Queens of Britain - Britain's Royal Women Part One

[Music] it's 60 a.d the combined forces of the tribes of britain under boudicca queen of the icini are finally meeting their roman oppressors led by the governor of britain suetonius paulinus the roman legions are vastly outnumbered by as many as 20 to 1 by the seething mass of celts that have the gods and justice on their side the following battle will change the course of history as either the island of britain will be freed from the invaders or the roman empire will rule britannia for centuries to come [Music] the woman known to history as buddhica celtic warrior queen of the iceni tribe was born in the modern day county of norfolk in the southeast of england sometime between 25 to 30 a.d although information about boudicca's lineage is scanned and the identity of her parents is widely debated many historians agree the buddhica was of royal descent and had two daughters who were princesses of the icini whose names are unknown their father being boudicca's husband prasategus who she married in around 49 a.d ruling as a nominally independent ally of rome prasadegas unlike some celtic kings had managed to retain his throne after the invasion of britain ordered by the emperor claudius in 43 a.d attaining roman citizenship and even governorship of the isini region largely by paying tribute to rome and maintaining good relations with them cassius dio a roman statesman and historian in his writings called a roman history describes boudicca as tall with tawny or red hair hanging down to below her waist a harsh voice and a piercing glare whilst he said she also wore a large golden torque or necklace around her neck as well as earrings and bracelets a colorful tunic and a thick cloak fastened by a brooch but despite her status she would also reportedly take off a jewelry on occasion and work the fields with the common people as well as this dio went on to say that boudicca was a pagan druid priestess who used methods of ancient celtic divination as she was said to have on one occasion released a hair from the folds of her dress and was able to predict in which direction it would run whilst it is also said of her that she invoked andraste the british goddess of victory during her campaign against rome whilst some have ultimately questioned the very existence of boudicca the resurrection of her fame in britain is in part down to queen victoria who celebrated the warrior queen's defense of britain during the 19th century and even supported the construction of the famous statue of boudicca and her daughters that now stands in london near the houses of parliament whilst perhaps coincidentally the name boudicca is thought to be derived from boudega meaning she who brings victory and is even thought to be the origin of the name victoria budaka's tribe the icini themselves were an iron age people centered in the english region of east anglia their capital being vanta isinorum near modern-day cayster st edmonds just south of norwich however their territory stretched throughout the county of norfolk and into parts of the county of suffolk and it is also said by some that boudicca had a palace in the vicinity of the town of thatford the people of the iceni like many celts at the time wore animal skins for clothing and carried spears short swords and daggers during battle and it is thought that the name iceni itself was first used by roman historians although it is also suggested from the writings of julius caesar that celebmagni was the original name ascribed to the icini tribe which means great icini although some academics have suggested that the sunny magni were a distinct or separate tribe altogether it is thought that within the celtic tribes both men and women were farmers of crops and cattle whilst archaeological evidence shows that iron age celtic tribes also worked with tin iron and timber and lived in large homes known as roundhouses made of clay and straw with a central chimney opening at the apex of the roof and a door that always faced towards the rising sun the icini territory itself was bordered to the south by the trinivantis who occupied south suffolk as well as the majority of modern day essex whilst to the west by the territories of the catavolani tribe whose territory consisted of much of central eastern england the iceni were traditionally thought to have spoken a britannic or p celtic language related to that of celtic welsh which was the main language spoken in pre-roman times of british history and records from this period also suggest that there was a high degree of trading and communication taking place between britain and the continent the celtic tribes being influenced by french gaelic migration as documented by roman analyst tacitus it is also known that the icini were adept at metalwork possibly trading celtic style techniques with the peoples of gol and phoenicia with such tribes as the veneti which is evident in the discovery of icini relics and treasure troves for example archaeological finds such as the impressive sehm tony and snattisham treasure hordes found in west norfolk and northwest suffolk which included finds from mainland europe these discoveries also reveal the true extent of the craftsmanship of the icini as well as