Page 50 - All About History - Issue 08-14

him: “I would gladly be revenged on the King
of Spain for diverse injuries I have received.”
Having sailed through the Straits of Magellan
and captured a Spanish ship carrying up to
£200,000 in gold, Drake decided to sail across
the Pacific, in the process becoming the first man
to circumnavigate the globe. Elizabeth gloried in
his achievement, and when she met the Spanish
ambassador in 1581, she pointedly wore a crucifix
Drake had given to her from the loot. She dined
with Drake on the Golden Hind and knighted him.
He had done her proud.
These piratical exploits stood in sharp contrast
to the events of 1572. The St Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre in Paris – the assassination of a number
of French Calvinist Protestants – shocked England
and the ambassador Sir Francis Walsingham
was forced to take refuge. Elizabeth brought
him back to London to become her spymaster,
where he advised that Mary Queen of Scots
was a real danger. The uprising was not only a
shocking scene for English Protestants; it was also
a sign that the Protestant Netherlands and their
booming wool trade would soon be in danger. 1520-98 1532-88
When William the Silent asked Elizabeth for A canny political operator who Dudley had known Elizabeth 1532-90
military assistance, she did not want to be seen understood the difficulties since childhood, and was her The Protestant Walsingham was
that were ahead, Cecil was first love. His appointment
to intervene and give Philip of Spain an excuse allowed to return to England
Elizabeth’s first appointment to court had more to do with
to attack. Walsingham counselled war, while and was fiercely loyal, her affection for him than after Mary’s death, and quickly
became one of Elizabeth’s most
Cecil continued to preach marriage. So Elizabeth dedicating his life to helping her. any outstanding abilities as invaluable assets. A brilliant
Although he believed she should a politician, however, and his
entertained the idea of marrying the Duke of marry, Elizabeth knew Cecil was presence at court proved to spymaster and politician, he
Anjou, roughly ten years after it had first been invaluable and pressured him be a continual source of understood the threat that
Mary Queen of Scots posed,
suggested. Then, he had been an ugly youth into staying on, even when he rumour and scandal. Their and engineered her downfall.
was sickly and deaf. relationship was rocky and
and she had been a beautiful queen. Now, she driven by passion. He also supported Drake and
Raleigh’s explorations.
was visibly older and the flattery of the French
ambassador and Anjou’s letters began to win
her over. When they finally met, it appeared
that Elizabeth really was in love, but there were
genuine concerns over how the English people
would react.
“The anxieties Elizabeth expressed to the
emissary of Mary Queen of Scots in 1561, that she
too could not marry anyone without triggering
unrest in one group or another, only deepened
following Mary Queen of Scots’s disastrous
marriages to Darnley and then Bothwell – which
ended in her overthrow,” explains Leanda de
Lisle, author of Tudor: The Family Story. “Elizabeth
continued to look publicly for a husband to fulfil
national expectations that she would provide
them with an undisputed heir, and surely she
hoped it was not impossible. She was married
to her kingdom – a phrase she had learned
1491-1547 1516-58
from Mary Tudor. But while Mary had married,
Elizabeth did not because she feared revolt by Henry was desperate for a Despite their differences, Mary, 1512–48
boy to carry on his family
Elizabeth and their brother
those who disapproved of her choice.” name, and was disappointed Edward had a relatively close Catherine and Elizabeth
became close during her
Although she clearly wanted to marry the man when Anne Boleyn gave him relationship as children. When marriage to Henry, and
that she had nicknamed her “frog,” the English Elizabeth. He was absent for she became queen, Mary Elizabeth lived with Catherine
much of her childhood, but was
was desperate for Elizabeth
people found the idea of their Virgin Queen kept informed of her progress to convert and unable to after his death. However,
Catherine’s husband Thomas
marrying a French Catholic absolutely repulsive. nonetheless. When he finally understand why she wouldn’t. Seymour was more interested
met his daughter he was very
She came close to executing
When a pamphlet appeared that condemned the impressed, so much so that he her sister, but abstained, finally in their young charge than his
wife, and she assisted in his
union, Elizabeth decreed that both the author reinstated her and Mary into requesting that she keep attempts at seduction, dying
and his printer should have their right hands his legacy. England Catholic. soon after they failed.
cut off. Her Privy Council was split in half, with
the jealous Robert Dudley vehemently opposed.
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