24 March 1603 – Death of Elizabeth I

this is one of my favorite posts yet. For Elizabeth to do what she did, as well as she did, when women were thought of as totally inferior to men is nothing short of a miracle. I’m not too keen on her handling of the Queen of Scots situation……. thinking there could have been some ‘protesting too much” on her part; as if she were in on it. That is the only big flaw, to me. All people, not just women, can learn so much from her strength and perseverance, her sharp mind, etc. I actually put one of her ” rules” into practice whenever i’m undecided about something “when in doubt, do nothing.” Just sit back and observe, see how things develop. Her hesitation may have been a psychological quirk, but i use the behavior just the same, to avoid making a hasty and regrettable decision. At any rate, this is the first time i’ve ever seen this contemporary account of QEI’s death and it’s fantastic. I am so glad to read it and thankful that you’ve provided it. What else have i missed ???

Elizabeth showed much of the determination she had exhibited in life during the long and lingering days leading up to her death. She refused to move from cushions to her bed, she even chided Robert Cecil when he said she must go to bed : “Little Man, Little Man, one does not say must to Princes”. However, her death was one which was very difficult and long suffering. Elizabeth may have been more comfortable on the cushions she chose such was the pain she was in. However, she did move to her bed and turned her face to the wall and died.

As with all great monarchs we must be as balanced as possible when assessing her life and we can only do so briefly here. Elizabeth was not the disappointment to her parents Henry Viii and Anne Boleyn as some historians claim, in fact her father was quite pragmatic about it. He was of course a little concerned that she wasn’t the much promised son, but he was fond of Elizabeth and spent time with her. He was, however, to wane in that pride as it looked increasingly unlikely that she would be joined by a brother. That initial favour changed to distance and some neglect after the execution of Anne Boleyn. Anne had been a very attentive mother, spending time with Elizabeth even during audiences, making certain she had plenty of clothes and visiting her as often as possible. There is unfortunately no contemporary evidence to support the claim that Anne wanted to feed Elizabeth herself and it would have definitely have been unusual if she had said this. Royal babies were handed to a wetnurse to feed, who had given birth themselves to healthy children and who were carefully selected.

Henry did return to his affection for Elizabeth after his son was born and she is recorded as being often at Court especially during the Queenship of Anne of Cleves and Katherine Parr. Like Mary, though, Elizabeth was declared illegitimate by Parliament but they were both restored to the succession in 1544. Elizabeth experienced a mixed bag under her half brother Edward and her half sister Mary. Surprisingly she learned much from her sister, good and bad and their relationship was not always one of enemies. Mary had shown Elizabeth a good deal of affection growing up and treated her well enough in the early part of her reign. It was the plot by Thomas Wyatt the Younger which strained that relationship. Elizabeth was suspected by members of the Council of having knowledge of his intention to remove Mary and put Elizabeth on the throne and Mary was advised to imprison her own half sister. Mary rightly took no chances and Elizabeth was confined to the Royal Apartments at the Tower of London in 1554. After Mary rallied her people against the rebels and he was defeated Wyatt did exonerate Elizabeth. She was eventually released on 19th May 1554 to house arrest and then to Hatfield. Under Edward she had been questioned several times on suspicion of supporting her stepfather Thomas Seymour in his mad conspiracy and his wish to marry her. On the other hand there is some evidence, extracted not under torture but under threat that Seymour may have tried to seduce the 14 year-old girl in an abusive way.