their technological skills and it is thought that the reason for these large hordes of treasure being deposited in the first place was that the celts may have buried their jewelry and other valuables for safety possibly for future purchases or bribes which were then forgotten about or lost when their owners died unexpectedly evidence for this celtic excellence in metal working is also demonstrated by the fact that the icini were minting coins as early as the turn of the first century from gold and other precious metals often depicting animals such as dogs or wolves the bird resting on the back of the animal and as well as this other coins such as silver currency displayed human faces in the roman style while the reverse side was stamped with horses with smaller currency coins containing balls to the front and horses on the back furthermore the icini were adept at hand-to-hand warfare as they painted their bodies in blue wood a dye derived from a yellow flower that was common in east anglia at the time and many celts typically chose to fight naked rather than wear armor as clothing and armor would restrict movement during face-to-face combat but although this approach was thought by the icini to demonstrate great courage and was indeed intimidating their valor would ultimately meet its match with the arrival of tiberius claudius caesar's roman legions protected as they were by advanced segmented armor and helmets rome's initial conquest of britain had first begun in the year 55 bc under gaius julius caesar which although largely unsuccessful marked the start of diplomatic ties between the various celtic tribes inhabiting southern britain and rome itself nonetheless any plans to secure britain entirely were halted after caesar's murder in the roman senate in 44 bc which culminated in civil war that was eventually won by caesar's nephew octavian who made himself rome's first emperor augustus in 27 bc the context of julius caesar's planned invasion was not only one of militaristic expansion and exploitation of economic potential but was also used to secure his political position as rome's greatest general and statesman who was willing and able to wipe out any threat to rome's expansionist plans meaning that essentially defeating the celtic tribes of europe was as much about personal political maneuvering as it was territory or riches in order to facilitate or rather manipulate favorable public opinion within rome caesar used propaganda tactics to paint the britons as a race of primitive barbarians who were a threat to roman civilization and following caesar's conquering of much of goal in modern day france he sent scout ships across the english channel in 55 bc to gather intelligence on the best methods of attack whilst the pleas for peace from the tribes of britain were ignored this culminated in caesar's famous attempted invasions of britain first in 55 bc with two legions or ten thousand men and again in 54 bc with a five legion twenty seven thousand man force and during his time in britain as part of his gallic wars caesar's exploits brought him into conflict with cassio valonis who is thought to have been the leader of the catavillani who had overthrown the king of the trinivantes and sent his son mandu bracius into exile despite this infighting in the face of the roman invasion the celtic tribes appointed cassio vellanes as leader of their combined forces and he led a combined army of britons using guerrilla tactics and local knowledge to slow the advance of rome's legions by preventing the romans foraging for food after this the two forces met at the only affordable crossing point of the thames and the romans managed to cross despite the sharpened stake defenses that the catavolani had employed it was then that the cat of olani resorted back to their guerrilla tactics using local knowledge and the speed of their chariots to deter the romans after this other tribes named by caesar as the sunni magni the ancolites the sagantiaki the bibrachi and the cassie sued for peace and revealed the location of cassio valorness's position to caesar which resulted in a siege of his stronghold cassivalenos then managed to get a message to four of the kings of kent who sent reinforcements to take the roman positions on the coast but they were unsuccessful in doing so and once he found out that one of the chieftains lugonteryx had been captured and his forces routed carsivallornis surrendered but was allowed to keep his throne if he paid homage to caesar and pledged to remain at peace with the trinivantes whose deposed king amanda bracius was restored by caesar caesar's exploits also saw him engage in numerous conflicts with other tribes during this time and he was victorious in many battles subduing a number of the celtic leaders whilst forging relationships with tribes such as the trinivantes which is an example of the divide and rule strategy that would be deployed by the romans in britain during their numerous invasions it was at this point however that caesar left britain before the onset of winter of 54 bc because of a massive insurrection in gaul due to failed harvests meaning that rome's plans for subjugating britannia were ultimately unsuccessful and had to be shelved for another 97 years the imperial