Tag: Mary Queen of Scots

Biography: Bess of Hardwick

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Bess-of-HardwickAlso known as Elizabeth Cavendish and Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury
(Born around 1527- Died February 13, 1608)
Daughter of John Hardwick of Derbyshire and Elizabeth Leeke.
Married to Robert Barley (or Barlow), Sir William Cavendish, Sir William St. Loe, and George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury.
Mother of Frances Cavendish, Temperance Cavendish, Henry Cavendish, William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, Charles Cavendish, Elizabeth Cavendish, Mary Cavendish, and Lucrece Cavendish.

Bess of Hardwick is one of the best known Elizabethans. She was the second wealthiest woman in England, the grandmother to a claimant to the throne, known for building the most spacious and modern stately home in England, and was a former jailer to Mary Queen of Scots. She rose from the yeomen gentry to one of the people inside Elizabeth I’s inner circle.

Bess of Hardwick was born around 1527 to John Hardwick of Derbyshire and his wife Elizabeth Leeke. The Hardwicks did not hold prestigious offices and the highest office that they ever achieved was esquire. John Hardwick died at the age of 40 and Bess’s mother remarried. When Bess was twelve years old, it is said that she went to live with the Zouche family at Condor Castle in Derbyshire, where it is believed she learned how to be a Lady in Waiting. There are also rumors this is where she met her first husband Robert Barley (or Barlow); they married in 1543 but Robert died a year later in December 1544. We do not know if they in fact lived together because they were so young. There was an issue about the dowry that Bess should have received; Bess took the matter to court and it took several years to finally give Bess her portion of the Barley(Barlow) estates and inheritance.

After her first husband’s death, Bess had moved to live as a serving gentlewoman with the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk, parents of Lady Jane Grey, at Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, where she befriended Duchess, Frances Brandon, niece of Henry VIII. It was at Bradgate Park where Bess met her second husband Sir William Cavendish, who was twice the age of Bess. They married on August 20, 1547 and they had eight children: Frances Cavendish, Temperance Cavendish, Henry Cavendish, William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, Charles Cavendish, Elizabeth Cavendish, Mary Cavendish, and Lucrece Cavendish. William’s fortune had been made following the Dissolution of the Monasteries and possibly acting on Bess’s advice, Sir William sold his lands in the south of England and bought the Chatsworth estates in her home county of Derbyshire. When Sir William Cavendish died on October 25, 1557 after ten years of marriage, Bess became a widow for a second time and she was now deep in debt.

Bess had to marry again to take care of the debts from Sir William Cavendish so in 1559, she married Sir William St. Loe and became Lady St. Loe. He was Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth I and Chief Butler of England. Bess was made a Lady of the Private Chamber to Elizabeth I as a wedding present. Sir William St. Loe owned a lot of large estates and when he died of mysterious circumstances in either 1564 or 1565, his brother tried to gain possession of all of the St. Loe inheritance. Bess had to take care of her 6 kids, plus St. Loe’s two daughters, who were at this point grown women, so she took her case to court and won. Bess became the second wealthiest woman in England after Elizabeth I with the possession of the St. Loe inheritance.

Bess did not remarry until 1568 to her last husband George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury and she became Countess of Shrewsbury. In order to combine the families even further, , two of his children were married to two of hers in a double ceremony in February 1568: Bess’s daughter Mary Cavendish was given in marriage to Shrewsbury’s eldest son Gilbert; while Bess’s son, Sir Henry Cavendish married Shrewsbury’s daughter Lady Grace Talbot.

During 1568 there was a major shake-up happening in Scotland. Rebel Scottish lords rose up against Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned her, and forced her to abdicate in favor of her one-year-old infant son, James. In May 1568, Mary escaped captivity in Scotland, and fled south towards England, seeking the protection of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. This not go well for Mary as she was imprisoned in May 18, 1568 at Carlisle Castle. Elizabeth did not feel that Mary was secure and in 1569, Mary was transferred into the care of the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury. She would stay in there custody for over 15 years. Bess would become one of Mary’s companions, working with her on embroidery and textile projects. In fact, all of Mary’s work later became part of Bess’s historical collection at Hardwick Hall.

In 1574 Bess arranged a marriage between one of her daughters and the son of the Countess of Lennox. This was a significant match for Bess because the Countess of Lennox was Margaret Douglas, a member of the royal family, being the daughter of Margaret Tudor, Queen Dowager of Scotland and sister of Henry VIII, and therefore, also Queen Elizabeth’s first cousin. In this match, the bride was Bess’s daughter, Elizabeth Cavendish, and the groom was Charles Stuart, who was himself also the first cousin of Mary, Queen of Scots and was the younger brother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley who had been married to Mary until his death.. The marriage ceremony took place without the knowledge of Shrewsbury, who, declined to accept any responsibility. Due to the Lennox family’s claim to the throne, the marriage was considered potentially treasonable, since Queen Elizabeth’s consent had not been obtained. The Countess of Lennox, went to the Tower for several months, and Bess was ordered to London to face an official inquiry, but she ignored the summons, and remained in Sheffield until the row died down. The child of the marriage was Arbella Stuart, who had a claim to the thrones of Scotland and England as the second cousin to King James VI of Scotland.

After her husband’s death in 1590, Bess became the Dowager Countess of Shrewsbury. Bess of Hardwick would on February 13, 1608 at the age of 81.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_of_Hardwick
http://www.maryqueenofscots.net/people/bess-hardwick-countess-shrewsbury/

Bess of Hardwick: The Second Wealthiest Woman in Tudor England (After the Queen)

Biography: Sir Francis Walsingham

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220px-Sir_Francis_Walsingham_by_John_De_Critz_the_Elder(Born around 1532- Died April 6, 1590)
Son of William Walsingham and Joyce Denny.
Married to Anne Barne and Ursula St. Barbe.
Father of Frances Devereux, Countess of Essex and Mary Walsingham.
Sir Francis Walsingham was Elizabeth I’s “Spy Master” and was one of her primary secretaries. It was Walsingham and his men who discovered the Babington Plot and were able to stop it and protect Elizabeth.

Sir Francis Walsingham was born around 1532 to William Walsingham and his wife Joyce, probably at Foots Cray, near Chislehurst, Kent. His father was a very wealthy lawyer who died in 1534 when Francis was around two years old. After William’s death, Joyce married the courtier Sir John Carey in 1538; Carey’s brother William was the husband of Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s elder sister. In 1548 Walsingham enrolled at King’s College, the most Protestant and reformist college of the University of Cambridge, and then in 1552 he was admitted to Gray’s Inn in London to study law. When Mary I became queen after the death of Edward VI, many Protestants fled to the continent, including Walsingham, who continued his law studies at universities in Basel and Padua, where he was elected to the governing body by his fellow students in 1555.

