Queen Elizabeth I: Why Didn't She Marry?

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is read in the past and I'm Dr Cat and there are I think a few questions that Loom large when we look back at the life of Queen Elizabeth the first one of those is certainly why on Earth did she remain unmarried I mean countless pages of writing both fiction and non-fiction not to mention hours of TV and film have been dedicated to exploring the various moments in Elizabeth's life that may potentially be argued to be the ones that solidified her resolution not to marry and while I do believe this is an interesting and indeed a worthwhile discussion to have I do have to wonder if it presupposes that there was in fact such a point a moment at which Elizabeth's decision became firm where there would be no turning back and of course there certainly may have been but if there was when did it occur and does that mean as I think is often assumed that every Suitor that Elizabeth entertained after that point or indeed throughout her life was simply for show just a way for Elizabeth to pacify her counselors and her subjects in short was she simply content to just waste everyone's time on a fruitless endeavor so what about if we set all of this supposition to one side and we look Instead at Elizabeth's options if we explore the failed negotiations and the near misses if we refrain from asking why wouldn't she marry and instead ask what were her options how viable were any of them really but before we take a look at today's topic I want to say an absolutely massive thank you to history hit for sponsoring another video on this channel history hit brings you the stories that shape the world through their award-winning podcast Network and online History Channel it's like Netflix but all history with history hit you can watch hundreds of hours of original history documentaries anywhere anytime on any device brought to you by expert historians such as Dan snow Professor Suzanne Lipscomb Dan Jones and more in addition to already having hundreds of expert-led programs they add two more every week history hit also launched 19 new episodes weekly across eight podcasts which includes the world's leading History Podcast dance knows history hit this week I have been getting stuck into this rebellion in the North this series explores the northern regions of England and it pays particular attention to their drive for independence from the south and also to their propensity for Rebellion across three episodes we are shown how willing the Conqueror was confronted with this between 1069 and 1070. how Henry VIII was jeopardized in 1536 and how Elizabeth the first was threatened in 1569. click the link in my description box to find out more and to subscribe to history hit as an added bonus history hit offering my viewers a very special discount use the code history hit at checkout you can get 60 off your first six months this generous discount means that you can subscribe to history hit for less than three pounds a month thanks again to history hit for sponsoring this video so let's take a look at the suitors of Queen Elizabeth the first [Music] it was not uncommon for a princess to be betrothed to a foreign prince in her infancy or early childhood and certainly this is what happened for Elizabeth's Half Sister Mary it would happen for the first time in 1518 when Mary was two years old and was betrothed to Francois the dofa of France however this proposal would as it would turn out be broken off and repudiated fairly quickly so that Mary could be betrothed instead to her cousin Charles V and this happened in 1522 so for those of us trying to keep track that does make two betrothals by age six for little Mary Elizabeth's situation was however far more complex and it would be more complex from the very beginning because whatever Elizabeth's parents might assert even enforce upon their subjects about the legitimacy of their marriage Elizabeth's birth and her place in the succession all of that is going to do precious little to assuage the concerns about Elizabeth status for those resident overseas and certainly a deal could have been struck because marriage to a king's daughter was no mean thing but Elizabeth in the English mindset and according to her parents was a princess and not just that she was also currently the heires presumptive to her father's throne and thus a person of that state would normally be offered a Suitor of a commensurate rank however those who are in charge of espousing off Foreign printlings don't seem to have been willing to recognize Elizabeth as being anything more than a King's Daughter and so they had reached an impasse to accept what these foreign houses seem prepared to offer would be to accept an insult to Elizabeth and her place but then just before her third birthday following her mother's fall from favor and ultimate execution Elizabeth status was drastically reduced she was no longer the princess Elizabeth no longer air rest presumptive she was now simply the Lady Elizabeth and as such she moved behind her Elder half-sister the Lady Mary to be according to their father King Henry VIII recognized as nothing more than his second illegitimate daughter Elizabeth's value on the international marriage Market which was already shaky now utterly plummeted at least her half-sister Mary had the benefit the bonus some might say of being related to the Royal House of Spain Elizabeth could claim none of that there is some suggestion that when Elizabeth was 13 just after her father's death Thomas Seymour her little brother's Uncle who was in his late 30s proposed marriage to her if he did it was done secretly and he clearly was rebuffed nevertheless Elizabeth would end up living with him because she went to live in the household of the woman that Thomas would end up marrying Elizabeth's former stepmother Catherine Parr now there is