The Tudor Queen of England, who ruled from 1558-1603. Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. (09/07/1533 - 03/24/1603)
Elizabeth was the daughter of the unfortunate Anne Boleyn. After the execution of her mother, the despotic and cruel Henry VIII declared little Elizabeth illegitimate, forbade calling her a princess and kept her away from the capital at the Hatfield estate. However, the fact that Elizabeth was in disgrace benefited her in a certain sense, saving her from the ceremonial fuss and intrigues of the royal court. She could devote more time to education, she was taught by teachers sent from Cambridge. From childhood, she showed great zeal for the sciences, brilliant abilities and an excellent memory. Elizabeth was especially successful in languages: French, Italian, Latin and Greek. It was not about superficial knowledge. Latin, for example, she learned so that she wrote and spoke fluently in this classical language. Knowledge of languages allowed her subsequently to do without translators when meeting with foreign ambassadors. In 1544, when she was eleven years old, Elizabeth sent a letter to her stepmother Catherine Parr, written in Italian. By the end of the same year, she had finished translating from French one of the essays of Queen Margaret of Navarre, and soon translated into Latin, French and Italian the psalms composed by Catherine. In the same year, she was able to do lengthy annotations of the works of Plato, Thomas More, Erasmus of Rotterdam. As an adult, she loved to read Seneca in the original and, when melancholy attacked her, she could spend hours translating into English the works of this erudite Roman. Since childhood, the book has become a familiar companion of Elizabeth, and this is reflected in her portrait stored in Windsor Castle, painted during her studies. Towards the end of his reign, Henry restored Elizabeth to the throne, appointing her to reign after her son Edward and elder sister Mary. After the death of her father, Elizabeth began a time of anxiety and unrest. Under the young Edward VI, the Seymour brothers occupied the most influential position. One of them, Thomas, with the permission of the king, began to court the younger princess. Edward was not against this marriage, but Elizabeth herself soon began to shun the temporary worker, and when he directly offered her his hand, she answered with an evasive refusal. In 1549 Thomas was accused of counterfeiting and beheaded. Elizabeth was also brought to trial, but she managed to completely avert suspicion from herself.
But the most difficult time in the life of Elizabeth came when her older sister Mary ascended the throne. An ardent Catholic, she set out to convert Elizabeth to her faith. It was not easy: Elizabeth persisted. Relations between the sisters, never warm, began to deteriorate day by day. Finally, Elizabeth asked permission to retire to her estate. Maria allowed her to leave, but she was very suspicious of her sister. In January 1554, during the Protestant uprising led by Thomas White, Elizabeth was hastily brought to London and imprisoned in the Tower. For two months, while the investigation was going on, the princess was in prison. She was then exiled to Woodstock under strict supervision. In the autumn of 1555 Mary allowed her sister to return to Hatfield. From that time on, there was again talk that she should be married off. However, Elizabeth stubbornly refused and insisted on being left alone.
In November 1558 Queen Mary died. Before her death, she reluctantly declared her younger sister to be her heiress. Wasting no time, Elizabeth hurried to London, everywhere met with expressions of unfeigned joy. Her long reign began. The unfortunate fate during the reign of her father and sister developed in Elizabeth a firmness of character and judgment, which novice rulers rarely possess. She did not want to break ties with the papacy, nor offend the king of Spain. Only the tough policy of Pope Paul IV, who declared the youngest daughter of Henry VIII illegitimate, finally pushed Elizabeth away from Catholicism. The queen herself did not like external forms pure Protestantism. However, her minister Cecile convinced Elizabeth that it would be in the interests of her policy to stick with the reformed church. Indeed, English Catholics considered Elizabeth's rights dubious and were always ready to conspire in favor of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, who was declared the only legitimate successor to Mary I. But, having made her choice in favor of the Reformation, Elizabeth remained an opponent of her extreme currents. In 1559, laws were passed by Parliament that finally formed the Anglican national church. One of them established worship on English language, the second declared the English monarch head of the church. The third was prescribed general form worship for the whole country, exactly in the spirit as it was established under Henry VIII. In 1562, 39 articles were adopted, which became the norm of confession of the Anglican Church. Along with Catholic opposition, Elizabeth had to face the ever-increasing resistance of the Puritans, who believed that in an insufficiently reformed english church there are too many vestiges of Catholicism left. In 1583, a Judicial Commission was established, which began to vigorously persecute all those who did not submit to the supreme authority of the queen in matters of religion. In 1593 the Puritans were ordered to either renounce their views or leave England. In all these persecutions there was neither fanaticism nor religious bigotry, they were dictated solely by political motives.