When Mary I died and Elizabeth I ascended to the throne, Walsingham returned to England. In 1559, he was elected to Elizabeth’s first parliament. He would stay a member of parliament throughout the rest of his life. In January 1562, Walsingham married Anne Barne, daughter of Sir George Barne, Lord Mayor of London in 1552–3, and widow of wine merchant Alexander Carleill. She would died two years later leaving her son Christopher Carleill in Walsingham’s care. In 1566, Walsingham married Ursula St. Barbe, widow of Sir Richard Worsley, and became in possession of her estates of Appuldurcombe and Carisbrooke Priory on the Isle of Wight. In 1567, Ursula gave birth to the couple’s first daughter Frances.

Walsingham became active in soliciting support for the Huguenots in France and developed a friendly and close working relationship with Nicholas Throckmorton, his predecessor as MP and a former ambassador to France. By 1569, Walsingham was working with William Cecil to counteract plots against Elizabeth. He was instrumental in the collapse of the Ridolfi plot, which hoped to replace Elizabeth with the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots.He is credited with writing propaganda decrying a conspiratorial marriage between Mary and Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk,and Roberto di Ridolfi, after whom the plot was named, was interrogated at Walsingham’s house.

In 1570, the Queen chose Walsingham to support the Huguenots in their negotiations with Charles IX of France. Later that year, he succeeded Sir Henry Norris as English ambassador in Paris.One of his duties was to continue negotiations for a marriage between Elizabeth and Charles IX’s younger brother Henry, Duke of Anjou, but this failed because of religion. A substitute match with the next youngest brother, Francis, Duke of Alençon, was proposed but Walsingham did not like him and Elizabeth was considerably older than the Duke. Walsingham believed that it would serve England better to seek a military alliance with France against Spanish interest and the defensive Treaty of Blois was concluded between France and England in 1572.

The Huguenots and other European Protestant interests supported the revolt in the Spanish Netherlands, which were provinces of Habsburg Spain. When Catholic opposition to this course in France resulted in the death of Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny and the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, Walsingham’s house in Paris became a temporary sanctuary for Protestant refugees, including Philip Sidney. Ursula, who was pregnant, escaped to England with their four-year-old daughter. She gave birth to a second girl, Mary, in January 1573 while Walsingham was still in France.He returned to England in April 1573, having established himself as a competent official whom the Queen and Cecil could trust.

In the December following his return, Walsingham was appointed to the Privy Council of England and was made joint principal secretary, or “Secretary of State” with Sir Thomas Smith. Smith retired in 1576, leaving Walsingham in effective control of the privy seal, though he was not formally invested as Lord Privy Seal. He was knighted on 1 December 1577 and was appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter from April 22, 1578 until succeeded by Sir Amias Paulet in June 1587. Walsingham’s younger daughter Mary died aged seven in July 1580; his elder daughter, Frances, married Sir Philip Sidney on September 21, 1583, despite the Queen’s initial objections to the match earlier in the year.

Walsingham assembled a far-flung network of spies and news gatherers in France, Scotland, the Low Countries, Spain, Italy, and even Turkey and North Africa. Using prison informants and double agents whose services he secured through bribery, threats, and subtle psychological gambits, he worked to penetrate English Catholic circles at home and abroad, particularly among Mary’s friends and agents in Scotland and France.

A spy in the French embassy in London—who has plausibly been identified as Giordano Bruno, a lapsed Dominican friar who would later achieve renown as a freethinking philosopher of the Italian Renaissance—alerted Walsingham to a correspondence with Mary that was being routed through the embassy. The plot was broken with the arrest of the chief go-between, Francis Throckmorton, in November 1583. In his possession were incriminating documents, including a map of invasion ports and a list of Catholic supporters in England. Under torture, Throckmorton revealed a plan for the invasion of England by Spanish and French troops in concert with a rising by Mary’s followers. The Spanish ambassador was expelled and diplomatic contacts with Spain severed.

The Act for the Surety of the Queen’s Person, passed by Parliament in March 1585, set up a legal process for trying any claimant to the throne implicated in plots against the Queen. The following month Mary, Queen of Scots, was placed in the strict custody of a friend of Walsingham. At Christmas, she was moved to a moated manor house at Chartley. In July 1586, Anthony Babington wrote to Mary about an impending plot to free her and kill Elizabeth.Mary’s reply was clearly encouraging and sanctioned Babington’s plans. Walsingham had Babington and his associates rounded up and fourteen of Babington’s men were executed in September 1586. In October, Mary was put on trial under the Act for the Surety of the Queen’s Person in front of 36 commissioners, including Walsingham.

Walsingham made arrangements for Mary’s execution; Elizabeth signed the warrant on 1 February 1587 and entrusted it to William Davison, who had been appointed as junior Secretary of State in late September 1586. Davison passed the warrant to Cecil and a privy council convened by Cecil without Elizabeth’s knowledge agreed to carry out the sentence as soon as was practical. Within a week, Mary was beheaded.On hearing of the execution, Elizabeth claimed not to have sanctioned the action and that she had not meant Davison to part with the warrant. Davison was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Davison was eventually released in October 1588, on the orders of Cecil and Walsingham.

Walsingham also helped prepare for the inevitable war with Spain. He helped to hide the preparations for Sir Francis Drake’s surprise raid on Cádiz Harbour in April 1587 by feeding a deliberately false report about Drake’s plans to the English ambassador in Paris, who Walsingham had correctly guessed was with the Spanish. Walsingham’s countless spies provided detailed reports of Spanish preparations for the sailing of the Armada against England in July 1588. It was Walsingham and his spy network that helped prepare England for the Armada attack.

Walsingham was a very sick man, starting in the early 1570’s and yet he served his country extremely well. There are many speculations on what Walsingham’s illness was, anywhere from testicular cancer to kidney stones, diabetes to an urinary infection. Francis Walsingham died on April 6, 1590. He was buried at the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was burned during the Great Fire of 1666 and now a plaque marking where his grave was remains.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Walsingham
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Walsingham
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/sir-francis-walsingham.htm

Biography: William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

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240px-William_Cecil,_1st_Baron_Burghley_from_NPG_(2)(Born September 13, 1520- Died August 4, 1598)
Son of Sir Richard Cecil and Jane Heckington.
Married to Mary Cheke and Mildred Cooke.
Father of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, Frances Cecil, Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and Elizabeth Cecil-Wentworth.
William Cecil was one of Elizabeth I’s closest advisors who was by her side during some of the most difficult decisions during her reign.

William Cecil was born on September 13, 1520 in Bourne, Lincolnshire, to Sir Richard Cecil, the owner of Burghley Castle, and his wife Jane Heckington. William was the couple’s only son and he was put to school first at Grantham and then at Stamford. In May 1535, at the age of fourteen, he went up to St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was brought into contact with the top tutors of the time, Roger Ascham and John Cheke, and acquired an unusual knowledge of Greek. He also acquired the affections of Cheke’s sister, Mary, and was in 1541 removed by his father to Gray’s Inn, without, after six years’ residence at Cambridge, having taken a degree. Four months later, Cecil married Mary Cheke.

The only child of this marriage, Thomas, the future earl of Exeter, was born in May 1542, and in February 1543, Mary Cheke died. Cecil would marry again three years later, on December 21, 1546, to Mildred Cooke, who ranked among Lady Jane Grey and Elizabeth I as one of the most learned ladies in all of England. Mildred’s sister Anne was the wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon and the mother of Sir Francis Bacon.

