On This Day in Elizabethan History: Essex, Excommunication, and Burghley

A miniature of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, circa 1596. By Isaac Oliver. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

On this day in Elizabethan history in 1601, (which had been an Ash Wednesday) Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, was beheaded for treason.

How did this royal favorite wind up with his head upon the block? And what were the repercussions for his friends and family? Learn the answers to these questions and more in our article on the fall of the Earl of Essex.

Also today in Elizabethan history....

A composite image of Pope Pius V and Queen Elizabeth I (The Ermine Portrait). Shared for public use on Wikimedia Commons by JW1805.

In 1570, Queen Elizabeth I, despite being a Protestant, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Pius V. As a confirmed heretic in contempt of the "one true faith", Pius V had effectively absolved Catholic Europe of sin if they were to assassinate Elizabeth.

A portrait of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, depicted in his robes for The Order of the Garter. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

In 1571, Queen Elizabeth promoted her hardworking Secretary, William Cecil to the peerage, creating him Baron Burghley. He also earned a seat in the House of Lords.

Elizabethan Fact of the Day: The 39 Articles of Faith

The frontispiece for the 1569 Bishop's Bible, drawn by an unknown artist. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

In February of 1563, the "39 Articles of Faith", the doctrinal foundation of the present-day Anglican Church, were finally agreed upon.

To learn more about religious policy in England under Queen Elizabeth I, please see our article here.

Elizabeth I's Bishop's Bible. Folger Shakespeare Library. Image public domain.

A New BeingBess Series: Elizabethan Power Couples

Today I am proud to announce a new BeingBess feature article series, entitled Elizabethan Power Couples. The 16th century was a period of rapid growth and incredible change for women, the middle class, and religion, among many other things. These advancements inevitably caused a shift in societal norms, among them the male-female dynamic within marital relationships. 

While many husbands and wives experienced marital discord, some even petitioning for annulment or divorce, we also have plenty of examples that demonstrate that domestic bliss was alive and well in Elizabethan England. Compatible husbands and wives harnessed their affection for one another, utilizing there mutual trust and shared interests to build and run businesses, engage in philanthropy, and shape politics. Some even endured imprisonment and suffered financial and social ruin for their romances. Ample business and legal records, as well as personal accounts give us insight into the husbands and wives I have chosen to categorize as Elizabethan Power Couples.

The tomb effigies of Sir Thomas St. Pol and his wife, Faith Grantham. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of Richard Croft. Image public domain.

Keep checking BeingBess; 

our first Elizabethan Power Couples feature is just around the corner!

September 5th, 1548: The Death of Katherine Parr

The tomb of Katherine Parr in St. Mary's Chapel, Sudeley Castle. Photo shared for public use by Lara E. Eakins of TudorHistory.org.

On this day in Tudor history, 1548, the Dowager Queen Katherine Parr died from “childbed fever”, or puerperal sepsis, at her home of Sudeley Castle. With her final breaths, Katherine Parr voiced her disappointment in her husband, Thomas Seymour, for all the pain he had caused her. Thomas had been inappropriate with his wife's stepdaughter, Elizabeth Tudor (Plowden, 100-101). 

Henry VIII's sixth and final wife was laid to rest on the grounds of Sudeley Castle in St. Mary's Chapel.

An exterior view of Sudeley Castle. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

After being widowed just one year before, upon the death of her third husband, King Henry VIII, Katherine had seized her chance at happiness by marrying Thomas Seymour. Thomas had been pursuing Katherine before she had caught King Henry's eye (Porter, 284-291). Thomas Seymour was also the uncle of Katherine's stepson, the boy-king Edward VI.

The Jersey Portrait. The sitter was formally thought to be Jane Grey, but has now been identified as Katherine Parr. Picture acquired through Flickr courtesy of Inor19.