Elizabeth had a complex and in many ways contradictory character. As a woman, she inherited some of her mother's moral failings: greed, vanity, passion for dress and jewelry. Elizabeth did not have the attractive qualities of her mother. She had red hair, a long, bony face, and a rough voice. However, she was very fond of praise for her beauty and retained this weakness even in old age. Until her death, Elizabeth mercilessly painted, bleached and diligently followed fashion. Dresses were her passion. Wanting to make a special impression on someone, the queen changed her toilets several times a day. When moving, 300 wagons were required to transport her luggage, and after the death of Elizabeth, 3,000 dresses remained. However, judging by the portraits that have come down to us, she did not have great taste and wore such a large number of jewels sewn, pinned and hung everywhere, that she could be mistaken for an Indian idol. At the same time, she had a cheerful and cheerful character and knew how to remain calm even in the most difficult years of her life. Her conversation, full not only of humour, but of grace and wit, testified to knowledge of life and subtle insight.
As Empress Elizabeth had many virtues, but even here we have to talk about the dark sides of her character. The habit of pretense, developed in her over many years of persecution, was her main feature. In addition, Elizabeth was selfish and very prone to perfidy. The craving for autocracy intensified in her over the years, just like the love of flattery. But the desire to command never overshadowed the queen's clarity of thought. She always ruled not with the stubbornness of unbridledness, but with calculation. Like a cold-blooded rider, she knew the limit to which the bridle could be pulled, and she never crossed this limit. The deprivation of youth made Elizabeth thrifty. In her old age, she was reproached even for stinginess. The savings in public expenditures, generally speaking, are very commendable, sometimes taking on immoderate proportions. So, in the critical moments of the invasion of the Invincible Armada, she tried with all her might to cut the composition of her fleet, the size of the army, the amount of amounts and provisions issued. Gratitude was not one of her virtues either. She gifted her favorites immoderately with both hands, but she left her most devoted servants, such as Lord Borley or Secretary Walsingham, without any reward. Nevertheless, in all important matters, Elizabeth invariably showed firmness, energy and intelligence. During her reign, England benefited greatly from the wars on the Continent, winning in 1588 a famous victory over the Spanish Invincible Armada. Maritime trade and industry have achieved notable success.
Already the first parliament, convened in the reign of Elizabeth, turned to her with a respectful request to choose a husband for herself among those representatives of the Christian dynasties who were looking for her hand. The same respectful requests were repeated almost every year with increasing insistence, and greatly annoyed the queen. She had to choose one of two - either get married or appoint her successor. But Elizabeth did not want either one or the other. However, she did not admit it, and for a quarter of a century played the engagement comedy with great pleasure, because she liked the red tape, accompanied by the composition of madrigals and the offering of gifts. She inspired hopes of success in the Swedish king, then the Spanish, then the French, but there is no doubt that she never had a serious intention to marry.
Even at the beginning of her reign, Elizabeth spoke several times about her intention to die a virgin. This desire seemed strange and even feigned to many. In addition, the queen was not at all averse to men and experienced such tender affection for her favorites that this cast a strong shadow on her reputation as a virgin. However, although constantly in love, she apparently did not allow any of her admirers to go beyond the last limit. It can be assumed that there was some kind of physical or psychological reason, which made marriage or even the thought of physical rapprochement with a man impossible for Elizabeth. “I hate the very idea of marriage,” she once said to Lord Sussex, “for reasons that I will not reveal even to the most devoted soul.” What this reason was remained a mystery, but the Spanish envoy, after making careful inquiries, wrote to his king with full confidence that Elizabeth could not have children, "even if she wanted to." With all this, the queen played with her marriage for many years, reveled in the thought of him and beckoned many men to him.