In 1542, for defending royal policy, Cecil was rewarded by Henry VIII with a place in the Court of Common Pleas, which was a court of five members of the king’s council that heard the pleas of the people. A year later, in 1543, he first entered Parliament, but but his name does not show up on parliamentary records until 1547, when he was elected for the family borough of Stamford. Earlier in 1547, he had accompanied Protector Somerset( Edward Seymour) on his Pinkie campaign, being one of the two “judges of the Marshalsea,” i.e. in the courts-martial; the other judge was William Patten.

In 1548, Cecil became a private secretary for Edward Seymour, the Lord Protector, as well as work as a clerk at the court of requests, that was set up to hear poor men’s complaints. In 1549, Somerset experienced his first fall from power and Cecil was sent to the Tower of London for a brief time. Three months later, Cecil was able to ingratiate himself with John Dudley, earl of Warwick and he was released from prison. On September 5, 1550 Cecil was sworn in as one of King Edward’s two secretaries of state and in April 1551, Cecil became chancellor of the Order of the Garter.

During this time, Edward VI was extremely ill. To protect the Protestant government from the accession of a Catholic queen, Warwick forced King Edward’s lawyers to create an instrument setting aside the Third Succession Act on June 15, 1553, which barred both Elizabeth and Mary, from the throne, in favour of Lady Jane Grey. Cecil resisted for a while, but at Edward’s royal command he signed it. Cecil was not a huge fan of this idea and when Warwick marched against Mary Tudor, Cecil decided to switch sides and join Mary’s cause. Mary did not punish Cecil for his earlier support of Lady Jane Grey and Mary debated keeping him on as her Secretary of State. Cecil declined the offer because of his Protestant beliefs. Unlike other Protestants, Cecil stayed in England, but he did do some minor tasks for Mary and helped escort Cardinal Pole to England. He was elected to Parliament as knight of the shire for Lincolnshire probably in 1553 , 1555 and 1559 and for Northamptonshire in 1563. Cecil did oppose one of Mary’s policies in 1555 that was a bill that proposed to strip the Protestant exiles of their property.

Cecil was able to meet with Elizabeth starting in 1550 when he became Surveyor of her properties. During Mary’s reign, Cecil would visit Elizabeth in secret and he was one of the first to flock to Elizabeth in Hatfield in November 1558. The day after Mary’s death was the day of Elizabeth’s accession and Cecil was already working hard to establish good relationships with European leaders for Elizabeth. Elizabeth decided to make Cecil her Secretary of State, which was a wise choice. It is said that “No prince in Europe had such a counsellor as she [Elizabeth] had of him[Cecil].”( Somerset, 64).

His first major diplomatic achievement was to persuade a reluctant queen to intervene in Scotland and conclude the Treaty of Edinburgh (1560), which removed French forces from Scotland. His gift for compromise facilitated the church settlement in 1559; his financial sense, the recoinage in 1561. Elizabeth’s flirtation with Robert Dudley, however, weakened Cecil’s position. Despite threats of resignation and opposition to Robert Dudley, Cecil retained Elizabeth’s trust and was rewarded with the lucrative mastership of the Court of Wards in 1561.

Decision on the succession was necessary to settle policies. While Cecil wanted to thwart Dudley, he sympathized with Protestant efforts in Parliament to make Elizabeth marry. He resisted Mary Stuart’s claims to succeed but recommended the Habsburg suitor, the Archduke Charles. Dudley, capturing the initiative, backed an ill-fated expedition to France to aid the Huguenots, which ended in the Treaty of Troyes, became a councillor, and in 1564 became earl of Leicester. On the defensive, Cecil restored the balance by introducing Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk, into the council.Cecil was in favor of having Robert Dudley marry Mary Queen of Scots to unite England and Scotland, but the marriage did not happen as Mary married Lord Darnley in 1565.

Mary Stuart’s flight to England in 1568 embarrassed Cecil; although it opened diplomatic opportunities in Scotland, it led to Norfolk’s plan to marry the widowed queen of Scots. Norfolk opposed Cecil over Mary’s fate, over secret aid to the Huguenots, and over policy toward Spain. Resenting the threat of the Duke of Alba’s Spanish army in the Netherlands, Cecil nearly precipitated war in December 1568 by instigating the seizure of ships carrying bullion to Alba, who retaliated by closing Antwerp to English trade. Leicester joined Norfolk, and they prepared to oust Cecil; but they faltered before the Queen’s support for her secretary.

On February 25, 1571 Cecil was raised to the peerage as Baron Burghley of Burghley; the fact that he continued to act as secretary after his elevation illustrates the growing importance of that office, which under his son became a secretaryship of state.Meanwhile, the papal bull of 1570, deposing Elizabeth, confirmed Cecil in his defense of the Elizabethan church. The intrigue called the Ridolfi Plot, a planned Spanish invasion of England to put Mary Stuart on the throne, led to Norfolk’s execution in 1572. Cecil’s rebuff to Spain was underlined by the Treaty of Blois with France in 1572. Neither French influence in the Netherlands nor the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre deterred Cecil from the French alliance; but he also soothed Spain, and the embargo on trade with Antwerp was lifted. In Scotland he settled the regency; but he failed to persuade the Scots to try to depose their queen, who remained a focus of Catholic intrigue in her English prison.

In the 1570s Leicester, supported by Francis Walsingham, who became a secretary in 1573, courted Puritan support; agitated for aid to William of Orange, Protestant leader of the rebels in the Netherlands; and favoured negotiations with France. Cecil restraining the French and trying to avoid open commitment to the rebels, pursued a policy that, in advocating nominal Spanish dominion over the Netherlands that was enjoying its traditional liberties, ignored Philip II’s obvious intentions. Cecil failed to reach a settlement in 1576 and finally joined Leicester in urging Elizabeth to act on behalf of Orange. Rather than fight openly, Elizabeth tried to utilize French influence in the Netherlands by marriage negotiations with the Duke of Anjou.

The assassination of William of Orange in 1584 and the knowledge of a planned French landing at Arundel led Cecil to take measures to protect the Queen’s life and to incline toward war against Spain. His hesitation over the costs of war and trying to explore peace options, created ill will with Leicester. But by 1585 Cecil supported Leicester’s expedition to the Netherlands and Sir Francis Drake’s voyage to the Caribbean. In 1586, on Walsingham’s revelation of the Babington plot Cecil pressed to ensure the trial of Mary Stuart and her execution in 1587. His initiative put him in disgrace with Elizabeth.

Under the growing threat of the Spanish Armada in 1587, Cecil discussed matters with Parma, courted Henry of Navarre and James VI of Scotland, and kept a sharp eye on the Irish and English Catholics. His diplomatic, military, naval, and financial preparations proved just adequate in 1588 to defeat the Armada. These were his strengths that made Cecil such a strong Secretary of State for Elizabeth I. William Cecil died at his home on August 4, 1598, leaving his son Robert to become Elizabeth’s principal advisor.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cecil,_1st_Baron_Burghley
http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/burghley.htm
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Cecil-1st-Baron-Burghley
Somerset, Anne. Elizabeth I. New York: St. Martins Press, 1992.