Katherine and Thomas's courtship appears to have been a passionate one, but their marriage suffered when Thomas became fixated on Katherine's young stepdaughter, Elizabeth Tudor (Porter, 307-315). Elizabeth was in their care, living under their roof. Thomas abused his ward by behaving inappropriately with her. 

Katherine Parr, although a highly educated and perceptive woman, was conflicted as to how to handle the situation. Torn between her husband and the stepchild she regarded as her own daughter, Katherine began participating in her husband's escapades. Who knows how she rationalized her involvement to herself; perhaps she believed it would bring her closer to her husband, or perhaps she thought it would help her to keep an eye on the behavior.

When Katherine became pregnant, she became far less tolerant of her husband interest in Elizabeth, and she had the Princess sent away (Porter, 313-314). Still, Elizabeth and Katherine were not on bad terms, and they wrote to one another during their separation (Porter, 315-316). Upon learning of her stepmother's death, Elizabeth was devastated. Despite the betrayal she had experienced in Katherine Parr's care, she would never forget that this was the woman who had treated her like she was her own child. She had loved her, interceded for her with her father, and given her with the best of educations (Plowden, 75, 93). Just a few years before (1545), the Princess Elizabeth had given her stepmother her own translation of The Mirror of the Sinful Soul, by Margaret of Navarre. This present was intended to show off her academic skills, which she had acquired thanks to the tutors provided to her by her stepmother. The cover was embroidered in her own hand, and included Katherine Parr's initials, "KP" in the center.

Elizabeth Tudor's translation of The Mirror of the Sinful Soul, given by her to her stepmother, Katherine Parr in 1545. Elizabeth hand-embroidered the cover, including the Dowager Queen's initials, "KP" in the center. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Katherine herself was quite the role model for the young Elizabeth in matters of education, government,and religion. Katherine was an author, and she earned the distinction of becoming the first English Queen to have a work of literature published under her own name. Just one year after her wedding to Henry VIII, the mature and accomplished Katherine was entrusted to be regent of England for three months.  Finally, Katherine was a champion for church reform, even though it nearly cost her her life (Porter, 225-267).

Prayers and Meditations, a book authored by Queen Katherine Parr. This copy was perhaps written in her own hand. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Sadly, the fate of Queen Katherine Parr's only biological child, Mary Seymour, is unknown. While she lived for a time in the care of Katherine Parr's friend, Katherine Willoughby, she disappears from the records and probably did not live into adulthood.

A portrait of Queen Katherine Parr, circa 1545. Picture acquired through Flickr courtesy of Inor19. Image public domain.

In Other Katherine Parr News...

This Sunday, September 9th, marks the grande finale of the year-long celebrations at Sudeley Castle for the Katherine Parr Quincentenary. The Quincentenary marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Katherine Parr, the 6th and final wife of King Henry VIII.

An exterior view of a knot garden at Sudeley Castle. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Sudeley Castle has undertaken a remarkable historical challenge: re-creating the funeral of England's Queen Dowager from 1548. The event, which is sold out, asks guests to participate, rather than mereley spectate, by having them portray actual funeral guests.This re-enactment, led by eminent Tudor historian Dr. David Starkey, truly is "living history" at its finest!

A close-up of the tomb of Queen Katherine Parr in St.Mary's Chapel, Sudeley Castle. Photo shared for public use by Lara E. Eakins of TudorHistory.org.

Sources

Porter, Linda. Katherine the Queen. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2010. Print.

Plowden, Alison. The Young Elizabeth. Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011. Print.

Elizabethan Fact of the Day: Elizabeth Visits Oxford on Progress in 1566

During Queen Elizabeth I's summer progress in 1566, she chose to visit the University of Oxford. The university and the student's were eager to impress the Queen, who had honored them with her visit. So, they prepared a showcase of Oxford talent, where Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers were entertained with debates and plays. 