a lot of talk of there being impropriety shall we say during this period And I will link my video on Thomas Seymour but full disclosure I don't like him on the 5th of September 1548 Catherine Paul died of complications from childbirth her widower Thomas was soon pursuing Elizabeth seemingly with the full blessing of Elizabeth's closest Confidant cat Astley or Ashley and perhaps even with the tacit approval of Elizabeth herself but this was a dangerous game and Thomas was soon accused of treason it was alleged that his desire for power his need to be the top of government and to have some kind of authority over his nephew the king had driven him to attempt to usurp the authority of his elder brother who is known as protector Somerset Edward Seymour was at this point sitting at the top of King Edward VI Council but it went further some even claimed that he wished to harm the young king Elizabeth was implicated this connection to Thomas put her in real Danger Thomas was executed on the 20th of March 1549. Elizabeth would be turning 16 later that year Elizabeth was 25 years old when her Elder half-sister Mary who was then Queen Mary the first died in the aftermath it was Elizabeth who succeeded her as Queen of England soon though Mary's widower King Philip of Spain would present himself as a Suitor for Elizabeth's hand during Mary's Reign Philip had tried to marry Elizabeth off to his cousin the Duke of Savoy now he was simply looking for just another way to retain Spain's interest and potentially control over England and clearly he's going to do so by any means necessary Elizabeth however is going to be intimately aware of just how unpopular her sister's marriage had been I mean after all the white Rebellion had broken out upon the news of it breaking and Elizabeth had been implicated in this Rebellion she was tied up in the potential treason once again she is in danger she is imprisoned in the Tower of London in the aftermath of this additionally Philip and Mary's shared desire to see England be returned to obedience with the Holy See of Rome had led to numerous burnings which is not going to be a good PR exercise for anyone on top of this England was drawn in two Spanish conflicts the cost to England was Calais Calais was England's final territorial holding on the continent so its loss is profound Philip would also prove to be a relatively absent husband much to his wife Mary distress nevertheless Mary and those who tended to her did believe that he had been around enough to get her pregnant as it would turn out they were all mistaken the response to Mary's mistaken or failed pregnancy oscillated from concern to outright mockery Philip the loss of Calais the failed perhaps phantom pregnancy all served to destabilize Mary's Authority as a queen of England Elizabeth I think would have seen a marriage that cost her sister and England March and in fact returned very little the fears of those who had opposed the match seem to have been realized they feared that when a queen of one nation lies a king of another her Nation also becomes a wife and thus the junior subservient partner in the arrangement might Elizabeth feared that any married with Philip or indeed any other foreign Prince might risk a similar imbalance in power would that imbalance be only the worst in Elizabeth's case as for the most part many of the crowned heads of Europe were Roman Catholic to marry them would also mean a marriage where a faith difference existed could Elizabeth have been looking to avoid submitting her body to the test of conception and pregnancy after all hadn't her sister shown that failing that test would result in mockery in her Reign potentially being discredited or even shaped into evidence of God's displeasure with Elizabeth her rule even her Nation and that's ignoring the fact that even a successful conception that goes to a full-term pregnancy could result in the death of the mother the baby or both of them so Elizabeth could do everything and she could still leave her Nation with no air but by not trying it's certain that she would and the risk of leaving her Nation with no air meant risking a potential that war might break out after her death in the hopes of deciding the matter so no foreign match then what about a Suitor closer to home Robert Dudley had pursued his Queen fiercely from the very start indeed he is often referred to as her one true love and the man that she came closest to actually considering for marriage there were however a few problems firstly Robert was already married but then in 1560 Robert's wife Amy was found dead in suspicious circumstances and I did make a video on this and I will be leaving that linked as well any hope that Elizabeth may have had about marrying Robert surely had to evaporate from this very moment even though he was cleared of involvement in his wife's death suspicion still swelled I mean we've all heard the phrase that mud Sticks no smoke without fire Etc had Elizabeth herself the daughter of a woman whose own name had been attached almost certainly unfairly but attached nevertheless to promiscuity and perversion gone on to marry a man who many thought had killed his wife it's going to be a desperately short jump for Elizabeth's enemies at home and abroad to view her as having been complicit I think we can all imagine the kind of allegations that would surely have started to flood in about Elizabeth having her Lover's wife murdered so that she could make him her husband and King and to that matter even without Amy's tragic and confusing end Robert Dudley was a subject and there are always going to be issues about making a subject into the husband of a regular queen into a king the belief in there being a divine order to the world within which man was naturally spiritually divinely placed above woman means that the place of a Remnant Queen in her own marriage is going to be a complex