Biography: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

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220px-Robert_Dudley_Leicester(Born June 24, 1532- Died September 4, 1588)
Son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and Jane Guildford
Married to Amy Robsart and Lettice Knollys. (He did have a mistress named Douglas Sheffield).
Father of Sir Robert Dudley and Robert Dudley, Lord Denbigh.
Robert Dudley was known as one of Elizabeth I’s favorites at court. He tried to convince Elizabeth for 20 years to marry him, but it failed.

Robert Dudley was born on June 24, 1532 to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane Guildford. Robert was the fifth child out of thirteen. Robert was tutored by John Dee, Thomas Wilson, and Roger Ascham and was taught how to be a courtier in the courts of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Robert had a certain knack for foreign languages and writing. In 1549, he participated in ending the Kett’s Rebellion, and this is where it is alleged that he met his first wife Amy Robsart, the daughter and heiress of Sir John Robsart, a gentleman farmer from Norfolk. The couple was married on June 4, 1550 in the presence of King Edward VI at Sheen Palace. It is believed that this marriage was a love match, but the couple depended heavily on the gifts from John Dudley, since he was the de facto ruler of England from 1550 until 1553 because Edward VI was very ill.

On July 6, 1553, King Edward VI died. Edward decided to not listen to his father’s Act of Succession and removed Mary and Elizabeth from the line of succession in order to place his cousin Lady Jane Grey on the throne. Lady Jane Grey was married to John Dudley’s son Guilford Dudley. John Dudley raised an army for Lady Jane Grey to face off against Mary to prevent her from becoming queen, but it failed and Jane’s reign ended on July 19th. Robert Dudley was put in the Tower of London and condemned to death, just like his brothers and his father, who were executed. Robert Dudley was in the Tower the same time that Elizabeth was imprisoned there for her alleged involvement in the Wyatt Rebellion. In February 1554, Guildford Dudley was executed and in the autumn, the surviving brothers, Robert and Ambrose, were released from prison. Later that year, Ambrose and Robert were welcomed to participate at a tournament to celebrate Anglo-Spanish friendship.

In 1557, Robert and Amy were able to allowed to repossess some of their former lands, and in March of the same year Dudley was at Calais where he was chosen to deliver personally to Queen Mary the happy news of Philip’s return to England. Ambrose, Robert, and Henry Dudley, the youngest brother, fought for Philip II at the Battle of St. Quentin in August 1557 where Henry Dudley was killed. During the first parliament of 1558, Mary I restored Robert Dudley and his siblings titles and they were able to return to court. Mary I would die on November 17, 1558.

On November 18, 1558, Robert Dudley was there to witness Elizabeth’s accession. He was at Hatfield to see Elizabeth receive the Great Seal and the same day, he was created Master of the Horse the same day. The Master of the Horse was a very prestigious position that required much personal attendance on the Queen, as well as organizing her public appearances, progresses, and her personal entertainment. This was a title that suited Robert very well and because he did a great job at this position, Elizabeth lavished titles and honors on him. In April 1559, Robert Dudley was made a Knight of the Garter. Elizabeth spent a lot of time with Dudley and the rumors began to spread that the two were lovers. There were even threats on Dudley’s life and rumors that Elizabeth had a child by Dudley.

Elizabeth would not let Dudley leave her side at court. They acted very much like a married couple. However, there was another person in the middle of this relationship between Elizabeth and her favorite and that was Dudley’s wife Amy Robsart. On September 8, 1560, Amy was found at the bottom of a staircase at Cumnor Place near Oxford with her neck broken. Many speculated that Dudley had his wife killed in order to marry the queen or that she committed suicide, but recent research has shown that it was probably an accident.

In 1561, Dudley wanted to get away and seek military adventures abroad, but Elizabeth would not let him leave. In 1562 when Elizabeth fell ill with smallpox, she said that if she was to die, she wanted Dudley to become Protector of the Realm; Elizabeth did recover so Dudley never became the Protector, but he did become a privy councilor. Dudley still wanted to be involved in foreign affairs and he did get his chance, but probably not the way he wanted. In 1563, Elizabeth offered Dudley as a suitor for Mary Queen of Scots. Both Dudley and Mary Queen of Scots were not convinced about Elizabeth’s sincerity so she decided to make Dudley more appealing to Mary. Elizabeth made Dudley the Earl of Leicester in 1564. Dudley soon realized that his chances for marrying Elizabeth were dwindling fast, but he was still hopeful that she would chose to marry him.

In July 1575, Dudley staged an elaborate 19- day festival that was meant to be his last proposal for the queen’s hand, but it failed. It was in 1569 when Dudley began his affair with Douglas Sheffield, who was a young widow from the Howard family. Dudley refused to marry her, but the couple did have a child in 1574 named Robert Dudley, named after his father.

Dudley would marry again to Lettice Knollys. Lettice Knollys was the wife of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, and first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth on her mother’s side. Leicester had flirted with her in the summer of 1565, causing an outbreak of jealousy in the Queen. After Lord Essex went to Ireland in 1573, they possibly became lovers. In July 1576 Essex returned to Ireland, where he died of dysentery in September.

On September 21, 1578, Dudley secretly married Lettice Knollys. He did not dare to tell the Queen of his marriage; nine months later Dudley’s enemies at court acquainted her with the situation, causing a furious outburst. Dudley’s hope of an heir was fulfilled in 1581 when another Robert Dudley, styled Lord Denbigh, was born.The child died aged three in 1584, leaving his parents devastated. Dudley was a concerned parent to his four stepchildren,and in every respect worked for the advancement of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, whom he regarded as his political heir.

Elizabeth never accepted the marriage. She never could forgive Lettice Knollys and banished her from court. Dudley was able to return to his queen’s side at court. In 1585, Dudley was made commander of the English forces in the Netherlands. The Netherlands were revolting against the rule of Philip II, and the English were helping the Dutch in their campaign. Robert stayed in the Netherlands until 1587, although he did return to England during the Mary Queen of Scots crisis of 1586- 1587, and was present in England when Mary was executed. English involvement in the Netherlands was not particularly successful, and when he did return permanently, he received a lot of criticism for his actions there. Although Elizabeth herself had not always been pleased by what he had done, she would not hear a word said against his efforts there.

In 1588, when the Spanish sent their fleet against England , Dudley was put in charge of the land army, and he organized Elizabeth’s famous visit to Tilbury. However, by now he was not a well man, probably suffering from stomach cancer, and his days were numbered. Following the defeat of the Armada, he travelled to Buxton to try and take the healing waters there, but he never made it. He died at his house in Oxfordshire on September 4, 1588. Elizabeth deeply grieved over the death of one of her favorites at court and a close friend.

Sources:
http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/queensmen/robertdudley.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dudley,_1st_Earl_of_Leicester

Click to access robert-dudley-earl-of-leicester4.pdf

Biography: Queen Elizabeth I

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220px-Elizabeth_I_in_coronation_robes(Born September 7, 1533- Died March 24, 1603)
Daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Sister to King Edward VI and Queen Mary I
Elizabeth was known as the “Virgin Queen” because she never married and she never had a child. Elizabeth was one of the greatest rulers in English history.

Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533 to Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn at Greenwich Palace. At birth, Elizabeth was declared heir presumptive to the throne of England. Her older half-sister, Mary, had lost her position as a legitimate heir when Henry annulled his marriage to Mary’s mother, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne, with the intent to sire a male heir and ensure the Tudor succession. However, things didn’t go as planned. Anne never was able to give birth to the desired son that Henry wanted. Anne would later be accused of adultery and treason. On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed; Elizabeth was two years old at the time and she was declared illegitimate, just like her step-sister Mary.

Henry VIII married Jane Seymour shortly after Anne Boleyn’s execution. Jane gave birth to Elizabeth’s step-brother Edward, but died shortly afterward. Elizabeth’s father would marry three more times; Anne of Cleves who was divorced; Katherine Howard who was beheaded; and finally Katherine Parr. During this time, Elizabeth met Catherine “Kat” Ashley who was appointed Elizabeth’s governess in 1537 and remained with Elizabeth until her death in 1565. William Grindal became her tutor in 1544 and after his death in 1548, Roger Ascham became Elizabeth’s tutor. Elizabeth received a very good education and she loved to learn. Elizabeth’s life was somewhat normal at this point, but life was about to change drastically.

Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547, when Elizabeth was 13, leaving the throne to his nine year old son Edward VI. Before Henry VIII died, he reinstated his daughters to the line of succession so after Edward VI, Mary would become queen and then Elizabeth. Shortly after Henry VIII’s death, his last wife Katherine Parr married Thomas Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour and Edward Seymour, Edward VI’s Lord Protector. Elizabeth moved in with Katherine Parr and Thomas Seymour at their home in Chelsea where, it is alleged, Thomas Seymour would act inappropriately towards Elizabeth, including bursting into her bedroom while she was barely dress, slap her on the bottom, and one time, shred Elizabeth’s dress. In May 1548, Elizabeth was dismissed from Katherine’s household; Katherine Parr died from childbirth on September 5, 1548 which allowed Thomas to pursue Elizabeth as his wife, but it failed. Thomas was accused of trying to kidnap Edward VI, charged with treason and executed on March 20, 1549. Elizabeth was interrogated during the investigation into Thomas, but she never admitted anything about the nature of their relationship.

Edward VI would die on July 6, 1553, at the age of 15. Under Henry VIII’s Act of Succession, the crown should have passed onto Mary, however Edward did not like that she was Catholic, so before he died, he issued an act that named his heir as Lady Jane Grey. Lady Jane Grey would only be queen for nine days since Mary brought an army to place her on the throne. On August 3, 1553, Mary rode into London with Elizabeth by her side. On the outside, it looked like Mary and Elizabeth had reconciled, however they were pulling farther apart.

Mary and Elizabeth kept butting heads over religion, Mary being Catholic and Elizabeth being Protestant. Mary’s popularity began to wan with her people when she announced in 1554 that she wanted to marry Philip II of Spain, a devout Catholic. That same year in January and February, a man by the name of Thomas Wyatt staged a rebellion to put Elizabeth on the throne instead of Mary, which failed. Wyatt was beheaded and Elizabeth was interrogated. She was imprisoned in the Tower of London on March 18th; she would later be transferred to Woodstock on May 22nd where she spent a year under house arrest in the custody of Sir Henry Bedingfield.

Elizabeth returned to court on April 17, 1555 to help Mary with the final stages of her pregnancy. However, months passed and it turned out that it was a false pregnancy. As Mary fell ill, Philip II started to consult with Elizabeth on how to run the country, and in October 1558, Elizabeth began to formulate her own court. On November 6, Mary recognized Elizabeth as her heir and on November 17, 1558, Mary I died and Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne.

Elizabeth I became Queen of England at the age of 25. She was crowned in an elaborate ceremony on January 15, 1559, which was cold winter day; Elizabeth would get sick shortly after her coronation, but once she recovered, she made William Cecil, later Baron Burghley, her Chief Minister. Elizabeth had two pressing matters to solve when she first became queen, resolving the matters of religious division in England and who she would marry. With the religious division, she sought to strike a balance, so that even though Protestantism became the national religion, those who wanted to hear the Roman Catholic mass were able to do so in private. Elizabeth became the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

The other issue that plagued Elizabeth during her reign was who she was going to marry. There were many candidates, foreign and English suitors, but Elizabeth would not commit herself to one man, instead she decided to remain single and considered herself the mother of the English people. The man who probably had the best chance of marrying Elizabeth was Robert Dudley. Dudley was the brother of Guilford Dudley, the husband of Lady Jane Grey. He was married to Amy Robsart, but she died of a fall in 1560 and Dudley was accused of her murder. He was created the Earl of Leicester in 1564. Dudley remarried in 1578 to one of Elizabeth’s Maid of the Privy Chamber, Lettice Knollys. This made Elizabeth angry and she banished Lettice from court. Dudley would die in 1588, shortly after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Robert Dudley tried for over 20 years to convince Elizabeth to marry him and it resulted in a close friendship, but nothing more.

The other serious contender for the Queen’s hand was Francis, Duke of Anjou, who Elizabeth called her “frog”, heir to the French throne. But again, political considerations made the match ultimately impossible. Other suitors included King Philip II of Spain, King Eric XIV of Sweden, Archduke Charles of Austria, and Henry Duke of Anjou (the duke before Francis). Elizabeth had numerous favorites at her court including Sir Christopher Hatton, Robert Devereux earl of Essex, and Walter Raleigh, just to name a few. The problem was that Elizabeth decided not to marry nor would she declare a successor, even when she contracted smallpox in October 1562 and she thought she might die.

Elizabeth’s refusal to marry or name a successor led to one of the most defining conflicts of Elizabeth’s reign. Catholics viewed Elizabeth as illegitimate and had no right to the throne. To them, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth’s cousin, had a better claim to the throne. Mary was the granddaughter of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret. Elizabeth was persuaded to send a force into Scotland to aid the Protestant rebels, and though the campaign was inept, the resulting Treaty of Edinburgh of July 1560 removed the French threat in the north.When Mary returned to Scotland in 1561 a to take up the reins of power, the country had an established Protestant church and was run by a council of Protestant nobles supported by Elizabeth. Mary refused to ratify the treaty which denied Mary the right to succeed to the English throne.

In 1563 Elizabeth proposed her own suitor, Robert Dudley, as a husband for Mary, without asking either of the two people concerned. Both proved unenthusiastic, and in 1565 Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who carried his own claim to the English throne. The marriage was the first of a series of errors of judgement by Mary that handed the victory to the Scottish Protestants and to Elizabeth. Darnley quickly became unpopular and was murdered in February 1567 by conspirators almost certainly led by James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. On May 15, 1567, Mary married Bothwell, arousing suspicions that she had been in on the murder of Lord Darnley. This lead to Mary’s fall from grace and she was held captive starting in July 1567.