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, c.1590 that hangs in the Hall of Jesus College, Oxford University. Queen Elizabeth founded the school on June 27th, 1571. Jesus College was the first Protestant college to be founded at the university. Elizabeth originally intended Jesus College to be an academic institution for Anglican clergymen. These men would help to enforce her Elizabethan Religious Settlement (please see my article: Religious Policy under Elizabeth I). Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Queen Elizabeth supported education in many ways throughout her reign; one of the ways in which she showed her support to higher education was by making frequent visits to universities. Queen Elizabeth even helped to pay for some of her god-children's schooling. This is generous, considering she had more than one-hundred in her lifetime! We know that Elizabeth greatly valued her own education; while she believed God had preserved her through many dangers in order to assume the position of Queen of England, it was Elizabeth's education and intellectual ability that can be largely credited for creating the consummate stateswoman we study to this day. (For an assessment of Elizabeth's political aptitude by scholar Garrett Mattingly, click here.)

One of Queen Elizabeth's godchildren was the writer John Harrington; he attended Eton and King's College, Cambridge. The Queen helped to fund his education. Some of Queen Elizabeth and John Harrington's correspondences have survived, and they were published by his descendent under the title Nugae Antique.

Interestingly, John Harrington holds the prestige of being the inventor of the first flushing toilet in England in 1596. He describes this invention, which he originally installed in his house at Kelston in his work, A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax. He also installed the flushing toilet for his royal godmother at Richmond Palace.  

Sources

Doran, Susan. The Tudor Chronicles 1485-1603. London: Quercus, 2008. Print.

Kinghorn, Jonathan."A Privvie in Perfection: Sir John Harrington's Water Closet." Bath History.

On This Day in Elizabethan History: The Death of Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker



A detail of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I's Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 On this Day in Elizabethan History, Matthew Parker, Queen Elizabeth's first Archbishop of Canterbury died. Reformer Matthew Parker (1504-1575) had been entrusted by Queen Anne Boleyn to look out for the spiritual education of her young daughter Elizabeth, before she was executed on trumped-up charges on May 19th, 1536. And Parker would keep his pledge to the late Queen to guide Elizabeth in the ways of the Protestant faith. Elizabeth rewarded Parker for his loyalty to her mother's request by making him Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559. He would serve in this prestigious post until his death, when he was succeeded by Edmund Grindal.

Parker would be responsible for devising the 39 Articles of Faith, one of the three principles all bishops in the Elizabethan Church were expected to subscribe to and uphold (Please see my article Religious Policy under Elizabeth I for more information.)

The path to religious life for Matthew Parker began in 1522, when Parker attended Corpus Christi College, part of Cambridge University; he graduated in 1525. In April of 1527 he was ordained a deacon, and then subsequently a priest in June. In September of the same year he was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College and began his Master's degree. Parker, an early Anglican reformer, spurned the then-powerful Cardinal Wolsey's support in favor of Anne Boleyn, the intellectual and increasingly influential love-interest of King Henry VIII. 

A 16th century portrait of King Henry VIII's "new man", Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Anne had long been a supporter of Cambridge intellectuals, and when she became Queen of England, she made Parker her personal chaplain. Anne, who was an active supporter of the reform of the English Church herself, had great faith in Parker's abilities, and it was through her influence that he was made Dean of the College of Secular Canons in 1535.


A Tudor-era miniature of Anne Boleyn wearing her famous "B" necklace. Attributed to Hoskins. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Parker's royal patroness was executed in 1536; while many in the Boleyn faction were shunned after the Queen's death, Parker was not, which speaks to his level of religious talent, which the King found indispensable. In 1537, Parker was promoted Chaplain to King Henry VIII. Parker would enjoy a steady rise up the ecclesiastical ladder, accepting various prestigious positions. Then, in 1544 he was elected Master of his alma-mater, Corpus Christi College, and in 1545 he became the Vice-Chancellor.


A modern sign placed in memorial of some of the more famous individuals who lost their lives on the scaffold on Tower Green. Queen Anne Boleyn is the first listed. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 That same year, King Henry VIII's parliament passed an act that enabled an investigation of colleges and chantries. Parker was appointed as one of the commissioners for Cambridge, and it is his report that has been credited in saving the institution from being dissolved.

