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CHARACTER, AIMS & CORONATION - Coggle Diagram
CHARACTER, AIMS & CORONATION
LIFE BEFORE 1558
Some historians theorise that Thomas molested Elizabeth. Elizabeth was sent away in May 1548 when Catherine found Elizabeth and Thomas in "an embrace".
Thomas encouraged rumours that he was thinking of marrying Elizabeth - the Duke of Somerset saw his brother's plan as a challenge to his authority, so Thomas was executed. Elizabeth feared for her own life and claimed she hadn't been involved in his plans → accepted.
In the last years of Henry's reign, Elizabeth had enjoyed a stable environment around the court of his last wife, Catherine Parr, who took her under wing. This is when Elizabeth developed her religious beliefs, moderate Protestantism.
Although Elizabeth had no involvement in Wyatt's Rebellion, she was arrested and taken to the Tower of London where she spent 2 months in imprisonment. Kept under house arrest in Oxfordshire.
"Elizabeth saw how her royal father was the embodiment of power and manhood, wielder of fate for the women who married him, and thus she acquired abnormal experience of the importance and disposability of married women" - J.Ross.
Traumatic - when she was born in 1533, her father was disappointed. She was less than 3 when her mother was convicted of high treason and executed. Became a bastard when Henry remarried.
CHARACTER
She was cultured in the arts, music, literature and languages. Studied theology. Learned the importance of her appearance to symbolise her status.
In 1558, the Spanish ambassador, the Count of Feria, noted that Elizabeth was more feared than her sister had been and that she gave orders "as absolutely as her father did."
Used her father's memory, telling Parliament in 1559 that "we hope to rule, govern and keep this our realm in good justice, peace and rest, in likewise as the king my father held you in."
No desire to involve herself in the details of govt in the manner of her grandfather, but she took an informed interest in decision-making processes. She was determined to preserve the prerogative powers of the Crown, which meant she insisted on taking the most important decisions.
In comparison to Mary, Elizabeth was better educated, had a better grasp of political processes, and was a better judge of character.
Inherited her father's quick temper and ability to charm people, as well as her grandfather's reluctance to spend money.
ENGLAND INHERITED
"The Queen poor, the realm exhausted, the nobility poor and decayed." "The French king bestriding the realm, having one foot in Calais and the other in Scotland." - Armigal Waad, Clerk to the Privy Council.
"I never saw England weaker in strength, money and riches" - Sir Thomas Smith, a Protestant and one of Elizabeth's councillors, writing in 1560 about the situation at her succession.
CORONATION
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15th Jan 1559, Elizabeth was crowned and anointed by Owen Oglethorpe, the Catholic bishop of Carlisle, in Westminster Abbey.
A joyous and splendid occasion, with much celebration and a strong Protestant flavour.
She then came out of the Abbey to be presented to the people amidst a deafening noise from loud instruments and drums.
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A MAN'S WORLD
Women, it was feared, were weak and not suited intellectually or temperamentally to resign.
As Elizabeth got older, she came to see her gender not as a disadvantage but as a useful political weapon. It allowed her to charm and manipulate, to avoid situations she disliked and decisions she didn't want to make, and helped her create a powerful cult of personality.
John Knox on women - "for their sight is but blindness; their strength, weakness' their counsel, foolishness' and their judgement, frenzy."
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