Forced to flee her own country, having abdicated her throne in favour of her infant son, James, Mary landed in England in May 1568, seeking Elizabeth’s help in restoring her to her kingdom. Because the matter of Darnley’s death was unresolved, Elizabeth placed Mary in prison for around 20 years. Of course, this angered the Catholics who saw Mary as the figurehead of their cause, so there were plots and plans to get Mary out of prison and place her on the throne instead of Mary. The largest plot was the Babington Plot of the summer of 1586, which laid out plans for Elizabeth’s execution and Spain’s invasion of England. Since Mary knew of the plans, she was tried and found guilty of treason. Elizabeth was very reluctant to sign the death warrant, but eventually she did. Mary Queen of Scots was executed on February 8, 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle; her son James VI was declared Elizabeth’s heir to the throne.

Another huge challenge for Elizabeth was her relationship with Spain and her former brother-in-law, Philip II. With the discovery of the new world and the age of exploration in full force, piracy was becoming more popular. In 1572, Sir Francis Drake decided to plunder Spanish ships in Central and South America. In 1577, Drake was introduced to Elizabeth and she unofficially encouraged his activities against the Spanish. In December 1577, Drake travelled around the world plundering Spanish ships; he returned to England in September 1580 as a national hero and in April 1581, he was knighted.

By 1588, Elizabeth and Philip were considered enemies. Philip had spoken of invading England and dethroning Elizabeth for years, but the execution of the Queen of Scots gave him an added incentive. In July 1587, Philip received a treaty from the pope that gave his approval on the conquest of England. Now he could claim the English throne for himself and dethrone Elizabeth to restore England to Catholicism. In 1587, Drake was able to lead a successful raid against Cadiz, which delayed the Spanish Armada from invading by a year. In the summer of 1588 he sent his mighty Armada fleet against England. But by superior tactics, ship design, and sheer good fortune, the English defeated them. This was one of Elizabeth’s biggest achievements and made Elizabeth extremely popular in England.

In Ireland, there was a revolt against the English, led by Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone. In spring 1599, Elizabeth sent Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, to put the revolt down. To her frustration,he made little progress, even though he begged to go there, and returned to England in defiance of her orders. He was replaced by Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, who took three years to defeat the rebels. Essex thought that when he returned to England, he would be treated like a hero, but he was treated with contempt. This made Essex upset and in February 1601, the earl tried to raise a rebellion in London. He intended to seize the queen but few rallied to his support, and he was beheaded on February 25, 1601.

After Essex’s death, Elizabeth’s health began to deteriorate. She would die at the age on 69 on March 24, 1603 at Richmond Palace. Elizabeth was interred in Westminster Abbey, in a tomb shared with her half-sister, Mary I.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England#Mary,_Queen_of_Scots
http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/biography/
https://www.biography.com/people/queen-elizabeth-i-9286133
Ashley, Michael. A Brief History of British Kings & Queens. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2008.

Book Review: “The First Elizabeth” by Carolly Erickson

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78c6ce34a9b7447cedba2378b607f3d4The story of Elizabeth I is full of twists and turns. From the moment she was born, she had to fight to survive. Through all that she went through, Elizabeth found the strength and courage to become the legendary queen to help England to enter into a golden age of peace and prosperity. This, however, is just one side of Elizabeth. The other side of Elizabeth’s personality, her anger and her interactions with her councilors, is explored thoroughly in Carolly Erickson’s book “The First Elizabeth”.

Carolly Erickson explains this other side of Elizabeth a bit further:

But if Elizabeth’s political and intellectual skills served her well, though hardly infallibly, in dealing with her councilors she relied on her volatile, imperious temperament and on her inbred capacity for duplicity and deceit to keep them at bay. She was dangerously unpredictable in her moods. She blustered one minute and beguiled the next. Now coaxing and cajoling, now spitting out ringing oaths and insults, she kept her advisers off balance and perpetually astonished them by the range and mutability of her passions. Beyond this, they came to know that, with Elizabeth, nothing was ever what it seemed. Beneath her surface emotions were layer upon calculating layer of secondary reactions, ploys and schemes. She took pleasure in laying traps for her unwary ministers and ensnaring them later with their own words. Even the wittiest of them were sometimes left tongue-tied and flat footed in her presence, while all of them, however fleetingly, were on occasion dazzled by her youthful, radiant femininity and sexual magnetism.(Erickson, 173).

Erickson begins her book with the birth of Elizabeth and her relationship with her father Henry VIII. With the death of the king, Elizabeth had to adapt to the rules of her step brother and sister, Edward VI and Mary. It’s really Mary’s reign where Erickson focuses her attention for the first part of the book. To her, Elizabeth is more timid and scared whereas Mary comes off strong. It’s a different look at these two sisters and their relationship.

With Mary’s death, the twenty-five year old Elizabeth is declared Queen of England. The people of England were relatively hesitant about  this newcomer since they did not know much about her. Elizabeth worked hard to create an image of a good and benevolent queen for her people while hiding her temper that she was notorious for. Those who were closest to Elizabeth would often feel her anger first hand. Erickson also shows how even though there was a facade of peace in England during Elizabeth’s reign, there were those who wanted Elizabeth dead. Elizabeth fought both internal and external enemies in order to survive. It was her strength and her determination that made her a legend.

Erickson’s book may be a biography but it reads like a historical fiction novel. There were times when Erickson would mention famous passages or rumors and I was wishing that she had included the actual text in the book. Another thing that Erickson did that I bothered me a bit was that she made Elizabeth a bit darker than she is normally portrayed. When it came to the death of Mary Queen of Scots, Erickson really did not mention how much of a struggle it was for Elizabeth to sign the death warrant against Mary.

Overall, I think that “The First Elizabeth” by Carolly Erickson was an interesting read. There were some facts and rumors in this book that I was not aware of and her portrayal of Elizabeth was memorable. Elizabeth was prone to angry tirades but ultimately she had her people’s best interest in mind. I am glad that I read Carolly Erickson’s book because it did show a different side of this remarkable queen. I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a different perspective on Elizabeth I.

Book Review: “The Life of Elizabeth I” by Alison Weir

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111222Elizabeth I was perhaps the most influential monarch in English history. There are episodes in her life that became legendary. From her tumultuous childhood to her reign where everyone either wanted her to marry or put someone else on the throne, Elizabeth’s life was hardly easy. Even though much is known about her public life as queen, we really do not know a lot about her private life. In Alison Weir’s book, “The Life of Elizabeth I”, the gap between the public Elizabeth and the private Elizabeth is bridged in order to give a more complete biography of this fascinating English queen.