subjugation of britain wasn't a priority for rome at this time as economically the revenue they could raise from customs duties and goods would be more valuable to them than maintaining an army on the island to rule over the disparate tribes but despite this with the onset of the julian claudian dynasty several missions to britain were attempted once more but aborted due to other priorities taking precedence within the roman empire as well as terms being agreed with the britons prior to the missions taking place examples of the aborted campaigns include those led by both augustus in 34 27 and 25 bc and much later by killagilla in 40ad who was responding to reports that rome's allies the trinivantes had been subjugated by the catavaloni who had captured their territory including their capital of camelot dunham modern-day colchester in essex however the infamous emperor did not actually engage with the tribes instead opting to send a scouting mission bringing back konchai or seashells leading the emperor to claim on his return that he had subdued neptune himself it wasn't until the reign of emperor tiberius claudius that the celts of southern britain would finally be subdued almost a century after caesar's attempts when in the year 43 a.d a full-scale invasion led by orles plottius conquered and integrated the celtic tribes around southern england before the roman empire began to expand further into the welsh territories and to the north of the island the emperor claudius was initially thought of as a weak and feeble character in rome who could be easily manipulated which is why he inherited the roman emperor ship following the assassination of his nephew caligula in 41 a.d by the emperor's elite praetorian guard as he was a tyrannical and paranoid leader that misused his power and was likely deluded whilst claudius although sane was not thought of as a natural leader or as being fit for public duty by other roman aristocrats nevertheless claudius was selected by the praetorian guard who intended to install the puppet emperor after slaying his nephew caligula and according to roman historian suetonius despite claudius being uncharismatic and suffering from physical issues his disadvantages did not deter him from legitimizing his position by emulating caesar's attempt to invade britain that would ultimately result in rome holding sway over the island for the next 400 years claudius's expansion into southern britain was complete by 47 a.d and had incorporated the region now known as southern england into the roman empire for the first time nonetheless britain was not thought of as important from a militaristic perspective but instead the invasion was largely about politics in rome itself as a conquering of britain and both the praetorian guard and the emperor himself were viewed favorably on invading britain in 43 a.d claudius appointed all as plotius to lead rome's armies alongside future emperor vespasian who commanded the second legion augusta who were backed up by the ninth legion hispana the 14th legion gemini and the 20th legion valeria vectrix along with thousands of auxiliary troops totaling around forty thousand men that set sail from modern day beloin in gaul in 43 a.d crossed the channel and headed for richborough in kent before entering into further battles the roman legions waited with all aspartius for the emperor claudius to arrive who joined his forces for the offensive on the major celtic stronghold of camelodunam which had previously been held by the trinavantes but was now controlled by the cat of olani under their king kuda baliness father of both the deceased togedomnus and the exiled keraticus it is said that claudius arrived at kamala dunham with a number of war elephants that would have surely been a spectacle to behold and it wasn't long before the city fell without further resistance and surrendered to rome the physical presence of claudius acting to legitimize his position as roman emperor and as the conqueror of britannia although he only stayed on the island for 16 days before leaving for the continent once more but nonetheless he would later accept the title britannicus bestowed on him by the grateful summit in recognition of his conquest however claudius insisted that he would only accept the title if it were born by his son instead of himself the cat of alani's defeat was a major success for rome because they as the strongest of the southern tribes had been instrumental in protecting the celtic way of life in britain for nearly a century against their imperial aggressors and it was during this time that many celtic leaders switched allegiance to rome including kogi dubness it was established by claudius as king and legit of the roman empire in britain ruling from novio magus reginorum which is modern day chichester in west sussex an inevitable consequence of the romans invading britain was that legions would be required to garrison the island meaning that camilla dunham or colchester was made the temporary garrison headquarters of the 20th legion valeria victrix but after the legions marched westward in 49 a.d the defenses were dismantled and camila dunham was renamed colonia victor census the provincial capital of britannia in which its native citizens had equal