Elizabeth I - Tumblr Posts
Episode stills of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tamzin Merchant and Laoise Murray as Henry VIII, Katherine Howard and Elizabeth I in The Tudors.
Queen Elizabeth I in exquisite needlework, c1580, possibly originally applied to the front of a purse which would have contained sweetmeats or money. The symbolism worked into such a small piece is staggering and typical of the glorified mythological image of Elizabeth.
“Mary and her half sister Elizabeth had never been reconciled, and to the end Mary had cherished hopes of producing an heir to succeed her. For sometime though, she had known that ‘the eyes and hearts of the nation already fixed on this lady as successor to the crown’. Eventually, she had no choice but to accept the harsh reality -motherhood had evaded her-and with considerable reluctance, on 6 November she acknowledged Elizabeth as her heir, to the great joy of the people. The twenty five year old Elizabeth, now became Queen Elizabeth I of England, According to her admirer Camden, who always spoke favourbly of her she was ‘of beauty fair and worthy of a Crown/ On the day of her accession it was reported that 'the bells in all the churches in London rung out in a token of joy and at night bonfires were made and tables set out in the streets, where plentiful eating and drinking and making merry"”
— Elizabeth’s Rival: The Tumultuous Life of The Countess Of Leicester, Nicola Tallis (via glorianas)
“Elizabeth had always been popular, and though Mary had once been equally so, by the time of her death the warmth of feeling towards her had faded. She had become unpopular as a result of the religious persecution she had imposed upon her people, and for involving her realm in her husband Philip’s foreign wars. This had also resulted in the loss of Calais in 1557, England’s last remaining possession in France, which came as a devastating blow to the English. It was little wonder then that her subjects greeted Elizabeth’s succession with genuine heartfelt enthusiasm. Indeed, for the entirety of her reign Accession Day [17 November] would be enthusiastically celebrated each year.”
— Elizabeth’s Rival: The Tumultuous Life of The Countess Of Leicester, Nicola Tallis
My sister was born of that whore Anne Boleyn, she was born a bastard she will never rule England
Elizabeth (1998)
“She has reigned for fourteen years in peace, and God has shown that in the midst of troubled, most dangerous times [a reference to the religious civil wars in France] he [God] knows how to rule and govern a monarchy under the authority of a princess, which is very rare, but this has made the said Lady the most famous princess who has ever ruled in the world a beautiful princess and full of majesty, whom they [her subjects] see filling this crown’s throne with dignity, [so] they have willingly obeyed her until now.”
— French ambassador Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe Fénélon to Charles IX of France describing Elizabeth I of England, 28 August 1572. Quoted in Elizabeth I of England through Valois Eyes: Power, Representation, and Diplomacy in the Reign of the Queen, 1558–1588 by Estelle Paranque (via maximumphilosopheranchor)
“During the first year of her marriage, Anne perceived no diminution in Henry’s attachment. The birth of a daughter, however contrary to his anticipations, [did not reduce] his tenderness [towards her]; and he received, with becoming gratitude, the infant Elizabeth, who was universally acknowledged his presumptive heiress.”
— Memoirs of the Life of Anne Boleyn, Vol II. Elizabeth Benger (1821)
“Prophecy was a traditional component of English pageantry, especially processions…at Anne Boleyn’s coronation entry, poetry recited during the event repeatedly hailed her as the Just Virgin out of Virgil’s ‘Fourth Eclogue’ who brings in a golden age.”
— Predicting Elizabeth: Prophecy on Progress. Rachel Kapelle.
“[Elizabeth] was one of the most intelligent young women in the kingdom, and she had been privileged to be taught by some of the finest minds the country, including, William Grindal and the accomplished scholar Roger Ascham. Under Ascham’s tutelage Elizabeth excelled, and her brilliant mind impressed many of her contemporaries, including her tutors. Ascham later enthusiastically praised ‘my illustrious mistress the Lady Elizabeth’ who ‘shines like a star’. John Foxe also wrote about her in complementary terms, relating that she did 'rather excel in all manner of languages, manner of virtue and knowledge’. She was particularly skilled at languages, and wrote and spoke several fluently. These included Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Greek.”
— Elizabeth’s Rival: The Tumultuous life of the Countess of Leicester, Nicola Tallis
“Anne, aware that Elizabeth would soon be moved out of London, would not let her out of her sight. Placing her on the floor on a cushion, she spent hours watching her.”
— The Challenge of Anne Boleyn, Hester Chapman (via madamedepembroke)
In discussion of the bill, members of Parliament raised no objection to this dual status of Elizabeth as illegitimate heir, and the result, as Commendone reported, was that Mary was proclaimed 'the legitimate and true successor...and consequently all other women of Henry concubines and not wives, and their offspring bastards.' In her Queen's Title Act, Mary [...] [took] advantage of a public opportunity to settle old scores against those who had harmed her family.
The Birth of a Queen: Essays on the Quincentenary of Mary I
Portrait of Elizabeth I so called “The Sieve Portrait” by Cornelius Ketel, c. 1580-83
Sketch of Queen Elizabeth I of England by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1585
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard, the so called “Ermine portrait” 1585
♔ The Children of Henry VIII | Mary I, Elizabeth I & Edward VI.
“Although King Henry VIII of England married six times, only his first three wives bore him children, and of a probable total of eleven pregnancies between them, produced only three surviving children. The fact that these royal heirs were born to different mothers would have a direct bearing on the history of England for several decades, for old grudges and jealousies and disagreements over religion remained lively in the hearts of these siblings until death divided them.”
It is true that John Hawkins masterminded the first English transatlantic slaving voyages in the 1560s, but he was, in an awful sense, ahead of his time. After his final voyage returned in disarray in 1569, the English did not take up the trade again in earnest until the 1640s. Elizabeth I did not ‘expel’ Africans from England in 1596; rather her Privy Council issued a limited licence to an unscrupulous merchant named Caspar Van Senden, who was only allowed to transport individuals out of England with their masters’ consent: a consent that he utterly failed to obtain.
Black Tudors: The Untold Story
Harriet Green as Anne Boleyn in Six Queens of Henry VIII.
The christening of lady Elizabeth, daughter to King Henry VIII., the 25th year of his reign, A.D. 1533.
On Sept 7, between three and four o'clock p.m., the Queen was delivered of a fair lady, for whom Te Deum was incontinently sung. The mayor, Sir Stephen Pecock, with his brethren and 40 of the chief citizens, were ordered to be at the christening on the Wednesday following ; on which day the mayor and council, in scarlet, with their collars, rowed to Greenwich, and the citizens went in another barge.
ABBIE HERN as BESS in MY LADY JANE (2024)