The first favorite of Elizabeth was the young handsome Robert Dedley, Earl of Leicester. The princess met him during her imprisonment in the Tower, where Leyster, like her, was under investigation. From the very first meeting, Elizabeth felt an irresistible attraction to him. Having become queen, she granted Leyster the title of oberstalmeister and knight of the Order of the Garter, with the addition of many castles and estates. But she did not stop there, and for many years inspired Leyster with a vague hope of the possibility of marriage with her. Showered with all possible favors, Leyster played the first role at court for many years, but he did not wait for the fulfillment of his hopes. According to contemporaries, he had no other virtues besides masculine beauty. In 1588, he died at the age of 58, and the queen began to show unequivocal signs of attention to his stepson, Earl Robert Essex. Elizabeth was then 56 years old, and the favorite was 22. Nevertheless, she flirted like a young girl, fluttered with him at balls, bothered him with jealousy and whims. The Earl of Essex, although he had before his eyes the sad experience of his stepfather, allowed himself to be carried away by the same chimeras about a possible marriage to the Queen. Compared to Leyster, he was more honest, nobler, kinder and more talented. He tried to justify the queen's gracious attitude towards himself by military exploits, which Leyster was never capable of. But, at the same time, he was more ardent. After spending several years as a favorite, but never having achieved a real guarantee of love, Essex became quick-tempered, impatient, quarrels began to occur between him and the queen. Describe, for example, such a case. In 1598, during a dispute in the Privy Council, Elizabeth abruptly cut Essex off and told him to be quiet. Insulted to the depths of his soul, he wanted to leave, but the queen stopped him - grabbed his ears from behind and shouted: "Go to the devil!" The favorite took up his sword and exclaimed: “I would not have tolerated such impudence even from your father! I am your subject, but not a slave!” This trick got away with him. But in 1601, Essex let himself be drawn into a real conspiracy to overthrow Elizabeth and enthrone King James VI of Scotland. His intentions were revealed. Essex was put on trial and was beheaded in February of that year.
Elizabeth's life after the death of the favorite was sad. Her health quickly deteriorated, and along with bodily suffering, a clouding of her mental faculties sometimes appeared. She kept repeating: “Essex! Essex!” and burst into inconsolable tears. The doctors suggested that she go to bed, but she replied that then she would certainly die. The entire floor in her bedroom was lined with pillows. Without undressing, she fell first in one corner, then in another, but then got up again and continued to rush around the room. She did not allow her to change underwear and dresses, wrapped herself in a royal robe and did not remove the crown from her disheveled head. To the questions of the chancellor: who will now pass the throne, Elizabeth vaguely named James, King of Scots. On the evening of March 24, she was gone.
Virgin Queen Elizabeth I. Unknown artist, circa 1588
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Man is an imperfect being. He tends to lie, dodge, keep secrets and delve into someone else's underwear. Maybe that's why the secret of the queen, who successfully ruled England for 44 years, is so eager to unearth and put on public display.
Many suitors, no husband
She was born on September 7, 1533, died on March 24, 1603 and went down in history as the Virgin Queen.
Applicants for her hand, heart and state were the ex-husband of her paternal sister Bloody Mary I (Phillip II of Spain), and the Austrian archdukes Charles and Ferdinand, and Eric, the Swedish crown prince. There is even a version that Ivan the Terrible himself sent matchmakers.
However, the latter is not confirmed by anything, rather, it was Elizabeth who could seek an alliance with the Russian Tsar in order to extend the influence of Britain to the territory from the Scottish Highlands to Ural mountains. But none of the marriages took place - the queen, as best she could, evaded proposals, no matter how hard Parliament tried to put pressure on her.
Why didn't the queen want to get married?
Historians have been trying for centuries to figure out the very nature of Elizabeth's rejection of marriage.
Was it because of the unwillingness to share power? Or, perhaps, the events of her childhood influenced the woman, when in front of her eyes the king brutally cracked down on unwanted wives? After all, her mother was the famous Anne Boleyn, who was executed on trumped-up charges of treason. And when Elizabeth was 9, her father sent another wife, Catherine Howard, to the chopping block - for the girl this death was a severe shock - the little princess was friends with her disgraced stepmother.
So, it is quite possible that the aversion to marriage was psychologically justified and laid down in childhood.
