
this overwhelming support for Mary the
opposition collapsed Lady Jane Grey was
later beheaded at the tower on July the
19th
15:53 Mary was proclaimed Queen her
vision was to lead England back to the
true Catholic faith
Elizabeth's Protestantism marked her out
as a potential enemy for the first two
months of Mary's reign Elizabeth
contrived to avoid going to Mass finally
Mary issued an ultimatum Elizabeth was
to attend Mass on the 8th of September
the day of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin
corner last Elizabeth sought a personal
interview with Mary at Richmond she
threw herself on her knees before the
Queen tears streaming down her face she
explained that she'd never been taught
the old faith and please could you have
priests to instruct her oh yes and she
would go to Mass but on the morning she
developed a diplomatic chill and rather
spoil the solemnity of the occasion by
complaining loudly have a bad
stomachache now that Mary not anyone
else was deceived well Mary and
Elizabeth had quite different attitudes
to their respective religions Mary of
the old religion would have had a
slightly mechanistic expression of her
religion not that she wasn't devout and
spiritual and prayerful I'm sure she was
all those things but her religion
involved doing things pilgrimages saying
the Rosary going places making signs of
the Cross and so on for Elizabeth those
things didn't take didn't feature at all
in her faith people of a new religion
would have been much more Bible based
and would have interpreted the Bible in
the light of their own reason and
understanding rather than relying on an
authority from Rome telling them what
the Bible actually meant Mary now tried
to guarantee the Catholic future of
England by marrying King Philip of Spain
but Mary's passionate love for foreign
prince was deeply unpopular and Philips
envoy's were pelted with snowballs Mary
brushed aside the protests Elizabeth now
became a figurehead for Mary's opponents
early in 1554 she received a letter from
a gentleman called Sir Thomas Wyatt
he told her that he intended to rebell
to prevent the Spanish marriage
you
Elizabeth didn't reply in writing
instead she told Wyatt's messenger with
careful ambiguity that she would do as
God would direct her
within days wired had raised an army of
7,000 men in the southeast and marched
on London as Wyatt's army drew closer to
the capital there was panic in Mary's
Court Mary ordered Elizabeth to come to
Whitehall where she could be kept under
control but Elizabeth claimed that she
was ill Mary's doctors confirmed the
illness said nevertheless that she was
well enough to travel
it took her 11 days to cover the 23
miles to London by the time she arrived
Wyatt's rebellion had collapsed he had
overestimated support for his calls
Wyatt was beheaded and quartered on
Tower Hill at first Elizabeth was
detained and interrogated at Whitehall
then it was decided to send her to the
tower the night before the journey
Elizabeth wrote to Mary she was writing
for her life I most humbly beseech Your
Majesty that I be not condemned without
answer and do proof which it seems that
I now am but without cause proved I am
commanded to go to the tower place more
wanted for a false traitor than a true
subject
this is the letter that Elizabeth writes
this most desperate moment of her life
she begins with a fine firm clear hand
but gradually as the pressure of
circumstances gets to her remember she
thought that she'd only days perhaps
even hours before she was executed the
handwriting becomes looser and more
irregular she makes mistakes and then
she corrects them but finally she's run
out of things to say and time to save me
and still she's only a quarter of the
way down the second page then as a
primitive security device to stop
anybody forging her handwriting and
making incriminating additions to the
letter she draws long diagonal strokes
that almost fill up the page they leave
just space at the very bottom for
PostScript I humbly crave but only one
word with yourself summarizes the entire
letter and then at the right she signs
off your Highnesses most faithful
subject from the beginning and shall be
to my end Elizabeth's letter was a long
one
deliberately so because by the time she
had finished the tide was too high for
boot to be able to make the journey
safely to the tower she bought herself a
few precious hours but to no avail
Mary didn't even deign to reply
and early the next morning Elizabeth was
rode up the river for the tower
the rain was falling in a steady drizzle
Elizabeth knew that most of those who
made this voyage would never make
another
winners are the flam did the river was
very high and the steps were very
slippery she found it difficult to keep
her feet she found that even more
difficult to control her terror I never
thought to come here a prisoner I
beseech you all my friends and fellows
bear witness that I come here no traitor
but as true a subject to the Queen's
Majesty as any now alive at the top of
the steps stood the soldiers they were
there to guard her instead they fell on
their knees crying god save your grace
you
this is the room in the belt are where
Elizabeth is supposed to have been
imprisoned the eight weeks of her
captivity in the tower were the darkest
days of her entire life this often
happened at moments of psychological
crisis she fell ill she thought
constantly of death after all she was
only a few yards from the spot where her
mother had been executed she prayed to
be delivered from the same fate
two months dragged by still there was no
word from Mary Elizabeth could only
expect the worst on the morning of the
19th of May 15:54 Sir Henry Bedingfield
Mary's staunch supporter arrived at the
tower with a hundred men
Elizabeth believed that she was about to
die and for Mary's point of view she
deserved to Mary knew that she had been
involved in the Wyatt plot but Elizabeth
had cleverly covered her tracks without
positive proof Mary couldn't risk
executing the heir to the throne
benningfield took Elizabeth to Woodstock
palace near Oxford the relationship that
Elizabeth had with Henry was from sir
Henry's point of view a very
professional one and from her point of
view I think thoroughly frustrating
because he was there with a bunch of
keys he kept her locked in garden gates
were locked if she wanted to go for a
walk there was someone had to accompany
an armed guard
she couldn't receive anything in case
there are messages involved and she in
fact called him my jailer Elizabeth was
locked up for almost a year before Mary
summoned her to court the Queen believed
that she was pregnant and she wanted
Elizabeth to play a walk on part in the
christening but it was a phantom
pregnancy and as his wife sickened
Philips attitude to Elizabeth changed he
thought that he could use her to keep
control of England by marrying her to a
friend
in the autumn of 1555 Elizabeth got
Mehra's permission to leave Court and to
come here to the peace and security of
her country estate at Hatfield she
wanted to escape the court with its
poisonous atmosphere of intrigue and
surveillance but you also wish to put a
metaphorical distance between herself
and the actions of Mary's government
because that summer the burning of
Protestants that really got underway
more than 300 people met this horrible
death during Mary's reign the few were
lucky kind executioner's would tie bags
of gunpowder to their legs to finish
them off quickly
most roosted alive
every death created the martyr for the
Protestant cause making England Catholic
wasn't going to be easy
sensing that her time was near Elizabeth
fiercely resisted Philips plans to marry
her off to a Catholic prince the Duke of
Savoy she would be no one's puppet Mary
was dying but still she resisted naming
Elizabeth as her successor ten days
before her death she finally relented
under pressure from her Council
it was the 17th of November 1558 towards
noon messengers arrived at Hatfield to
inform Elizabeth that her sister Mary
was dead as she was now Queen the story
goes that they found her walking in the
park underneath the great oak tree as
they fell on their knees before her she
too knelt uttering the words of 118
psalm abdominal factum essed
at me rebellion oculis nostris this is
the Lord's doing but his marvelous in
our eyes
the Spanish ambassador de faria told
Elizabeth she owed her throne not to the
Lord but to King Philip Elizabeth would
have none of it she is a very vain and
clever woman she puts great store by all
the people who put her in her present
position and she will not acknowledge
that your majesty or the nobility of the
realm had any part in it she is
determined to be governed by no one
on Wednesday the 23rd of November
Elizabeth rode through these great gates
of the charter house in London to take
possession of her capital a journey from
Hatfield had turned into a triumphal
progress she was accompanied with a
great train of a thousand lords ladies
and gentlemen vast cheering crowds
greeted her arrival
Elizabeth consulted the astrologer dr.