When Edward VI took the throne after his father, many members of the Church of England's clergy chose to take advantage of the institution of marriage. Though it had not yet been legalized by Parliament, it was no longer a felony and the future looked promising. In June of 1547, Parker married Margaret Harlestone, the daughter of a Norfolk squire. Margaret and Matthew had planned to wed since around 1540 (Strype's Life of Parker, 1711). During Kett's Rebellion, an Edwardian uprising over land based in his wife's home county, Parker preached in the rebel camp at Mousehold Hill, begging the rebels to disperse. His appeal was to no avail, but Parker's secretary Alexander Neville wrote one of the two eye-witness accounts of the failed rebellion per his master's instruction, published in Latin in 1575.


Detail from the allegorical painting Edward VI and the Pope. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 Parker would enjoy much favor in the brief reign of King Edward VI. The young King's uncle Lord Protector Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and John Dudley, the Earl of Northumberland (Robert Dudley's father) saw that he was promoted to various offices. But as was the case of so many who rose to prestige in Edward VI's time on the throne, the ascension of Mary Tudor changed everything.


A portrait of Queen Mary I of England, who earned the nickname "Bloody Mary" for her relentless persecution of English Protestants and the Marian burnings. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 Because Parker had been so closely associated with Northumberland, who attempted to usurp the English throne from Mary I and place his son Guilford and daughter-in-law Jane Grey on the throne (per Edward's change in the Succession), and because he was a married member of the clergy, he suffered under Mary's hand. 

A portrait of Jane Grey from the 1590's, after a lost original from the 1550's. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Queen Mary took away Parker's lucrative deanery of Lincoln, which he had received in 1552, and his mastership of Corpus Christi College. While most who experienced the wrath of Mary I fled England for the Continent, establishing exiled English-Protestant communities abroad, Parker remained in England. He remarkably escaped the fate of his esteemed colleagues Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer, who were burned at the stake.


An illustration of Bishop's Latimer and Ridley being burned at the stake, from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Upon Elizabeth's ascension to the throne in 1558, she immediately identified Parker as her candidate for Archbishopric of Canterbury, though at first he modestly refused. On August 1, 1559 he was elected, and on December 19th, 1559 he was made Archbishop at Lambeth. Elizabeth's selection of Parker for Archbishop of Canterbury was political as well as personal. While Elizabeth rarely spoke of her mother, she did many things in plain sight to honor Queen Anne's memory; her promotion of Parker was to be the first of many. In the crucial months ahead, where Elizabeth would establish her policy on religion, she needed a temperate, hardworking man to help lay down her doctrine; Parker was that man. 

Still, there were points of religion on which Queen Elizabeth and Parker clashed. Parker was a family man, and Elizabeth was skeptical of the clergy's involvement in the institution of marriage. Once, when taking leave of Lambeth Palace, Elizabeth, in her typical wit, mused on how to bid Mrs. Margaret Parker adieu, saying, "Madam, I may not call you; mistress I am ashamed to call you, so I know not what to call you; but I thank you." (Palmer, 29)

Parker leaves behind a legacy as an honest and faithful servant God, and one of forefather's of the Protestant faith in England. He was also a steadfast, hardworking servant of the queen, undertaking considerable religious responsibilities which Elizabeth preferred to distance herself from. Parker's collection of 55 volumes of religious works, housed in the Parker Library at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, are a priceless resource to those who study Reformation and 16th century history.

Sources:

Palmer, Michael. Reputations: Elizabeth I. The Bath Press, 1988. Print.

Denny, Joanna. Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen. Portrait, 2005. Print.

Life of Parker by John Strype, published 1711 and re-edited for Claredon Press in 1821. All three volumes are now available online HERE.

Elizabethan Fact of the Day: Easter in Elizabethan Times

Happy Easter!

