Lady Arbella Stuart: England's Lost Queen?

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is really in the past and I'm dr. Kat and before I jump into today's video topic I just want to take a moment personal moment if you will to say thanks because it's been a pretty exciting week on the channel this week my channel went over 20,000 subscribers which I was absolutely not expecting to happen anytime soon if in fact ever it's also the week that YouTube decided that I would be featured as a creator on the rise so for 24 hours this channel was on the explore tab and hopefully more people came across it but this was all possible because of you the fact that you have been watching subscribing and interacting meant that there was growth that happened and Billy YouTube took notice I also am incredibly grateful for you continuing with your amazingly insightful and supportive questions and comments both here on YouTube and on my social media and over email it really meant a lot something that kept coming up was people wanting to know a little bit more about me as a person my career trajectory and so I thought that a fun way to celebrate reaching twenty thousand subscribers might be to open up a QA slash AMA sort of video I haven't done this so it will be a learning curve but I now have access to the community tab over here on YouTube so I'm going to try and figure out how that works in the next day or so put up a post asking the questions and you can ask me anything well that's about history or about me of course reserve the right to not answer things that I think are too personal or embarrassing and if enough questions come in then I will make that video equally if I can't work out how the community tab on YouTube works I will put a post up on Instagram I will leave the links to my Instagram and Twitter in the description box so you can put questions underneath the Instagram as well and I hope that this is sort of thing that would appeal to you and that you might enjoy happening anyway today we are back on our regular schedule history topics I want to talk about a woman that I think is really fascinating and it's somewhat surprising that I don't think she gets the coverage she deserves because she could well have been a queen of England certainly when it comes to Royal bloodlines her pedigree is spectacular her name is Arabella or or Bella Stewart and she's who were exploring today let's go in today's video I'm going to be referring to our Bella Stewart but I think it's important and make clear that within history she's also referred to as Arabella Stewart and it's almost equal in frequency as to which name comes out neither one is more historically accurate than the other I'm choosing Arbella because it's the name that I am most familiar with calling her and I think if I chop and change in this video that would be inconsistent and a little confusing so for today for me our better it is our Bella Stewart was born in November 1575 on or before the 10th of the month it is believed that she was born in the London home of her paternal grandmother the Dowager Countess of Annex Margaret Douglas Margot Douglas was the niece of Henry the eighth by his sister Margaret Tudor and I have made a video on this particularly formidable woman which I will leave leaked in a cart ah Bella's father was the 18 year old Charles Stuart younger brother of Henry Stuart Lord Darnley Henry Stuart had married Mary Queen of Scots in 1565 their son James was born the following year on the 19th of June 1566 Lord only was found murdered in February 15 67 the infant left behind after his father's murder James would go on to become James the stick of Scotland and eventually James the first of England James was there for the first cousin of our Bella shirt and was nine years her senior all Bella's mother was Elizabeth Cavendish the daughter of the William Cavendish and his wife a woman who was best known to history as best of Hardwick and there are a few as formidable as she and in fact I have made a video on her as well which only linked in a cart as a result of our Bella's parents marriage her maternal and paternal grandmother was summoned to London by Lisbeth the first these two ambitious women who thought perhaps they might be making an heir to England found themselves confined to the Tower of London where they would wait out with this displeasure the marriage between their children had been a clandestine one Elizabeth had not given her consent and I would say that if it had been sought she would not have given it anyway because where they may have thought they were creating an heir it's equally possible that Elizabeth thought they were making a rival we could argue perhaps that in Elizabeth's mind our Bella should never have existed despite the fact that these women had incurred the great displeasure of Elizabeth it would not result in them paying the ultimate penalty and for that they and our Bella were very fortunate but this run of good luck was not to last in our Bella's life and as we will see tragedy is one of the cornerstones for our Bella throughout her entire life starting just a few months after her birth in April 15 76 when her father passed away since he had not lived long enough to make her son there was nobody to inherit his title Earl of Lennox or Bella as a woman could not and so it went to his nearest surviving male relative and uncle Robert Stuart Margaret Douglas died just two years after her son in 1578 Oh Bella did not inherit from her paternal grandmother either as Margaret's properties passed to her cousin Elizabeth the first instead further loss came in January 15 82 when our Bella's mother died our Bella was six years old and an orphan her maternal grandmother took charge of her care and upbringing and it's often remarked that clearly Beth's entertained lofty ambitions to her granddaughter under Betty's watchful eye our Bella received a princely education including the study of a boy number of languages Latin Italian French Spanish Greek and Hebrew however our Bella did have access to other family members too cause of a peculiar twist of fate that began long before her birth in the year 15 68 because from that year our Bella's aren't Mary Queen of Scots had been kept in the custody of our Bella's step-grandfather George Talbert the sick urn of Shrewsbury Bess of Hardwick's fourth husband after our Bella's father's early death Mary Queen of Scots and best Hardwick both attempt to secure our Bella's future by asserting her claim to her