Queen Elizabeth I of England

queens of europe elizabeth the first part one elizabeth the first of england daughter of henry viii was never expected to be queen but after her brother and sister died she became one of england's greatest rulers she swore off men and was a brilliant leader who proved that a woman could do the job just as well as a man thank you to the great courses plus for sponsoring this video elizabeth was born on september 7th 1533 at greenwich palace her father had moved heaven and earth for her to be born he was desperate for a legitimate son to secure the tudor dynasty and when his first wife catherine of aragon entered menopause having only given him one living child a daughter mary he spent seven years brawling with her and the pope in an effort to secure an annulment and take a new wife in the end he split england from the catholic church and made himself the head of the new protestant church of england in order to marry his new paramour anne boleyn nine months after henry and anne wed she gave birth but both parents were deeply disappointed when the child they had done so much to secure turned out to be a girl the royal couple took the birth in stride and carried on with the planned feasts and joust to celebrate the birth s's were added to the word prince in the official birth announcements which had already been written as was customary for royal children at the time elizabeth was set up in her own household and raised away from her parents but her mother anne loved her dearly and visited her often unfortunately anne's relationship with her sovereign husband began to sour anne suffered a miscarriage and henry turned his attention to other ladies anne's enemies at court poisoned the king against his wife and she was arrested and charged with adultery when elizabeth was just two and a half years old her mother was beheaded in the tower of london eleven days later her father married the next lady in line jane seymour jane finally gave henry his heart's desire a legitimate male heir jane then died of childbed fever elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the succession elizabeth was raised in her brother's household and along with him when the princess was four kat ashley was appointed as her governess and the women remained close friends from then on elizabeth was exceedingly intelligent and diligent in her studies cat taught her french flemish italian and spanish other talented tutors were appointed to educate her and she impressed them all with her brilliant mind from the age of 12 she was able to translate the works of greek and roman philosophers into various languages and she continued to perform these mental gymnastics for fun and relaxation for the rest of her life if like queen elizabeth you also enjoy exercising and expanding your mind then a great way to feed your brain is by checking out the great courses plus this subscription on-demand video learning service offers a huge variety of lectures and courses led by professors from top universities around the world you can find over 11 000 video lectures about anything that interests you history obviously but also language psychology and economics you can even learn new skills like painting yoga or piano lately i've been mentally getting out of the house with the great tours medieval europe and the great tours england scotland and wales and enjoying some cozy time stuck at home with cooking basics what everyone should know right now the great courses plus is offering a free trial for my viewers you can indulge your love of learning and support my channel by going to the great courses plus slash lindsay holiday or by clicking on the link in the description to get your free trial today and now back to history elizabeth's father king henry viii had gone on to marry three more times his sixth wife catherine parr also possessed an impressive intellect and was the first english queen to write and publish a book she impressed the young princess with the power a woman could wield catherine encouraged the ailing king to reconcile with his two daughters mary and elizabeth henry was impressed with his second daughter's intelligence and precociousness and she reveled in his renewed praise and attention when king henry died in 1547 and elizabeth's younger brother edward became king of england at the age of nine the fourteen-year-old elizabeth went to live with catherine parr catherine soon remarried to thomas seymour who also happened to be king edward's maternal uncle thomas was nearing 40 and had charm and sex appeal to spare katherine was desperately in love with him and was blind to the inappropriate behavior he displayed towards young elizabeth he frequently entered her bedroom in his nightgown tickled her and slapped her on the bottom at first catherine joined in laughing it off as playful games she once even held elizabeth while thomas cut her gown to shreds with a sword but when catherine caught thomas and elizabeth in an embrace she realized things had gone too far rather than protecting her stepdaughter from her husband she sent elizabeth away within a few months catherine died of childbed fever and thomas renewed his pursuit of the princess this time with the intention of marrying her he had also been scheming to take the position of regent from his brother edward seymour and even attempted to abduct young king edward killing one of his dogs in the scheme thomas was arrested and elizabeth interrogated as to her involvement in the plot but she was found innocent thomas on the other hand was beheaded historians believe that this childhood abuse may have turned elizabeth off of marriage as an adult though the fact that her father had her mother beheaded might have also contributed elizabeth was raised in the new protestant faith her father had established this would have made her mother a devoted protestant reformer very happy her younger brother king edward was a fervent protestant while their older sister mary was a zealous catholic before his death henry viii passed a succession to the crown act which put his son edward first in line to the throne followed by his two daughters in order of age mary first then elizabeth though he never imagined that the two daughters would be needed but when king edward's ill health caught up with him and it was clear that he would not live past the age of 15 he and his advisors began to fear for the future of crown and country it was clear that if mary became queen she would turn the nation back to catholicism and oust all of the protestant courtiers they had no legal grounds to skip mary in favor of elizabeth as both had been deemed illegitimate so they threw out the succession act and instead made edward's cousin lady jane gray the heir when edward died in 1553 most likely of tuberculosis jane was declared queen by the privy council but the scheme to swap out jane for mary was doomed from the start mary was popular