But then why did Elizabeth not let anyone near her body? Even during her exile in Woodstock (due to allegations of involvement in the coup attempt), she demanded the presence of her personal doctor and waited for him, despite the threat own life. Maybe it's something that at that time was considered shameful or demonic?
There is an assumption that Elizabeth simply could not have sex due to a physical deviation. But there were no medical examinations of the queen left - she took care of herself, her virginity and the secrets of her body in every possible way.
royal gossip
Even during the reign of the mysterious queen, many rumors and conjectures swarmed around her. She was credited with the secret birth of a child whose father, depending on the source, was either her uncle or a childhood friend. Infiltrated spies in literally words rummaged through her underwear for signs of the Queen's ability or inability to bear children. Washerwomen and servants were bribed, spies were sent, but all in vain: rumors remained at the level of rumors.
Legend of Beasley
So it's not surprising that over the years there have been theories about the reasons for Queen Elizabeth's virginity. One of the founders of the next version was the famous creator of "Dracula" Bram Stoker.
In his book on famous impostors, he investigated the legend of Beasley. And if what the legend says was true, then it turns out that the good Queen Bess was actually a village commoner.
Elizabeth I is remembered for many things - her long reign, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and her unwavering determination. Her most enduring legacy, however, is the glory of the Virgin Queen. Despite countless marriage proposals and opportunities, Elizabeth resisted and her secret died with her.
“I have already entered into marriage with my husband, namely with the kingdom of England,” she declared, but was it true?
Elizabeth's vow of abstinence was very unusual for the time, and there were those who believed that the real reason was much more biological - Elizabeth was a man.
The theory that the Virgin Queen was in fact the Virgin King was first advanced by Brahm Stoker, but there is no doubt that some of Elizabeth's contemporaries were of the same opinion.
Noted gothic horror writer Dracula Stoker first heard this version when he visited the village of Beasley in the Cotswolds. He learned about a peculiar village tradition during the May Day celebrations, where the role of the May Queen was played by a boy dressed in Elizabethan clothes.
Wanting to learn more about this strange tradition, he dug through the archives, discovered the legend and immortalized it in 1910 in the book Famous Imposters.
Stoker's theory was known as the "Beasley Boy" The story goes that at some point in her childhood, probably around 1543 or 1544, young Elizabeth was sent to Bisley to avoid contracting the plague in the city.
The king was going to come to meet his daughter in countryside but shortly before he was due to arrive, Elizabeth fell ill and died. Knowing how terrible Henry's reputation was, and not wanting to feel the weight of the royal wrath, the governess came up with a plan. She hid the child's body and rushed to the city to find a girl who looked like a princess.
Unfortunately, the panicked governess did not find a single girl of the right age who even vaguely resembled Elizabeth. Then she thought of a friend of the princess, a cute little child who might well have been passed off as her. There was only one problem - he was a boy. The governess found the child and dressed him in Elizabeth's clothes before Henry arrived.
Surprisingly, the scam went off without a hitch. Luckily for the governess, Henry didn't visit his daughter often, and she was known for being shy around him, plus he was in a hurry. Seeing her, he was pleased and went on his way. The deception worked so well that it continued indefinitely, and none of the acquaintances dared inform the king of the death of his daughter. Thus, the truth was buried forever.
This portrait shows Elizabeth a few years after her supposed reincarnation. The body of Elizabeth (the real Elizabeth) was supposedly never moved from the stone coffin in which it was hidden, and more than 300 years later, during construction work, it was discovered.
According to Rev. Thomas Keble, the body of a young girl in Elizabethan dress was found. Realizing what he had found, he reburied it elsewhere, presumably starting a legend that intrigued Stoker and created a peculiar tradition of May Day celebrations.
Stoker was completely convinced that this was 100% true, and it's easy to see how he could come to that conclusion. Elizabeth had many attributes and habits that were very unusual for a woman in her era, not to mention her famous speech to the Tilbury troops before the Spanish Armada:
“I know that I have the body of a weak woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, the king of England, and I think that if Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe dares to invade the borders of my kingdom, I myself will take in hand weapons, I myself will be your general and judge.”