rights to the citizens of rome after this colonia victor census became a town for military veterans with the barracks being converted into housing at a temple being built in or around 50 a.d that was dedicated to claudius on his death four years later the foundations of which can still be seen to this day as much of the temple was later incorporated into colchester's norman castle which was largely constructed from recycled roman building materials the roman foundations of colchester castle are said to be the earliest substantial roman stone structure visible in britain today and it is an ever-present reminder of the roman's influence and later after boudicca's revolt and sacking of kamaladunam substantial outer walls were constructed to defend it along with a monumental arch located at the western gate of the town made of tufa a variety of limestone and purbeck marble indeed kamaladunum which was first mentioned on celtic coinage between 20 to 10 bc is thought by many to be britain's oldest recorded town therefore it is of no surprise that the romans chose the settlement to be one of their main military bases as the significance of repurposing celtic fortifications as roman outposts cannot have been lost on the local tribes whilst this as well as the recently established merchant and commercial town of londinium modern day london on the northern bank of the river thames acted as the two main centres of roman power as well as commerce in southern britannia following the taking of kamaladunam the roman legions spread out across britain on a number of incursions including the capture of the isle of wight led by vespasian and the second legion augusta whereas the roman historian suetonius states that lindem present-day lincoln was sacked by the ninth legion hispano whilst the 14th legion gemini descended on the midlands eventually defeating the fugitive karatekas in wales in 50 or 51 a.d securing roman dominion over southern britain after which keraticus sought shelter with the brigantes in 47 a.d the commander of the invasion of britain orla splotius returned to rome and received the highest award given by roman senators that being an ovation whilst in britain he was replaced by publius australia's scapular who carried out an invasion in wales against the ordovicis and continued to subdue the already oppressed tribes in england by disarming them causing already rising tensions to escalate further as celtic traditions and ways of life were oppressed scapular then put down uprisings by both the brigantes and the icini in 47 a.d after which he banned weaponry from the british tribes altogether and returned to his objective in wales where he fought against the solures but he died soon afterwards in 52 a.d and was replaced by didious gallus who would reign as governor of britain for another five years according to some sources during this time karatekas had taken refuge amongst the saluras but soon afterwards the fugitive warlord was captured in brigantia in 51 a.d after seeking refuge with queen carti mandua leader of the brigantis who no doubt seeking rome's favor handed him over to the invaders and was subsequently rewarded with great wealth keraticus was then taken to rome as a prisoner after eight years of unsuccessful conflict with the legions however claudius would ultimately be merciful to his former enemy and allow him to end his days in rome when upon being sentenced to death the former warlord gave an eloquent and courageous speech stating that does it really follow that everyone should accept your slavery if i were now being handed over as one who had surrendered immediately neither my fortune nor your glory would have achieved brilliance the subjugation of wales then continued under governor of britain gaia suetonius polinus who in 60 to 61 a.d embarked on his now infamous invasion of the sacred isle of anglesey which was the spiritual center of the pagan druids who in many ways were the collective religious leaders of the celtic peoples practiced in law medicine politics as well as religion but despite their importance their class although literate were forbidden to take records therefore little evidence exists concerning them but it is certain that the romans saw these mythical people as a major threat to their stranglehold over britain anglesey or the isle of mona as it was known at the time was a refuge not only for druids but also for displaced tribes people who wanted to avoid the ravages of the roman invasion but once the legions reached amona the romans and the polinus killed the druids on mass and destroyed their ancient sacred woodland groves in what is now known as the menai massacre the doubtless was meant to crush the will of the celtic people but in reality caused outrage and hatred amongst the island's tribes who are now due to rome's harsh rule on the brink of a full-scale revolt although the romans brought their own customs and way of life such as the rule of law courts roads trade and better sanitation other introductions such as heavy taxation and the treatment of the oppressed celts were not welcomed by many and although roman influence was embraced by some it ultimately resulted in rebellion one of which was devastating and this time it was led by the iceni during this