Show + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + TtIIIERAEDS + Home Study Circle t + + + + + 4 Copyright 1S99 by Seymour Eaton + 1 Directed by Prof Seymour Eaton t + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ROYAL WOMEN OF EUROPEAN HISTORY BY CHARLOTTE B JORDAN IIL QUEEN ELIZABETR OF ENGLAND 1531603 Concluded In spite of the general foreboding of a religious outburst upon Elizabeths proclamation as queen the event passed off most peaceably owing to the noble efforts of the Catholic lord chancellor chan-cellor who secured Elizabeths recognition recog-nition by parliament Her coronation was celebrated by the ludicrous pageants pa-geants and dramatic festivIties of to win the love of the exhuasted populace popu-lace Elizabeths subjects therefore enjoyed the tranquility of her comparatively com-paratively peaceful reign and did not penetrate the parsimony prompting it They profited by the thrift of her administration ad-ministration nor suspected that it was practiced so rigidly mainly to avoid summoning parliament They thrilled to the glorious uplifting achievements of the day unmindful that the source of their Inspiration was untouched by the moral energy of the perlol which she regarded as simply another pawn upon her political chessboard Only to her unfortunate advisers and attendants did she stand revealed In all the odium whlct deservedlY attaches I at-taches to her The universality of her k t c 1I I J Two Peers and Their Robes and a Halberdier in the time of Elizabeth II which she was always inordinately fond The customary champion who since the coronation of Iatllda had challenged opposition to the newly I crowned monarch offered the usual defense de-fense of the most high and mighty princess our dread sovereign Lady Elizabeth by the grace of God queen of England France Ireland defender of the true ancient and Catholic faith most worthy empress from the Orcade Isles to the Mountains Pyrenee After Elizabeths accession the pleasure pleas-ure of the historian increases as he chronicles the unprecedented prosperity of England while the task of the biographer biog-rapher becomes proportionately more repellent as he Is obliged to detail the manifest deterioration of a fine character char-acter Her girlish romping coquetry becomes In mature years shameless vanity and gross masculinity her prudence pru-dence becomes JJarnimony and her shrewdness becomes treachery and open mendacity For fortyfive years she juggles with diplomacy deeming no means too low to gain a coveted end What wonder that she battles the most subtle diplomats In Europe stinging the Spanish ambassador into writing home that the English queen Is possessed pos-sessed of 100000 devils and making Philip to marvel that a wanton should overturn the policy of the escurla To foreign powers she was variously a punning spinster 11 mistress of finesse l a vapid voluptuary a parsimonious pedant pe-dant or a rawboned romp but to her people she was ever and always good Queen Bess They were spared the sound of their good queens profanity at the council board where she boxed the ears of grave ministers of state or cuffed her attendant thAV were spared Interest made her quick to recognize merit and galvanize Its owner to heroism hero-ism Yet she accepted the prodigious labor of her employees with complacent Ingratitude grumbling at the expense of subduing the Spanish Armada and leaving her able minister Valslngham who poured out his fortune and life In I her service to die of poverty and neg I lect lectEllzabeths good points were her ex i treme fondness for her people which enabled her to tell how far she could hoodwink them without forfeiting their devotIon and her persistent voidance of war which gave opportunity for the i development of the maritime intellectual intellec-tual commercial and manufacturIng interests in-terests of the coutitry Had she not seized this golden opportunity the I I I I I dii Cup of the Goldsmiths Company Given Giv-en by Queen Elizabeth to Sir M Rowe Lord Mayor A D 1558 world traffic diveted from Antwerp at ter its capture by the Duke of Parma would not have drifted to London la Ing the foundation of Its gigantic growth Even her faultsher temporizing her conservatism her pOlicy of detail served well the uncertain tendencies ot those das Her lon drawn diplomatic Intrigues Impeded the progress of her enemies minds prevented a too hurried hur-ried Interference In the affairs of other nations and gave her time to see which I party would ultimately trIumph that ROYAL BEDSTEAD OF QEEE EL IZABETHS TIME the slht of her creed for compliment which even In her 70th veal took manifest man-Ifest nlasure In havll1l her courtier aDnroach her with hands shading their eyes that the light of their queens countennnce might not blind their visIon vis-Ion Her people loved her first and foremost because she represented the popularity party the Protestantism of Christendom and never seemed to suspect sus-pect her absolute indIfference to Its tenets te-nets Any ruler peaceably disposed succeeding suc-ceeding a warlike sovereign is bound j f 11 r she might throw her prestige with the winning cause So that while she was adored as protector of the national religion re-ligion had the Catholic party become dominant there is no doubt that she would have been handed down to posterity pos-terity as zealous 11 cooperator with the pope as her sister Mar In her private chapel she ahivays retained the rItual of the Romlsh church She treated treat-ed the clergy says Green much asher as-her