John Dean before choosing Sunday the
15th of January 1559 for her coronation
the Queen walked along lengths of blue
cloth for Westminster Hall to the
entrance to Westminster Abbey the crowds
behind her fell on the cloth cutting off
pieces of souvenirs
today Elizabeth would play the part that
she understudied so long and in water
setting a christening at Greenwich have
been high theater but her coronation in
Westminster Abbey will be a performance
on the grandest scale
first Elizabeth was acclaimed by the
people and swarthy F next her outer
robes are removed when she knelt
solemnly for the anointing Bishop
Oglethorpe anointed her in the seven
traditional places on the shoulder
blades or the breasts on the palms of
the hand finally on the crown of the
head then she was n through
successively three different crowns were
put on the head and on her fourth finger
a ring as a symbol of the mystical
marriage between Elizabeth and her
kingdom
tradition mystery and symbolism had made
her Queen of England was fully and
completely as any of her predecessors of
being King
Elizabeth at last war of a crown now
came the difficult bit she'd to show
that she could grasp the reality of
power and govern a divided country and
to do that she did is prove to
widespread assumptions that no monarch
could ever match the achievement of her
father and that no woman could ever make
an effective ruler
Part II- The Virgin Queen
it is 1559
England is a newly crowned queen
Elizabeth has overcome extraordinary
obstacles to gain the crown
but a struggle isn't over
there's one thing about her that will
lead to scalp
that will compromise her power
threaten her security
and demand a terrible personal sacrifice
she is a woman
it is a birth inherited a part that was
traditionally played by two people king
and queen male and female a king was
supposed to be strong-willed and
assertive a decisive leader in war and
peace the Queen on the other hand and
bodied softer more feminine virtues she
was to be pious merciful and charitable
but above all she was a royal breeding
machine was her duty to get pregnant
early and often so for Elizabeth to
succeed she to do something
extraordinary
unnatural evil she to be a royal
hermaphrodite to rule like a man and a
king and to bear children like a queen
and a woman
Elizabeth would have to fight to survive
and in a man's world she would need men
to help her do it her first task as
Queen was to establish her own Court a
council who would be in charge of the
everyday running of the country
and her household staff who would look
after her
the old regime was catholic the new was
largely Protestant though a few favored
Catholics survived some counselors were
old hands who had served under her
father but the top job went to a younger
man William Cecil who became a Secretary
of State
he was 38 serious brilliant with an
instinctive grasp of politics and a
fierce loyalty to the Queen in a
flamboyant age he dressed in black and
he rode a mule because it was modest and
good for his gout
there were also surprises in the new
household as master of the horse the man
responsible for the Queen's safety
Elizabeth appointed the son of a traitor
Duke
Robert Douglas father have been executed
for his treachery but the family
remained tainted by the crime
known disparagingly as the gypsy because
his dark locks tom and coming doublers
appointment raise more than a few
eyebrows at court
Elizabeth and ugly were the same age
they'd known each other in childhood
they may also have met in less happy
circumstances here in the tower where
they were both imprisoned at the same
time early in mare is Rey Elizabeth was
in fear of death Dudley had already seen
his father his brother and his
sister-in-law executed and he was under
sentence of death himself it was this
common experience of imprisonment and
imminent death that lay at the basis of
that unbreakable instinctive bond of
sympathy that joined the Queen and her
favorite Elizabeth choice of Cecil was
about politics and duty a choice of
Dudley was about pleasure desire
Elizabeth had inherited from her sister
Mary a nation that was bankrupt
militarily weak and hemmed in by enemies
in the parlance of the time the country
was a boon between two dogs France and
Spain England needed friends the obvious
way to achieve it was an alliance
through marriage the Queen must marry
and soon
Parliament petitioned the Queen asking
her to pledge herself to a suitable
international marriage three days later
she gave her response now that the
public care of governing the kingdom is
laid upon me to draw upon me also the
cares of marriage may seem a point of
inconsiderate fully ei to satisfy you
I have already joined myself in marriage
to an husband namely the kingdom of
England and for me it shall be a full
satisfaction if when I shall let my last
breath it may be in graven upon my
marble tomb here lieth Elizabeth which
reigned a virgin and died a virgin but
the Queen wasn't behaving like a virgin
as the Spanish ambassador insinuatingly
observed during the last few days Lord
Robert has come so much into favor that
he does whatever he likes with affairs
and it is even said that Her Majesty
visits him in his chamber day and night
by the end of April the Ambassador
reported that the Queen was in love with
Robert and wouldn't let him leave her
side but the Queen's closeness to godly
disturbed her courtiers as a colleague
they could put up with him as a
potential king he was intolerable
I think that William was very worried
about Dudley indeed he saw him as a huge
threat both to national prosperity if he
married the Queen and also to his own
position at court I think he was the one
man really he was fussed about and also
I suspect was a certain amount of
jealousy I mean he'd ordered the Queen
and there was this guy he considered to
be rather lightweight coming between him
and her and he certainly did not want
him to get married to her
Cecil stepped up the pressure for the
Queen to marry a European Prince there
was no shortage of candidates King fed
King Philip of Spain Catholic and
widower of Elizabeth sister Mary Charles
the ninth he is 16 Charles the ninth of
France Catholic and a mere sickly boy
Charles of Austria the Archduke Charles
the most promising candidate but still a
Catholic Eric of Sweden no my lord
Elizabeth was playing hard-to-get for
reasons that were political as well as
personal she'd seen the problems created
by her sister Mary's disastrous marriage
to Philip of Spain and she was
determined to avoid them but actually
that was easier said than done
for if she married a foreigner how could
England avoid the kind of disastrous
foreign entanglements would you led to
the loss of Calais and if she married a
Catholic and almost all the suitors for
our hand were Catholics
how would Protestant England cope with a
Catholic King and finally and above all
how could she be happy if she married a
man that she'd never seen sometimes she
must have reflected it was safer to
follow her own inclination and not marry
at all
Elizabeth faced her second major
challenge she was a Protestant Queen in
a country that was still officially
Catholic her sister Mary had stamped
Catholicism on England with
extraordinary violence burning at the
stake over 300 Protestant men women and
children
Elizabeth had finally got Parliament to
agree to restore Protestantism in
England Mary's Catholic Bishops had
fought her all the way and when they
were ordered to swear an oath accepting
the Queen as head of the new church all
but one of them refused her response was
Swift
on the 20th of May 1560
Thomas Watson Bishop of Lincoln was sent
to the tower in the following weeks many
more bishops were arrested as well as
one of the ex bishops the surviving
Catholic members of Mary's council were
also arrested but Elizabeth unlike her
sister Mary didn't try to force them to
convert it wasn't her business she said
to make Windows into men's souls because
Elizabeth was subtler she insisted only
on outward conformity
they had tried knowledge her supremacy
and they were allowed to celebrate Mass
only privately the result deprived
Catholicism of the publicity of
martyrdom instead it reduced it to
something furtive to be allowed in as
abbath hoped slowly to wither away
whilst Catholicism was forced
underground England's new religion was
given a bold public face
this is the Rood screen rude means cross
and originally an image of Christ
hanging on the cross stood in the center
of the screen with the Virgin Mary on
one side and some John on the other
under Elizabeth these images were torn
down because they were seen as being
idolatrous and they were replaced
instead with this painted gigantic
version of the Royal Arms Queen
Elizabeth the arms say is God's direct
representative here on earth church and
state a 1 and when the congregation
knelt to pray they worshiped not only
God but also the English nation as
embodied in its virgin queen
but the Virgin Queens relationship with
Robert Dudley was by now a national
scandal both Courtin public were
appalled at his arrogance offended by
his brashness and suspicious of his
motives and there was another thing he
was married
Dublin's wife Amy Rob SOT was rumoured
to be very ill Gossett claimed that
Dudley was simply waiting for her to die
so that he could marry the Queen
sessile was close to despair and
confided in the Spanish ambassador I met
secretary Cecil who said that the Queen
was going on so strangely that he was
about to withdraw from her service he
perceived the most manifest ruin
impending over the Queen through her
intimacy with Lord Robert he had made
himself master of the business of State
and of the person of the Queen to the
extreme injury of the realm with the
intention of marrying
last of all he said there was a
conspiracy to kill Lord Robert's wife is
late on the afternoon of the 8th of
September 1560 had come the place in
Oxfordshire the home of Lord Robert
Dudley the Queen's favorite and a mihrab
SOT his wife of five years standing the
house has been unusually quiet all
afternoon because the servants have been
given the day off to attend a local fair
when they return they find Lady Dudley's
body the foot of the staircase dead and
with her neck broken
you
Douglas first reaction fear for his
reputation he was right to fear
a major scandal erupts at Cork Queen's
favorite murders wife the clear way to
Queens bed
Elizabeth fearful for her reputation
she couldn't allow the scandal to
besmirch her
reluctantly she banishes Dudley from
court
the inquest exonerated Dudley by
returning a verdict of accidental death
but his enemies were confident that his
reputation was beyond repair that he
would never recover his all to intimate
relationship with the Queen
it is October 15 62
Queen Elizabeth has lain unconscious in
a coma for the last 24 hours
the physicians have diagnosed smallpox
which is not expected to live
in a nearby room the Privy Council is in
crisis it is three years into the rain
but Elizabeth has neither married nor
named a successor if she dies there will
be a constitutional crisis possibly a
civil war
and a new threat was waiting in the
wings
on the 19th of August 1561 a tall
striking-looking woman stepped ashore
leaf near Edinburgh it was Mary Queen of
Scots returning to her Kingdom there was
a thick sea mist that morning some later
saw this as an evil omen of the sorrow
the darkness and the impiety which made
his return was to bring to Scotland
the 18 year old Queen of Scots have been
brought up in France and she'd not seen
Scotland for 13 years but even when she
was back in Scotland
her sights were set on another greater
Kingdom England
the Catholic Mary was Elizabeth's cousin
and had a very strong claim to the
English throne
she posed a double threat to Elizabeth
what ostent ISM was only recently
established and still vulnerable and
with Elizabeth unmarried childless and
in poor health the succession was
dangerously open but Elizabeth recovered
and for the moment the crisis was over
her first words on regaining
consciousness were to command her
council to appoint a Lord Protector in
the event of her death his salary she
specified would be a staggering twenty
thousand pounds more than was spent on
the coronation the man she named was
Robert Dudley
the scandal of his wife's death a died
away and Dudley's reputation had
recovered now he was back in favor in
spectacular style
only three months after her illness
Elizabeth faced a fresh ordeal
Parliament had been summoned for January
15 63 and everybody knew that a
reluctant Queen will be forced once more
to confront the issue of the succession
the Parliament was opened with a sermon
preached in Westminster Abbey by
Alexander no the Dean of st. Paul's and
Nowell put into words what most people
only dared think all the Queen's most
noble ancestors have commonly had some
issue to succeed them but her Majesty
yet none the want of your marriage and
issue is likely to prove a plague if
your parents had been of your mind where