It has been argued that such an incendiary speech, with such remarkable manly support, cannot come from the mouth of a woman. It also became known that she constantly wore wigs, perhaps to hide the emerging baldness? Elizabeth was also notorious for putting on a lot of make-up on her face, as well as wearing large, high-necked dresses, which were perfect for disguising a male figure.
During the reign of Elizabeth, there were numerous rumors that she could not have children. Was this the reason for the absence of female reproductive organs? Stoker, of course, believed that this was the case, and also claimed that it was a secret that "Elizabeth" had carefully guarded all her life.
Stoker wasn't the only one who compared Elizabeth to a man. Her tutor Roger Ascham wrote in 1550: "Her mind is free from feminine weakness and she is endowed with masculine strength." Simply put, she was too smart to be a woman.
Elizabeth's refusal to see doctors other than her own was also seen as suspicious. Even when she fell ill while under house arrest at Woodstock, she refused to see anyone but her doctor. The reluctance to have other doctors examine her body continued throughout her life, and she made it clear that there should be absolutely no autopsy after her death.
However, like most conspiracy theories, this one falls apart if we look a little deeper into the facts.
It seems odd that even a distant father like Henry would not have noticed that his little girl was now a little boy.
Although Elizabeth never married, she was romantically involved with men, especially Robert Dudley. Although she claimed that she never actually had a carnal connection with him (which is plausible given that she was constantly surrounded by watchful eyes day and night), it seems unlikely that none of her favorites noticed that she was a man.
Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland reigned for forty-five years, from 1558 to 1603. The time of her reign is considered the "Golden Age of England". It was under Elizabeth that England became the leading maritime power. The defeat of the Spanish "Invincible Armada" and the development of piracy on the seas are associated with her name. With her, Drake circled America. She created the first English colony on the American continent. It was she who defeated the Catholic party of Scotland under the leadership of Mary Stuart, and with the light hand of Schiller gained fame as a bloody despot.
A month after the accession of Elizabeth I to the throne, the English Parliament invited her to take care of the birth of an heir and get married. However, the queen replied evasively. The list of contenders for her hand was quite long. It even included the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Of the twenty surviving letters of the king, eleven are addressed to Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth I never married. And she always emphasized her virginity. In general, a lot is known about Elizabeth I. One thing is unknown - was she really a woman? Doubts about the gender of the Queen of England were brought to the masses by the famous Irish novelist Brem Stoker. At the beginning of the last century, Stoker, in the company of his friend the actor Henry Irving, traveled around England. In the village of Bisley, friends got to the theatrical performance "Queen's Day". Stoker was surprised that the role of the young queen was played by a boy dressed in an Elizabethan women's costume.
Friends began to find out the reason for such a strange reincarnation. And heard the local legend. According to local legends, ten-year-old Elizabeth was taken to the Overcourt estate, away from the plague raging in London. However, by a strange twist of fate, it was there that she fell ill and died. Her father, King Henry VIII, was expected to visit the estate soon. The king was not famous for his mild disposition, and the governesses quite rightly assumed that the minimum that awaited them was an eternal dungeon. That's when they came up with a diabolical plan - to replace the young princess. Henry VIII married six times. Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, whom the king married out of passionate love, was executed for "high treason" as soon as she got bored with the king. The king even declared Elizabeth "illegitimate". Before the proposed meeting, he had not seen his daughter for seven years. Thus, there was nothing technically unfeasible in the plan of the governesses. The problem was elsewhere. In the whole county, there was not a single girl who even remotely resembled Elizabeth. But the boy next door was very much like her. Moreover, he was friends with Elizabeth and perfectly knew all her habits. In general, the governesses took a chance. And they won everything. Already being an adult and not needing the services of nannies, Elizabeth not only did not remove them from the court, but also assigned them high court positions. As queen, Elizabeth was distinguished by a sharp mind and by no means a woman's grip. As the Invincible Armada approached, she appealed to her troops: "My body is the body of a weak woman, but my heart is the heart of the King of England!"
