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4<meta name="author" content="Marilee Mongello">
5<meta name="content" content="Queen Elizabeth I: Biography, Portraits with commentary, Primary Sources Elizabeth Tudor 1533 to 1603 The Virgin Queen Gloriana">
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17
18<table border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" height="667">
19 <tr>
20 <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
21 <td valign="top" width="50%" height="29"><p align="center">&nbsp;</td>
22 <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
23 </tr>
24 <tr>
25 <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
26 <td width="50%" height="3">
27 <p align="center">
28 <IMG height=98 alt="Queen Elizabeth I"
29 src="eliz1-queenuse.gif" width=422></td>
30 <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
31 </tr>
32 <tr>
33 <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
34 <td valign="top" width="50%" height="610">
35 <p align="center">
36 <IMG height=427 alt="crop from the famous 'Armada Portrait' of Elizabeth I"
37 src="eliz5-mainpic.jpg" width=325 border=2><blockquote>
38 <p align="left">
39 &nbsp;</blockquote>
40 <DIV align=left>Visit
41 <a href="http://www.marileecody.com/eliz1-images.html">Elizabethan
42 Images</a> to view portraits of the queen and her courtiers, with
43 commentary.<BR>Read poems, letters, and speeches by the queen at <A
44 href="../primary.html">Primary
45 Sources</A>.</DIV>
46 <DIV align=left>&nbsp;</DIV>
47 <DIV align=left>Read ES Beesly's 1892 biography of Queen
48 Elizabeth I at <a href="../secondary.html">
49 Secondary Sources</a>.<BR><BR>Visit <A
50 href="boleyn.html">the Anne
51 Boleyn website</A> to learn more about Elizabeth's mother.<BR>Visit <A
52 href="../relative/maryqos.html">the Mary,
53 queen of Scots website</A> to learn more about Elizabeth's
54 cousin.<BR><BR>Test your knowledge of Elizabeth's life and times at <A
55 href="../tudor1.html">Tudor
56 Quizzes</A>.</DIV>
57 <DIV align=left>&nbsp;</DIV>
58 <DIV align=left>Meet other Elizabethan enthusiasts at
59 <a href="http://www.alassea.net/fl/elizabeth/">The Virgin Queen
60 fanlisting</a>.</DIV>
61 <DIV align=left>&nbsp;</DIV>
62 </td>
63 <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
64 </tr>
65</table>
66
67<blockquote>
68 <blockquote>
69 <blockquote>
70 <hr>
71 </blockquote>
72 </blockquote>
73 <p><font size="4">'She is certainly a great Queen and were she only a Catholic
74 she would be our dearly beloved.&nbsp; Just look how well she governs!&nbsp;
75 She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes
76 herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all....&nbsp; Our
77 children would have ruled the whole world.'&nbsp;&nbsp; </font><I><FONT size=-1>
78 Pope Sixtus V describes Elizabeth, c1588</FONT></I><font size="2"> </font></p>
79 <blockquote>
80 <blockquote>
81 <hr>
82 <p>When news of the execution of Mary, queen of Scots reached Europe, it
83 gave Philip II of Spain yet another reason to look askance at his former
84 sister-in-law.&nbsp; English harassment of Spanish shipping and their
85 support of rebellions against his rule had long angered him.&nbsp; He had
86 tried diplomacy; it had been successful enough until Elizabeth's
87 Protestant councilors grew suspicious of his motives and angry over his
88 treatment of continental Protestants.&nbsp; After diplomacy came a gradual
89 cooling between the countries; Philip even tried his hand at encouraging
90 Irish rebellions against Elizabeth.&nbsp; And Philip grew increasingly
91 pious as the years passed, and thus more inclined to take the
92 excommunication of 1570 more seriously.</p>
93 <p>
94 <img border="2" src="philipos-crop.jpg" lowsrc="http://englishhistory.net/tudor/Philip%20II%20of%20Spain" width="155" height="282" align="left">Serious consequences were avoided for the first thirty years of
95 Elizabeth's rule due to her own prevarication and Philip's more pressing
96 problems.&nbsp; But as the 1580s began, it was clear that something must
97 give.&nbsp; Philip could no longer afford the blatant piracy of the English,
98 publicly disavowed but privately approved by Elizabeth (who always received
99 the largest share of profits.)&nbsp; She had even gone so far as to knight
100 her greatest pirate, Sir Francis Drake, in 1581.&nbsp; Four years later, the
101 English openly supported the Netherlands when it revolted against Philip, a
102 dangerous but popular policy for Elizabeth.&nbsp; Furthermore, Philip had
103 long claimed the throne of Portugal but had only recently seized it by force
104 of arms.&nbsp; If he wished to maintain control, he needed to defend the
105 rich and wide-ranging Portuguese colonies.</p>