had you been then alack what shall
become of us now I reckon that's pretty
straight talking it was a very small
part of the sermon but this if you like
was almost before a state opening of
parliament now I don't know if Dean
Knoll had been put up to it by
Elizabeth's political advisors or
whether he was just speaking for himself
but I do think he was taking a bit of a
risk
no would not have been the first
churchmen to be sent to the tower he'd
had a bit of a run-in at some polls the
year before when he'd given her a prayer
book you know with pictures of saints
and she took exception to this this was
a kind of idolatry that she'd forbidden
so he was playing with fire a bit but
clearly he was prepared to nail his
colours to this particular mast
NOLs tough words set the tone for the
Parliament
but again the Queen hedged and
obfuscated her marriage was simply not
on the cards Mary though showed no such
reluctance was entertaining the suits of
several European Catholics an alliance
between Scotland and one of England's
enemies could spell disaster
so Elizabeth requested diplomatic talks
with the Scots nine days she entertained
met his ambassador Sir James Melville
she desired to know of me whether my
Queens heir and hers was best to which
of the two was fairest
I said she was the fairest queen in
England and my in the fairest queen in
Scotland she inquired which of them was
of highest stature I said my queen then
she is too high saith she for I myself
am neither too high not too low there
was a final round in this game of
diplomacy
Elizabeth offered an English candidate
for the hand of the Queen of Scots Lord
Robert Dudley Her Majesty called him her
brother and best friend whom she could
have married had she ever minded to have
taken a husband but being determined to
end a life in virginity she wished that
the Queen her sister might marry him but
did Elizabeth really intend to give the
man that she'd love to Mary Queen of
Scots
well Robert Dudley who should have known
to her intention seriously enough to do
everything that he could to scupper the
scheme but actually there was a lot to
be said for it politically would have
solved the problem of what to do with
Dudley he wouldn't have become King of
England but he would have become King as
consort of Mary Queen of Scots but it
was solve the problem of what to do with
Mary she'd have been safely married to
an Englishman and so kept out of the
clutches of a foreigner and the foreign
alliance of the English so feared for
their northern neighbor and it will
solve the problem of the succession
there have been no difficulty about
recognizing the children of the marriage
as heirs to the English throne but the
scheme did fail not because of Elizabeth
but because of Mary's contempt for the
man that she called Elizabeth's horse
keeper
mary had her own ideas about love
Henry Stuart Lord Darnley was 18 tall
handsome define lute player Mary
described him as the lust hist and best
proportioned long glad she had ever seen
when he fell ill she nursed him
they fell in love
it was a whirlwind romance and four
months later in the Chapel Royal at
Holyrood palace in Edinburgh they were
married the effect on Elizabeth was
dramatic within a few days it was
reported that she and Robert had become
inseparable again if the young Queen of
Scots could marry for love
why couldn't in Glyn's Queen do the same
but the return of the rumor of marriage
brought new and fierce resistance
the Duke of Norfolk the most powerful
mobile in the land was the Queen's
closest male relative and was bitterly
opposed to the prospective match Norfolk
had always resented the rise to power of
the upstart Dudley a resentment
intensified by his own failure to gain
high office he became the focus of the
anti Dudley camp
their rivalry split the court
Douglas side took to wearing purple
ribbons norfolk's yellow the two
factions roam the corridors of power
armed and angry
the Queen intervened to slap both sides
down when Dudley objected to the Queen's
flirtation with a young pretty courtier
she lashed him with her tongue loud
enough for the whole court to hear I
will have here but one mistress and no
master
Norfolk tooth found himself in disgrace
at a Privy Council meeting he raised the
matter of the Queen's marriage and the
succession she flew into a rage calling
him a traitor and adding that she would
not name a successor and she had no wish
to be buried alive for good measure
she also threatened to have the Duke
arrested but a tough words could not
resolve the tensions of court behind the
bickering lay the real problem the
succession
until Elizabeth matted and produced an
air the crisis would never go away
while it is above Fort Hill the men of
her court together Mary enjoyed a female
triumph
on the 19th of June 1566 in a tiny room
in the castle at Edinburgh Mary
fulfilled her duty as a woman it was a
queen
he had a child
her labor was long and hard but the baby
was healthy and it was a boy they
christened him James Scotland now had an
heir and Mary Queen of Scots a son when
the English ambassador saw the baby a
few days later he reported that he was
likely to prove a goodly prince
the news was far from goodly for
Elizabeth she burst out to some of her
ladies but the Queen of Scots was mother
of a fair son while she was but a barren
stock but Mary's triumph did not last
the initial euphoria of marriage had
faded as dawn his true nature emerged
he was violent an arrogant drunk a lout
with all the makings of a psychopath
Donley had become insanely jealous of
David Rizzio Mary's Italian secretary
whom he suspected of having an affair
with the Queen
a group of Protestant Scottish Lords
also hated ritsu because he was a
Catholic and the Queen's favorite so the
two groups of ritzy as enemies came
together and signed a contract to murder
him on the night of the 9th of March
1566 the conspirators burst in here into
the Queen's smallest chamber where they
found RIT CEO having one of his
late-night tete-a-tete with the Queen he
was dragged outside and stabbed 57 times
conspirators thoughtfully left
Donna's dagger sticking in ritzy OHS
belly less than a year later Donnelly
himself was dead
the house where he was staying was blown
up and Donnelly was found strangled in
the orchard everything suggested that
the man responsible for the crime was
James Hepburn Earl of Bothwell who was
one of Mary's leading supporters still
worse the finger of suspicion also
pointed at Mary herself and as Elizabeth
told her bluntly her behavior was making
a bad situation worse madam my ears have
been so astounded my heart so frightened
to hear of the horrible and abominable
murder of your former husband our mutual
cousin that I have scarcely spirit to
write yet I cannot conceal that I grieve
more for you than for him
but there was still worse to come
Mary was abducted taken by force to
Dunbar and raped
the perpetrator was James Hepburn the
Earl of Bothwell two weeks later they
were married
madam how could a worse choice be made
for your honor than in such haste to
marry a subject who besides other
notorious lacks public fame has charged
with the murder of your late husband
within a few weeks merely paid a
terrible price for her folly a large
party of the Scottish nobility rose up
in arms against their scandalous Queen
the two sides joined in battle but
Mary's troops melted away without
striking a blow even a husband Bothwell
negotiated a safe conduct for himself
from the field of battle
Mary was defeated and abandoned
mara was brought as a prisoner here to
the island fortress of Loch Leven where
she miscarried of twins then broken in
body and mind under the immediate threat
of physical force she was compelled to
abdicate in favor of her one-year-old
son James
she was never to see him again Mary had
married unwisely for love and for lust
and as a consequence she had lost her
crown her son her Liberty perhaps after
all there was wisdom in living and
ruling alone
to be led from the place of arraignment
to the Tower of London and from thence
to the gallows at Tyburn
and they're to be hanged and to being
half-dead to be cut down under bowels to
be taken out of the belly and thrown
into the fire
and the heads to be cut off and the body
to be divided into four parts and the
head and four quarters to be set up and
disposed at our pleasure which manner of
execution is due to every person that
committeth treason
given under our signet at our Palace of
Westminster Elizabeth our
for the Tudors treason was the worst of
crimes which deserved the worst of
punishments it is a birth had personal
experience of its terrors because she
been imprisoned in the tower on charges
of treason herself when she became Queen
she hoped that the moderation of her
rule would make treason it's terrible
penalties a forgotten memory but a
decade after her accession these hopes
were fading Catholicism hadn't withered
away as she'd hoped the nobility were no
longer content simply with honor and
dignity instead some of them wanted real
power which Elizabeth was reluctant to
give them and above all there were the
great unsolved questions of the
succession and her marriage it was a
combustible mixture needed only a spark
to set it alight in May 1568 nary
escaped from her Island prison
thousands of troops flocked to join her
standard
but once again she was defeated in
battle at this time the defeat was final
she escaped from the field of battle but
she was now alone and desperate she fled
to the only place that might offer her
safety protection even support
Engel
Elizabeth dispatched one of her
counselors to Carlisle to convey Mary to
a place of refuge and to treat her with
all honor as befitted her status as a
queen in reality she was a prisoner
Mary's arrival in England was a disaster
for Lizabeth until now the Queen had
kept Catholicism under control but Mary
gave English Catholics especially those
in the north
a figurehead round whom they could rally
and even rebel the north of England had
been the scene of the biggest rebellion
against Henry the eighth
now insurrection was brewing again the
population had remained largely Catholic
and that little loyalty to the
Protestant Queen far away in London
the northern Earl's were Catholic too
they had been prepared to put up with
Elizabeth providing she left them alone
but slowly the government was nibbling
away at their independence the Earl's
looked to Norfolk for leadership Norfolk
was not a natural rebel he too was
aggrieved and disaffected ripe for
rebellion
in June 15 68 marah's envoi approached
the Duke of Norfolk with an
extraordinary suggestion he proposed
that the Duke should marry Mary Queen of
Scots and retake Scotland Norfolk would
then exchange a ducal coronet for the
royal crown of Scotland whilst his and
Mary's children will be the natural
heirs of England also attractive but
dangerous Norfolk had in his pocket a
commission from Elizabeth in which he
said that anybody marrying Mary will be
forthwith adjudged a traitor and Norfolk
himself was convinced of Mary's guilt as
a murderer and an adulterer but ambition
brings strange bedfellows rumours of
this dangerous conversation reached
Elizabeth and she summoned Norfolk to
court her cousin denied the charge
she gave him two more chances to come
clean twice more came denial
his denials roused her suspicions this
was more than just a covert marriage
plan it was a plot who overthrow her
norfolk's suddenly left the queen's
summer progress and returned here to the
charter house his London residence he
agreed to join in a plot hatched by the
Earl's of Westmoreland and
Northumberland the Earl's would raise
the north liberate Mary Queen of Scots
and bring about her marriage to Norfolk
all the north
Northumberland boasted will repel at his
command Thomas Percy the Earl of
Northumberland had his own reasons for
rebellion it was partly about religion
the Percy's had remained story Catholic
but at heart it was about power
Northumberland forty had a right to
share in power Elizabeth was prepared to
share power with no one thomas was
really driven to rebellion by Elizabeth
and Cecil in particular I mean Cecil
didn't like the power of the Percy's in
the north and the fact that they were
Catholic as well and a lot of the people
in this area were Catholic meant that
there was a power base in the north
close to Scotland obviously close to
Mary Queen of Scots that presented a
serious problem to the crown
Thomas could have had a very easy life
he was wealthy enough to maintain his
life in Northumberland he loved country
pursuits he had a wonderful wife he had
four beautiful children he risked
everything basically
but the risk was too much for Norfolk he
wrote to Northumberland begging him to
cancel the rising but it was too late
midnight on November the 9th 1569
churches all over the north rang their
bells backwards as a signal the
rebellion to begin
on the 10th of November the rebel oils
enter the city of Durham and broke open
the doors of this great Cathedral and