Since 1543, the handwriting and style of presenting her thoughts has changed in the queen's notes. Roger Esham, an educator and scientist, wrote to the rector of the University of Strasbourg that the mind of the princess was miraculously freed from female weakness, and she was endowed with a masculine character. The scientist noted the incredible successes of Elizabeth in French, Italian, Greek and in Latin. He emphasized with pleasure that the young lady was completely indifferent to jewelry and outward brilliance and in her whole way of life resembled a young man rather than a girl. The appearance of Elizabeth also raises huge questions. She always wore a very thick layer of make-up, perhaps to hide the roughness of the skin and the shaving marks. The queen wore a wig, as she had gone bald for about forty years. For a man, baldness at this age is quite a common and even ordinary thing, but for a woman this event is unknown. The queen brought into fashion the highest collar, consisting of a huge number of folds of fabric. It is assumed that he was supposed to hide the Adam's apple protruding according to the male type. In all the portraits of Elizabeth, either in this collar, or her neck is decorated with an unbelievable amount of jewelry. The main argument of supporters of the theory of Bram Stoker is the queen's celibacy. Elizabeth I was the last representative of the Tudor dynasty on the English throne. And, as a queen, she simply had to take measures to extend the dynasty. The only reason that can force her not to do this is the fundamental impossibility of having children. The Spanish envoy Count Feria wrote in those years: "If my spies do not lie, and I believe that they do not, for a certain reason that they recently told me, I understood that she would not have children." In her will, Elizabeth categorically forbade inspecting her body after death.
Brem Stoker included the story of the possible male sex of the queen in the book Famous Imposters. The book, published in 1910, was immediately smashed and ridiculed by British historians. However, the ruling Stuart dynasty by that time refused to exhume the body. At the turn of the century, under the windows of the bedroom of the young queen in the estate of Overcourt, a crypt was discovered with the remains of a girl 10-11 years old, dressed in precious brocade and silk. Thus, the question of the gender of Queen Elizabeth I is still open.
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The reign of the “maiden queen” or good Queen Bess, as contemporaries called Elizabeth I, is called the “Golden Age of England”. The last of the Tudor monarchs managed to raise Britain to new stage development and strengthen the country's position on the world stage. During the reign of the youngest daughter, Christopher Marlo and Francis Bacon worked. They are called "Elizabethites" because of the queen's patronage of arts and culture.
Childhood and youth
The princess was born in September 1533 in east London, at the royal residence in Greenwich. On her mother, Henry VIII married for love and hoped that his wife would give him an heir. After all, the previous wife Catherine of Aragon never gave birth to a boy, which made the position of the dynasty precarious.
Anna gave birth to a daughter, Mary, to the crowned husband, and after 17 years, Elizabeth appeared. The king did not experience joy from the appearance of the second girl, but magnificent celebrations accompanied her baptism. The name of the princess was given in honor of the mother of the monarch, Elizabeth of York. The baby was settled in the palace of Hatfield House, a residence near London, where her parents occasionally visited her.
Elizabeth was not even three years old, as her mother died: Anna, who never made her husband happy with an heir, was executed, accusing her of repeated betrayals of her husband and of treason. Historians agree that Henry decided to get rid of Boleyn in order to get married and have a son as soon as possible, and the evidence of betrayal is falsification. The execution of her mother brought disgrace on the three-year-old Elizabeth: the princess was called illegitimate. The same fate befell her older sister Maria.
The day after Boleyn's execution, the monarch secretly became engaged to his favorite, Jane Seymour. A year later, the queen gave birth to her husband's long-awaited son, Edward. Being a kind woman, Jane tried to reconcile the king with his daughters, but Henry was unshakable: the daughter of the "traitor" remained at Hatfield House, although the little princess was brought to royal residence visit.
Seymour died 12 days after giving birth. Heinrich went down the aisle three more times. He divorced one of his wives, the second, Catherine Howard, like Anne Boleyn, was executed. The execution of her stepmother shocked 9-year-old Elizabeth, leaving a mark on the fate of the future monarch: she did not marry, hence her nickname "The Virgin Queen". The princess began a warm relationship with her father's sixth wife, Catherine Parr.
The future queen of England and Ireland at the age of 10 spoke French, Greek, Italian, and in Latin, Elizabeth read the treatises of Roman historians and corresponded with her stepmother Catherine Parr. Although the girl was considered illegitimate, she received an excellent education: classes with Cambridge teachers, adherents of the Reformation, were not in vain.
