The Virtues of the Virgin Queen

Ms C Anderson

Image above: The Armada Portrait from 1588, denoting England’s victory over the Armada, but also its imperial ambitions (see the closed crown and Elizabeth’s hand on the globe), as well as full of symbols of Elizabeth’s ‘virgin queen’ status in the bows and pearls adorning her dress.

Elizabeth I may be a predictable choice for a teacher of the Tudor period, but it would be unforgivable to leave her out of the running. One reason she should be considered the greatest queen is due to what she overcame in her early life, which was nothing if not tumultuous.

Elizabeth was born the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, in 1533. Having challenged papal supremacy, broken with Rome and ended a thousand years of Roman Catholicism in England, all for the production of a male heir, the birth of Elizabeth was something of a disappointment to Henry. Following the execution of her mother on the orders of her father in 1536 (in a show trial in which Anne was declared guilty of adultery with no less than five men, including her own brother), Elizabeth’s status immediately declined: she was declared illegitimate by Act of Parliament and had her title demoted. A signal of her precociousness is that, aged only three, she was said to have remarked upon her diminished importance to her governess: ‘how haps it, yesterday Lady Princess, and today but Lady Elizabeth?’ She was always one to stand upon her honour. It is telling that in later life Elizabeth rarely spoke of her mother and made no attempt to clear her name nor to declare the validity of her marriage to Henry VIII, an indication of the exercise of sound political judgement that was to be the hallmark of Elizabeth’s queenship – why risk stirring up discontent for the sake of rehabilitating the reputation of a mother she barely knew?

Her position improved somewhat in the 1540s when she, along with her half-sister Mary, was restored to the line of succession and to the favour of her father. She was given the best education of the

day by the leading humanist academics in England. As well as being a classical scholar, proficient in Latin and Greek and familiar with the works of Sophocles, Livy and Cicero, she was fluent in French and Italian. This all helped her greatly when she became queen in her dealings with foreign ambassadors, and is revealed in her oratorial skill and her ability to flatter, cajole and to win the argument, which was vital in the cut and thrust of 16th century politics.

Elizabeth found herself in a vulnerable position once again during the reign of her Catholic half-sister, Mary I. She was suspected of treason and taken to the Tower of London, and only survived due to the concerns over the succession held by some of Mary’s councillors. She was later released but kept under house arrest for the rest of the reign. Elizabeth was third in the line of succession and she must have thought for a long time that there was little to no chance of her ever occupying the English throne. But Edward VI’s death at only 15 years of age and the fact that Mary did not give birth to an heir and then her death in 1558 meant that Elizabeth inherited the throne, in line with the will and wishes of Henry VIII. She ascended to the throne at the age of 25, famously citing in Latin a line of scripture which read, ‘It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes’. One of her great talents was that she was able to find the right words for the occasion. PR expertise. Portraits were used to project her authority and to promote her virginity and link her to the Virgin Mary, as well as to transcend her gender by creating the ‘Gloriana’ cult through the image of a goddess-like figure. This can be seen to greatest effect in the Armada and Rainbow portraits (see below). Furthermore, her political judgement was impressive and her speech-making legendary.

Everybody knows about her inspiring the troops on the eve of the Spanish Armada with the words, ‘I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman…’, but her delivery of this to her troops, gathered in expectation of an invasion by Spain (the superpower of the day), wearing specially designed armour and riding a warhorse, shows Elizabeth’s command of theatre as well as her ability to appeal to the love and loyalty of her subjects and to stand as a symbol of the nation.

Her ‘golden speech’ towards the end of her reign is less well-known was just as effective. In what she knew was likely to be the last address to parliament of her reign, and after a difficult and tense session, the power of Elizabeth’s words had grown men leaving the parliament chamber in tears of emotion. And we haven’t even got to the victory

Elizabeth ruled at a time when women were regarded as weak, inferior and irrational creatures and where it was widely believed that the rule of a woman was unnatural and would lead to disaster.

This is encapsulated in John Knox’s First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen(t) of Women – the title says it all and demonstrates what Elizabeth was up against. Much has been made of her single status. What could have been a political catastrophe (in that her duty, it was seen at the time, was to marry, produce an heir and secure the succession and stability of the realm) she converted into a triumph. She was able to rule as well as reign, declaring that she would have, ‘but one mistress here and no master’. Her carefully constructed image was an exercise in 16th century over the Armada, nor her establishment of a religious settlement that avoided the horrors of the burnings of Mary’s reign and was acceptable to the majority of the population, avoiding the bloodshed that was experienced on the continent in religious conflicts, or even the pioneering poor law legislation that was passed by her government.

Her reign is known as a golden age, a label we should rightly be sceptical about, but there is some truth in this in the flourishing of the arts that occurred, the prolonged period of peace and prosperity England experienced and the smooth succession upon her death in 1603. For the achievements of the period, as well as the personal abilities and attributes of Elizabeth, I believe she deserves the title of ‘greatest queen’: few, if any, can match her.

Image below: The Rainbow Portrait. Elizabeth still appears youthful despite this being from the later part of her reign. She is shown holding a rainbow with the Latin phrase meaning ‘no rainbow without the sun’ (I think we can guess who the sun is meant to be). Her dress is covered in eyes and ears, rather sinisterly symbolising her omniscience.