106 <p>Philip also needed to end the Protestant menace to Europe.&nbsp; He
107 supported plans to free Mary, queen of Scots and place her on the English
108 throne.&nbsp; His ambassador Mendoza had been peripherally involved in the
109 Babington Plot and was expelled from England as a result.&nbsp; Many of
110 Elizabeth's councilors, most importantly the influential Robert Dudley, had
111 advocated a tougher approach to Spanish meddling.&nbsp; But always the
112 queen, mindful of her treasury and always desiring peace, had held back.&nbsp;
113 She would send a few troops and some money, but little else.&nbsp; Philip,
114 however, had less love of peace and a more pressing piety.&nbsp; England
115 would be brought back into the Catholic fold, as the pope had commanded in
116 1570.&nbsp; The execution of Mary, queen of Scots in early 1587 gave him
117 added impetus to act.&nbsp; The English had sought to publicize Mary's
118 various crimes, but most Europeans, even the Scots who had applauded her
119 overthrow years ago, preferred the more tragic image of an innocent queen
120 trapped by Elizabeth's wily councilors.&nbsp; </p>
121 <p>Philip spent much of 1587 finally preparing his long-rumored 'Armada'
122 against England.&nbsp; While Elizabeth's council had long warned her of this
123 possibility, Philip's own advisors believed he could ill afford this new
124 battle.&nbsp; The Spanish fleet and army had fought too long and hard over
125 the years.&nbsp; They comprised the largest and best-prepared army and navy
126 in the world; they had been successful against the Turks, had watched their
127 traditional enemy, France, succumb to internal religious turmoil, had seized
128 Portugal, and fought throughout the Low Countries.&nbsp; But victories could
129 be as tiresome and expensive as defeats.&nbsp; Morale was low and leadership
130 was lacking.</p>
131 <p>Philip's advisors consistently stressed the expense of the proposed
132 battle.&nbsp; But for the king, expenses were driving him to fight.&nbsp; He
133 needed to stop the English from seizing Spanish ships filled with precious
134 coin and goods.&nbsp; Each loss was a further blow to a nearly empty
135 treasury.&nbsp; There was no better time to fight than now, he declared, for
136 the murder of Mary Stuart had at last united European opinion against
137 Elizabeth.&nbsp; In July 1587, he received official approval from the pope
138 for the invasion, provided England returned to Catholicism.&nbsp; The pope
139 even agreed to allow Philip to choose the next English ruler.&nbsp; It would
140 in all likelihood be the Spanish king himself for he claimed descent from
141 the famous Edward III.</p>
142 <p>As further impetus to Philip, even as he negotiated approval of the
143 invasion with the pope, Drake led an expedition into Spain itself, seizing
144 and destroying many vessels.&nbsp; Elizabeth protested that Drake had acted
145 without her knowledge; this may have been true.&nbsp; Certainly the queen
146 had no desire for war.&nbsp; But her protestations did not matter.&nbsp; It
147 was an audacious act which could not go unpunished.&nbsp; </p>
148 <p>Elizabeth, of course, knew of the Spanish army lodged in the Low
149 Countries, so close to English shores and able to intercept English
150 shipping.&nbsp; When word came that these forces were being steadily
151 increased and an armada of Spanish ships was being prepared for battle, she
152 could no longer debate and hesitate.&nbsp; The impending threat was too
153 obvious to ignore.</p>
154 <p>Yet what could England do against the great Spanish fleet?&nbsp; All of
155 Europe, and many Englishmen, believed England could not withstand the
156 overwhelming Spanish force.</p>
157 <hr>
158 </blockquote>
159 </blockquote>
160 <p><font size="4">'Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved
161 myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in
162 the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects... I know I have the body but of
163 a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a
164 king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince
165 of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm...'&nbsp;&nbsp;
166 </font> <i>
167 <font size="2">from Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury, 1588</font></i></p>
168 <blockquote>
169 <blockquote>
170 <hr>
171 <p>The Armada which sailed against England is sometimes called 'The
172 Invincible Armada', but its correct name is La Armada Grande.&nbsp; Its
173 supreme commander was the duke of Medina Sidonia, a nobleman who had done
174 all he could to avoid this appointment.&nbsp; He spent hours urging Philip,
175 in the most polite and obsequious way possible,