Thanks to Parr and the appearance of an heir, peace was restored to the royal family. The father reconciled with the "illegitimate" daughters, although he did not cancel the humiliating status. In early 1547 Henry died. In his will, the king named Edward heir to the throne. In the event of his death and in the absence of heirs, the throne was allowed to take Mary and Elizabeth. Then the prospect of becoming the head of state for Henry's daughters seemed illusory, but the will spoke of the recognition of daughters and allowed them to marry the princes of European monarchies.
After the death of her father and her own marriage, the stepmother sent the young Elizabeth away from the residence, to the estate in Hertfordshire. The girl continued to study under the supervision of a teacher with encyclopedic knowledge, Roger Eshamom.
In the autumn of 1548, her stepmother died of puerperal fever, and her husband, Thomas Seymour, made an unsuccessful attempt at a coup d'état. At the beginning of the next year, he was executed, and the rightful heir, Edward VI, took the throne. The brother invited the younger sister, with whom he had warm relationship. Edward's death in the summer of 1553 was a blow to Elizabeth.
An attempt by Lord Protector John Dudley to put the crown on Henry's great-granddaughter, 16-year-old Jane Grey, ended in a riot. The uprising turned into a military conflict between supporters of Gray and Princess Mary, Henry's eldest daughter. Mary took the throne. For Elizabeth, both sides of the conflict were disadvantageous: in the event of the victory of Jane's supporters, she was deprived of the right to the throne, but could continue to adhere to the Protestant faith. The victory of the Catholic Mary threatened the existence of Elizabeth, but left the right to inherit the crown.
37-year-old Mary I was crowned in 1553, in late autumn. From the very first days of her reign, the queen undertook to return the country to Catholicism. Most of the English professed the Catholic faith, but influential nobles were Protestants. Early the following year, the Protestant Thomas Wyatt rose in revolt, intending to prevent Mary's marriage to King Philip of Spain. There is a version that the rebel intended to put Elizabeth on the throne.
The rebellion was crushed and Wyatt was executed. Before his death, he swore that Elizabeth did not know about the rebellion and did not participate in the preparation of the uprising. The queen imprisoned her younger sister in the Tower, but left her life. In the summer of 1554, Mary married a representative of the Habsburg family and released Elizabeth into the wild, but sent her into exile in Woodstock.
After 4 years, Elizabeth was returned to London. The marriage of Philip with Mary turned out to be childless, the queen was ill. When she felt an imminent death, under pressure from advisers, she named her sister the heir to the crown. "Bloody" Mary, as the subjects called the queen, did not want to give the throne to her sister, because she was afraid of the return of Protestantism. But fearing chaos and riots after death, she had to bequeath the crown to Elizabeth.
Beginning of the reign
Three days after the death of Mary, at the first council of the Queen, Elizabeth thanked those who helped her during the disgrace. Thomas Perry became treasurer, Robert Dudley became stablemaster, William Cecil sat in the secretary's chair. In November 1558, the 25-year-old Queen was greeted by crowds of enthusiastic Londoners.
The age of the monarch at that time was not considered young - the British rarely lived to be fifty. But Elizabeth looked younger than her age. She was not married and her health was not undermined by childbirth and miscarriages, like most women of her time. The new Queen of England became a trendsetter: at an official reception in Oxford, she appeared in long, elbow-length gloves. All the fashionistas of the court followed her.
At the end of January of that year, the queen felt the weight of the crown: England was split into two hostile parts - Protestants and Catholics. Soared in the air Civil War. To avoid upheaval, Elizabeth I proclaimed the "Act of Uniformity", allowing Catholics to celebrate Mass.
Soon Parliament called on Elizabeth I to choose a spouse and secure the throne as an heir. The list of suitors included the husband of the deceased sister Philip, two dukes from the Habsburg family and the crown prince of Sweden. Soon the Russian tsar was included in the list of potential contenders. But Elizabeth, fearing to directly refuse Parliament, found reasons not to agree to marry any of them. Long years next to Elizabeth I was the favorite Robert Dudley.
Domestic politics
Refusing to go down the aisle, Elizabeth found a wording that the British liked: the queen repeated that she was "betrothed to the nation." The people compared her with the Virgin Mary, and the courtiers - with Astrea, the goddess of youth and beauty. The symbol of Elizabeth was the pelican, which tears out pieces of its own flesh to feed the chicks.
