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| 4 | <meta name="author" content="Marilee Mongello">
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| 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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| 11 | <title>Queen Elizabeth I: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources</title>
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| 16 | <body link="#0000FF" vlink="#0000FF" alink="#0000FF">
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| 18 | <table border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" height="667">
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| 20 | <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
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| 21 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="29"><p align="center"> </td>
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| 26 | <td width="50%" height="3">
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| 27 | <p align="center">
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| 28 | <IMG height=98 alt="Queen Elizabeth I"
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| 29 | src="eliz1-queenuse.gif" width=422></td>
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| 30 | <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
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| 31 | </tr>
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| 32 | <tr>
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| 33 | <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
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| 34 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="610">
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| 35 | <p align="center">
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| 36 | <IMG height=427 alt="crop from the famous 'Armada Portrait' of Elizabeth I"
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| 37 | src="eliz5-mainpic.jpg" width=325 border=2><blockquote>
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| 38 | <p align="left">
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| 39 | </blockquote>
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| 40 | <DIV align=left>Visit
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| 41 | <a href="http://www.marileecody.com/eliz1-images.html">Elizabethan
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| 42 | Images</a> to view portraits of the queen and her courtiers, with
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| 43 | commentary.<BR>Read poems, letters, and speeches by the queen at <A
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| 44 | href="../primary.html">Primary
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| 45 | Sources</A>.</DIV>
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| 46 | <DIV align=left> </DIV>
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| 47 | <DIV align=left>Read ES Beesly's 1892 biography of Queen
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| 48 | Elizabeth I at <a href="../secondary.html">
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| 49 | Secondary Sources</a>.<BR><BR>Visit <A
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| 50 | href="boleyn.html">the Anne
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| 51 | Boleyn website</A> to learn more about Elizabeth's mother.<BR>Visit <A
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| 52 | href="../relative/maryqos.html">the Mary,
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| 53 | queen of Scots website</A> to learn more about Elizabeth's
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| 54 | cousin.<BR><BR>Test your knowledge of Elizabeth's life and times at <A
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| 55 | href="../tudor1.html">Tudor
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| 56 | Quizzes</A>.</DIV>
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| 57 | <DIV align=left> </DIV>
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| 58 | <DIV align=left>Meet other Elizabethan enthusiasts at
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| 59 | <a href="http://www.alassea.net/fl/elizabeth/">The Virgin Queen
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| 60 | fanlisting</a>.</DIV>
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| 61 | <DIV align=left> </DIV>
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| 62 | </td>
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| 63 | <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
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| 64 | </tr>
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| 65 | </table>
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| 66 |
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| 67 | <blockquote>
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| 68 | <blockquote>
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| 69 | <blockquote>
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| 70 | <hr>
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| 71 | </blockquote>
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| 72 | </blockquote>
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| 73 | <p><font size="4">'She is certainly a great Queen and were she only a Catholic
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| 74 | she would be our dearly beloved. Just look how well she governs!