176 to find someone else, pointing out his own lack of experience in naval
177 matters.&nbsp; But the king would not listen.&nbsp; Spain's greatest naval
178 commander Don Alvaro de Bazan the elder, the marquess of Santa Cruz, had
179 died and there had been a long, fruitless search for a suitable replacement.&nbsp;
180 The conscientious Medina Sidonia was Philip's choice, much to the duke's
181 everlasting regret.</p>
182 <p>The Armada sailed from Lisbon on 20 May 1588, a grand procession of 130
183 ships and over 30,000 men.&nbsp; However, half of the vessels were transport
184 ships and the majority of men were soldiers, not sailors.&nbsp; Medina
185 Sidonia was to sail to Flanders, where he would join the prince of Parma who
186 waited with more soldiers and transports.&nbsp; But the Armada stopped first
187 in Corunna for some repair work and Medina Sidonia wrote to Philip, asking
188 for the invasion to be postponed indefinitely.&nbsp; The king was adamant,
189 however, and the fleet sailed to Flanders.&nbsp; </p>
190 <p>Their arrival was expected and observed by the English.&nbsp; Under the
191 command of Lord Howard, they set out from Plymouth, under cover of night.&nbsp;
192 They managed to destroy some of the chief Spanish ships so that, with
193 reinforcements, their numbers roughly equaled the Spanish.&nbsp; More
194 importantly, in terms of command and gunnery, the English had a far superior
195 advantage.&nbsp; By the time of the great battle off Gravelines, each fleet
196 had roughly sixty warships.&nbsp; The Spaniards fought heroically, but
197 Howard was relentless.&nbsp; The English ships were more agile and their
198 commanders more inventive.&nbsp; They did not allow the Spanish time to regroup
199 and refit.&nbsp; Only one Spanish ship was captured but several sank or ran
200 ashore.&nbsp; Medina Sidonia decided to lead the remaining fleet home,
201 sailing along the north of Scotland and Ireland.&nbsp; They met constant
202 storms and rough seas, and not one pilot remained in the whole fleet.&nbsp;
203 Each passing storm destroyed more ships until, when the Armada finally
204 limped home in the mid-September, half the fleet and most of its men were
205 gone.</p>
206 <p>The defeat of the Armada was justly celebrated in Elizabeth's time.&nbsp;
207 It continues to be one of the most famous naval victories in history.&nbsp;
208 There is an engaging aspect to the whole story - the English fleet taking on
209 the greatest naval power in the world and, against all odds, winning a
210 stunning victory.&nbsp; The psychological effect upon both nations was
211 enormous.&nbsp; </p>
212 <p>Yet, upon closer inspection, the victory was neither as unexpected or
213 immediately successful as is often believed.&nbsp; The English navy had
214 always been superior in tactics and gunnery than the Spanish, but had
215 suffered from Elizabeth's penny-pinching support.&nbsp; They simply never
216 had enough money to build the ships and pay the sailors needed to become a
217 world-class naval power.&nbsp; The Spanish took so long to rebuild their
218 navy that England finally had their opportunity, and they seized it with
219 enthusiasm.&nbsp; England would become the undisputed master of the seas.</p>
220 <p>But Spain was not nearly finished as a world power.&nbsp; Barely two
221 years after the Armada, they were virtually omnipotent in European affairs.&nbsp;
222 The religious turmoil in France had weakened their traditional enemy to such
223 an extent that Spain stood unchallenged until 1598, when Henri of Navarre
224 converted to Catholicism.&nbsp; The balance of power in Europe was thus
225 restored.&nbsp; But Spain's army continued to grow until their dominance of
226 land warfare equaled England's naval power.&nbsp; </p>
227 <p>For Elizabeth, of course, the most important development was the most
228 immediate - a brilliant victory over her greatest enemy, whose threats to
229 invade had haunted most years of her reign.&nbsp; She could breathe a
230 much-deserved sigh of relief.&nbsp; And she deserved no small credit for the
231 success.&nbsp; Her speech to the troops at Tilbury, rallying them to fight,
232 remains justly famous; it is among her most stirring:</p>
233 <blockquote>
234 <p>My loving people,
235 We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed
236 how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I
237 assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving
238 people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I
239 have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and
240 good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see,
241 at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the
242 midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down