Under the good Queen Bess, the administration was strengthened, the finance department was streamlined, and the moderate Protestant Anglican Church established itself as state religion. The Maiden Queen encouraged talented emigrants to come to England. Trading companies settled in the country, which received the support of Elizabeth. Perhaps the only area that remained unreformed was the agricultural sector. Elizabeth adopted strict laws against vagrancy.
The outbreak of conflict with Spain forced the government to raise taxes in order to fill the military budget. The dissatisfaction of merchants and private monopolies from the increased tax burden increased. At the end of the reign of the "Virgin Queen", the tax burden turned into a brake that prevented the development of the English economy. Murmurs against absolutism increased, and parliamentary opposition intensified.
Elizabeth I became famous as a patron of art. The queen showed a special disposition to the theater, participating in amateur performances. In 1582, with the light hand of the crowned lady, the Royal Company appeared, which included Shakespeare. Under Elizabeth I, new coins were minted: a gold pound and a half pound. A pound weighed 11.146 grams, of which 10.213 were pure gold.
Foreign policy
In the late 1550s, a protestant riot broke out in Scotland against the Frenchwoman Mary de Guise, regent and mother. Secretary William Cecil recommended that the queen support the Protestants, but she did not dare to openly help, secretly gave money to the rebels. Elizabeth feared war with France.
But the Privy Council forced the queen to intervene: in 1560, English troops helped the Scots defeat the de Guise supporters. In the summer of the same year, England signed a treaty in Edinburgh that sealed the victory and withdrew its troops.
The grandfather of Elizabeth I created a fleet, her father developed maritime trade, her sister sent an expedition to search for a passage to India and China in the northeast. But under the reign of Elizabeth, England became a maritime power. Trade and piracy raids by the Hawkins brothers and campaigns by Francis Drake began.
The looting of Spanish ships by the British, their raids on the colonies of the Spaniards caused an undeclared naval war London and Madrid. But soon Great Britain managed to win back the status of the main maritime power from the Spaniards. Opponents reproached the queen for patronizing the robbers, but the principle of "right who is stronger" then dominated. The battle in the late 1580s between the fleets of the two powers ended in the defeat of the Great Armada of the Spaniards.
Elizabeth I began a correspondence with the Moscow Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Trade relations developed between the two countries, which began under King Edward, but the flourishing of trade occurred during the reign of the “maiden queen”. Elizabeth turned out the only woman, with whom Ivan IV corresponded. Grozny wrote to the queen for the first time in 1562, offering to marry him. The crowned Briton refused, thereby incurring the wrath of the Russian monarch. The rude answer of Ivan the Terrible interrupted the correspondence for 20 years, but then it resumed and lasted until the death of the king.
Personal life
According to one version, the reluctance of Elizabeth I to go down the aisle was explained by physiological and mental disorders. There is another version. The Queen of England had an affair with Robert Dudley, a childhood friend and later favorite. But Dudley was not on the list of suitors from Parliament.
Rumor has it that the affair between the queen and the lord lasted until the death of Robert Dudley in 1588. He became what today would be called a civil husband. Rumor has it that the couple even had children. Allegedly, letters were found from a Spanish spy expelled from England, in which he spoke about a mysterious young man named Arthur Dudley, who was Elizabeth's illegitimate son by Lord.
Indirect confirmation of the version that Elizabeth had a son was the letters of foreign ambassadors at the Queen's court, which describe Elizabeth's illness - dropsy, from which she recovered "in the abdomen." The British television company BBC filmed documentary"The Secret Life of Elizabeth I", which tells about the found evidence of the queen's motherhood.
Death and memory
The death of loved ones undermined the health of Elizabeth I. At the end of 1603, the queen fell into depression. The crowned Briton died in the spring of that year in Richmond. The good Queen Bess was buried in Westminster Abbey. The death of Elizabeth I marked the end of the Tudor dynasty.
Biography of the queen, fate great woman became a source for writing dozens of books and making films. In the image of Elizabeth, Bette Davis and appeared on the screens. In 2007, the drama Golden Age was released, which told the story of the Queen of England. In the image of Elizabeth appeared.