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| 75 | She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes
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| 76 | herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all.... Our
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| 77 | children would have ruled the whole world.' </font><I><FONT size=-1>
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| 78 | Pope Sixtus V describes Elizabeth, c1588</FONT></I><font size="2"> </font></p>
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| 79 | <blockquote>
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| 80 | <blockquote>
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| 81 | <hr>
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| 82 | <p>When news of the execution of Mary, queen of Scots reached Europe, it
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| 83 | gave Philip II of Spain yet another reason to look askance at his former
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| 84 | sister-in-law. English harassment of Spanish shipping and their
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| 85 | support of rebellions against his rule had long angered him. He had
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| 86 | tried diplomacy; it had been successful enough until Elizabeth's
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| 87 | Protestant councilors grew suspicious of his motives and angry over his
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| 88 | treatment of continental Protestants. After diplomacy came a gradual
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| 89 | cooling between the countries; Philip even tried his hand at encouraging
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| 90 | Irish rebellions against Elizabeth. And Philip grew increasingly
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| 91 | pious as the years passed, and thus more inclined to take the
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| 92 | excommunication of 1570 more seriously.</p>
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| 93 | <p>
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| 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
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| 95 | Elizabeth's rule due to her own prevarication and Philip's more pressing
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| 96 | problems. But as the 1580s began, it was clear that something must
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| 97 | give. Philip could no longer afford the blatant piracy of the English,
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| 98 | publicly disavowed but privately approved by Elizabeth (who always received
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| 99 | the largest share of profits.) She had even gone so far as to knight
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| 100 | her greatest pirate, Sir Francis Drake, in 1581. Four years later, the
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| 101 | English openly supported the Netherlands when it revolted against Philip, a
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| 102 | dangerous but popular policy for Elizabeth. Furthermore, Philip had
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| 103 | long claimed the throne of Portugal but had only recently seized it by force
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| 104 | of arms. If he wished to maintain control, he needed to defend the
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| 105 | rich and wide-ranging Portuguese colonies.</p>
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| 106 | <p>Philip also needed to end the Protestant menace to Europe. He
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| 107 | supported plans to free Mary, queen of Scots and place her on the English
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| 108 | throne. His ambassador Mendoza had been peripherally involved in the
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| 109 | Babington Plot and was expelled from England as a result. Many of
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| 110 | Elizabeth's councilors, most importantly the influential Robert Dudley, had
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| 111 | advocated a tougher approach to Spanish meddling. But always the
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| 112 | queen, mindful of her treasury and always desiring peace, had held back.
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| 113 | She would send a few troops and some money, but little else. Philip,
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| 114 | however, had less love of peace and a more pressing piety. England
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| 115 | would be brought back into the Catholic fold, as the pope had commanded in
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| 116 | 1570. The execution of Mary, queen of Scots in early 1587 gave him
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| 117 | added impetus to act. The English had sought to publicize Mary's
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| 118 | various crimes, but most Europeans, even the Scots who had applauded her
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| 119 | overthrow years ago, preferred the more tragic image of an innocent queen
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| 120 | trapped by Elizabeth's wily councilors. </p>
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| 121 | <p>Philip spent much of 1587 finally preparing his long-rumored 'Armada'
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| 122 | against England. While Elizabeth's council had long warned her of this
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| 123 | possibility, Philip's own advisors believed he could ill afford this new
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| 124 | battle. The Spanish fleet and army had fought too long and hard over
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| 125 | the years. They comprised the largest and best-prepared army and navy
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| 126 | in the world; they had been successful against the Turks, had watched their
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| 127 | traditional enemy, France, succumb to internal religious turmoil, had seized
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| 128 | Portugal, and fought throughout the Low Countries. But victories could
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| 129 | be as tiresome and expensive as defeats. Morale was low and leadership
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| 130 | was lacking.</p>
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| 131 | <p>Philip's advisors consistently stressed the expense of the proposed
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| 132 | battle. But for the king, expenses were driving him to fight. He
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| 133 | needed to stop the English from seizing Spanish ships filled with precious
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| 134 | coin and goods. Each loss was a further blow to a nearly empty
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| 135 | treasury. There was no better time to fight than now, he declared, for
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| 136 | the murder of Mary Stuart had at last united European opinion against
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| 137 | Elizabeth. In July 1587, he received official approval from the pope
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| 138 | for the invasion, provided England returned to Catholicism. The pope
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| 139 | even agreed to allow Philip to choose the next English ruler. It would
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| 140 | in all likelihood be the Spanish king himself for he claimed descent from
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| 141 | the famous Edward III.</p>
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| 142 | <p>As further impetus to Philip, even as he negotiated approval of the
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| 143 | invasion with the pope, Drake led an expedition into Spain itself, seizing
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| 144 | and destroying many vessels. Elizabeth protested that Drake had acted
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| 145 | without her knowledge; this may have been true. Certainly the queen
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| 146 | had no desire for war. But her protestations did not matter. It
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| 147 | was an audacious act which could not go unpunished. </p>
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| 148 | <p>Elizabeth, of course, knew of the Spanish army lodged in the Low
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| 149 | Countries, so close to English shores and able to intercept English
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| 150 | shipping. When word came that these forces were being steadily
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| 151 | increased and an armada of Spanish ships was being prepared for battle, she
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| 152 | could no longer debate and hesitate. The impending threat was too
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| 153 | obvious to ignore.</p>
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| 154 | <p>Yet what could England do against the great Spanish fleet? All of
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| 155 | Europe, and many Englishmen, believed England could not withstand the
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| 156 | overwhelming Spanish force.</p>
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| 157 | <hr>
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| 158 | </blockquote>
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| 159 | </blockquote>
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| 160 | <p><font size="4">'Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved
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| 161 | myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in
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| 162 | the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects... I know I have the body but of
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| 163 | a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a
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| 164 | king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince
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| 165 | of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm...'