243 for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even
244 in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I
245 have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and
246 think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare
247 to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall
248 grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general,
249 judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know
250 already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We
251 do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the
252 mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never
253 prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your
254 obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the
255 field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God,
256 of my kingdom, and of my people. <br>
257&nbsp;</p>
258 </blockquote>
259 <p>She enjoyed a renaissance of sorts among her people after the Armada.&nbsp;
260 She had already ruled for thirty years.&nbsp; Those years of peace and
261 general prosperity had led to an inevitable resentment amongst her subjects,
262 particularly the young noblemen who now dominated her court.&nbsp; They
263 wanted adventure, glory, grand military exploits; they were fervent
264 nationalists who wanted England to finally challenge the great powers of
265 Europe; they believed themselves capable of anything.&nbsp; And Elizabeth,
266 nearing sixty, would regard them with either amusement or anger.&nbsp; They
267 did not know the price of war, she would complain; they did not understand
268 how difficult it had been to bring peace and security to England.&nbsp; They
269 had not lived through the tumultuous reigns of her father and siblings.&nbsp;
270 They did not remember the bitter religious divide, which even now she only
271 bridged with her inestimable charm and intellect.&nbsp; England was at peace
272 and her young courtiers chafed at peace.&nbsp; But for the queen, peace was
273 her greatest gift to her 'loving people.'&nbsp; She knew its importance, the
274 dear price it had cost her.&nbsp; 'To be a King and wear a crown is a thing
275 more pleasant to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear
276 it,' she remarked in her Golden Speech of 1601.</p>
277 <p>But she also knew those young courtiers disagreed, however much they
278 fawned over her, pretending she was still the young queen of thirty.&nbsp;
279 Elizabeth was content to play the game for her vanity would not allow
280 otherwise.&nbsp; To grow old was a curse to her, she remarked; 'I am not
281 sick, I feel no pain, yet I pine away.'&nbsp; To have a young mind in an old
282 body was another common lament.&nbsp; She felt the loss of her youth keenly
283 and did what she could to create a timeless role for herself.&nbsp; She wore
284 wigs and heavy make-up and still dressed in the opulent gowns of a maid, a
285 fetching style when she was younger but now merely a reminder of her lack of
286 marriage and family.&nbsp; Her older subjects understood her melancholy; of
287 the younger ones, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Bacon were clever
288 enough to guess its cause.&nbsp; But most did not.</p>
289 <p>And the queen no longer had the comfort of loyal Cecil and her beloved
290 Dudley.&nbsp; Though Dudley had commanded the troops at Tilbury, he had died
291 barely a month afterwards.&nbsp; Cecil was now very old and had ceded much
292 of his influence to his ambitious son Robert and Sir Francis Walsingham, who
293 died in 1590.&nbsp; The queen thus turned to another favorite, a young man
294 who was a last link to Dudley.&nbsp; His name was Robert Devereux, earl of
295 Essex; he was Dudley's stepson and his mother was Elizabeth's cousin,
296 Lettice Knollys.&nbsp; </p>
297 <p>Essex remains one of the more interesting courtiers of Elizabeth's later
298 years.&nbsp; He was the mortal enemy of Raleigh (who found him arrogant and
299 overbearing) and close friends with Bacon.&nbsp; He became the great
300 favorite of Elizabeth's later years because, for a while, he was the ablest
301 flirt and wit at court.&nbsp; But his ambitions went far beyond being the
302 queen's 'wild-horse'.&nbsp; In this, he was encouraged by his flighty mother
303 and sycophantic admirers.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>
304 <p>Essex believed in the primacy of the nobility at Elizabeth's court and
305 disliked the influence of Cecil and his son, Robert, and other 'upstarts'
306 such as Raleigh.&nbsp; He was too proud, which the queen - depending upon
307 her mood - found endearing or infuriating.&nbsp; And he dreamed of military
308 glory, badgering the queen to send him to Ireland to quell rebellions or