period relations between the romans and the iceni had remained cordial on the whole but tense as the tribe lived in relative peace with no garrisons within the confines of their territory so long as they surrendered their arms but regardless the icini people were still seen by the romans as second-class citizens who were often exploited pillaged raped and even murdered which only fueled the flames of resentment and hatred to add to these insults the iceni had to pay for their freedom with coinage and satisfy other demands such as the provision of agricultural goods essentially paying for their uneasy independence from the invader and although the icini had fiercely resisted rome's expansion into their territory initially in 43 a.d the emperor claudius reached an agreement with boudicca's husband the icini king prasadegas for homage to be paid to rome which he agreed to in a desperate attempt to preserve his own culture and position this agreement made both prasadegas and boudicca extremely wealthy but the roman's naivety or disregard of the icini way of life and celtic culture in general perhaps inevitably caused animosity and it is unclear from tacitus's writing that the buddhicus husband prasadegas surrendered to a roman advance or whether he was placed in a leadership role following the icne rebellion of 47 a.d against the roman governor scapulars banning of weaponry but it is clear that an agreement was reached in which the iceni people could live in relative peace if prasadegas on his death gave up half of his lungs to rome whilst the other half was to be retained by his two daughters with boudicca this tenuous relationship was placed under severe strain by the emperor nero who had a very different outlook on britannia to his predecessor claudius as he wanted to increase roman influence on the island to ultimately collect more wealth by a taxation and it was then that katus deseanus a roman procurator or law official under polinus made the decision to plunder the icini's lands in order to recoup payments for the massive loans which roman officials such as seneca the younger and polinus had given the iceni in the preceding years and subsequently upon the death of boudicca's husband prasadegas in 59 or 60 a.d roman troops laid siege to the settlements of the iceni tribe and confiscated their lands and property altogether despite the negotiations undertaken by claudius and prasadegas concerning the icini inheritance plan the romans now chose to ignore the agreement which stated that his daughters should inherit his land and titles as the invaders would not accept that a woman could inherit or indeed rule and furthermore boudicca also felt that she had been sidelined by prasadegas and his plan for the icini succession which combined with the roman annexation of the icini lands no doubt tipped her over the proverbial edge it is unclear as to whether boudicca was made leader of the icini immediately after her husband's death or instead in the aftermath of the roman attacks as it may have been the case that her being proclaimed the queen of the iceni made her the target of the roman army as after the death of prasadegas in 60 a.d she was according to tacitus stripped and flogged publicly possibly with a cat 09 tales tearing the skin from her back while she was then forced to watch as her two daughters aged 10 and 12 were repeatedly raped in front of her which was an act that was supposed to break the spirit of the iceni and their queen however seeing her suffering boudicca's people tended to her wounds as well as her daughters after the romans had left following this devastating attack all ice property was confiscated by the romans and the kingdom was annexed into the empire whilst in addition seneca the younger continued to demand repayment of the large sums of money he had loaned to the iceni and used severe means to make sure the debts were repaid meaning that much of the icini aristocracy were sent into servitude in italy that prompted the remaining celtic leaders in the east of england to band together and begin planning a full-scale insurrection against their roman overlords to rally support budaker is said to have traveled through neighboring territories in her war chariot reportedly invoking the divine power of the druids to inspire the uprising against the hated romans by calling upon the celtic goddess of victory andraste to rally the population as after all she was reportedly a druid priestess herself meaning that before long tens of thousands of celts were flocking to her banner including the remnants of the trinivantes and the catavolani tribes who cast aside their differences to join the iceni rebellion and they all fought in the name of celtic liberty with boudicca to rid britain of the romans once and for all according to tacitus boudicca amassed a following of up to 70 000 people while cassius dio states her horde was a staggering 120 000 strong however modern historians think that the true number may be lower but what's certain is that a sizeable proportion of the celtic population of southeast england if not a majority rose up against their roman oppressors as many of them had been preparing and waiting for many years to reclaim their homes and possessions or merely take revenge