father's earldom of Linux alas they were unsuccessful despite the our people comfort that having extra family around might bring it probably wasn't a particularly peaceful home for our Bella in those early years the marriage of best of Hardwick and George Talbot had become strained and it was the keeping of Mary Queen of Scots that was named as a principal cause of the conflict regardless by 1584 the couple had separated our Bella may have lacked an inherited fortune her home life may have been conflict ridden and a little bit embarrassing but her proximity to the English road made her vitally important it would have made her a tantalizingly desirable marriage prospect for the right ambitious group and his family when she was 9 or 10 she was betrothed to the three-year-old son of Robert Dudley and Latisse Knowles unfortunately for all concerned the boy was dead within months other candidates were put forward and discussed her own cousin James in Scotland were suggested as was the son of the Duke of Parma among others none of these clans would come to fruition perhaps understandably Elizabeth 42 years old Bella senior would have been unhappy to see her first cousin twice removed get married and producing it as both mother and child would end up being potential rivals r Elizabeth own throat nevertheless she invited her bear to court and in 1588 or Bella was made one of Elizabeth's latest in waiting I question her motivation for this I wonder in doing this was Elizabeth making a statement both to her court and the rest of the world in 1588 Elizabeth the first was unmarried airless and in her mid-50s without naming our Bella or indeed anyone as her heir was this away of signaling her intentions Mary Queen of Scots our bellas artes had been executed for treason in the previous year in 1587 in 1588 the year that our Bella was appointed to list as household the Spanish Armada had set sail there were many in England who probably assumed that King James of Scotland would be the natural heir for the English Rome if Elizabeth should die without issue which was looking increasingly likely by this point however the will of Henry the eighth which Elizabeth had never repudiated did not allow for this he had overwritten the claims of the descendant of his sister Margaret Judah in favor of the descendants of his younger sister Mary Tudor as James descended from this Scottish branch through Margaret Tudor he should have been exempt from taming the throne he was also born in a foreign land Scotland additionally his mother from whom he inherited the strongest part of his claim if Henry the eighth wheel was going to be ignored was a convicted and executed traitor her claim and therefore his were arguably nullified our Bella like James was the great-great grandchild of Henry the seventh albeit through a more junior branch but usefully she was born and raised in England she did not have a traitor parent could her claim be pressed did Elizabeth hope it would be now what about cynics is a little simplistic arguably but I think it's worth mentioning I think that many of the disasters and tragedies in our Bella's life going forward from this point were precipitated by her seemingly uncontrollable desire to get married thus much of the strife in our Bella's life was caused by the men around her and her dealings with them she had seemingly a fairly plum position at Elizabeth Court given to her in 1588 but she was also seen getting friendly perhaps too friendly with Elizabeth's favorite of the day Robert Devereux Earl of Essex when this was noticed when the Queen became aware our Bella was sent away from court in disgrace she was once again back with her grandmother Bess of Hardwick I think the expectation was that our Bella would take her punishment on the chin recognize and adapt to her new situation as we will see it would not be so simple our Bella after all had been exceptionally well educated and now she had tasted and experienced the glitter and excitement of the Elizabethan court however opulence her grandmother's home may have been I don't think it could possibly have come close to comparing on top of this best of Hardwick was formidable and I would say pretty controlling it would not be long before these two women would be at loggerheads our Bella seems to her viewed marriage as an aspirational state but most dangerously as a means of escape from her present situation in 1602 our Bella had reached the age of 27 and was still unmarried evidently this was an intolerable state of affairs as far as she was concerned and so she set about attempting to arrange her own marriage to Edward Seymour than Lord Beecher this was an act of spectacular folly as her intended groom was descended from Henry the eighth's youngest sister Mary Tudor and as we have already mentioned our Bella herself was descended from his other sister Margaret Tudor to the outside observer this would look very much like a plot to create a rival heir to his vast throat our Bella was questioned as to her true intentions and it was eventually concluded that she was simply acting out to draw attention to herself and her sorrowful State it seems her desperation escalated still further in the follow when she began to refuse to eat or drink and claimed that her cousin James the sixth of Scotland had become her lover nobody believed this affair had taken place and in fact it's unclear how she thought that anybody would believe it as James was resident in Scotland at this time and she was in Derbyshire these claims once more were seen as another chance for our Bella to act out and gain attention more than this Robert Cecil saw it as evidence that she had become mentally unwell the reign of Elizabeth the first came to an end on the 24th of March 1603 when she aged 69 died despite the aspirations of some perhaps even our Bella herself it would be her cousin King James the sick of Scotland who would come to London to be crowned as King James the first of England as well it's interesting to me that for the most part at least history seems to present James's assent to the English throne as a foregone conclusion this peaceful transition and of course that makes sense it was a peaceful transition but sometimes I think that the early years and the plots that were in those early years get obscured and at the center of some of those plots our bella is placed it's unclear as to whether she is involved in placing herself there or not there were for example loyal Roman Catholics in England who for some reason