Alison Weir explains what Elizabeth had gone through in her early life and how it shaped her as a queen:

When she came to the throne her subjects knew relatively little about her. Nurtured in a hard school, having suffered adversity and uncertainty from her infancy, and having gone in danger of her life on at least two occasions, she had learned to keep her own counsel, hide her feelings and live by her wits. Already, she was a mistress of the arts of deception, dissimulation, prevarication and circumvention, all admired attributes of a true Renaissance ruler. At twenty-five years old, she was at last in control of her destiny, and having lived in one kind of constraint or another for the whole of her existence so far, she was determined to preserve her independence and autonomy. She had learned from her sister’s mistakes and resolved never to repeat them. She would identify herself with her people and worked for their common interests. She would bring peace and stability to her troubled kingdom. She would nurture it, as a loving mother nurtures a child. For this, she believed, God had preserved her life. (Weir, 9-10)

Weir begins her book with the coronation of Elizabeth, touching briefly on Elizabeth’s childhood and how she got to the throne. She explains the England that Elizabeth knew and how right after she was crowned, her people desired for the queen to have a husband and to know what religion she would adopt for her own and for her country. Although Elizabeth liked to have quite a few favorites, including Robert Dudley and Francis Duke of Anjou, she never gave her heart solely to one man. Instead she chose to be the mother of her country and to be married to the job of protecting her people. Elizabeth not only had to keep her people happy but she had to deal with threats from other countries, including King Philip II of Spain and his Armada, the  St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Huguenots in France, and the religious feuds in the Netherlands. One of her biggest external threats was her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, who claimed that she should be Queen of England. Elizabeth eventually had to make the decision to execute another queen, very similar to the decision her father had to make when he had Elizabeth’s mother executed a few decades before.

Elizabeth also had to deal with internal threats such as favorites, especially  Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, becoming jealous of others in court and throwing fits. There were those who would dare to marry without the Queen’s permission and had their own children. In these instances, Elizabeth’s anger would come out in full force. She didn’t trust many people and tended to keep her feelings to herself. To the outside world, she was “Gloriana” or “The Virgin Queen”, but to those who truly knew her, she was just Elizabeth, a woman who became queen and who was just trying to survive for herself and her country.

Elizabeth I has always been my favorite Tudor monarch. Her story was the one that really got me interested in the Tudors and this book made me fascinated with her all over again. Alison Weir was able to yet again combine her engaging writing style with amazing details to tell the full story of the reign of Elizabeth I, from her coronation at age of 25 to her death at the age of 69, and how she changed England for the better. I loved reading this book. There was so much information about Elizabeth that I didn’t know about in this book, it was like discovering a whole new side to a person I thought I knew very well. If you want to learn more about Elizabeth I, the woman behind the legend, and her impact on England and the 16th century world, I highly recommend you read this book, “The Life of Elizabeth I” by Alison Weir. An absolutely fascinating read on one of England’s most remarkable rulers.  

Top 5 “Tudor” Men to Study

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Hello everyone! So a few weeks ago, I made a list of my top 5 Tudor women to study. This time around, I decided to focus on the men of this era. The reason that I have the word Tudor in quotations is that one of the men on this list is technically not a Tudor nor did he serve in the Tudor court. As always, this list is in no particular order and it might change after I do more research on the era. These men at the moment fascinate me and I look forward to learning more about them as I continue my exploration of the Tudor age.

1.) Jasper Tudor

The man in the sidelines who helped make the Tudor dynasty happen.80aa362b8647d5844194e415a130c3fd

Brother of Edmund Tudor, half- brother to Henry VI, and uncle to Henry Tudor. A man of many titles, but also a man who spent most of his adult life on the run. Jasper is one of those people who has an epic story, but he really doesn’t get a whole lot of attention and to me, that’s a little sad. I can’t even imagine what was going through his head when he found out that his brother died and that his widow Margaret Beaufort had a son. And that was just in a span of a few months. Now let’s throw in the fact that the time that Jasper was living in was the Wars of the Roses where they basically played musical chairs with the crown of England so one minute his half brother was king of England and the next he was a prisoner. Pretty stressful is putting it mildly. To add insult to injury, Jasper’s nephew Henry, was placed into York households to be raised and to watch over the young boy.

Jasper was always on the run, trying to keep himself and Henry safe. Whether in Wales or in France, where both Jasper and Henry were held as prisoners for very powerful people, Jasper worked hard to keep them alive. You would think that these two would lay low the rest of their lives. You would be wrong. Margaret Beaufort, Henry’s mother, had bigger plans for her son. With Henry VI dead and the Yorks on the throne with Edward IV and then Richard III, Margaret believed that her son was the next rightful king of England. So while Jasper and Henry were overseas in France, Margaret and Jasper orchestrated a coup d’etat. They were able to muster a force for Henry so that he could march against Richard III and on August 22, 1485, their plan worked. Henry was declared king and Jasper went back to his natural place, working for Henry’s good as his right hand man.

As the step brother of a king, I have often wondered why Jasper didn’t seize the crown for himself. This man was full of such intense loyalty for his family and had such an interesting life and yet he chose a life on the sidelines. I want to read biographies on him. Such a dynamic figure in Tudor history.

2.) Henry Tudor (later on Henry VII)

download (1)The man who would become king of England and the patriarch of the Tudor dynasty.  

As stated above, Henry’s life started off rough. Always on the run, he never knew his father and he never really got a chance to know his mother that well until after he became king. That all changed  at Bosworth Field when Richard III was killed and Henry became king. From rags to riches real quick. But if Henry wanted to end the constant calamity that the Wars of the Roses was causing, he needed to marry the right woman. His mother and Elizabeth Woodville arranged a marriage between Henry and Elizabeth of York, joining the houses of York and Lancaster. It was a brilliant move and helped put an end to the fighting. Henry and Elizabeth would have a large family including two sons, Arthur and Henry, thus starting the Tudor dynasty.

Henry is often thought of as being a mizer and a usurper or being a hero, but who was the true Henry? The more I study him, the more I realize how complicated this man was. He was not just a man who took the throne or a hero who started a brand new dynasty, but a family man and someone who knew heartache and love. There is something about Henry that is intriguing. His descendants might get all the attention for all their drama, but Henry Tudor was a man who built a dynasty out of practically nothing. He had to fight for all that he had against numerous pretenders who believed that he was not the rightful king. Overall, he was a survivor who became king.

3.) Richard III

The “black legend”.

Now I know what you are thinking, Richard III is not a Tudor king or someone who King_Richard_III.jpgserved a Tudor king so why is he on this list? To me, Richard has just as much influence in creating the Tudor dynasty as the Tudors themselves. If you think about it, if he didn’t take the throne, then Henry wouldn’t have marched against him at the Battle of Bosworth Field. It was his death that helped start the Tudor dynasty.

I do tend to berate Richard quite a bit since I believe he did kill his nephews, but there is something about this man that keeps me wanting to learn more about him. I may think that he is a murderer but as a king, I am learning that he was pretty decent. Just like Henry Tudor was just a man who survived, so was Richard. The more I study these two, the more I am realizing how similar they were. Even though Richard only ruled for two years, there is still a lot that we do not know about him. Maybe he was a family man just like Henry. His childhood might have shaped the way he ruled England and how he handled his enemies.

Even though there has been quite a bit of research about Richard III in the last 500 years, he is still a mysterious legend and I look forward to learning more about him and his times.

4.) Henry VIII

henry-viii-of-england-1The man. The myth. The legend.