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| 166 | </font> <i>
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| 167 | <font size="2">from Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury, 1588</font></i></p>
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| 168 | <blockquote>
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| 169 | <blockquote>
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| 170 | <hr>
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| 171 | <p>The Armada which sailed against England is sometimes called 'The
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| 172 | Invincible Armada', but its correct name is La Armada Grande. Its
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| 173 | supreme commander was the duke of Medina Sidonia, a nobleman who had done
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| 174 | all he could to avoid this appointment. He spent hours urging Philip,
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| 175 | in the most polite and obsequious way possible,
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| 176 | to find someone else, pointing out his own lack of experience in naval
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| 177 | matters. But the king would not listen. Spain's greatest naval
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| 178 | commander Don Alvaro de Bazan the elder, the marquess of Santa Cruz, had
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| 179 | died and there had been a long, fruitless search for a suitable replacement.
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| 180 | The conscientious Medina Sidonia was Philip's choice, much to the duke's
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| 181 | everlasting regret.</p>
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| 182 | <p>The Armada sailed from Lisbon on 20 May 1588, a grand procession of 130
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| 183 | ships and over 30,000 men. However, half of the vessels were transport
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| 184 | ships and the majority of men were soldiers, not sailors. Medina
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| 185 | Sidonia was to sail to Flanders, where he would join the prince of Parma who
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| 186 | waited with more soldiers and transports. But the Armada stopped first
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| 187 | in Corunna for some repair work and Medina Sidonia wrote to Philip, asking
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| 188 | for the invasion to be postponed indefinitely. The king was adamant,
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| 189 | however, and the fleet sailed to Flanders. </p>
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| 190 | <p>Their arrival was expected and observed by the English. Under the
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| 191 | command of Lord Howard, they set out from Plymouth, under cover of night.
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| 192 | They managed to destroy some of the chief Spanish ships so that, with
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| 193 | reinforcements, their numbers roughly equaled the Spanish. More
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| 194 | importantly, in terms of command and gunnery, the English had a far superior
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| 195 | advantage. By the time of the great battle off Gravelines, each fleet
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| 196 | had roughly sixty warships. The Spaniards fought heroically, but
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| 197 | Howard was relentless. The English ships were more agile and their
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| 198 | commanders more inventive. They did not allow the Spanish time to regroup
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| 199 | and refit. Only one Spanish ship was captured but several sank or ran
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| 200 | ashore. Medina Sidonia decided to lead the remaining fleet home,
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| 201 | sailing along the north of Scotland and Ireland. They met constant
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| 202 | storms and rough seas, and not one pilot remained in the whole fleet.
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| 203 | Each passing storm destroyed more ships until, when the Armada finally
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| 204 | limped home in the mid-September, half the fleet and most of its men were
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| 205 | gone.</p>
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| 206 | <p>The defeat of the Armada was justly celebrated in Elizabeth's time.
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| 207 | It continues to be one of the most famous naval victories in history.