tacitus records that after rallying the scattered tribes boudicca addressed her armies with these words it is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry but as one of the people that i am avenging lost freedom my scourged body the outraged chastity of my daughters this is a woman's resolve as for men they may live and be slaves it was then with this mighty seething host of irate celts at her back but boudicca turned her attention to the focal point of roman power in southeast england the provincial capital of kamaladunam which now lay undefended and ripe for the pecking whilst camilla dunham had previously been the capital for the trinovantas retime as well as the catavolani it had been taken over by the romans and used as a retirement community but discharged older roman soldiers which caused further local resentment as did rome's statue a victory which honored their conquering of the region at the time of the iceni revolt suetonius polinus was still campaigning in wales with two legions having concluded his annihilation of the druids on anglesey whilst another legion had been stationed in modern day exeter to the south west and another the closest the ninth hispanic was stationed in lindem modern-day lincoln meaning that the entire south east of the province of britannia now lay undefended after approaching kamala dunham from the budaka's army swept down through modern day norfolk and suffolk eventually linking up with the trinivante allies and approaching kamaladunam from the northwest entering the city through the modern day balkan gate possibly with the aid of spies within the city after which the celts embarked on an orgy of violence and destruction burning the entire city to the ground and massacring the roman population as well as toppling rome's statue of victory that had been predicted by the tribal soothsayers on boudicca's charge kamaladunum was laid waste with up to 50 000 warriors attacking in one sweeping assault followed by a siege and the subsequent storming of the temple of claudius where many of the town's inhabitants had sought refuge but tacitus later described as a citadel of eternal slavery from a celtic perspective who after surrounding the temple after several days burned it to the ground and despite the veteran roman soldiers donning their armor once again to protect kamala dunham after two days the town fell with the civilians inside the great temple being burned alive and to this day a thick layer of ash is often found across colchester whenever archaeological excavations are permitted during the sacking of kamaladunam the celts were also able to thwart roman efforts to reinforce the beleaguered town as the ninth legion hispanic under petulius carriales was ambushed on route from lindem with celtic charioteers and foot soldiers attacking the romans from both sides and unable to see off the celts hispano lost all of their infantry in the ensuing route whilst back in kamaladunam boudicca's army decapitated the bronze statue of nero that had been erected outside the temple of claudius and kept his head as a souvenir of their victory despite their evident effectiveness at guerilla warfare and lightning raids boudicca's warriors unlike the romans were less well-equipped for open battle but the celts use of their maneuverable war chariots along with their knowledge of the land and forests granted them victory and as boudicca had destroyed a roman legion as well as the provincial capital in a matter of days both she and her army no doubt bolstered with a newly found sense of confidence naturally turned her eye to the commercial center of roman britain londinium having now received word of the sacking of kamaladunam and the decimation of the ninth hispana porlinus left his legions in wales and sped down the main road between the roman city of chester and london wattling street to assess the readiness of the city's defenses but after arriving and realizing he did not have enough men to contain the celts he decided to sacrifice the town for the sake of the province by returning northward and rallying the remaining legions in the hope of bringing about a decisive future battle with boudicca tacitus reports that the britons upon arriving in londinium were vicious in victory as they took no prisoners instead preferring to slaughter and burn all they encountered indeed dio states that the noblest women were impaled on spikes and had their breasts cut off and sewn to their mouths to the accompaniment of sacrifices banquets and wanton behavior in sacred places indeed recent archaeological excavations reveal a thick red layer of burnt debris including coins and pottery dating before ad60 within the roman built walls of roman london whilst roman era skulls found in walbrook in 2013 are thought to have been victims of the rebels after sacking london boudicca and her army turned to the north in the hope of finding and defeating the remaining legions and the paulinus and after leaving londinium also sacked the town of verulamium present-day saint albans where the celts massacred the people and burned the buildings without mercy before continuing onwards to the northwest along wattling street whilst the celts were ransacking verilemium polinus was planning to confront budaker on