If you celebrate Easter, we wish you a happy day filled with friends, family, and faith.

And because I never miss an opportunity to tie anything to Queen Elizabeth I, I would like to share with you some information on the Elizabethan Easter....

The celebration of Easter is the most important feast day in the calender of the Elizabethan Church, also known as the Anglican church. Just like today, Easter was a "floating" holiday in the 16th century, and could occur on a Sunday in either March or April.

By the time Elizabeth was on the throne, Easter resided on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurred on or after March 21st. This means that Easter could fall anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th during Elizabeth's reign (Wagner, 93-94).

Proceeding the actual feast day of Easter was 40 days of Lent, a period of fasting and abstinence from a variety of forms of merriment. Lent was, and still is intended as a time for reflection of Christ's sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and concludes with the week before Easter, appropriately titled "Easter Week" or "Holy Week". Easter Week begins on Palm Sunday. Holy Week concludes with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, all of which were observed retaining some Catholic traditions (Wagner, 94). Queen Elizabeth I herself continued the royal tradition of having a Maundy Thursday rendezvous with the common people, and the annual event was commemorated in the miniature below:



An Elizabethan Maundy, a miniature of Queen Elizabeth observing the tradition of a Maundy with the common people. The miniature is by Elizabethan female court painter Leevina Teerlinc. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.


The Easter Sunday service was one of the three times in a year that Anglican church-goers took communion; the others were Christmas and Whitsun. Whitsun was the feast of Pentecost, which fell in either May or June. After attending church, the Elizabethans would partake in extravagant feasting celebrations.

Since we know that by Queen Elizabeth's reign Easter had acquired some secular customs, the Elizabethans, like modern Christians, were celebrating with decorated eggs and other pagan-derived symbols from ancient Anglo-Saxon culture (Wagner, 94). Though we can say with surety that the Queen herself probably did not participate in any sort of an egg-hunt!

Sources: 

Wagner, John A. The Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World. Print.

(Pages 93-94.)

For further reading on Elizabethan religious customs, please see: 

Bonfires and Bells: National Memory and the Protestant Calender in Elizabethan and Stuart England by David Cressy

ALSO: On this Day in Elizabethan History, Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster died in 1590. But because this year this weekend is Easter Weekend, and every year ever-after April 6th will be the death of Sir Francis Walsingham, we will write a mini-bio on him and his achievements next year!

A detail of a 16th century portrait of Sir Francis Walsingham, whom Queen Elizabeth called her "moor", due to his swarthy complexion. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

In the meantime, to learn more about Walsingham's life and work, please read:

Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage by Stephen Budiansky.

Mr. Budiansky is an author who specializes in military and intelligence history. We own this book and highly recommend it!

On this Day in Elizabethan History: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, and the End of the Elizabethan Era

The Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth I, 1603. Elizabeth's funeral effigy is now part of the Westminster Abbey effigy collection.

On this Day in Elizabethan History, March 24th 1603, Queen Elizabeth I passed away at the age of 69. When Elizabeth knew she was dying, she refused to take to her sick bed, despite the urging of her councillors that she should rest. Elizabeth was recorded as saying, "if you knew what awaited me in my bed, you would not go and lie down either." Queen Elizabeth would leave this world only when she deemed it acceptable to do so herself, and through the sheer willpower that she had become famous for, Elizabeth remained standing for weeks on end with very little food or water to sustain herself as she contemplated the many episodes of her life. When Elizabeth finally laid her head down on her pillow, she had Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester's last letter with her, and supposedly she called out his name as she was dying.


"His Last Letter" as Elizabeth titled it in her own hand; this was the last letter she had received from her lifelong friend and only love, Robert Dudley when he was away from her recovering from his infirmities. Dudley thanks Elizabeth for the medicine that she has sent him, informing her that the tonic's are much better than anything else he has been given. He inquires as to her health, and jokes "I humbly kiss your foot".Any places in the letter where two o's are together, Dudley doodled them into eyes, a nod to Elizabeth's nickname for him. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.