here they performed an act of calculated
defiance they tore up and burned the
Protestant Bibles and prayer books the
symbols of the new religion and they
celebrated the central mystery of the
old by attending a Catholic Mass they
had crosses on their armor and they
carried the badge and the banner of the
five wounds of Christ it looked like a
holy war a crusade
the loss of Durham was a catastrophe the
city was a fortress to stop an invasion
from Scotland now it had fallen to the
rebels and could be turned against the
Queen
Elizabeth was paying a heavy price for
her mishandling of the northern URLs by
bullying them like her fathered his
worst he had pushed them over the edge
their goal was obvious to rescue Mary
from captivity
nanny was imprisoned a tough brain
staffordshire if they managed to reach
her it would hold not only half of
England they would have alternative
queen
Elizabeth acted decisively she had her
cousin move further south to Coventry
when inside the Protestant Heartland and
beyond the rebels reach she also ordered
the rapid deployment of an armed force
to the north to intercept them our
orders the rebel Earls had advanced
south confidently expecting that other
noblemen would join them so when they
heard instead that the southern Lords
were marching against them with royal
troops in overwhelming numbers they were
taken off guard they decided to retreat
to fight on their own territory but the
retreat not the stuffing out of the
rebellion their troops melted away and
the Earl's fled towards Scotland
Elizabeth was exultant by behaving like
her father she'd helped to provoke the
rebellion now she actually outdid him in
the savagery with which he punished the
rebels
spare no offenders we are in nothing
moved to spare them the bodies to remain
till they fall to pieces where they hang
700 men were put to death including the
earl of northumberland
no village was without at least one
execution lands were seized and
distributed amongst Elizabeth Protestant
supporters the north of England would
never be the same again
Norv was arrested but there wasn't
enough evidence to execute him for
treason but whilst under house arrest he
became involved in a new plot
masterminded by the Italian banker
Ridolfi
the conspirators were careless
English spies captured incriminating
letters and the plotters were rounded up
it was more than enough the seal
Norfolk's fate
but the Queen could not bring herself to
execute England's only Duke a closest
male relative
three times she signed the execution
warrant three times she called it back
and destroyed it for five months she
procrastinated
she was staving off the inevitable
Thomas Duke of Norfolk late of kenning
Hall in the county of Norfolk on
judgment with this day a radiation fled
from the place of arraignment at the
Tower of London and belts should be
drawn and his body divided into four
parts and his head and out of his
Baptist to be sent off are disposed and
his head to be cut off which matters
positive ID to every person that
committed treason
yet we being moved to pity of our grace
a please to change such manner of
execution to cause only that his head to
be smitten from his body at the tower
hill we accustomed place of execution
given under our signet at our Palace of
Westminster the 13th year of our reign
Elizabeth our
on the morning of the 2nd of June 1570
to Norfolk was led to the scaffold for
studious to the last he rearranged the
straw note down stretched out his neck
and then as a crowd murmur Lord Jesus on
thy soul the executioner cut off his
head
with a single stroke
Elizabeth had reigned for 14 years
she had beaten off rebellion
she had resisted the pressure to marry
and she had survived alone
but marry and religion that divided her
country and her Catholic enemies abroad
were muscling their forces
Elizabeth and her Protestant people will
be plunged into war
Part III- Heart of a King
in July 1588 beacons were lit across
England to warn of the arrival of the
Spanish Armada
Elizabeth's darkest fears had come true
England was at war open war at last it
was something that Elizabeth had twisted
and turned for 20 years to avoid it is
abbath hated war because it was so
expensive it was all so unbelievably
risking the loss of kalak have destroyed
her sister Mary's reputation and
Elizabeth well knew that a similar
unforeseen disaster could undo all her
own work
Elizabeth loathed war because as a woman
she couldn't lead her own armies instead
she had to give their command the hot
wheeled men who would disobey her orders
and might even turn her own forces
against her
the slide into war begun nearly 20 years
before
by the early 15 70s Elizabeth had
triumphed over her opponents in England
she had seen off a rebellion and
executed the ringleaders including her
own cousin the Duke of Norfolk
there was a fragile piece in England but
Elizabeth was in constant danger
she had powerful enemies abroad headed
by the Pope who like a 16th century
Ayatollah had signed a fatwa on the
Protestant English Queen whosoever sends
her out of the world with the pious
intention of doing God's service not
only does not sin but gains merit
Elizabeth the powerful Catholic enemies
at home as well Mary Queen of Scots that
been Elizabeth's prisoner since her
desperate flight from Scotland in 1568
Mary had a strong claim to the English
throne through her great-grandfather
Henry the Sabbath on her arrival in
England Mary identified herself
passionately with Catholicism
Mary's faith set her on a collision
course with Elizabeth
especially those relations between
Catholics and Protestants in Europe were
about to explode
in Paris onsen Bartholomew's day the
24th of august 1572 catholics began a
massacre of their protestant neighbors
everywhere there were people who fled
and others who ran after them crying
kill kill there was no mercy either for
age or for sex
it was in very truth on massacre the
streets were strewn with naked mutilated
corpses the river was covered with them
Sir Francis Walsingham Elizabeth's
ambassador in Paris barely escaped with
his life the Queen recalled him to
London and gave him a new job
masterminding England's security
Walsingham quickly identified public
enemy number one
nothing is more necessary than that the
realm might be delivered of her if the
sole a not sound I feel we shall have a
Bartholomew breakfast Mary was a
figurehead for Catholics everywhere who
wanted to depose Elizabeth and Mary knew
that there could be only one way out of
her confinement
I will not leave my prison savers Queen
of England
the cimbalom your massacre heightened
the fear of a bloody Catholic rising in
England
it also plunged France into civil war
Elizabeth had relied on France as a
counterbalance to the mighty Spanish
Empire which controlled much of Europe
including the Netherlands that is
modern-day Holland Belgium and
northeastern France but although England
might fear the Catholic neighbors she
couldn't live without them because in
the Netherlands was England's biggest
export market the booming city of
Antwerp in 1532 the year before
Elizabeth's birth this magnificent new
exchange was built Antwerp was now a
combination of the city and Wall Street
and the most important commodity traded
was English wool the English traders
held center stage doing their deals here
in the middle of the trading floor as
usual money talks and the volume of the
London Antwerp trade meant that the
Netherlands were normally England's
chief overseas Ally the rulers of the
Netherlands in the sixteenth century
were the Hapsburgs
one of them was Philip of Spain who had
been married to Mary Tudor Elizabeth's
sister when Mary died Philip tried to
keep hold of England by proposing to
Elizabeth but the new Queen refused him
neither Elizabeth nor her people wanted
to be ruled by a foreigner again
the people of the Netherlands didn't
much like Spanish rule either and in
1576 they united behind Prince William
of Orange he was horrified by the
brutality of Spanish rule he turned to
Elizabeth as a fellow Protestant for
help Elizabeth now proved herself to be
a queen of deception instead of
intervening directly as her father Henry
the Eighth might have done Elizabeth
preferred to get others to do her dirty
work for her
Elizabeth policy towards the Netherlands
Trotta tightrope she didn't wish to be
seen giving open help to Philips
rebellious subjects because that would
break the rules of the Royal Club to
which both she and Phil it belonged nor
on the other hand did she want to see
Philip re-establish a real power over
the Netherlands that would enable Philip
to resume the persecution of the
Protestants still worse it would enable
him to turn the Netherlands into a
springboard for the invasion of England
so every time Philip looked as though he
was getting the upper hand
Elizabeth threw large amounts of gold at
the Dutch rebels to stiffen their
resistance
but mighty Spain would not be beaten by
a Dutch Revolt
and Williams rebellion began to buckle
under the force of Spanish arms
Elizabeth needed someone else to try to
stop Philip
enter the duke of anjou
his mother had put him forward as a
husband for Elizabeth when he was just
18 and she was 39 but he was reputedly
puny and scarred by smallpox and
Elizabeth hadn't been interested but six
years later he began to intrigue her the
Duke belonged to the French royal family
but as the youngest son he had little
chance of inheriting the throne so he
had to look elsewhere for a kingdom of
his own he hoped to find one in the
Netherlands if Elizabeth could pull the
right strings all she would be a perfect
puppet to oppose Philip Elizabeth
flourished a diplomatic trop card now a
bit worn and passed its best but still
playable marriage was on the table again
zeliha stole a said to v-log assault on
Jews ambition needed money he began a
secret correspondence with Elizabeth
but his letters didn't talk of interest
rates instead they used the language of
love perfect this is you
she was his bail majesty he was her
slave his declarations combined devotion
and passion with just a tasteful hint of
eroticism
Arzu sent a close friend Jean see me a
to England to continue the seduction and
the financial negotiations on his behalf
Joe present Annette Dumas allergic Samia
was described as a most choice quarter
exquisitely skilled in love toys and
caught balances Elizabeth was more than
half in love with his master without
even having met him all you arrived at
Greenwich in the small hours of the 17th
of August 1579 his first thought was to
rush straight to the Queen's bedchamber
instead
Simmi I persuaded him to take some rest
but then see me I wrote a letter to
Elizabeth that was almost as titillating
as though the Duke really had burst in
on the slumbering Queen
I got him between the sheets
Samia wrote and would to God you were
there too so that he could explain his
mind to more easily
Elizabeth allows you hit it off
immediately she'd steal herself to meet
an ugly little fellow what she saw
instead was a mature and attractive man
she nicknamed him a frog
the Spanish ambassador Mendoza remarked
the Queen has with difficulty being able
to entertain the Duke being captivated
overcome with love she told me she's
never found a man whose nature and
actions suited her better Elizabeth was
in love the ice maiden had melted of the
Virgin Queen was longing to become a
blushing bride
Anjou that caught her on the rebound she
just learned that Robert Dudley Earl of
Leicester a favorite of 20 years
standing had betrayed her by daring to
get married in secret but she was also
fascinated by Anjou himself all of the
Englishman who had attracted her from
Thomas Seymour when she was a teenager
to Leicester himself were bold athletic
men who Barnstorm their way into
Elizabeth's favour
Anshu was different with his quirky face
his expressive hands in his French ways
he charmed her into love Elizabeth was
in love with a man twenty years her
junior
a Catholic and a Frenchman but would the
marriage be a real one that's to say was
Elizabeth unlike her sister Mary still
able to have children a minister Burley
had thought of this problem too and he
had confidential discussions with her
doctors and her ladies-in-waiting and
they'd all said the same thing that she
was apt to have children even at this
day
after just two weeks the lovers were
torn apart our shoe was recalled to
Paris after friend was killed in a duel
he sent Elizabeth three love letters
tied with pink ribbons before he had
even left English soil calling himself
the most faithful and loving slave on
earth Elizabeth intoxicated with the
attention couldn't wait for him to
return
Elisabet old favorites were enraged
Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester was
particularly jealous Leste's much put
out and all the councillors are
disgusted a close friend of Leicester
tells me he's cursing the French a
pamphlet appeared on the streets of
London it was venomous in its opposition
to the match Elizabeth will be drawn