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| 208 | There is an engaging aspect to the whole story - the English fleet taking on
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| 209 | the greatest naval power in the world and, against all odds, winning a
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| 210 | stunning victory. The psychological effect upon both nations was
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| 211 | enormous. </p>
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| 212 | <p>Yet, upon closer inspection, the victory was neither as unexpected or
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| 213 | immediately successful as is often believed. The English navy had
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| 214 | always been superior in tactics and gunnery than the Spanish, but had
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| 215 | suffered from Elizabeth's penny-pinching support. They simply never
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| 216 | had enough money to build the ships and pay the sailors needed to become a
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| 217 | world-class naval power. The Spanish took so long to rebuild their
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| 218 | navy that England finally had their opportunity, and they seized it with
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| 219 | enthusiasm. England would become the undisputed master of the seas.</p>
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| 220 | <p>But Spain was not nearly finished as a world power. Barely two
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| 221 | years after the Armada, they were virtually omnipotent in European affairs.
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| 222 | The religious turmoil in France had weakened their traditional enemy to such
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| 223 | an extent that Spain stood unchallenged until 1598, when Henri of Navarre
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| 224 | converted to Catholicism. The balance of power in Europe was thus
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| 225 | restored. But Spain's army continued to grow until their dominance of
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| 226 | land warfare equaled England's naval power. </p>
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| 227 | <p>For Elizabeth, of course, the most important development was the most
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| 228 | immediate - a brilliant victory over her greatest enemy, whose threats to
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| 229 | invade had haunted most years of her reign. She could breathe a
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| 230 | much-deserved sigh of relief. And she deserved no small credit for the
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| 231 | success. Her speech to the troops at Tilbury, rallying them to fight,
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| 232 | remains justly famous; it is among her most stirring:</p>
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| 233 | <blockquote>
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| 234 | <p>My loving people,
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| 235 | We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed
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| 236 | how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I
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| 237 | assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving
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| 238 | people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I
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| 239 | have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and
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| 240 | good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see,
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| 241 | at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the
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| 242 | midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down
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| 243 | for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even
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| 244 | in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I
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| 245 | have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and
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| 246 | think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare
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| 247 | to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall
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| 248 | grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general,
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| 249 | judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know
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| 250 | already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We
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| 251 | do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the
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| 252 | mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never
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| 253 | prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your
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| 254 | obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the
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| 255 | field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God,
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| 256 | of my kingdom, and of my people. <br>
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| 257 | </p>
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| 258 | </blockquote>
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| 259 | <p>She enjoyed a renaissance of sorts among her people after the Armada.
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| 260 | She had already ruled for thirty years. Those years of peace and
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| 261 | general prosperity had led to an inevitable resentment amongst her subjects,
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| 262 | particularly the young noblemen who now dominated her court. They
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| 263 | wanted adventure, glory, grand military exploits; they were fervent
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| 264 | nationalists who wanted England to finally challenge the great powers of
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| 265 | Europe; they believed themselves capable of anything. And Elizabeth,
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| 266 | nearing sixty, would regard them with either amusement or anger. They
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| 267 | did not know the price of war, she would complain; they did not understand
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| 268 | how difficult it had been to bring peace and security to England. They
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| 269 | had not lived through the tumultuous reigns of her father and siblings.
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| 270 | They did not remember the bitter religious divide, which even now she only
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| 271 | bridged with her inestimable charm and intellect. England was at peace
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| 272 | and her young courtiers chafed at peace. But for the queen, peace was
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| 273 | her greatest gift to her 'loving people.' She knew its importance, the
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| 274 | dear price it had cost her. 'To be a King and wear a crown is a thing
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| 275 | more pleasant to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear
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| 276 | it,' she remarked in her Golden Speech of 1601.</p>
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| 277 | <p>But she also knew those young courtiers disagreed, however much they
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| 278 | fawned over her, pretending she was still the young queen of thirty.