saw our Bella as a great hope for their faith what's interesting is that I can't seem to find any evidence of our Bella herself professing loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith equally I can't see her speaking out against it either and I wonder if that strategic does she equivocates because she has these aspirations for herself if she simply not that interested in religion or if she keeping quiet in a way so that both Protestants and Roman Catholics might see her as a viable candidate I'm not sure whether it's an actual lack of interest or a feigned one but what do you think the plotting began in the first year of James's reign in 60 three in this year there were two plots the so-called main plot and the by plot in the case of the main plot Sir Walter Raleigh himself was implicated along with some other noblemen in attempting to replace James with his cousin Arbella but despite the fact that she was named by these Nobles as their preferred candidate or Bella herself escaped suspicion rather she is welcome to court and made Carver to James's Queen Anne of Denmark financial rewards would of course follow sadly it would appear that for our Bella to retain James's favour and the place status and wealth that it brought she was going to have to resign herself remaining unmarried that was going to be the payoff some have viewed the events of sixteen aerates as a catalyzing year for our Bella's behaviour her grandmother bested Hardwick had died on the 13th of February 1608 and later in that same year in the December Oh Bella is reported to have come down with smallpox she was now 33 years old and it has been suggested that these events of the year 1608 reminded our Bella of her own mortality and helped to catalyze and drive her ambition to find a husband and become a wife let's think back to earlier in this video and to our Bella's activities in 1602 when she attempted to contract a marriage with Edward Seymour Lord Beecher I told what the folly of this event because of Seymour's own claim - achoo - bloodline and therefore arguably a write the English throne however this merchant take place she was unsuccessful but she is undeterred and in 1610 she's tried again but it's not Edward Seymour this time now it's his younger brother William Oh Bella was 35 and the man she had secretly married was 22 this secret marriage came to light within days William was arrested and said to the tower and our Bella was placed under house arrest in Lambeth however it seems the pair were able to circumvent their captors and it suggested that at some point our Bella was able I'm pregnant before possibly miscarrying in September 1610 King James perhaps understandably was not happy with this turn of events and in 1611 he order that our Bella be sent far away from London to Durham our Bella becomes ill there is some question as well this is a faint or a real illness but doctors were dispatched and they reported back that our Bella was too sick to travel so her journey with delayed and when it did take place it was slow somehow it took the party 12 days to get from Lambeth to Barnet and for context that walk should take just over four and a half hours whether her illness was real or feigned our Bella had a plan they would see her and her husband safely escape together to France she disguised herself in men's clothing mounted a horse and headed to meet William the plan was prepare to meet at its happenin black hole where they would take rowing boats their waiting ship William also don't disguise but it seems they escaping from the tower was unsurprisingly more complicated than our Bella's own escape and he was delayed our Bella had already made her way towards France but she insists on waiting for William in the channel he took a different boat was unfortunately blown of course but he eventually landed safely in Ostend unfortunately our Bella would not be as lucky as her husband her ship was intercepted by James's men just about her League outside of Carey she was captured returned to England and imprisoned in the tower as if to compound her tragedy the lady opera Stuart would never know freedom again she died in the Tower of London on the 25th September 1650 so within four years of that daring escape attempt that she had made with the intention of freeing her and her husband her cause of death is put down to an illness which was complicated by her refusal to eat what we now know as a hunger strike perhaps that may have been due to her depression or desperation of the situation she found herself in William had a much happier fate he lived his life safely in France for the remainder of his wife's life eventually he returned from exile regained royal favor remarried had children and survived to a ripe old age eventually dying in 1660 if you believe the rumors you might believe that our Bella is still there for some say that it is her a ghost that haunts the Queen's house a Tower of London nearby to the rooms where she was believed to have been held during the last years of her life now the Queen's house is the home of the resident governor of the child London and his family and on one occasion the wife of the governor was alone in a bedroom where she felt herself being forcibly shoved removed from a room by unseen force must have been Arbella herself I'd love to hear your thoughts on today's topic so please do let me know in the comment section beneath the video or you can come find me over on my social media as always I'll be leaving links to my Instagram and Twitter in the description box you can follow me there and we can continue this conversation please also keep an eye out on the community tab and on Instagram where I'll be putting up those posts asking for a ma slash Q&A style responses so I can make that celebrating twenty thousand subscriber video I do hope you enjoy this video and that you found it useful if you did then please let me know by hitting the thumbs up please also subscribe the channel and while you're there hit the notification bell next subscribe button so that YouTube tells you and I've next uploaded I hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to you in my next video take care of yourselves good bye for now [Music] [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 96,408

Rating: 4.9644604 out of 5

Keywords: Arbella Stuart, Arabella Stuart, Elizabeth I, James I, Tudor, Stuart, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: csz-8v7cOQc

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020