Elizabeth learned to be ruthless from her father and her sister. However, she didn’t show the amount of mercy to traitors that Mary had done but she did show reluctance to sign the death warrant of the Duke of Norfolk and Mary Queen of Scots. Elizabeth attempted a policy of not toleration but moderation towards Catholic families who remained loyal and a middle way in religious politics. It didn’t work and probably could never have worked. A series of events brought about the inevitable laws which saw hundreds of Catholic martyrs hung drawn and quartered or dying in prison. A change in Pope meant a harder stand towards Elizabeth and her beliefs, a series of rebellions by the Northern Lords and the arrival on her doorstep of Mary Queen of Scots all contributed to the draconian laws which followed 1569. Her treatment of the Northern rebellion, resulting in 700 executions, more than her predecessors had killed in any single act of retribution caused the Pope to issue his fatal Bull of Excommunication in 1570. Her subjects were released from their allegiance and should no longer attend English services. The latter was easier said than done due to the crippling fines and imprisonment for not doing so. Martyrs had already died but now there was crack down after crackdown. It was treason to be a Catholic, hide a Catholic priest, say Catholic Mass, be reconciled to the Church or reconcile anyone to the Church, to be any kind of None Conformist or a Puritan. Catholic families tried to remain loyal but many of their younger generation were totally impatient and engaging in plots real and imagined to replace Elizabeth with Mary. More draconian measures followed and more alleged plots emerged. England became a police state.

Now one cannot condone either the Marian or the Elizabethan persecutions but both women had so much more about them than that. Mary had been courageous yo stand up to two direct attempts to prevent her from becoming Queen and holding the crown and Elizabeth would face her own ups and downs in the same way. Mary is known for her devotion to her mother and Elizabeth also remembered her own mother and showed this in grand gestures such as mingling her arms on display with her own. Mary was fond of ceremonies and fine dress and used this to promote herself and her husband. She also ensured that Philip didn’t have control over her political power and Elizabeth was also determined men would not rule her. Mary reformed the naval finances and ensured the gender free succession to the crown was firm in its authority. Elizabeth would not have succeeded without a fuss otherwise. Elizabeth would use much of how her sister presented female power but would go much further. The use of images and portraits and showing herself brought her closer to the people.

Elizabeth was magnificent in her dress and use of the portrait, she was a shrewd and fast politician, she was a manipulator of international and national personalities and like modern political leaders never answered a question with a straight answer. She is one of our most successful monarchs and she had a degree of greatness but I do not believe she was our greatest monarch. I don’t believe this was a golden age, because I don’t believe there is such a thing and for the lower classes it was anything but. However, it was an age of many achievements, some of which are personally down to Elizabeth, others which are coincidental but none the less remarkable. Elizabeth saw the flowering of a literary boom and theatre for the masses, she was active in being a patron, it saw advanced forms of art and architecture, the first flushing loo and expansion abroad. The Defeat of the Armada was both an achievement for the renewal of the naval institutions and building of ships and a great stroke of luck aided by tenacity and bad weather. Unfortunately, England suffered terrible loss on the several Counter Armada expeditions which followed. Elizabeth encouraged trade but so did other monarchs and she was made rich from the plunder in the New World. Fine Elizabethan houses graced the English landscape and her fashionable clothing was commented on. The early colonies began to be built in the New World and she expanded contacts begun in the reign of Mary with Russia and Islam, but her sea captains engaged in slavery. Elizabeth approved new laws against witchcraft and trials, none of which existed under Mary, but which had under Henry Viii now took off. The worst would come in Essex and later things would be even worse under the Stuarts, especially James I and the Puritan interludes. Elizabeth had an excellent grasp of languages and her international correspondence in Italian is quite remarkable. However, a series of disastrous wars in Ireland and with Spain hit the country hard financially. Elizabeth could be dangerous to cross, especially if you married without her permission or upset her during her dressing or undressing. She plunged a pair of scissors into one poor woman’s hand. Elizabeth also inspired devotion and after 45 years was deeply mourned. This wasn’t a Golden Age but it certainly was her age. She attempted to relieve the suffering of the poor and the Great Poor Law of 1601 was the pattern for poor relief for centuries. However, she had also left those hurt and infected with disease after the Armada to die in poverty so perhaps this was her penance. She had also neglected the succession but it was really a matter of formality when Robert Cecil ensued that James of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth in 1603. Elizabeth was a remarkable woman and Queen but she wasn’t the perfect being of mythology.