When you hear his name, instantly you think about his multiple marriages and his break from the Roman Catholic Church. But who was Henry VIII the man behind this legend? Henry was second in line to the throne behind his brother Arthur, but when Arthur died shortly after he was married to Katherine of Aragon, the throne passed on to Henry. To say Henry was not prepared for this, nor were his parents, would be the understatement of the year. But he had to carry on in his father’s place when he passed away. The boy who was once a scholar now had to become a king.  It was a tall order to fill and it looked like from the very beginning he was doing a pretty good job.

And then things changed rapidly when his attention moved from his first wife to his second, and so on and so forth. Henry’s major flaws were his wandering eyes and his anger. We think we know everything there is to know about Henry, but do we really? This legendary man seems almost too fanciful to be a real human being. But he was. He was flawed like everyone else. Though he was a king, he was still human.

That is what keeps me fascinated about Henry VIII and his life. How did the king figure compare and contrast to the man who was Henry VIII? Who was Henry VIII really? No matter how much I read about him and his reign, its his human aspects and how he dealt with his wives and children that keep me coming back for more. I believe that there is more to Henry VIII than most people realize.

5.) Robert Dudley

The man who almost married the “Virgin Queen”220px-Robert_Dudley

If you have studied Elizabeth I, you know Robert Dudley. He was the man who stayed by Elizabeth’s side through the good times and the bad, even when he was married not once but twice. His first wife Amy, died when she fell down a flight of stairs, but many believed that Robert had her poisoned so that he could marry the queen. Robert was always close to Elizabeth and some in the court believed that he was too close. But maybe Elizabeth knew this when she suggested that Robert should marry Mary Queen of Scots. This deal, however, fell through when Mary married Lord Darnley.

As Elizabeth grew older, Robert kept trying to propose marriage, but he was become restless. He had affairs with some of Elizabeth’s ladies and would later marry Lettice Knollys, a kinswoman of the Queen. Elizabeth was livid and banished both Robert and Lettice from court. Robert would come back into her good graces; Lettice would not.

Robert loved Elizabeth deeply and many suspect that she loved him back. It is said that after he died, she kept his last letter to her in a chest that she kept close to her. Robert was a man who loved the queen, but he could never have her as his wife.

I have often wondered what Robert felt towards his two wives Amy and Lettice. Did he actually love them or did he use them to get closer to Elizabeth? If he did marry the queen, what would England look like? These are only a few questions that come to my mind when I think of Robert Dudley.

 

These are my top 5 “Tudor” men to study. Who are your top 5?

Book Review: “The Elizabethans” by A.N. Wilson

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When we think of Elizabethan England, we often think of it as the “Golden Age” of 51BiwhXsK0L._SX316_BO1,204,203,200_learning and discoveries. While that is true, like any age, there were good elements and bad elements. We tend to overlook the bad elements with Elizabeth’s “Golden Age” and move on to the good elements. However, we cannot get a full image of the age if we only look at the good elements. That is why A.N. Wilson wrote the book “The Elizabethans”:

 

In this book I hope we shall be basking together in wholehearted appreciation of all of  this[the good elements]; but it is no longer possible to do so without a recognition of the Difficulty- hence my title for the opening chapter. The Difficulty is really a moral one: things which they, the Elizabethans, regarded as a cause for pride, we- the great majority of educated, liberal Western opinion- consider shameful. Things of which they boasted, we deplore.( Wilson, 2).

 

So what was the Difficulty that Wilson was mentioning? To Wilson, that is the issue of Ireland and the “New World” and how the English dealt with the native peoples of these new colonies. These were constant problems in this age that would affect how future generations would view the men and women who made Elizabethan England great. Of course there were the deaths of Mary Queen of Scots and Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, that would affect Elizabeth greatly.

 

Now that we got the bad elements out of the way, let’s dive into what made it good, the “Golden Age”. Wilson decided to break down his book into sections which corresponds with the different decades of the reign of Elizabeth I. Each different decade had elements that made it difficult like the Northern Rebellion, St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Mary Queen of Scots, and of course the Spanish Armada. What made this era known as the “Golden Age” were the people who took those difficult moments and made the best of the situation. Men like Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare and Spenser. Of course there were also men like  Richard Hakluyt, Robert Dudley, Robert Devereux and John Hawkins, who made the Elizabethan age a bit more interesting.

 

“The Elizabethans” by A.N. Wilson is the story of the age, both the good and the bad. And of course it is the story of Elizabeth and how she herself handled all the changes that were happening in her lifetime. Wilson wrote this book in such a way that it grabs your attention for the age and gives you a better understanding on what it meant to be someone who lived in Elizabethan England. I would highly suggest this book for anyone who wants a great resource into this “Golden Age” of Elizabethan England and the men and women who made this arguably one of  the most complex and interesting times in English history. This is a must read for anyone who has any interests in Elizabeth, the England she ruled, and the effects that it had on the rest of the world not only in her generation, but for generations to follow.

Book Review; “The Queen’s Agent: Sir Francis Walsingham and the Rise of Espionage in Elizabethan England” by John Cooper

On By hmalagisiIn Book Reviews1 Comment

51FnxQ9BN5L._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_When we think about spies, we often think of modern examples like the ones we see in movies. However, spies and their spymasters have been working hard to protect their countries and their rulers for centuries. For Queen Elizabeth I, the only man she could trust to be her spymaster was Sir Francis Walsingham. But is it fair to call Walsingham as only Elizabeth’s “spymaster”? That is the question that John Cooper tries to answer in his book “The Queen’s Agent: Sir Francis Walsingham and the Rise of Espionage in Elizabethan England”. Who was Sir Francis Walsingham and what did he do to help his queen and his country?

First and foremost, Walsingham was a Protestant. This is very important to understand because, in this time, your religion determined where you stood on certain political and international issues. Walsingham would flee to universities in other countries while Mary I was queen, he would help Huguenots in France during the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, and helped Elizabeth navigate through her marriage prospects.  In the religious quagmire that was Europe at this time, it was Walsingham and Elizabeth who stood by their Protestant faith and would help the Reformation on.

As Secretary of State, it was Walsingham who helped set up the national defenses against the invading Spanish Armada and helped crack the code of the Babington plot that tried to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne of England. Walsingham would also help solve the “Irish issue” and help make colonization in America possible. Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth I would often butt heads on issues, but in the end, they would come to a compromise that would benefit the entire country. Through all of this were men that Walsingham could trust, and some he thought he could but they turned out to be double agents for other countries. Walsingham had to navigate it all to protect his beloved queen and country.

John Cooper navigates the complex web of Walsingham’s life and his spy system to seek the truth about the man who became a legendary spymaster. There was a lot of information, but Cooper was able to organize the book in such a way that it was not overwhelming. This book had many twists and turns, as any good book about espionage would, however, the one thing that I wish Cooper would have included was a list of names and what they were known for. For me, it would have made the web a little less complex.

Overall, I found this book very enjoyable. Before this book, I did not know a lot about Walsingham or what he did for Elizabethan England. Walsingham was not just a spymaster, he was so much more and Protestant Elizabethan England would have been lost without him and his actions. If you want to learn more about Sir Francis Walsingham, the complex Europe world with Protestants versus Catholics, or espionage in Elizabethan England, this is the book for you.