 |
Elizabeth Articles |
The Youthful Elizabeth
(1533-1558) The Youthful Elizabeth (1533-1558) Elizabeth's years as a youth were extremely pertinent to the development of her intellect and her political shrewdness. In the quadricentennial of Elizabeth's death, we will examine the events that shaped the life and reign of one of the most renowned monarchs in history. Events that occurred in the years between her birth in 1533 and 1558, the year of her coronation, were the seeds that produced the entity of Elizabeth I and eventually earned her the descriptive titles of 'Gloriana,' 'Good Queen Bess,' and 'The Virgin Queen.' Elizabeth Tudor was born in Greenwich Palace on Sunday, September 7, 1533. Elizabeth historian, J.E. Neale, states: Elizabeth's birth ". . . was a symbol of the most momentous revolution in the history of the country." Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, had pronounced King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void four months earlier, and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, was recognized as the true spouse of the King. The English church had separated from Rome, and Anne Boleyn's child was the immediate cause. Elizabeth Tudor was the embodiment of the English Reformation. Before Elizabeth was ten years old, several crucial incidents occurred. In 1536, her father beheaded her mother for trumped-up charges of adultery, an act that declared Elizabeth illegitimate. Eight years later, in the Act of 1544, Parliament reestablished her legitimacy and placed her in succession to the throne after her half-sister, Mary. Elizabeth was blessed with the mental keenness of her father, and he delighted in his gifted daughter. As a girl of royal birth, she was fortunate that a formal education was deemed important, and there was precedent at this court. Her great-grandmother, Lady Margaret, could speak French and Latin. Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII's first wife, had been tutored by foreign scholars in Spain, and she had been doing the same for her daughter Mary. King Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, undertook the task of her step-daughter's education, and Elizabeth was schooled along with Mary and her younger half-brother, Edward. Surrounded by intrigue and court politics from her birth, Elizabeth knew at a young age that she must be shrewd. One of the first lessons learned was probably during what is termed 'the Seymour episode.' Within months of Henry VIII's death, Catherine Parr secretly married Thomas Seymour. Elizabeth lived with them at Chelsea and became quite fond of Seymour. Soon, rumors of dalliances surfaced and, although Catherine did not feel that they were serious, Elizabeth moved to Cheshunt in the summer of 1548 when Catherine was pregnant. Catherine wrote to the 15-year-old Elizabeth during this separation and warned her to be cautious in her behavior. When Catherine died in September 1548 shortly after childbirth, a marriage between Elizabeth and Seymour became a possibility. One of her retainers, Cofferer Thomas Parry, discussed Elizabeth's finances with Seymour. Later, these conversations were dissected by Parry, Elizabeth, and her gentlewoman, Kate Ashley. At the same time, Seymour was ingratiating himself with Edward, now King of England, and planning a coup. Seymour's deceptions were soon discovered by The Privy Council who sent him to the Tower. Elizabeth's attendants, Parry and Kate, were also locked away for suspected collusion in planning a marriage between Seymour and Elizabeth. Sir Robert Tyrwhit, an agent of the Council, interrogated Elizabeth to ascertain her involvement in this plot, but she remained steadfast and loyal to her servants. Although Parry and Kate confessed to conversations between themselves and Seymour, they admitted no wrongdoing and were released. Seymour was not so lucky and, charged with treason, he was beheaded on March 20, 1549. Elizabeth was determined to redeem herself with the King and the Council, and by Christmas 1549, she was invited to court. Some historians believe that the Seymour episode was pivotal to her future wariness of various male courtiers, advisors, and would-be suitors. When King Edward died, Elizabeth took her place behind Mary in the ceremonial entry into London on August 3, 1553. Mary's Catholic faith had sustained her for 20 years, and she was adamant that England return to Catholicism and the Pope. Though Elizabeth sought to reassure Mary that she wished to be re-educated in Catholicism, Mary was not convinced, and an uncomfortable Elizabeth left the court a few months later. Still questioning Elizabeth's loyalty, the outbreak of the Wyatt rebellion in 1554 gave Mary the impetus to send Elizabeth to the Tower where she remained for two months. No complicity could be found however, and she was sent to Woodstock under the watchful eye of Sir Henry Bedingfield. On the advice of her cousin, Charles V, Mary married King Philip II of Spain in July of 1554, a Catholic. In November of that year, Papal Legate Cardinal Pole granted forgiveness to the entire country and returned England to the Church of Rome. Over the next four years, Mary allowed the execution of 300 heretics, endured what turned out to be a false pregnancy, and suffered the long absences of Philip. On November 6, 1558, Mary recognized Elizabeth as her successor with the request that she retain the Catholic religion. Mary died eleven days later, bringing her short, unhappy, and violent reign to an end. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, became Queen of England. The biography, Queen Elizabeth I, by J.E. Neale was consulted for the above article. In 1558 Elizabeth became Queen of England and despite her sister Mary’s wish for a continued catholic monarchy, Elizabeth returned the country to Protestantism. She sought through the 39 Articles of Religion to unite her people under one religion, and with the Act of Supremacy, firmly established the preeminence of the Anglican Church, with her as the head. She was tolerant toward her Catholic Constituency however, and to assuage them took the title Supreme Governor of the Church of England rather than Supreme Head as her father had been called. During the Seymour affair ten years earlier, Elizabeth had evinced the strong willed, steadfast personality that would support her through the rest of her life. Even so, important issues such as succession, marriage, and religion had to be addressed in the first fourteen years of her reign and fiercely tested her abilities as a monarch. The most important issue in the early days of her reign was the composition of her Privy Council in charge of local affairs. On November 20, 1558, the first public business day, she announced her desire to avoid dissension that arose from many voices, and proceeded to pare down the council to nineteen members from Mary’s fifty. Her ability to choose wise advisers was exemplified in the leader of the council, William Cecil, later Lord Burghley, a young man of thirty-eight and her stalwart supporter, though not always in agreement, until his death in 1598. Parliament, the larger legislative body, passed laws and allocated funds to the monarch. Money was the main reason that Elizabeth called Parliament and then only ten times during her 45-year reign. Elizabeth could override her Parliament by proclamations. Every debate about her reign however was tackled in Parliament during these first years. Marriage was a huge concern because without an heir, England’s future would be uncertain, and Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor dynasty. In the early days of her reign there were many potential foreign suitors, including the King of Spain, Prince Eric of Sweden, the Archduke Charles of Austria and, on the home front, the Earl of Arran, the Earl of Arundel, and Sir William Pickering. Elizabeth and her ministers were not keen on a foreign monarch, for invariably the foreigner would want a hand in governing England, and that would prove unpopular among the people. Therefore, an Englishman of equal status but content to be simply a consort was desirable. Elizabeth may have found this combination in Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, but when his wife died under mysterious circumstances in 1560, that possibility was negated. Marriage and succession went hand and hand, and much of England wanted to know if Elizabeth did not marry, who would be her heir? As long as marriage was still a possibility, Elizabeth did not want to name an heir, for she recognized the inherent danger in naming a successor. Plots surrounding her named successor would arise, and the people would fixate on the next ascendant to the throne. The succession problem became more critical when Elizabeth almost died from small pox in 1562. The January 1563 Parliament petitioned Elizabeth to marry and name an heir and continued to pressure her until 1566 when she needed money and announced that she was getting married, to quiet the lords. At this time, possible heirs were Mary Queen of Scots, Catherine Grey, the unwilling Earl of Huntingdon and James VI, son of Mary Queen of Scots. With Mary out of the question because she was not of English birth, Parliament was leaning toward Catherine Grey. Unfortunately she died in 1568, once again leaving England with no successor to the throne. Several threats to the stability of Elizabeth’s throne occurred during these early years including the Northern Rebellion of 1569. English nobles who wished to overthrow Elizabeth and proclaim Mary Queen of Scots their new monarch led this plot. Thomas Percy, the Earl of Northumberland and Charles Neville, the Earl of Westmorland were the prime instigators of this conspiracy which ultimately failed. Thomas Percy was captured and beheaded in 1572, and Charles Neville escaped to Flanders where he died in 1601. Seizing the opportunity of this unrest in the north, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth in February 