into a Catholic den of idolatry if she
died in childbirth Anjou might become
King of England
besides the Frenchman probably had the
pox Elizabeth was incandescent with rage
she ordered that the author John Stubbs
and his printer have their right hands
struck off Stubbs spoke of his loyalty
to the Queen before having his hands
severed with a butcher's cleaver the
stump seared with a red-hot iron public
opinion turned viciously xenophobic
hop-off few frogs the Tudor England
wasn't a democracy the men whose
opinions Elizabeth would listen to were
the members of her Privy Council the
council debated the marriage all day
finally opinion was split 50-50 for and
against in those circumstances the
council felt that could offer the Queen
no formal opinion Elizabeth was
genuinely astonished the 20 years and
ministers have been telling her she had
to marry now she'd found the ideal
marriage and they refused to endorse it
she took her councils lukewarm reaction
as an effective veto on the Arzu
marriage
so Elizabeth wouldn't marry her prince
charming she remained extremely sad
after the conversation and was so cross
and melancholy that it was noted by
everyone who approached her she's been
greatly alarmed by all this
Elizabeth wrote to anjou explaining why
public opinion made it impossible for
her to marry him the public practice of
the Roman religion so sticks in their
hearts I beg you to consider this deeply
as a matter which is so hard for
Englishmen to bear that it passes all
imagination
for my part I confess there is no prince
in the world to whom I think myself more
bound nor with whom I would rather pass
the years of my life both for your rare
virtues and sweet nature with my
commendations to my dearest frog
Elizabeth thought he'd seen the last of
him
you
I will not leave my prison savers Queen
of England
Mary Queen of Scots had now been
Elizabeth's prisoner for 11 years she
dreamed of rescue and she dreamed of
taking her captors throne so she became
the center of a web of Catholic
conspiracy keeping contact with her
supporters at home and abroad vast
secret letters some of these letters
contained encouraging news
although Catholicism in England had been
driven underground Jesuit priests were
being trained abroad to keep the faith
alive the Jesuits were spiritual
revolutionaries who were being smuggled
into England in disguise among them was
Edmund Campion one of the outstanding
churchmen of his age Campion had left
the Church of England to become a
Catholic we have the zeal of convert
champion landed in England in 1580
posing as a traveling merchant his
mission was spiritual to minister to
Catholics he had no plans to stir up
rebellion but he knew the Protestant
authorities would treat him as a traitor
I cannot long escape the hands of the
heretics the enemy have so many eyes so
many tongues so many scouts and crafts I
often change my name
threatening edicts come forth against us
daily I read letters sometimes that tell
news that Campion is taken and Campion
had a very attractive personality
clearly a man of integrity man of
ambition man of great intelligence at
the present authorities viewed him as a
dangerous individual and because he was
so gifted because he was so attractive
because he had such a great name already
in the country from his early days at
Oxford and as a member of the Anglican
Church he represented a new kind of
religion not just establishment religion
of either sort if you like enthusiastic
religion and that's always dangerous
particularly if you're trying your best
as Elizabeth was very understandably
from her point of view to form an
established church which didn't satisfy
anybody particularly but kept everybody
more or less contained and more or less
quiet one thing Campion was not was
quiet the Catholic Mass was illegal in
England that didn't stop Campion moving
from house to house saying Mass and
hearing confessions he published
pamphlets which challenged the very
basis of Elizabeth's Church Elizabeth
had met Campion at Oxford fifteen years
earlier before he had converted to
Catholicism she had been greatly
impressed by him but she couldn't ignore
the gauntlet that he was now throwing
down like it or not she had to treat him
as the enemy
Elizabethton campion actually had a lot
in common both believe that it should be
possible the distinguish between
religion and politics at the beginning
of her reign Elizabeth had claimed
passionately that she wouldn't make
Windows into men's souls
whilst Campion for his part insisted
that he had no political motives and was
the Queen's loyal subject but in the
circumstances of the European cold war
between Protestant and Catholic the
distinction between religion and
politics was almost impossible to
maintain after all Campion was the loyal
servant of the Pope and the Pope claimed
authority to depose Elizabeth
he had already in the 1560s authorized
her subjects to rebel against her and he
could and would do so again
Campion solitary journey now brought him
to life at Grange near Oxford here
a priest capture discovered him and
alerted the authorities the house was
ransacked and after search of two days a
chink of light betrayed Campion's
hiding-place Campion was taken to London
where he had a secret meeting with
Leicester and Elizabeth herself the
Queen offered him pardoned and
preferment if he would recant Campion
refused and in turn reminded Elizabeth
of her glorious Catholic ancestors whom
she had betrayed cambian was returned to
the tower and five days later was put to
the rack to extract a confession of
treason at his trial he was found guilty
and sentenced to be hanged drawn and
quartered
on the scaffold Campion prayed to God to
grant the Queen a long quiet reign with
all prosperity the effect of Campion's
death on the Catholic world was
tremendous strengthen them as always you
know when you make martyrs you'll
usually increase the cause you're trying
to oppose and that certainly is the case
with Campion and word got round of his
heroic death by any standards so
tremendous encouragement for the
Catholic world the very thing that
Elizabeth was trying to cool down
enthusiastic commitment and religion of
any sort was the very thing that he
strengthened
Elizabeth was provoking her Catholic
enemies most aggrieved of all was
Philippa spay whilst Campion's death
insulted his faith another of Elizabeth
subjects had been busy emptying his
pockets on September the 26th 1580 a
battered ship dropped anchor in
Southampton Harbor the ship was the
Golden Hind
the captain was one of the most
outstanding Elizabethan seamen Sir
Francis Drake Driggs voyage had begun
three years before as a pirate
expedition to the Pacific one of the
investors was the Queen herself Drake's
target was the Spanish treasure ships
Drake had waged a private war against
the most powerful empire on earth as he
sailed back into Southampton Drake must
have had the odd doubt whether or not
the Queen would still welcome a pirate
subject I think great would have had a
great deal of trepidation when they
returned he been away for three years
and he obviously had no idea what had
happened during that time and I think
the first one of the first things he
asked was was the Queen still alive as
coming back with all that gold and
silver if the political situation had
changed changed dramatically he could
have been hailed as a hero or condemned
as a villain when he had returned to
England Shores Creek was lucky Elizabeth
was fascinated by his stories and
entranced by his loot and in the event
his piracy suited her devious foreign
policy gold from the new world paid for
Spain's troops in the Netherlands so by
diminishing the supply
she had weakened Philips grip at his
anchorage at Deptford drake ship renamed
the Golden Hind quickly became a tourist
attraction and in April Queen Elizabeth
herself joined the throng Elizabeth
despite the outraged protests of the
Spanish ambassador had already pocketed
her share of Drake's loot this amounted
to the
during some of nearly one year's
parliamentary revenue and represented a
5,000 percent return on the money that
she'd invested now she'd arrived to
confer respectability in the most public
fashion possible on drag she jokingly
told him that she brought a buildin
sword with which to cut off the head of
this notorious pirate instead Elizabeth
gave the sword to the Duke of Anjou
representative and told him tonight
Drake here on the deck of the Golden
Hind by asking the friction tonight her
pet pirate Elizabeth was making her
allegiances very clear England was still
range with France against Spain the
allowance with France meant that her
liaison with the Duke of Anjou would
continue after an absence of two years
he returned asking for more money for
his campaign against the Spanish in the
Netherlands accompanied by the French
ambassador he also decided to pop the
marriage question again Elizabeth answer
was astonishing you may write this to
your king
the duke of anjou shall be my husband
you
you
at the age of 48 Elizabeth was engaged
it was a formal public betrothal in
front of witnesses messengers were
dispatched round Europe with the
astonishing news and church bells were
rung in Antwerp back home in England the
reaction was more mixed Burley rejoiced
Leicester was furious and other
courtiers burst into tears that same
evening the opponents of the marriage
instructed it as a bus ladies-in-waiting
to paint in graphic terms the
restrictions of married life and the
horrors of childbirth with the result of
the Queen spent a miserable and
sleepless night one extraordinary moment
Elizabeth's heart that ruled her head
but it didn't last long in the morning
she told Anjou that she couldn't marry
him because the welfare of the subjects
must come first before her own happiness
what accounts for this extraordinary
on-off behavior Elizabeth that's
certainly abandoned any serious
intention of marrying Anjou two years
earlier but he was politically useful
and she found his company attractive so
for one moment she fondly allowed
herself to imagine what might have been
then the following morning in the cold
light of day the pretense was abandoned
and she ditched with many expressions of
regret her dream lover
Elizabeth might have thrown her French
suitor back in the water
but her frog didn't swim away he stayed
on for three months begging for more
money
finally Elizabeth was driven to pay him
10,000 pounds an on shoe sets sail for
the Netherlands to pursue his quest for
another kingdom she would never see him
again
she could no longer pull the strings of
her puppet Prince for instead of helping
the people of the Netherlands fight the
Spanish all you tried to set them
against each other
in a cynical attempt to seize absolute
power for himself but his plan failed
then 1583 Anjou retreated to France in
disgrace
a year later he died Elizabeth was
genuinely saddened
she wrote to his mother if you could see
a picture of my heart he would see a
body without a soul
there would be no more pretense of
marriage Elizabeth would rule alone and
she would die without a natural heir
Elizabeth had always avoided open war
and she had maintained peace by
persuading others to fight her battles
for her but her policy was about to
collapse thanks to events in the
Netherlands at about midday on the 10th
of July 1584 William Prince of Orange
was dining with his family in the
Princeton Hoth in Delft William had
already survived several attempts on his
life
so by 16th century standards the
security around him was tight and here
in his own house at least he should have
been relatively safe about 2 o'clock
William left the dining room to go
upstairs to his study he was going to
meet a recent contact the manor
introduced himself as Balthazar gerrae
a French Protestant a William had
decided to send him to France with
letters he give me money to buy clothes
for the journey
Balthazar girar wasn't a Protestant at
all wasn't even his real name
instead he was an undercover Catholic
fanatic and he'd spent Williams money
not on clothes but on pistols he fired
three shots of the prints two bullets
pastor Williams body and lodged in the
wall the Prince died a few minutes later
our triggers his last words God have
mercy on my soul and on my poor country
his death was appalling news Phil is
abbath it left her as the only
Protestant leader in Europe Spain could
overrun the whole of the Netherlands and
then invade England there was no one
left to fight England's battles for her
Elizabeth had no choice she finally had
to send English troops overseas
old friend Robert Dudley burn of
Leicester was in command but still
Elizabeth was weary of declaring all-out
war she discouraged Leicester from going
on the offensive she hoped the display
of English muscle would scare off the
Spanish but Lester's opponent was the
Duke of Parma Philips greatest general
him England and Spain were war and he
didn't hesitate to attack the war put
Elizabeth and a huge strain she was now
at her most contrary and things weren't