one as a wife she should submit as a monarch she must rule making a subject of a pregnant Queen into her husband also raised him above all of his fellows and so what happens if the queen Falls pregnant who's going to govern during her confinement what happens if she dies but the child lives does her widower a former subject act as the Regent as the nation waits for his progeny to come of age it's an enormous amount of power to place upon a subject however nobly born they might be and what are his fellows going to think to see a Dudley Race So High how is a Howard or a gray or a Seymour to take that I'd wager not well in fact it might risk a rebellion even a civil war well I can certainly see how a regular queen marrying a subject is potentially storing up a whole host of problems right so let's go back to the marital drawing board then maybe we can find a way that a foreign Prince could potentially be an option now I know we've all talked about how Philip was an unpopular choice to be Mary's husband I think we can all assume that that lack of popularity would extend if he were to become Elizabeth's husband however is it possible that that unpopularity is potentially due in at least some part to his Roman Catholic faith rather than simply him being a foreign Prince is the faith a reason to exclude him and other foreign princes who believe as he does thus are we looking for a foreign Protestant Prince as the individual who could be the answer to all of our problems enter Eric who would become king Eric the 14th of Sweden from 1560. Eric had been pursuing Elizabeth since before she became Queen of England he sent her Ardent letters he even attempted to visit her in person when she was Queen in fact plans were made for the two of them to meet at Hampton Court Palace which ultimately would come to nothing Patrick Collinson explains that there was quote a series of Swedish missions between summer 1559 and Autumn 1562 that came Laden with Massey bullion and stablesworth of piballed horses on the surface I think Eric makes lots of sense it is after all important that we remember that one of the Express benefits of a diplomatic Royal marriage was Mutual protection between nations two Protestant Powers backing each other up could only be a good thing right unless of course the issue of England potentially being made into a wife of another nation was just something that was insurmountable but regardless Elizabeth seems scarcely to entertain the notion of marrying him is it the fact that by this early Point she had already determined to remain unmarried or did Elizabeth spot something in his effusive hyperbolic love letters that gave her reason to pause after all Eric would be deposed and imprisoned by his brother in 1568. following an apparent descent into mental instability which is said to have manifested in paranoia violence and cruelty so that's a Catholic Prince ruled out and a Protestant one and even a subject but the negotiations would still continue on in the decade and a bit to come two sons of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand the first would be suggested as possible husbands these Sons were Ferdinand same name as his dad and Charles Charles was the younger of the two having been born in 1540 and it was he that Elizabeth seemed to be considering Elizabeth counselors had been pushing for her to marry from the very start of her Reign and the pressure they applied would only increase following the Queen's life-threatening bout of smallpox back in 1562. her counselors were I think understandably anxious about the distinct lack of Tudors that were available to come after Elizabeth not to mention the fact that even flirting with the idea of marrying someone from one of the great European houses would have had the added bonus of putting any of their rivals in Europe on notice so to speak we should perhaps think about what France might be prepared to offer to Elizabeth for her to not marry a Habsburg but despite this and with all that being said they were still cautious and in fact displeased about the thought of Charles as a potential husband and the basis for this was his Roman Catholic faith eventually Elizabeth would turn him down despite her council's reticence about seeing their Queen contract a marriage with a Roman Catholic Elizabeth did at least for a time in the 1570s entertained the suits of two Roman Catholic Brothers these negotiations began while Elizabeth was in her late 30s and they would continue until she was in her mid-40s the first of the brothers to be considered was the 19 year old Henri who was later Henry III of France and with him Elizabeth appeared to be considering a marriage from 1570 to 1571. allegedly and quite interestingly his mother Catherine de Medici seemingly approved the match and this was despite the couple's differing faiths I say interesting because the following year after these negotiations or suggestions appear to have concluded was 1572. 1572 would see utterly devastating violence being acted against Protestants in Paris during an event that has come to be known as the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre and I do have a video on that event that I will be leaving linked Catherine de Medici is frequently named as being a if not the instigator of this particular atrocity nevertheless and I think quite surprisingly especially if we consider how this massacre the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre was viewed in England and particularly by Elizabeth and her government it is quite surprising that negotiations to potentially marry Henry's younger brother another son of Catherine de Medici called Francois to Elizabeth would be picked up and indeed would rumble on throughout the rest of the decade Francois took his willing of Elizabeth seriously he was happy for it to be intimated even stated that he was different from his