1570, absolving her subjects from any oath they had made to her. This papal bull, issued in Europe, did not reach England until May. The deliverer was Roberto Ridolfi, an Italian banker in London who was the liaison between the Catholic contingency in England and Rome. With the assistance of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Ridolfi plotted to remove Elizabeth from the throne and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots. The plan was to send six to ten thousand troops to Southport under the command of the Duke of Alva and march to London whereupon Norfolk would rise in revolt and seize Elizabeth. Norfolk and Mary Queen of Scots would then restore the Catholic faith and rule England together. Cecil’s spies brought news of the conspiracy to him before any definite plans could be set in motion, and Norfolk was arrested in September 1571, tried for treason, and beheaded in June of 1572. The execution of Mary was petitioned by Parliament at the same time, but Elizabeth refused. She would be plagued by the decision of whether to execute Mary or not over the next fifteen years. Moving away from plots and intrigue, Elizabeth began the tradition of making annual progresses early in her reign and these journeys became extremely important. Every spring and summer, she and her enormous entourage visited towns and aristocratic homes in southern England. All monarchs during this time traveled, but Elizabeth used these trips to fashion her royal society. For a usually fiscally conservative monarch, these travels strained her treasury but she found power in meeting with her subjects. The trips provided venues advantageous to discussion of the issues of succession, marriage, foreign diplomacy and religion. Additionally, she could pursue things that she enjoyed, such as horseback riding, bear baiting, dancing, and watching game tournaments. In 1572, relative calm prevailed, and Elizabeth gained confidence to contend with the travails to come. The biography, Queen Elizabeth I, by J.E. Neale was consulted for the above article.
At the beginning of 1572, Elizabeth was contending with interrelated dilemmas: how to deal with Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been under house arrest in northern England since 1568, the ubiquitous marriage problem, and how to juggle religion-political foreign affairs. Mary had sought refuge from Elizabeth after Protestant forces in Scotland had deposed her in favor of James VI, her one year old son. Under the supervision of the Earl of Shrewsbury for many years, she became the catalyst for numerous plots to overthrow Elizabeth. After the Ridolfi plot, Parliament was furious with Mary and advocated her execution. This fury was partly Protestant indignation and partly because Elizabeth was so popular among her people. The courtship of Elizabeth by the Archduke Charles of the Hapsburg Empire had been allowed to lapse but was renewed in 1570, only to stall, and he soon married someone else. Moderate Catholics held power in France at this time, not the radical Guises who hated Elizabeth. Consequently, Catherine de Medici of France and Elizabeth wished for an alliance between their countries knowing it would upset Spain. To this end, Catherine wanted Elizabeth to marry her son, the Duke of Anjou. Realizing the importance of this marriage for her, Elizabeth was serious in her resolve-but Anjou would not give up Catholicism. Catherine offered her other son, the Duke of Alençon, who was twenty-one years younger than Elizabeth, a reason for her to reject him outright. Marriage or not, Elizabeth and Catherine established an alliance against Spain with the Treaty of Blois signed in April 1572. Elizabeth was not alone now and France would not intervene with her dealings with Mary Queen of Scots. By 1579, Elizabeth was striving to solve the problem of Mary through a treaty with the English Protestant faction in Scotland. But, before they worked out the terms, the English faction fell out of power. A plot to oust Elizabeth called the `Enterprise of England’ had been devised by Spain, the Pope, and Catholic refugees on the continent in 1570. In May 1582, the Spanish ambassador sent a messenger to Scotland. The messenger was stopped and although he got away, he left papers that revealed the reconstitution of the `Enterprise’. Elizabeth had an excellent intelligence network under the direction of Sir Francis Walsingham who learned that Francis Throckmorton, a Catholic, had visited the French embassy by night and was a chief agent of Mary’s. He was arrested and tortured in November 1583, and died in January. Indignation over the `Enterprise’ plot swept over Protestant
England and the Bond of Association was drafted as a result. This
pact mandated to all signatories that if anyone killed Elizabeth,
then the aspirant to the throne must also be killed. Elizabeth renewed
negotiations for a treaty with Scotland in 1584 which dragged on
while Mary persisted in pledging herself to all plotters. James