ancestors treated the Jews arrogating arro-gating to herself as their guardIan the sole right or robbing them unmercl b r t l fully Many English Catholics suffered death because unwilling to subscribe tithe ti-the acts of uniformity and supremacy passed by EIIZlbeths first parliament malting the queen head of the Church oC England She insisted upon these oaths more thatshe might be undisputed undis-puted head of everything In her realm than through any religious conviction That her establishment of the English church was due rather to resentment than enlightenment was shown when Mary of Scotland and her husband the young king of France Insisted upon 1 their claims to the English throne I when Elizabeth to conciliate the Cath oUc element reintroduced the crlclfix into the church for one year held out hope of her conversion and dangled the bait of her marriage to an Austrian Catholic suitor Yet in the end by defeating the invincible In-vincible Armada she crusted forever the power of Spain and stabllshed Protestantism in Holland as well as In England Philip II of Spain making the execution of Mars Queen of Scots the ostensible reason for revenging the aid which Elizabeths subject had given the Netherlands determined to crush England by his farfamed fleet of ships while Spain was ringing with the din of preparation Elizabeth in steel corselet as generalissimo of her ann reviewed the troops and was only prevented pre-vented b y her statesmen from leading in person the expedition commanded by Leicester The light equipment of the English enabled Drake Hawkins and Howard to overcome without difficulty the clumsy halfmoon of Spanish ships whIch had terrorized Europe for so many years A history Elizabeths lrtatlons would fill volumes Although frequently besought by her people to marry esp es-p clally after the birth of a son to Mary Queen of Scots she met these requests by promise of consideration keeping all Europe In suspense while she dallied with some prlncI suitor oftentimes she permitted her delight In grave coquetrIes her legacy from Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to heather heat-her so far as a betrothal which invariably Invar-iably terminated after sufficient International Inter-national apprehension had been excited Queen Elizabeths Coach ttt b over the political outcome of such a marriage by sending the royal suitor on his way after taking the precaution of retaining all his valuable presents She justified her course to parliament by tapping her coronation ring slgnfi cantly and saying I am alreadJo bound unto a husband which Is the kingdom of England and let that suffice suf-fice you Her real reasons for re malnlr1b a virgin queen were first because be-cause she wished to rule with undivided undi-vided scepter to be both king and queen of England second because she would not shatter her popularity bJo marrying a foreign and therefore Catholic Cath-olic suitor and third because she really re-ally cared after their wives had been conveniently murdered for Seymour In her girlhood Leicester In her maturity and Essex In her second childhood Indeed In-deed If we may credit Froudes Interpretation Inter-pretation oC some recently discovered Spanish letters her strong desire to marr the recently widowed worthless worth-less Leicester In face of her peoples opposition actuallY led I her to offer to sell her country to Spain and the Cnth Qlle cause upon Philip Irs promise of support of her marriage As Elizabeth advanced In years ahc grew more and more exacting In her coquetries more violent and unendurable unendur-able to those around her Even her beloved be-loved people began to understand the iold hard nature underlying her propitiating pro-pitiating ostentation antI looked with Increasing coldness upon her gaudy progresses from one part of the realm to another Thrifty with the public purse no extravagance In personal per-sonal expenditure was great enough for her Her lords and ladles being obliged to follow suit It was frequently said that many a cavalier was ushered Into her presence with a manor on his back As she grew older she became curious at beholding her unprepossessing unpreposses-sing rellectlon In the glass and forbade for-bade any mirrors In her rooms that night remInd her of her shriveled via ae her hawk beak or her long lean neck hereupon her maids satisfied their spite and sense of humor when dressing her bJo Increasing the grotesqueness gro-tesqueness of her appearance with dabs of carmine upon her nose or ears In her 70th year she fell Into despondency upon learning that a ring which she had given Essex her last young favorIte favor-Ite with the understanding that It would save his life at any time he might return It had been withheld from her by the jealous Countess of Nottingham who thus caused the execution exe-cution of Essex The lonelY death of Elizabeth followed soon after and her courtiers hastened to pay homage to her successor James I son of Mary Queen of Scots Caught on the crest of that wave of material and mental prosperity which flowed over Eurone as a result of the renaissance Elizabeth hoarded and re The Last Great Medal Struck to Celebrate Cele-brate the Triumphs of Elizabeth fleeted the glory accruing from the hapllJo fortuities preceding her reign and despite her strong and contemptIble contempt-Ible personality will always be distinguished distin-guished by the Elizabethan era whose brilliancy outshone even the far famed Augustan age I NoteHllary Qqeen of Scots will be the next study of this series |