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| 279 | Elizabeth was content to play the game for her vanity would not allow
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| 280 | otherwise. To grow old was a curse to her, she remarked; 'I am not
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| 281 | sick, I feel no pain, yet I pine away.' To have a young mind in an old
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| 282 | body was another common lament. She felt the loss of her youth keenly
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| 283 | and did what she could to create a timeless role for herself. She wore
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| 284 | wigs and heavy make-up and still dressed in the opulent gowns of a maid, a
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| 285 | fetching style when she was younger but now merely a reminder of her lack of
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| 286 | marriage and family. Her older subjects understood her melancholy; of
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| 287 | the younger ones, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Bacon were clever
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| 288 | enough to guess its cause. But most did not.</p>
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| 289 | <p>And the queen no longer had the comfort of loyal Cecil and her beloved
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| 290 | Dudley. Though Dudley had commanded the troops at Tilbury, he had died
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| 291 | barely a month afterwards. Cecil was now very old and had ceded much
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| 292 | of his influence to his ambitious son Robert and Sir Francis Walsingham, who
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| 293 | died in 1590. The queen thus turned to another favorite, a young man
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| 294 | who was a last link to Dudley. His name was Robert Devereux, earl of
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| 295 | Essex; he was Dudley's stepson and his mother was Elizabeth's cousin,
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| 296 | Lettice Knollys. </p>
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| 297 | <p>Essex remains one of the more interesting courtiers of Elizabeth's later
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| 298 | years. He was the mortal enemy of Raleigh (who found him arrogant and
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| 299 | overbearing) and close friends with Bacon. He became the great
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| 300 | favorite of Elizabeth's later years because, for a while, he was the ablest
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| 301 | flirt and wit at court. But his ambitions went far beyond being the
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| 302 | queen's 'wild-horse'. In this, he was encouraged by his flighty mother
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| 303 | and sycophantic admirers. </p>
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| 304 | <p>Essex believed in the primacy of the nobility at Elizabeth's court and
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| 305 | disliked the influence of Cecil and his son, Robert, and other 'upstarts'
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| 306 | such as Raleigh. He was too proud, which the queen - depending upon
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| 307 | her mood - found endearing or infuriating. And he dreamed of military
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| 308 | glory, badgering the queen to send him to Ireland to quell rebellions or
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| 309 | with the navy to harass Spanish ships. Elizabeth often refused; she
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| 310 | genuinely enjoyed his company and would not risk his life. And when
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| 311 | she did succumb, Essex performed disastrously. Though a daring and
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| 312 | brave soldier, he was a terrible commander and his exploits cost the frugal
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| 313 | queen dearly. </p>
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| 314 | <p>His worst offense, however, was a slip of the tongue. Elizabeth
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| 315 | would respond to Essex's tantrums by banishing him to the country until he
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| 316 | begged forgiveness. Once, he decided to pretend illness instead.
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| 317 | When news of his condition reached Elizabeth, she sent a letter asking after
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| 318 | his health - but nothing more. Someone mentioned the queen's
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| 319 | conditions for letting him return. Infuriated, Essex cried out, 'Her
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| 320 | conditions! Her conditions are as crooked as her carcase.' Those
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| 321 | words reached the queen and she never forgot them.</p>
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| 322 | <p>Essex did return to court. But his subsequent behavior was
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| 323 | outlandish and insulting; he even dared to turn his back on Elizabeth during
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| 324 | a council meeting. The final blow came when he led a rebellion against
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| 325 | the queen. With his friend, the earl of Southampton, he planned to
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| 326 | gather a small army and seize the queen and throne. When captured, as
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| 327 | inevitably he was, for his supporters were few and even those deserted him,
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| 328 | Essex declared he only meant to save the queen from evil counsel. But
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| 329 | Elizabeth, who had so often vacillated over executions, only hesitated once
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| 330 | with Essex. He was executed on 25 February 1601.</p>
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| 331 | <p>Despite scurrilous gossip, Elizabeth's affection for Essex was more
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| 332 | maternal than romantic. She had no choice but to sign his