After 44 years on the throne of England, Elizabeth had earned herself the nicknames of "Gloriana" and "Good Queen Bess" because of the fame, fortune, peace and prosperity she had brought to her realm.  The last of the Tudor's, Elizabeth was also undoubtedly the greatest.

Elizabeth inherited a country on the brink of disaster in 1558. Her legitimacy and thus her right to rule was in question by those who did not wish to see her succeed. Despite the odds being against her, Elizabeth got straight to work solving the many problems of the country was to serve.


The Coronation Portrait of Elizabeth I. This portrait depicts Elizabeth at 25, holding the orb and scepter of a sovereign of England, and clad in an ermine-trimmed robe (ermine being a symbol of royalty). It is a 17th century copy of a 16th century original. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Queen Elizabeth selected men whom she knew she could trust to give her honest council and a variety of opinions, to serve in the various positions of her government. No one doubts that Elizabeth was an expert in politics and statesmanship. As queen she would always make the final decisions on matters of state using her own sound judgement. Elizabeth would weigh the input of her council against her own beliefs, and sometimes prudently stall making a decision up until the eleventh hour (this tactic being much to her council's frustration); but for all her procrastination her choices were always right in the end. 

Elizabeth's adoption of a moderate religious policy appeased the majority of her subjects, both Catholic and Protestant, and allowed them to see themselves unified as English first, rather than divided by religious faction. Elizabeth was able to keep her people from the countless religious and civil wars that were destroying the rest of Europe.

Queen Elizabeth stimulated a bleak economy by encouraging at-home trade and industry, and as a result England would become mostly independent for the first time during her reign. Elizabeth's practice of granting religious asylum to individuals and families with special skills would only contribute to England's economic strength. Toward the end of her reign, Elizabeth had effectively solved the debt crisis that had been left to her by her predecessors.

The Clopton Portrait of Elizabeth I, c. 1560-1565.


Queen Elizabeth's value of education originated from a childhood where learning was her only solace; she mastered the history of the world, seven languages, translation, religion, science and astronomy, along with the more traditional pursuits of musical composition, dance and singing. This enjoyment and mastery of her education motivated Elizabeth to become a benefactress of both Cambridge and Oxford University; in fact, she would visit the students there personally many times throughout her reign. During the Elizabethan era, an alarming amount of grammar schools were established, which gave educational opportunities to more of England's people than ever before. In Ireland, Queen Elizabeth would found Trinity College, which is still in operation to this day.


The embroidered book cover of Elizabeth's translation of The Mirror of the Sinful Soul. This translation of the French text into English (and the book cover itself) was done by the Princess Elizabeth as a gift to her stepmother Queen Katherine Parr.



Queen Elizabeth Playing the Lute, a miniature attributed to Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1580. This miniature was commissioned by the Queen's cousin Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon. Elizabeth composed many original pieces of music, and she was praised for her skill at playing the virginals. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers brought England into the "Golden Age", promoting theatre, music, art, and literature. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, Johnson, Byrd, Hilliard, Teerlinc, Lanyer, and the Sidney's are just some of the many remarkable talents that hailed from Elizabeth's court. Elizabeth made England a superpower, using her "Sea Dogs" to explore, plunder, settle and trade in the New World. The dominant power in the 16th century had been Spain up until the 30th year of Elizabeth's reign, when the Elizabethan Navy destroyed the Spanish Armada when it dared to invade England in 1588. With the founding of the East India Trading Company, Elizabeth was able to leave her mark on the next two centuries of England as Empire.


The Armada Portrait, attributed to George Gower. This painting was commissioned to commemorate the English's defeat of the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth is shown with her hand resting on a globe, symbolizing that she is a world power. The windows behind her reveal episodes of the English Navy and the Armada's battle at sea. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

 There never has been a woman nor a monarch like that of Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth survived a significant amount of childhood trauma and evaded death twice at the hands of her own family to become the greatest ruler of the Western World. Never has there been a love affair like that of Elizabeth Tudor and her people. Elizabeth sacrificed her chance of having a husband and her own children to be married to England, and to become a mother to her people. And I know that in the end she never regretted that decision.