309 with the navy to harass Spanish ships.&nbsp; Elizabeth often refused; she
310 genuinely enjoyed his company and would not risk his life.&nbsp; And when
311 she did succumb, Essex performed disastrously.&nbsp; Though a daring and
312 brave soldier, he was a terrible commander and his exploits cost the frugal
313 queen dearly.&nbsp; </p>
314 <p>His worst offense, however, was a slip of the tongue.&nbsp; Elizabeth
315 would respond to Essex's tantrums by banishing him to the country until he
316 begged forgiveness.&nbsp; Once, he decided to pretend illness instead.&nbsp;
317 When news of his condition reached Elizabeth, she sent a letter asking after
318 his health - but nothing more.&nbsp; Someone mentioned the queen's
319 conditions for letting him return.&nbsp; Infuriated, Essex cried out, 'Her
320 conditions!&nbsp; Her conditions are as crooked as her carcase.'&nbsp; Those
321 words reached the queen and she never forgot them.</p>
322 <p>Essex did return to court.&nbsp; But his subsequent behavior was
323 outlandish and insulting; he even dared to turn his back on Elizabeth during
324 a council meeting.&nbsp; The final blow came when he led a rebellion against
325 the queen.&nbsp; With his friend, the earl of Southampton, he planned to
326 gather a small army and seize the queen and throne.&nbsp; When captured, as
327 inevitably he was, for his supporters were few and even those deserted him,
328 Essex declared he only meant to save the queen from evil counsel.&nbsp; But
329 Elizabeth, who had so often vacillated over executions, only hesitated once
330 with Essex.&nbsp; He was executed on 25 February 1601.</p>
331 <p>Despite scurrilous gossip, Elizabeth's affection for Essex was more
332 maternal than romantic.&nbsp; She had no choice but to sign his
333 death-warrant but it broke her heart.&nbsp; When her godson, Sir John
334 Harington, visited in the winter of 1602, he found her taste for old
335 pleasures gone.&nbsp; Harington read some of his rhymes and Elizabeth, with
336 a little smile, remarked, 'When thou dost feel creeping time at thy gate,
337 these fooleries will please thee less; I am past my relish for such
338 matters.'&nbsp; To the earl of Nottingham, mourning the loss of his wife,
339 she said, ' I am tied with a chain of iron about my neck.&nbsp; I am tied,
340 I am tied, and the case is altered with me.'</p>
341 <p>She mentioned Essex at times, but this was merely a symptom of her
342 awareness that all of the work and struggle of her reign had ended in
343 solitude.&nbsp; She had often remarked on the essential loneliness of the
344 crown but she felt it most deeply now.&nbsp; </p>
345 <p>Her council, led by Robert Cecil, whose father had died in 1601, watched
346 her slow decline while preparing<img border="0" src="eliz1-oldercrop.jpg" lowsrc="http://englishhistory.net/tudor/portrait%20of%20Elizabeth%20I%20in%20old%20age" alt="portrait of Elizabeth I in old age" width="165" height="171" align="right"> for the future.&nbsp; Elizabeth still had
347 not named a successor.&nbsp; She had always understood its dangerous
348 implications.&nbsp; Yet there was no real doubt that she meant for James VI
349 of Scotland, son of Mary queen of Scots, to succeed her.&nbsp; He had
350 married a Protestant princess and was already a father.&nbsp; And he had
351 long since made his peace with Elizabeth, exchanging frequent letters and
352 accepting her political advice.</p>
353 <p>Elizabeth retired to Richmond Palace, her 'warm, snug box' in March 1603.&nbsp;
354 Her death was preceded by physical weakness and mental depression, but there
355 were no overt causes.&nbsp; She was almost seventy years old, ancient for
356 her time.&nbsp; She rested in a low chair by the fire, refusing to let
357 doctors examine her.&nbsp; As the days passed, her condition slowly
358 worsened.&nbsp; She stood for hours on end until, finally, she was persuaded
359 to lay upon cushions on the floor.&nbsp; She rested there for two days, not
360 speaking.&nbsp; A doctor ventured close and asked how she could bear the
361 endless silence.&nbsp; She replied simply, 'I meditate.'&nbsp; For the third
362 and fourth day, she continued to rest in silence, with a finger often in her
363 mouth.&nbsp; Her attendants were terrified; they must move her but she
364 refused.&nbsp; The younger Cecil visited and said, 'Your Majesty, to content
365 the people, you must go to bed.'&nbsp; Elizabeth replied, with some of her
366 old spirit, 'Little man, little man, the word <i>must</i> is not used to
367 princes.'</p>
368 <p>Finally, she grew so weak that they could carry her to bed.&nbsp; She
369 asked for music and, for a time, it brought some comfort.&nbsp; Her