helped by Lester's mixture of
high-handedness and incompetence in
defiance of Elizabeth's explicit
instructions he accepted the
governor-general ship of the Netherlands
he proved hopeless as a general as well
so Palmer's troops swallow the
Netherlands bit by bit
Elizabeth recalled Lester
a favorite had failed her only the sea
now stood between England and invasion
there was one person in the kingdom who
welcomed the news Mary Queen of Scots in
January 15 85 Mary was brought here to
the hilltop Castle of tuck Bri in
Staffordshire the assassination of
William Ahrens abroad and a series of
plots in England brought home the danger
that Mary presented to Elizabeth's life
so far Mary had been kept in honourable
custody now it became a real
imprisonment
she had a jailer the harsh unsympathetic
Puritan sir Amyas Paulette there were
armed soldiers who patrol the
battlements and Mary was cut off from
all correspondence with the outside
world she was isolated bored and
resentful but the devil in the form of
Sir Francis Walsingham soon found work
for Mary's idle hands
Elizabeth patient spymaster set a trap
and then waited for Mary to walk into it
the servant offered to smuggle Mary's
letters in a beer barrel from a local
brewery the servant and the brewer were
in Walsingham's pay every letter she
sent to receive was intercepted and
decoded by Walsingham's private
secretary Thomas Phillips
six months after the setting up of the
barrel post Mary received a letter from
Anthony Babington Babbington came from
a
rich Derbyshire family he was young
Catholic and idealistic and he just
organized a plot to assassinate
Elizabeth Babbington saw the murder in
terms of high heroics even had a group
portrait painted himself and his fellow
conspirators with the motto we are
comrades United in danger it was
intended to be their monument instead it
was their tombstone antique became
involved in the plot against Elizabeth
mainly due to his connections with Mary
Queen of Scots while she was imprisoned
early on in her life and while he was a
young Paige in her service we can only
believe that he had a crush on her and
was infatuated by her and if not
besotted which quedan for most his life
and her life Anthony was was politically
naive
he was very impressionable and he was
used by conspirators who had much
stronger beliefs and and he has on the
wider European front
Babbington wrote to Mary saying that he
and his friends would dispatched the
usurper Elizabeth and then rescue Mary
Spanish would invade and Mary would take
the English throne
Mary's reply when it came a few days
later was clear enough the affair being
thus prepared and forces in readiness
within and without the realm then shall
it be time to set the six gentlemen to
work upon the accomplishment of their
design I may suddenly be transported out
of this place
at last there was evidence enough to
send Mary to the scaffold
Babbington his fellow conspirators were
arrested a few days later they were
tortured tried for treason and sentenced
to a traitor's death pressure from the
countryand Council was now building up
they were determined to have mary's head
add Elizabeth was forced to agree to a
trial the trial was to take place at
fotheringhay castle and Burleigh himself
drew up the seating plan but despite
these careful preparations the trial
nearly didn't take place at all Mary
Queen of Scots absolutely refused to
accept the jurisdiction of the court I
am NOT a subject she said I would rather
die a thousand deaths than acknowledge
myself as one instead she was a
sovereign Prince and so answerable to
God alone Elizabeth retaliated you have
in various ways attempted to take my
life and to bring my kingdom to
destruction
I have never proceeded so harshly
against you on the contrary I have
maintained you and preserved your life
it is my will that you arm southern
nobles and peers of the kingdom as if I
were myself present
eventually a form of words was found
that enabled the trial to go ahead
merely defended herself a Blee in two
days of examination she denounced the
Babbington letters as forgeries
and she managed to wriggle out of the
most incriminating questions but finally
she was cornered she could only say that
she had to be believed because she spoke
on the word of a prince this cut no ice
with her judges the court adjourned to
Westminster for the final decision the
verdict guilty the sentence death
Elizabeth now had to decide Mary's fate
the two queens had never met although
Mary had been Elizabeth's prisoner for
twenty years yet Elizabeth agonized over
the decision she was reluctant to
execute Mary because she too was a
member of the Royal Club cutting her
head off might set a very unwelcome
precedent
Elizabeth has Mary's jailer sir Amyas
Paulette to assassinate her by poison or
suffocation so that the Queen would not
have to take responsibility for her
death
Paulette refused
as Elizabeth hesitated England sees with
rumours the Spanish had invaded London
had been burned finally on the 1st of
February 1587 it is AB assign the death
warrant
seven days later the sentence was
carried out in the Great Hall of
fotheringhay castle Mary herself behaved
with a theatrical courage she included
Elizabeth in her final prayers then her
ladies removed her outer clothes to
reveal a petticoat of scarlet the
Catholic colour of martyrdom she knelt
at the block but the execution of bodged
his task he took two strokes of the axe
to remove her head still worse when he
tried to hold up the head he found
himself clutching only a wig whilst the
head with its thin graying stubble
rolled at his feet
England celebrated Mary's death
Elizabeth grieved
a countenance changed her words faltered
she gave herself over to GUI putting
herself into mourning weeds and shedding
abundance of Tears
what a performance it was even more
complex and self-contradictory than it
is a booth usual behavior some of those
tears were real Elizabeth had been
profoundly reluctant to execute Mary and
when the deed was actually done she was
horrified but there were also tears of
rage she strongly suspected that she'd
been jumped into the action by the
council they'd met secretly and decided
not to tell her that the warrant had
been dispatched to fotheringhay that's
why she tore strips off her ministers
and Secretary William Davison in
particular who'd actually dispatched the
world he was imprisoned fined and even
threatened with hanging but finally they
were crocodile tears as well by
exaggerating her grief and scapegoating
Davison Elizabeth was trying to deflect
responsibility from where it really and
finally lay with her the news of Mary's
execution exploded across the Catholic
world it gave Philip of Spain the excuse
he needed to declare war on the heretic
Queen Philip order the Duke of Parma to
prepare an army in the Netherlands for
the invasion of England the Armada would
sail from Spain to collect Palmer's
force and land them on the English coast
Philips deadly intentions were no secret
reluctantly Elizabeth ordered that the
English fleet be readied for the threat
even now she hoped to avoid war
she tried negotiating with Parma as the
Armada set sail but there was no mood
for compromise amongst her Catholic
opponents
she's an incestuous bastard begotten and
born in sin of an infamous courtesan
Cardinal William Allen Chu 1588
English lookouts scour the horizon enemy
sales
they cited them on July the 19th
the Spanish did not really expect to be
challenged on their voyage of the
channel the English fleet was half the
size of the Armada but what they lacked
in numbers they made up for in design
the English ships were much smaller than
the Spanish ships the Spanish ships
tended to have large for castles and
large after castles which were fortified
areas on the ship where they could house
men when they engaged in battle men who
could then board other ships but as the
rig's were fairly small in fact too
small really for powering the ships
along it meant that the Spanish ships
were largely only abused in trade wooden
sailing in following the routes between
Spain and the Americas rather than in
tactical fighting within the English
Channel and I think that is where the
English ship scored because they were
relatively smaller and therefore more
maneuverable and had the tactical
advantage
the English still weren't ready to
engage the Spanish fleet head-on Sir
Francis Drake now promoted to vice
admiral favored skirmishing tactics as
the Armada sailed up the channel there
was a scatter vicious dogfights
Elizabeth went on a morale-boosting
visit to her troops on land finally she
had found a rhetorical way of
reconciling the paradox of being a woman
and being a leader in war I am come
amongst you not for my recreation and
Dysport
but being resolved in the midst and heat
of the battle to live or die amongst you
all to lay down for God and for my
kingdom and for my people my honor and
my blood even in the dust I know I have
the body of a weak and feeble woman but
I have the heart and stomach of a king
and think Falls school that Spain or any
Prince of Europe should dare to invade
the borders of my realm to which rather
than any dishonour shall grow by me I
myself will take up arms but Elizabeth
did not need to take up arms herself the
English had a secret weapon they called
it the hel Burma
they packed five ships with pitch and
timbre set fire to them and put them
adrift amongst the Spanish galleons
there was panic many of the Spanish
ships up anchor and fled and was
scattered by the wind
incredibly Medina Sidonia the Spanish
Admiral managed to reunite his scattered
ships they even resumed that powerful
crescent formation then of Gravlin on
the coast of the Netherlands the two
fleets for the first time came into
battle at close quarters each side used
its favorite tactics
the Spaniards tried to board the English
brought their heavy guns into play at
close quarters and it was the English
guns that won the day they killed
thousands of Spaniards and they did
terrible damage to the structure of the
Spanish ships the only a handful
actually went down
the winds and the weather now finished
what the English fleet begun many of the
Spanish ships were wrecked off the
coasts of the British Isles as they
tried to find their way home
the defeat of the Armada was England's
and Elizabeth's finest hour little
wonder that she had this portrait
painted as a symbolic memorial Elizabeth
was now mistress of the seven seas as
well as of her own people
Elizabeth had entered the war against
Spain with a deep sense of foreboding
but she'd emerged triumphant above all
she'd sure that a woman could be an
inspirational leader in war as well as
in peace of course the weather had
played its part in the victory over the
Armada God's winds blew and they were
scattered as it said on the back of the
commemorative medal but this fact does
nothing to diminish the extent of the
English victory or the scale of Spain's
defeat and humiliation at the beginning
of Elizabeth's reign the heralds have
proclaimed that she was impressed from
the Orkney Isles to the Pyrenean
mountains then the claim to English
overlordship of the Seas was empty
bombast with the defeat of the Armada it
became sober reality it was an
astonishing achievement the only problem
now was living up to it

Part IV- Gloriana
in 1588 Elizabeth Navy defeated the
Spanish Armada is the greatest English
victory since Agincourt
the celebrations were long and
magnificent the procession to the
Thanksgiving service at some Paul's
Cathedral was the grandest since it is
was coronation the captured Spanish
banners were hung up as trophies and a
commemorative medal was struck with the
inscription God's winds blew and they
were scattered and the English really
thought that God had fought on their
side they were the new chosen race God's
own Protestant people England stood
proud and Elizabeth and her reign were
their Zenith
it was the golden age if it is a besom
England
the Great Houses Elizabeth courtiers
built are a visible tangible expression
of their confidence exuberance and
wealth
unlike her father King Henry the eighth
Elizabeth built no palaces nothing she
no need to because her quarters and
favorites built for her sacristy fur
happened
the Lord Chancellor already had a great
house at Holden Lee but he told
Elizabeth he would build another one
nearby it Kirby that will be dedicated
to her as a shrine to a Holy Saint
Elizabeth had ceased to be and their
queen and she become instead Gloriana
England's national icon she was painted
again and again
always dazzling always glorious always
triumphant
even in her late 50s she has the face
eternal youth
but Elizabeth the woman was aging the
goddess had feet of clay
literature flourished as never before
Shakespeare wrote his first plays some
of them commissioned by the Queen but
new theater brought new and dangerous
ideas one of Shakespeare's plays would
soon be used in an attempt to overthrow
her
she had ruled for 30 years loved by her