Eliza Triumphans, a woodcut print from 1589 celebrating Queen Elizabeth as the savior of the English people. Attributed to William Rogers. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

"And though you have had and may have many mightier and wiser Princes sitting in this seat, you never had nor shall have any that will love you better."-the words of Elizabeth Regina, from The Golden Speech, delivered to her last Parliament in 1601.

Queen Elizabeth Presiding Over Parliament, c. 1580-1600.Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England lives on in the heart's and minds of all who study her. I am one of those people. I will never know enough or understand enough about this fascinating, multidimensional woman and icon to ever be satisfied. If I can get one child to fall in love with Elizabeth as I did at the age of 12, I will have done what I set out to do.

Rest in Peace, Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England. Your legend lives on...

England as Religious Haven, and its Influence on Economic Growth

     Foreigners with special skills, and those who were masters at their trades had been encouraged by the monarchy to settle in England since the Middle Ages. For instance, Queen Phillipa of Hainault notably sponsored Flemish weavers and wool merchants to take up residence in her adopted country. Foreign tradesmen sometimes assimilated well into their new communities, but other times they were seen as a threat by the native English and their businesses were boycotted in hopes that they would suffer financially and leave the country.

A detail from a 14th century illustration of Philippa of Hainault at her coronation. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.

 
     Tudor and Elizabethan England brought new reasons for immigrants from the Continent to settle in England, and also for Englishmen to flee persecution from their own government. This was all due to a succession of regime changes that affected religious tolerance. It all started with Henry VIII’s ever changing mind on matters of religion, and then the differing opinions of his three children. Depending on the given month and year, either Catholics or Protestants had reason to worry. In King Edward’s brief reign, many reformers eager to help establish a new Protestant kingdom flocked to England, only to flee again in fear during the reign of Queen Mary.

The atrocities suffered under Queen Mary's reign were still a very recent memory. This woodcut from Foxe's Book of Martyrs shows the burning of the elderly Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons Image public domain.

     Queen Elizabeth established herself as someone who “wish(ed) not to open windows into men’s souls.” While Elizabeth herself was a Protestant, and upheld the Church of England that her father had established, her religious policy was much more moderate than either of her siblings, and England saw itself filled with both faiths again. Elizabeth’s own advisors were a mix of Catholic and Protestant, with some even leaning toward Puritanism, which Elizabeth herself was wary of. 

     From the 1560’s onward, England accepted Protestant refugee’s of the religious wars that were tearing apart Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In 1553, the French Ambassador supposed that there were 15,000 French, Dutch and German Protestants in the City of London alone. King Philip of Spain’s ambassador would report in 1560 that the Flemish Protestants in England came to a grand total of 10,000. By 1568, between 7 and 8 percent of the people dwelling in London and its surrounding borough’s were refugee’s and tradesmen from France and the Netherlands.

     One of the many tasks of the Privy Council was to find towns where these immigrant families could be settled peacefully. For instance, in 1565, the Privy Council sent 30 immigrant families to Nowich, and by 1579, they had grown to represent 1/3 of the city’s population.

     While there were periods in Elizabeth’s reign where native born citizens took issue with prosperous immigrant tradesmen, (For instance, the Flemish wool merchants mentioned in the first paragraph were extremely affluent by the 16^th century, and many of their competitors petitioned against them) for the most part, these immigrants were a vital component to the diverse, robust and steadily growing economy in England, an economy that would enable England to catch up and compete with the other Continental superpowers; England’s economy in the latter half of the 16^th century is undoubtedly one of Elizabeth’s greatest achievements.

Sources: 

Statistics taken from D.M.Palliser's The Age of Elizabeth: England Under the Later Tudor's. Print.