370 councilors assembled; did she have any instructions regarding the
371 succession?&nbsp; She made a sign when Cecil mentioned the king of Scotland.&nbsp;
372 It was enough.&nbsp; He returned to his office to begin the paperwork for a
373 new ruler.</p>
374 <p>Meanwhile, Archbishop Whitgift, whom she once called her 'little black
375 husband', arrived to pray.&nbsp; He was old and his knees ached terribly,
376 but he knelt at the royal bedside until she finally slept.&nbsp; She slept on into
377 the early hours of 24 March until, at last, as the courtiers watched and
378 waited, the steady breathing stopped.&nbsp; 'Her Majesty departed this life,
379 mildly like a lamb, easily like a ripe apple from the tree,' John Manningham
380 was told.</p>
381 <p>That same morning, the chief councilors rode to Whitehall where Cecil
382 drafted the proclamation of the queen's death and James's succession.&nbsp;
383 He read it aloud first at Whitehall and then at St Paul's and finally
384 Cheapside cross.&nbsp; The councilors then formally demanded entrance to the
385 Tower of London in the name of King James I of England.&nbsp; Elizabeth's
386 maids and ladies were still waiting in the Coffer Room at Richmond Palace.&nbsp;
387 When news of the peaceful transition of power came, they began to prepare
388 for Elizabeth's funeral.&nbsp; </p>
389 <p>The new king received the news of his accession on 27 March, for the
390 ambitious Robert Carey had ridden at top speed to Edinburgh; his journey was
391 so quick that its speed would not be matched until 1832.&nbsp; But while
392 James was initially welcomed peacefully and happily, his reign would quickly
393 turn sour.&nbsp; It was not long before even Robert Cecil, who became the
394 most powerful statesman of James's reign, wrote to Harington:</p>
395 <blockquote>
396 <p>You know all my former steps: good knight, rest content, and give heed to
397 one that hath sorrowed in the bright lustre of a court, and gone heavily
398 even on the best-seeming fair ground.&nbsp; Tis a great task to prove one's
399 honesty, and yet not spoil one's fortune.&nbsp; You have tasted a little
400 hereof in our blessed Queen's time, who was more than a man and, in troth,
401 sometimes less than a woman.&nbsp; I wish I waited now in her Presence
402 Chamber, with ease at my foot, and rest in my bed.&nbsp; I am pushed from
403 the shore of comfort, and know not where the winds and waves of a court may
404 bear me.</p>
405 </blockquote>
406 <p>And the common people realized their loss as well, as Godfrey Goodman,
407 bishop of Gloucester wrote:</p>
408 <blockquote>
409 <p>After a few years, when we had experience of a Scottish government, the
410 Queen did seem to revive; then was her memory much magnified: such ringing
411 of bells, such public joy and sermons in commemoration of her, the picture
412 of her tomb painted in many churches, and in effect more solemnity and joy
413 in memory of her coronation than was for the coming-in of King James.</p>
414 </blockquote>
415 <p>Elizabeth's funeral procession, composed of more than a thousand
416 mourners, began on 28 April.&nbsp; It was a stirring tribute to the queen,
417 never forgotten by those who witnessed its passing.&nbsp; But her tomb, paid
418 for by the new king, was less impressive than that provided to his disgraced
419 mother, and cost far less.&nbsp; It can still be visited in Westminster
420 Abbey, where Elizabeth rests alongside her half-sister Queen Mary I.&nbsp; </p>
421 <hr>
422 </blockquote>
423 </blockquote>
424</blockquote>
425
426 <p align="center"><font size="4">'My good mistress is gone, I shall not
427 hastily put forth for a new master.'<br></font><i><font size="2">Sir John Harington, Nugae Antiquae</font></i></p>
428 <blockquote>
429 <blockquote>
430 <blockquote>
431 <hr>
432 <P align="center"><FONT size=-1><A
433 href="../monarchs.html">to Tudor
434 Monarchs</A><BR>
435 <a href="eliz4.html">back to
436 Queen Elizabeth I, part four</a></FONT><B><BR></B></P>
437 <P align="left"><font size="-1"><b>Note:</b> The complicated story of Robert
438 Devereux, earl of Essex, is most beautifully told in Lytton Strachey's
439 'Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History'.&nbsp; Strachey often wanders far
440 off course, and his psychological portrait of Elizabeth is flawed, but he
441 writes like a dream.&nbsp; As for conventional biographies of Elizabeth I,
442 my favorite is by Lacey Baldwin Smith.<br>Thanks for
443 exploring / reading my Queen Elizabeth I website.&nbsp; <i>-Marilee</i></font></P>
444 </blockquote>
445 </blockquote>
446</blockquote>
447
448 <P align="center"><i><font size="2">last
449 revised 8 March 2004</font></i></P>
450
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