wanted an alliance with Elizabeth but did not want to share power
with his mother. By this time, Walsingham intercepted all of Mary’s
letters, and Elizabeth finally knew the true Mary. Although England and Spain had good relations at the beginning
of Elizabeth’s reign and King Philip had even proposed, relations
had degenerated over the ensuing years. Believing that the Protestant
Queen was illegitimate and had no right to the throne, Catholic
Spain had been involved in the `Enterprise’ plot to usurp
her position. Elizabeth further angered Philip by encouraging the
piracy of Spanish ships returning from the New World by Sir Francis
Drake and using the bounty to fund rebellion against Spanish control
in the Netherlands, even sending Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
there in 1585. Two months after Mary’s execution in April
1587, Drake executed a preemptive strike by going into Spanish ports
and destroying part of the fleet. The years between 1572 and 1590 represented the height of Elizabeth’s reign and would usher in the ` Golden Age’ of the English Renaissance . The arts flourished in the last decade of the sixteenth century. Edmund Spenser wrote the ‘Fairie Queen,’ and four of Shakespeare’s plays had been performed at court including `Comedy of Errors.’ At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, one of her ministers asked that “God send her as good health as she has a heart.” God granted his request--Elizabeth I ruled England for 45 years, and she was an extremely well-liked monarch. Elizabeth’s popularity was a result of her strong desire for the approval of her subjects. Compared with other western European monarchs, she spent more time with her people. This favor was encouraged through the `progresses’ she made with her entourage around southwest England. Even at home, in London, on Sundays, she would move through the presence chambers of the palace among many spectators. While she was at the religious service, the people could observe the formality of meal presentation for their Queen. Elizabeth had used marriage through much of her reign to garner good foreign relations, for the prospect of marriage to Elizabeth was too important for any nation to resist. As she had approached her 50th year, however, she could no longer use marriage as a political weapon, and the possible partnerships initiated by Catherine de Medici were her last political courtships. At home, Elizabeth’s favorite in these last years was the Earl of Essex, the stepson of her dearly departed friend, the Earl of Leicester. By all accounts, he was arrogant and ambitious and had been sent away from court several times. Overall, their relationship was not welcome at court and despite later protestations that he only wished to free her from the bad influence of the councillors, Essex was eventually executed for treason. Elizabeth lived in an era when women had no part in public life, yet she held on to power for 45 years and transformed a previously insignificant country into a dominant force in world affairs with a minimal amount of bloodshed. For the most part, the government ran efficiently. There was a uniform system of justice and taxation, and the arts flourished. Despite her accomplishments, the last decade of her reign witnessed a waning of her popularity. The continuing war with Spain and deployment of forces to Ireland strained the economy which led to increased poverty and food riots in some areas of the country. However, the cultural renaissance that took place during Elizabeth’s reign produced several literary genius including William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Edmund Spenser. Particularly salient to Elizabeth was Spenser’s Faerie Queen written in homage to her. In pre-reformation England, learning was the province of the Church, but reading became a regular pastime during the second half of the sixteenth century. The educated classes read classical works and histories, while the public read pamphlets on various subjects including exploration and household responsibilities. The last years of her reign were sad, as her physical state deteriorated. In her final visit to Parliament, she delivered her Golden Speech: “Though you have had, and may have, many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat, yet you never had, nor shall have, any that will love you better.” Elizabeth I died on March 24, 1603 at Richmond Palace. On March 26, her coffin was moved on a black shrouded barge on the Thames, lit by torchlight, to Whitehall Palace. She lay in state there on a bed of black velvet surrounded by black ostrich plumes until April 28 when a funeral procession of fifteen hundred people made its way to Westminster Abbey. Onlookers crowded the streets to witness the final progress of this woman who personified an era. Thomas Dekker wrote, “Her hearse seemed to be an island swimming in water, for round it there rained showers of tears.”
|
 |
Agecroft
Hall, 4305 Sulgrave Road, Richmond, Virginia, 23221 |