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| 333 | death-warrant but it broke her heart. When her godson, Sir John
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| 334 | Harington, visited in the winter of 1602, he found her taste for old
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| 335 | pleasures gone. Harington read some of his rhymes and Elizabeth, with
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| 336 | a little smile, remarked, 'When thou dost feel creeping time at thy gate,
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| 337 | these fooleries will please thee less; I am past my relish for such
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| 338 | matters.' To the earl of Nottingham, mourning the loss of his wife,
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| 339 | she said, ' I am tied with a chain of iron about my neck. I am tied,
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| 340 | I am tied, and the case is altered with me.'</p>
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| 341 | <p>She mentioned Essex at times, but this was merely a symptom of her
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| 342 | awareness that all of the work and struggle of her reign had ended in
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| 343 | solitude. She had often remarked on the essential loneliness of the
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| 344 | crown but she felt it most deeply now. </p>
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| 345 | <p>Her council, led by Robert Cecil, whose father had died in 1601, watched
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| 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. Elizabeth still had
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| 347 | not named a successor. She had always understood its dangerous
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| 348 | implications. Yet there was no real doubt that she meant for James VI
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| 349 | of Scotland, son of Mary queen of Scots, to succeed her. He had
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| 350 | married a Protestant princess and was already a father. And he had
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| 351 | long since made his peace with Elizabeth, exchanging frequent letters and
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| 352 | accepting her political advice.</p>
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| 353 | <p>Elizabeth retired to Richmond Palace, her 'warm, snug box' in March 1603.
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| 354 | Her death was preceded by physical weakness and mental depression, but there
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| 355 | were no overt causes. She was almost seventy years old, ancient for
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| 356 | her time. She rested in a low chair by the fire, refusing to let
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| 357 | doctors examine her. As the days passed, her condition slowly
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| 358 | worsened. She stood for hours on end until, finally, she was persuaded
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| 359 | to lay upon cushions on the floor. She rested there for two days, not
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| 360 | speaking. A doctor ventured close and asked how she could bear the
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| 361 | endless silence. She replied simply, 'I meditate.' For the third
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| 362 | and fourth day, she continued to rest in silence, with a finger often in her
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| 363 | mouth. Her attendants were terrified; they must move her but she
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| 364 | refused. The younger Cecil visited and said, 'Your Majesty, to content
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| 365 | the people, you must go to bed.' Elizabeth replied, with some of her
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| 366 | old spirit, 'Little man, little man, the word <i>must</i> is not used to
|
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| 367 | princes.'</p>
|
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| 368 | <p>Finally, she grew so weak that they could carry her to bed. She
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| 369 | asked for music and, for a time, it brought some comfort. Her
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| 370 | councilors assembled; did she have any instructions regarding the
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| 371 | succession? She made a sign when Cecil mentioned the king of Scotland.
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| 372 | It was enough. He returned to his office to begin the paperwork for a
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| 373 | new ruler.</p>
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| 374 | <p>Meanwhile, Archbishop Whitgift, whom she once called her 'little black
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| 375 | husband', arrived to pray. He was old and his knees ached terribly,
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| 376 | but he knelt at the royal bedside until she finally slept. She slept on into
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| 377 | the early hours of 24 March until, at last, as the courtiers watched and
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| 378 | waited, the steady breathing stopped. 'Her Majesty departed this life,
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| 379 | mildly like a lamb, easily like a ripe apple from the tree,' John Manningham
|
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| 380 | was told.</p>
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| 381 | <p>That same morning, the chief councilors rode to Whitehall where Cecil
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| 382 | drafted the proclamation of the queen's death and James's succession.
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| 383 | He read it aloud first at Whitehall and then at St Paul's and finally
|
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| 384 | Cheapside cross. The councilors then formally demanded entrance to the
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| 385 | Tower of London in the name of King James I of England. Elizabeth's
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| 386 | maids and ladies were still waiting in the Coffer Room at Richmond Palace.