subjects loyally served by her courtiers
but she aged new generation was growing
restless she would have to fight as
never before to hang on to power it is
September 1588 Queen Elizabeth has been
locked inside her chamber for some days
all attempts to contact her have failed
the court is in panic despite fears to
the country the Queen is alive
but she is not well
I most humbly beseech Your Majesty to
pardon your old servant to be thus bold
in sending to know how my gracious lady
death for my own case I continued still
your medicine and it amends much better
than any other thing that has been given
me
with the continuance of my wanted prayer
for your Majesty's most happy
preservation I humbly kiss your foot
Your Majesty is most faithful and
obedient servant our Leicester
Elizabeth would never receive another of
his letters Robert Dudley Earl of
Leicester favorite of the Queen a friend
and counselor for the last 30 years the
nearest thing she'd ever had to a lover
was dead
in the next two years
a succession of court notables followed
Robert Dudley to the grave Sir Francis
Walsingham Secretary of State and
spymaster extraordinary sakra staffer
Hatton Lord Chancellor
builder of Kirby Hall ambras Dudley Earl
of Warwick
brother of Robert at the old guard only
William Cecil Lord Burleigh remained the
gaps in Courtin council would have to be
filled but the Queen had always hated
change and instead of bringing in new
blood she replaced father's with their
sons Robert Devereux Earl of Essex was
Robert Douglas stepson
he was 21 vey high-spirited impatient
and brilliant with a fondness for
dueling he was much admired at court and
was viewed by all as a man destined for
greatness he aspired to his stepfathers
role of a great noble and a military
leader
Robert Cecil was the second son of Lord
Burleigh he was 25 careful the Stute and
coming with a fondness for corresponding
encode he was mocked mostly behind his
back his short stature his hunched
shoulders but his mind was razor sharp
he aspired to his father's role of
statesmen and political leader Robert
Cecil and the Earl of Essex were the new
generation the new generation at
different ideas from the old so Robert
Cecil for example made a much sharper
distinction between the service of the
state and the service of the Queen than
his father William whatever have done
and the Earl of Essex and much more
grandiose ideas about the power and the
independence of the nobility than his
stepfather Lester they were both young
men in a hurry waiting impatiently for
the aged Queen to get out of the way and
she knew it
Essex charm the Queen and she was
flattered by his youthful attentions but
she was 55 and he was 21
if she loved him it was partly as her
gigolo partly as her son he was gifted
but he could also be immature and unruly
like a strict parent Elizabeth resisted
his demands at a military command
Robert Cecil was already an MP
Elizabeth called him her elf or Lester
his liking her pygmy she respected his
political instincts but she was wary of
and was never able to trust him but she
had his father
she made him a privy counsellor but she
stopped short of giving him his father's
old job
the new generation would have to wait
it's turn she continued to rely instead
on the man who'd served her since the
start of her reign whom she trusted
above all others robert Cecil's father
Lord Burleigh
I do entreat heaven daily for your
longer life else will my people and
myself stand in need of cordial too
you are in all things to me Alpha and
Omega
you
she wouldn't let him retire even when he
was in his late seventies gouty death
and visibly shrunk with age but in the
summer of 1598 Birla fell dangerously
ill Elizabeth sent him medicines letters
on one occasion she even fed him soup
with a spoon with her own hand to no
avail in september 1598 Burleigh died
for 40 years Burley had carried the
heavy administrative burden of running
the day-to-day government of England
it wasn't as risky as the essentially
noble role of the Queen's military
leftenant which have been fulfilled by
Birla's old sparring partner the Earl of
Leicester but nor was it as prestigious
which is why in death the bureaucrat
burly where's the third robes and the
gilded Armour that symbolized the role
of the nobleman a role that he'd shunned
in life
I have this vision of Elizabeth coming
to visit him when he was dying there's
it a woman's stamping along the passage
with her wig askew with her pockmarked
face disguised with horrendous white LED
makeup huge diamonds bad-tempered and
upset and getting to his bedroom and
there's his poor old man breathing very
heavily
hardly conscious she must have been torn
between the agony of losing a good
advisor and the agony of losing a very
close friend it's like losing one's
parents however old one is it's still
the most ghastly shock and for her he
was the closest thing to a parent he'd
kept a guiding wise hand on her shoulder
all the way through her rather
tempestuous youth and middle age and
suddenly that guiding hand was being
removed and you know she must have been
very bereft
in 1596 England once again face the
threat of invasion
Spain remain the most powerful country
in Europe and King Philip was still
determined for destroy is above and her
island nation in March his army at
captured Calais now he had troops within
20 miles of England and a great fleet
was gathering at Cadiz in Spain to
transport them confronted with this new
danger Elizabethan England galvanized
itself into action the Queen set aside
her doubts about military action and her
courtiers their divisions and it was
decided to send an expedition to Cadiz
to destroy the new Armada import before
it had even set sail the strategist and
commander of the expedition was the Earl
of Essex but the man who financed it and
organized it was Robert Cecil Essex had
finally got the military command he
craved and on the day he put to sea
Robert Cecil was at last confirmed as
Elizabeth's chief secretary the new
generation had arrived in the early
hours of Sunday the 20th of June 120
English and Dutch ships attacked Cadiz
the Spanish were taken off guard that
invasion fleet was destroyed
the town was captured and plundered for
booty Spain had again been humbled
England and Essex had triumphed
you have made me famous dreadful and
renowned not more for your victory than
for your courage I care not so much for
being queen as that I am sovereign of
such subjects Essex was now a popular
hero and the burning of Cadiz was built
up into something to rival the defeat of
the Spanish Armada itself but the Armada
only had a single heroine Elizabeth
Cadiz though was Essex his victory and
at the service of Thanksgiving in some
Paul's Cathedral the congregation burst
into spontaneous applause when the
preacher sang Essex his praises to the
skies
Phillipa 'the it was a novel and
disturbing development her previous
favorite Lester Essex his stepfather had
actually been hated now a man whom she
had created was her rival in popular
affection but popularity was the basis
of Elizabeth monarchy it could not be
shared with a subject as a first step
all further popular celebrations of
cádiz were banned but London continued
to glorify their new hero some preachers
even compared him to julius caesar the
greatest of the romans the city that had
adored the queen since the beginning of
her reign had found new idol
a wiser man that Essex would have
modified the queen by keeping a low
profile but Essex was not wise and
ambition and Fallot II got the better of
him
he commissioned an engraving of himself
in the style of a Roman Emperor
direct challenge to the Queen's royal
authority he threw his weight around a
court objecting whenever Elizabeth
honored another culture and when the
Queen turned down his plea to launch
another attack on Spain he courted
public support behind her back
Elizabeth who's furious the conflict
came to a head when Essex and Elizabeth
disagreed about who was to be Lord
deputy of arm
the Queen contemptuously dismissed the
Earl's arguments the Earl turned his
back on the Queen and the Queen
irritated boxed the Earl's ears this
point the Earl half drew his sword on
the Queen now to strike somebody within
the precincts of the court was punished
by the amputation of the right hand to
strike the Queen was treason but before
the unthinkable could happen the Lord
Admiral interposed himself between Essex
and the Queen
Oh then withdrew to his country house
whilst Elizabeth was left to ponder the
monster that she created
Elizabeth loved the theater but some
plays are as much about politics as
entertainment most dangerous was
Shakespeare's Richard ii which dealt
with the making and the unmaking the
king I give this Heavyweight from off my
head with my own hands I give away my
crown with my own tongue deny my sacred
state all pomp and Majesty I do force
where my acts decrees and statutes I
deny God save King Henry unkilled
Richard says and send him many years of
sunshine days the play tells a story of
the deposition of the rightful anointed
king richard ii by henry bolingbroke his
cousin and the military hero elizabeth
identified herself passionately with the
deposed king i am richard ii knew he not
that she's supposed to have said she
also thought that there were many
potential Bolingbroke's around Robert
Cecil and the Earl of Essex told her to
her face that they worshipped her behind
her back they were looking to the future
after her death and Elizabeth sometimes
feared they were plotting to depose her
just like Richard ii when Shakespeare's
play was printed the following year the
deposition scene had been cut from the
text
we can guess that the author and his
publisher were given hints that they'd
been wise enough to take a new tragedy
bloodier than anything in Shakespeare
was now unfolding in Ireland in August
15 98 at yellow Ford in Ulster Irish
rebels ambushed a column of English
soldiers and cut them to pieces
1,200 men lay dead or dying
was the worst military defeat of
Elizabeth's reign
the Catholic Irish have long resented
the occupation of their country by
Protestant England there had been
rebellions before but this one was much
more dangerous it had the support of
Spain king philip ii was dead but his
son had inherited his father's zeal the
avenge of the defeats of Cadiz and the
Armada he planned to land troops in
Ireland and to threaten England across
the Irish Sea the Queen would have to
act in spring of $15.99 the largest
English army Elizabeth's reign landed on
the east coast of Ireland in command was
her half disgraced favorite the Earl of
Essex who had pestered the Queen until
she gave him the post he wished to
rehabilitate himself in the Queen's
favour he also wanted to show that he
was a real soldier able to draw a sword
on the Queen's enemies just as eat half
drawn it on the Queen herself but the
first use the decimate of his sword in
Ireland was to employ to use eart the
Queen's kingly prerogatives by knighting
in defiance of Elizabeth's explicit
instructions 38 of his captains turning
his sword against the Queen's enemies
proved more of a challenge for months
Elizabeth received little news from
Ireland and she became increasingly
frustrated at Essex his failure to
engage the enemy
if sickness in the army be the reason
why was not the action undertaken when
the army was in a better State
if winters approached why were the
summer months of July and August lost if
the spring were too soon and the summer
that followed otherwise spent then
surely we must conclude that none of the
four quarters of the year will be in
season for you
but essex did not meet his enemy in
battle instead he and the rebel leader
the Earl of Tyrone the secret rendezvous
near Kara come across they talked for
half an hour alone and out of earshot of
their officers and they parted on good
terms
after six months in Ireland Essex had
spent three hundred thousand pounds and
lost twelve thousand men to disease and
desertion that was incompetence
now he had made a secret deal with the
rebel leader the sworn enemy of the
Queen that was close to treason her
reservations about her young courtiers
began to look justified they could not
be trusted
Robert Cecil began a secret
correspondence with James the sixth of
Scotland he have taken it upon himself
to pave the way for James's accession to
the English throne thereby ensuring his
own continuance in office at first sight
it seems an extraordinary idea in London
Scotland were old enemies and Elizabeth
had executed James's mother Mary Stewart
but James was the obvious heir
he was Elizabeth closest male relative
he was an experienced ruler he was a
Protestant he already had two sons
sessile told James if he accepted his
advice and guidance he could expect a
peaceful accession to Elizabeth's throne
but Cecil had to proceed with care the
Queen had never named a successor and a
band all talk of the matter at court the
secret must be carefully kept he must
have worried about security in London