his own terms and according to tacitus a master force of some ten thousand men from his own legion the fourteenth gemini along with the twentieth valeria victrix and some auxiliaries however the second legion augusta of poemius posthumous remained in exeter and so it failed to link up with polinus and so he would now after the loss of the ninth hispana have to take on a force of perhaps two hundred thousand celts with only ten thousand men and so buddhica marched north to confront paulinus who now joined by his two legions chose a defensive position along wattling street and waited the exact location at which the two armies met in 60 a.d is still argued over by current day academics but accounts suggest the most likely battle sites along wattling street include mandu asylum by current day manchetta close to atherton in warwickshire or lactadorum modern-day toaster whilst other suggested sites included high cross at the junction of wattling street with the foss way the rampart in messing near colchester and essex as well as amesbury banks in epping forest another possible site at the cuttle mill area of paulersbury in northamptonshire not only matches the topographical description of the site given by tacitus but was also the site of an excavation which uncovered large quantities of human remains including bones from both sexes including children as well as fragments of roman pottery from the first century nonetheless it is likely the exact site of the battle will never be known although most historians agree the battle took place somewhere along wattling street between saint albans and the junction with vossway having rallied his troops paulinus took a stand at a position of his choosing with a wood to his rear although cassius dio states that his numbers if lined up one man deep would not have stretched the full length of boudicca's front line so instead polinus's legionaries formed a marching wedge formation eight men deep with cavalry placed on the flanks whilst each wedge of soldiers in the formation took turns in fighting for swapping with fresh legionaries stabbing with their hispanic short swords also known as a gladius through the gaps in the shield formation into the exposed flesh of their adversaries according to cassius dio having cited the romans boudicca on a wall chariot followed by cavalry and supported by infantry formed up opposite the romans after which she addressed her troops from her chariot accompanied by her daughters depicting herself not as a wealthy queen fighting to regain her lost riches but as a woman and mother avenging the abuse of her daughter's chastity and her own lost freedom and humiliation at the hands of the roman invaders stating you can follow me or submit to the roman yoke let us therefore go against them trusting boldly to good fortune let us show them that they are hares and foxes trying to rule over dogs and wolves we shall fight and be victorious or die trying it could be argued that although the roman legionaries were the best troops on earth at this time polinus and his men were the underdogs in the upcoming battle as if he had failed both he and his men would be massacred in turn meaning that rome's stranglehold over britain would have been greatly weakened but although his army was heavily outnumbered poor linus had chosen his position carefully as he placed his legions at the top of a gentle slope with his flanks covered both by his cavalry and the surrounding forest meaning that the celts if they wanted battle had to approach his men head on and on mass which was exactly what he wanted as his legions were expert in defending a position against a larger undisciplined barbarian force such as buddhicus it was then that the celts charged the romans perhaps as many as two hundred thousand of them running towards the legions screaming as they went but when the celts approached the romans thousands of them were felled in seconds by two javelin volleys whilst those behind them after running over the bodies of their brethren crashed headlong into the roman shield wall they were greeted by the tips of their enemy swords nonetheless as the fighting raged on it soon dawned on the celts their huge advantage in numbers was now a handicap as their warriors in the front line were being pushed forward by the mass of people behind them making it difficult for them to use their longswords so that when the romans in turn began to advance in their wedge formation the celts were moaned down like grass and trampled underfoot until before long boudicca's army routed from the field but were trapped by their own baggage train from which their families were watching the battle and so tens of thousands of celts including women and children were slaughtered by the roman cavalry which charged in from the flanks and delivered the coup de grace according to tacitus only 800 romans were killed or injured during the battle of wattling street during which he claimed some 80 000 britons were killed however boudicca is said to have fled the field during the route but her ultimate fate is uncertain as tacitus states in his annals that in 60 or 61 a.d boudicca committed suicide by drinking poison whereas agricola writing 20 years before the annals mentions nothing about this and puts