with the people and they felt they'd been duped mary easily raised an army and marched to london with elizabeth by her side ending jane's reign after only nine days mary now queen recognized that jane had been a political pawn and did not wish to execute her cousin but when a rebellion in jane's favor frightened mary's betrothed from coming to england mary signed the death warrant and the 16 year old nine days queen lost her head mary had fought her whole life for her position after her mother catherine of aragon had been cast out as queen when she came to the throne at 37 she made quick work of undoing her father and brother's efforts to convert the nation to protestantism but she turned her initial support against her when she decided to marry a foreign prince her cousin philip aired to the throne of spain elizabeth knew she was in a dangerous position as the protestant heir to the throne she was an obvious rallying point for anyone who wanted to rebel against queen mary elizabeth tried to display solidarity and catholic conversion to her sister though she made excuses and faked illnesses to get out of attending mass infuriating mary a year into mary's reign elizabeth received a letter from thomas wyatt who informed her that he was raising an army in rebellion against the queen elizabeth wisely did not reply in writing but told the messenger rather ambiguously that she would do whatever god called her to do wyatt's rebellion was quickly suppressed by mary's army and princess elizabeth was brought to court and interrogated about her involvement she vehemently protested her innocence but was imprisoned in the tower of london while she awaited her sister's decision the 18 year old was terrified that she might meet the same end on the scaffold as her mother had some of mary's counselors advised her that she would never be safe while her sister lived others argued that there was no evidence against elizabeth and that she should be spared after two months mary released elizabeth from the tower but had her placed under house arrest all along the carriage ride to her new prison crowds cheered in elizabeth's support though she likely wished they would have let her keep a lower profile she was held prisoner in the gatehouse of woodstock manor for a year the building was dilapidated drafty and dirty and she feared as much of dying from illness as from her sister's displeasure when mary entered the final stages of her first pregnancy she called her sister to court to witness the birth mary was confident that her catholic child would push her sister back in the line of succession and secure her own reign but as the 10th and 11th months ticked by with no signs of labor the queen's swollen belly began to recede she probably suffered a combination of a tumor and a psychosomatic episode following the humiliation of her false pregnancy most believed that the now middle-aged mary would never bear a child her husband philip abandoned her and returned to the continent elizabeth's succession seemed all but inevitable and mary was heartbroken in fury and desperation the queen accelerated her plans to rid england of protestants she became known as bloody mary by burning some 280 martyrs at the stake she soon fell gravely ill and philip who had now ascended to the spanish throne as king philip ii sent an ambassador to elizabeth to negotiate a new marriage with her elizabeth was living in improved conditions at hatfield house and was making plans for her own government and a return to peace and religious tolerance she put phillips ambassadors off making no promises nearing her end mary had no choice but to declare elizabeth her successor she died on november 17 1558 at the age of 42 most likely of uterine cancer when messengers rode to inform elizabeth they found her walking in the park beneath an ancient oak as they bowed before their new queen the 25 year old proclaimed this is the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes a train of a thousand lords and ladies soon assembled to accompany the new sovereign on her journey to london and crowds cheered her all along her triumphant ride on january 15 1559 the date chosen by her astrologer elizabeth was crowned queen of england and ireland in westminster abbey at the beginning of her reign elizabeth set out to heal the rift between protestants and catholics that had been torn open by her father and siblings she passed laws which made protestantism the official religion of the country but made punishment for non-conformity light she required all the bishops to swear loyalty to her as the head of the church and all but one of mary's catholic appointees refused but rather than execute them as her sister would have done she simply replaced them with her own supporters depriving catholicism of the publicity of martyrs she also resisted more radical puritan protestants and struck down the heresy laws that queen mary had used to persecute so many when appointing counselors and members of her household elizabeth made her choices based on merit over religion most of her advisors were protestant but a few wise and loyal catholics remained her most important advisor who would be by her side for the next 40 years was william cecil elizabeth had inherited an ailing england bankrupt militarily weak and surrounded by enemies particularly the mighty catholic powers of france and spain the most expedient way to bolster the nation was with a marriage alliance and many suitors were eager for her hand her widowed brother-in-law king philip of spain king charles ix of france who was only 16 archduke charles of austria and the sole protestant on the list eric xiv of sweden but matrimony had major drawbacks if elizabeth married as her sister had she might very well be handing over her power to her husband and choosing the wrong foreign spouse could outrage her people and turn them against her finally she addressed parliament on the issue and in an impassioned speech she declared that she was married to england and that she intended to remain a virgin to her dying day in the next video we'll see queen elizabeth mature in her role as a wise matriarch of the nation fall in love with a few different men vanquish an old suitor turned adversary and usher in a golden age for england if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: Lindsay Holiday

Views: 74,422

Rating: 4.9557714 out of 5

Keywords: queen elizabeth I, elizabeth the first, elizabeth i, queen elizabeth i documentary, queen elizabeth, british history, historic costumes, elizabethian era, bloody mary, female leaders, henry viii, anne Boleyn, six wives, lady jane grey, tower of london, the crown, girls rule, Elizabeth the virgin queen, queen of england, mary queen of scots, british royalty, six musical, queens of the world, tudor history, game of thrones, Elizabethian history, womens history

Id: Cu6fNziLozM

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 15 2020