but I imagined that he would have been
much more worried about security in
Edinburgh James the first was of England
and six of Scotland was notoriously
indiscreet and of course he was
surrounded by some fairly loose mais
people so it was important I think for
him to use code and trustworthy
messengers he would never know whether
the Queen if she did find out officially
wouldn't blame her top and sacked him
and secondly of course it was a splendid
opportunity for his enemies to accuse
him of treason and treating with the
foreign power
at ten o'clock on the 28th of September
an exhausted mud spattered rider arrived
Nonsuch palace he rushed up the ground
stairs through the garden presence
chambers pushing his way past startled
gentlemen ashes and outraged ladies and
waiting and burst unannounced into the
Queen's bedchamber there he found
Elizabeth newly risen and still in her
nightgown without her wig her makeup and
her ruff it was a sight that no man had
seen in 30 years Elizabeth the woman
without the trappings of Gloriana the
queen and the man who had thus violated
the image of Elizabeth monarchy was
Robert Devereux Earl of Essex it was an
extraordinary affront to the Queen's
honor
Essex had returned in panic convinced
that Cecil was engineering his downfall
and desperate to plead his case he was
exhausted ill scarcely in his right mind
that the Queen was in no mood for
forgiveness
Elizabeth had stayed remarkably calm
when Essex burst into her bedchamber
later that afternoon the Earl was
summoned for private audience with the
Queen which quickly turned into an
interrogation why Elizabeth wanted to
know had he left Ireland without
permission why had he made so many
knights in defiance of his express
instructions
why above all had he made a truce with
that rebel and traitor
Tyrone the Earl answered as best he
could and then Elizabeth was left to
learn to ponder what she should do
towards 10 o'clock at night she gave
orders that the Earl was to be put on
the form of house arrest the fall of the
favorite had begun
s-six was summoned before a public
tribunal he spent 11 hours on his knees
whilst a list of his delinquencies was
read out in front of an invited audience
but even now the Queen could not bring
herself the destroy had his graced
favorite completely instead she sent him
into a sort of limbo she ordered him not
to attend the Privy Council she banned
him from her presence and she refused to
renew his lucrative monopoly on sweet
wines which threatened him with
bankruptcy
Essex was released to his London
residence Essex house
he was down but he wasn't quite finished
yet
he would make one final desperate bid
for power
he would rebel
the scheme was quickly hatched the Earl
would capture the City of London and the
tower the Queen will be forced to summon
a parliament and to impeach Robert Cecil
an Essex will be declared Lord Protector
of England it was a harebrained scheme
but he might just work the Earl's
military followers would provide the
backbone of an army and Essex was so
popular with the people of London but he
was confident that they would rise in
his support Essex wrote to James seeking
his support for the rising the Scots
King was too careful to commit himself
but send Essex a reply encode dispatched
- envoy's to meet him
Essex had already done his deal with the
rebel Tyrone would back the earl's
rising it was said in exchange for power
over Arlen and he have the support but
one of the London sheriff's as well as
five other disaffected Nobles to call
the people of London to arms
Essex his henchmen bribed Shakespeare's
company to stage a performance of the
globe Essex chose the play it was
Richard the second
this scepter dial this earth of majesty
this seat of Mars this precious stone
set in the silver sea is now bound in
with shame within key blots and rotten
parchment bonds that England that was
wont to conquer others have made a
shameful conquest of itself John of
Gaunt is lamenting nostalgically
for a lost England a great country
fallen into ruin the stage is set for
the deposition of a corrupt and
overweening monarch by a once favored
and faithful nobleman the audience were
a mixed lot adventurers x ol Jers
Papists malcolm tense but they shared a
common resentment for Elizabeth and her
England or was it Robert sessle's
England and they had a common loyalty to
the only conceivable alternative Robert
Devereux Earl of Essex
early the following morning Elizabeth
received a report that Essex had left
his house at the head of a private army
they were marching up Fleet Street
calling the people of the city to arms
for the first time Elizabeth was in
personal danger in her own capital the
rebels were just two miles from the
court
she acted quickly ordering her forces to
block the route to the palace by
building a barricade near Charing Cross
she sent royal heralds through the city
proclaiming Essex a traitor the sight of
government troops and the heralds cry of
treason made Londoners think twice
they stayed behind closed doors
Essex's force was confronted by troops
belonging to the Bishop of London
Essex's page and two others were killed
by nightfall the rebels were in retreat
hands or cloaks covering their faces to
try to avoid recognition Essex himself
panicked and fled back towards Essex
House
he barricaded himself in and set about
destroying incriminating evidence
including James's coded letter blast
outside the Queen's forces trained
cannon on the house
10:00 p.m. he surrendered
he was arrested along with 85 of his
co-conspirators including the Earl of
Southampton Shakespeare's patron when
she received the news
Elizabeth retired to bed Essex was tried
within a few days of the rebellion the
verdict was a foregone conclusion guilty
of high treason and condemned to a
traitor's death only the Queen could
confirm the sentence
it brought echoes of her past she had
agonized for months
before authorizing the execution of her
cousin the Duke of Norfolk
she had hesitated for years before
finally confirming the death sentence on
her fellow Queen Mary Stuart
she told the French ambassador that she
would willingly reprieve the life of her
disgraced favorite and that she was
partly to blame for lowington to grow so
bold but it was clear she said that the
danger from him was so great that he
would have to die
Essex was the only man to challenge
Elizabeth publicly and to her face and
he was the only one of her subjects to
try to rival her in popularity curiously
enough it was Essex himself who got to
the heart of the matter under
interrogation the Earl said that the
state was not big enough for them both
Essex was executed on Ash Wednesday the
25th of February 1601 he was 34 it took
3 blows of the axe to remove his head
the change came over the Queen
for most of her life should enjoyed what
seemed like eternal youth now at 68
he seems suddenly old mind and body all
the fabric of my reign little by little
is beginning to fail
with his rival dead Robert Cecil was now
unquestionably the most powerful man in
the country and behind the scenes his
plan for James to succeed Elizabeth was
maturing
the king writing in code told Cecil that
he could look forward to greater favor
whilst he had the crown than he already
enjoyed under Elizabeth
the future looked bright for sessile but
the present was troubled he'd never been
popular now the public really hated him
for killing their hero Essex
the regime was seen as stale and corrupt
and Cecil became the focus of blame for
the country's many ills the harvest had
failed the war in Ireland dragged on
taxes were heavy
and the Queen's own popularity was also
at an all-time low for yours
she had rewarded favorite courtiers with
grants called monopolies taxes on
everything from playing cards to soap
the policy aroused deep resentment in
the impoverished population we're
familiar with this kind of combination
of casual corruption and a government
that's been in power too long
we call it sleaze and the rot went right
to the top Elizabeth herself had been
around longer than everybody else at
first her motto semper eadem always the
same and made her seem a rock of
stability in a changeable world now she
was merely an obstacle to necessary
reform
the unpopular Queen and her despised
Minister suffered a disaster they lost
control of Parliament MPs were
determined to break the hated monopoly
system the aging Queen was forced to
address Parliament in person to try to
rescue the situation if my kingly
bounties have been abused and if any in
authority under me have neglected or
perverted what I have committed to them
I hope God will not lay their offenses
in my charge for I do assure you there
is no prince that loves his subjects
better
there is no jewel be it or never so rich
a price which I place before this jewel
I mean your love and though you may have
many mightier and wiser Prince's sitting
in this seat yet you never had nor shall
have any that will love you better
and became known as the golden speech it
was Elizabeth's last great public
address and it was a consummate piece of
politics it is worth one the MPs over
not only by her unexpected announcement
that she was going to suspend and
investigate monopolies but also by her
language and sentiment the MPS show
their gratitude by voting unprecedented
ly heavy parliamentary taxation other
good news followed quickly as well
there was victory in Ireland a truce in
the war with Spain trade improved and at
last there was a good harvest Elizabeth
too seemed to rejuvenate in August she
rode for 10 miles and then went hunting
she was aged almost six to nine and yet
she boasted she was in better health
than she'd been for ten years it was an
Indian summer glorious but brief it
could not last
for God's sake let us sit upon the
ground and tell sad stories of the death
of kings
let's talk of graves of worms and
epitaphs
make dust up paper and with rainy eyes
write sorrow on the bosom of the earth
by March 1603 Elizabeth was in serious
decline she was suffering from ulcers in
the throat fever and lack of appetite
against all advice she refused to go to
bed
Nestle unwisely insisted that she must
little man the word must is not to be
used to Prince's
but he know that I must die and that
makes these soup presumptuous if you
were in the habit of seeing such things
in your bed as I do when in mind you
would not persuade me to go there
you
after two weeks on the floor in the same
clothes Elizabeth asked her attendants
to get her to her feet
but still she did not go to bed
instead she remains standing in total
silence for the next 15 hours
she appeared already in a manner
insensible holding her finger
continually in her mouth with her eyes
open and fixed to the ground
as Elizabeth's death approached a young power she had begun her reign by
man was pacing the courtyards of the promising to avoid the mistakes of her
palace he was Robert Carey the Queen's sister Mary by a large she succeeded
cousin and he'd resolved to make his Elizabeth had founded a national church
fortune in the new reign by being the and she inspired a national literature
first to let James know that Elizabeth her father Henry the eighth's
was dead that he was king of England he had reinvented the idea of England
informed James of his intention and told Elizabeth became its living embodiment
him not to leave Edinburgh then he few monix have been better loved by
returned to the palace to watch and to their subjects none has exercised a more
wait with the rest powerful whole over the imagination of
Elizabeth was preparing herself for the succeeding generations the myth started
end with a few years of her death when the
the archbishop kneeled down beside her preface to the King James Bible hails
and examined her first of her faith and her as that bright Occidental star Queen
she so punctually answered all his Elizabeth a famous memory and the star
questions by lifting up her eyes and still burns bright
holding up her hand as it was a comfort
to all the beholders
then the good man told her plainly what
she was and what she was come to though
she had been long a great Queen here
upon earth yet shortly she was to yield
an account of her stewardship to the
King of Kings at 10 o'clock at night on
the 23rd of March 1603 Elizabeth falls
into a deep sleep she never woke up
three days later James the sixth was
proclaimed as Elizabeth's successor at
Holyrood palace in Edinburgh England and
Scotland were joined under one mark
Elizabeth's body was brought by water
from Richmond to Whitehall there it lay
for five weeks watched over day and
night by her ladies-in-waiting then it
was taken to Westminster Abbey for
burial the funeral effigy on top of the
coffin was so lifelike that from the
great crowds lining the route nothing
was heard but a general sighing groaning
and a weeping Elizabeth the woman was
dead but the achievement of Gloriana the
great Queen of England lived on
when Elizabeth came to the throne
England was an insignificant country
when she died it was a major European