brother Henri even in opposition to him to his Rule and to also his religious intolerance Francois seemingly was Keen to be set up as a Catholic moderate Francois also Keen to present himself as a true and Ardent lover so much so he sent his own trust representative Jean de semier over to England to win Elizabeth's hand for him at the start of 1579 and quite surprisingly Francois make the choice to come to England in person unofficially himself later that year this would make him the first of Elizabeth's foreign suitors to make the journey to come to England to woo her in person by all accounts Elizabeth was very taken with her Frog as she took to calling him and after his departure letters continued to pass between the couple that were full of loving words Francois even returned to England in 1582. clearly he was looking to get his hoped for marriage over the line so to speak but Queen Elizabeth also seemed to be driving towards this marriage taking place and that's even after her Council had made it clear that they were not in favor of the match once again the Roman Catholic faith of her Suitor was providing a block still Elizabeth seemed to hang on to the idea that she would in fact marry him she continued to write to him and she refer to him in the same loving tones as if he were still her intended ultimately though Elizabeth would pull a hawk to everything in 1582 when Francois would turn 27. and Elizabeth would be turning 49. as Patrick Collinson puts it perhaps somewhat delicately quote as the biological clock ticked out of time that was the end of matrimonial diplomacy Queen Elizabeth the first had told her first parliament in 1559 quote and in the end this shall be for me sufficient that a marble Stone shall declare that a queen having reigned such and such a Time lived and died a virgin many have taken this speech and particularly this quotation from this speech as evidence that by the time she was 25 and having been Queen of England for just around three months Elizabeth was already Resolute that she would never marry and if that's the case then that naturally means that every subsequent foray flirtation or negotiation about her marriage would have had to have been done with at least some degree of bad faith on her part and you know what I'm just not sure that I buy that so rather than puzzling over why Elizabeth never married rather than looking to pinpoint the moment the event the person who had such an effect on her that she decided in that second that she would resolutely never be a wife I'm instead inclined to question who she could have married to see who was the good option for her to maintain her faith her power and the Peace of her Nation as a matter of Surety because in the case of each of the suitors we have explored today and indeed in the case of other people who may potentially have been suggested I can see the pitfalls I can see the risks and maybe Elizabeth could too and maybe it stopped her progressing in each individual circumstance rather than believing that Elizabeth saw marriage as a monolith to be avoided is it not possible that she did in good faith approach each individual Suitor as its own circumstance is it also possible that in every case she found something about them that was wanting that marrying them was simply too big of a Gamble and of course she would have realized we know she is no fool that leaving no air of her body was a massive gamble too however perhaps we should consider the fact that leaving no air of her body was after all a threat that would principally be dealt with by those that she was leaving behind it would be made an issue by her dying and it would be a problem to solve after her death while making the wrong marriage could bring her very real very dangerous consequences while she lived now is this a selfish way for a queen to think and act yes but is it also perhaps an understandable way for a queen to think and act also I think yes but is this what Elizabeth was actually thinking either consciously or unconsciously well that's anyone's guess but what do you think do you think that Elizabeth ever really considered getting married do you think that any of these options were good options for husbands and if so who if alternatively no one we've talked about today sounds that they would have been a good idea is there someone else that you think would have been better or were there possibly just no good options for her and if so what does that mean as always I'm looking forward to reading your conversations in the comments section underneath this video or you can come and find me Elsewhere on social media I will leave links to all the other places you can find me on the internet in my description box please do consider following me over on some or all of those so that we can continue this conversation and start some others I do hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful and if you did please do consider sharing it and indeed my Channel with your friends please also let me know you liked it by hitting the thumbs up also in the comments write some words drop an emoji it all helps with the algorithm please do subscribe the channel and if you think you're subscribed have a little check make sure YouTube hasn't unsubscribed you the best bit is while you are checking subscribing maybe re-subscribing you will spot the Bell icon that sits beside the Subscribe button hit that and then select all in the drop down so that YouTube will tell you allegedly when I've next uploaded I do hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to you all in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music]

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 38,733

Keywords: Tudor, Jacobean, Elizabethan, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: 6yhV6nKWyns

Length: 30min 7sec (1807 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 27 2023