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| 387 | When news of the peaceful transition of power came, they began to prepare
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| 388 | for Elizabeth's funeral. </p>
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| 389 | <p>The new king received the news of his accession on 27 March, for the
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| 390 | ambitious Robert Carey had ridden at top speed to Edinburgh; his journey was
|
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| 391 | so quick that its speed would not be matched until 1832. But while
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| 392 | James was initially welcomed peacefully and happily, his reign would quickly
|
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| 393 | turn sour. It was not long before even Robert Cecil, who became the
|
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| 394 | most powerful statesman of James's reign, wrote to Harington:</p>
|
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| 395 | <blockquote>
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| 396 | <p>You know all my former steps: good knight, rest content, and give heed to
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| 397 | one that hath sorrowed in the bright lustre of a court, and gone heavily
|
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| 398 | even on the best-seeming fair ground. Tis a great task to prove one's
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| 399 | honesty, and yet not spoil one's fortune. You have tasted a little
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| 400 | hereof in our blessed Queen's time, who was more than a man and, in troth,
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| 401 | sometimes less than a woman. I wish I waited now in her Presence
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| 402 | Chamber, with ease at my foot, and rest in my bed. I am pushed from
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| 403 | the shore of comfort, and know not where the winds and waves of a court may
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| 404 | bear me.</p>
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| 405 | </blockquote>
|
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| 406 | <p>And the common people realized their loss as well, as Godfrey Goodman,
|
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| 407 | bishop of Gloucester wrote:</p>
|
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| 408 | <blockquote>
|
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| 409 | <p>After a few years, when we had experience of a Scottish government, the
|
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| 410 | Queen did seem to revive; then was her memory much magnified: such ringing
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| 411 | of bells, such public joy and sermons in commemoration of her, the picture
|
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| 412 | of her tomb painted in many churches, and in effect more solemnity and joy
|
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| 413 | in memory of her coronation than was for the coming-in of King James.</p>
|
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| 414 | </blockquote>
|
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| 415 | <p>Elizabeth's funeral procession, composed of more than a thousand
|
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| 416 | mourners, began on 28 April. It was a stirring tribute to the queen,
|
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| 417 | never forgotten by those who witnessed its passing. But her tomb, paid
|
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| 418 | for by the new king, was less impressive than that provided to his disgraced
|
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| 419 | mother, and cost far less. It can still be visited in Westminster
|
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| 420 | Abbey, where Elizabeth rests alongside her half-sister Queen Mary I. </p>
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| 421 | <hr>
|
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| 422 | </blockquote>
|
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| 423 | </blockquote>
|
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| 424 | </blockquote>
|
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| 425 |
|
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| 426 | <p align="center"><font size="4">'My good mistress is gone, I shall not
|
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| 427 | hastily put forth for a new master.'<br></font><i><font size="2">Sir John Harington, Nugae Antiquae</font></i></p>
|
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| 428 | <blockquote>
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| 429 | <blockquote>
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| 430 | <blockquote>
|
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| 431 | <hr>
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| 432 | <P align="center"><FONT size=-1><A
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| 433 | href="../monarchs.html">to Tudor
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| 434 | Monarchs</A><BR>
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| 435 | <a href="eliz4.html">back to
|
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| 436 | Queen Elizabeth I, part four</a></FONT><B><BR></B></P>
|
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| 437 | <P align="left"><font size="-1"><b>Note:</b> The complicated story of Robert
|
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| 438 | Devereux, earl of Essex, is most beautifully told in Lytton Strachey's
|
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| 439 | 'Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History'. Strachey often wanders far
|
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| 440 | off course, and his psychological portrait of Elizabeth is flawed, but he
|
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| 441 | writes like a dream. As for conventional biographies of Elizabeth I,
|
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| 442 | my favorite is by Lacey Baldwin Smith.<br>Thanks for
|
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| 443 | exploring / reading my Queen Elizabeth I website. <i>-Marilee</i></font></P>
|
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| 444 | </blockquote>
|
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| 445 | </blockquote>
|
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| 446 | </blockquote>
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| 447 |
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| 448 | <P align="center"><i><font size="2">last
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| 449 | revised 8 March 2004</font></i></P>
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| 450 |
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| 451 | </body>
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| 452 |
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