the end of this period of revolt down to laziness or disinterest whilst cassius dio says that buddhica fell ill following the quashed revolt died and was given a lavish burial during her revolt boudicca ultimately failed to field an army capable of winning a pitched battle against the roman legions which was the key to her downfall as despite being greatly outnumbered the romans were well armored more disciplined and better drilled than the celts which combined with their brutally effective battle tactics such as the wedge formation enabled them on numerous occasions during rome's many military campaigns to defeat larger disorganized barbarian armies in hindsight it could be said that if boudicca had maintained her hit-and-run guerrilla tactics she may have prevailed and in time may have forced the romans to retreat to the continent but instead the highly organized roman military once again proved itself to be perhaps the most effective killing machine of the ancient world which after all is one of the main reasons the roman empire came to exist and dominate modern day europe and beyond in the years that followed the romans continued their fight against the celtic tribes of southern england and were ultimately successful in quelling the britons and in the immediate aftermath any land and property owned by the iceni was either seized or destroyed although further conflict between the celtic tribes themselves still continued when paulinus was recalled to rome several years later the majority of modern-day england and wales was fully under roman control and this position would continue for another 350 years in which they hitherto celtic populations were assimilated into the roman way of life the evidence for which both physical and cultural can still be seen across britain and indeed mainland europe despite failing to defeat the romans boudicca has achieved near legendary status in britain today as her fight for freedom self-preservation self-governance and an independent celtic identity resonated with her people at the time and still does today as many see her as the very epitome of a freedom fighter whereas others regard her as one of history's first female role models who dared to challenge the most powerful empire in the world and almost one indeed the drama and significance of buddhica's life was perhaps best put to paper by the 18th century english poet william calper when the british warrior queen bleeding from the roman rods saw with an indignant mean council of her country's gods sage beneath the spreading oak sat the druid chief every burning word he spoke full of rage and full of grief roam for empire far renowned tramples on a thousand states soon her pride shall kiss the ground as the gauls are at her gates what do you think of boudicca queen of the icini was she a murderous barbaric and vengeful mystic with little knowledge of battle tactics or strategy or was she one of history's greatest female leaders who bravely led her people against the most powerful empire in the world and in doing so proved that even the might of rome could be challenged by a brave and fearless woman let us know what you think in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Music] it is the 21st of march 11 52 on the banks of the river loire four archbishops of france gather at the royal castle of beaujancy and with the reluctant approval of the pope a nullar king's marriage on the grounds of consanguinity eleanor of aquitaine the divorcee from king louis vii travels to poitiers but is soon accosted by two lords who attempt to kidnap and forcibly marry her in order to claim her lands but she escapes on horseback and only eight weeks after the annulment on the 18th of may 1152 eleanor stands at the altar once more this time beside a man of her own choosing henry of anjou the future king henry ii of england [Music] the woman known to history as eleanor of aquitaine was born in or around 1122 a.d in the western french city of portier eleanor's father william the tenth duke of aquitaine and gascony and count of pontius was the son of the first troubadour or french lyricist or poet william ix duke of aquitaine her father william the tenth is known today as william the saint due to his untimely death whilst on pilgrimage in santiago de compostela in spain in 1137 an event that would set about a chain of events which would catapult his daughter onto the center stage of european power politics eleanor was originally named elianor after her mother enordesha deschatella from the latin meaning the other aenor but her name became adulterated to eleanor because of the dialect of northern france at the time her mother enor married duke william the 10th in 1121 and was the daughter of amory the first to rush for gold via count of chatelero whose wife vicantis tajaros dalil bouchard was also the mistress of william ix duke of aquitaine meaning that eleanor's maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather were lovers her grandfather william ix duke of aquitaine was somewhat of a romantic as a troubadour or medieval french poet he would have composed ballads or songs that portrayed an idealized view of womanhood which are among the earliest romantic artistic works in existence and they would influence the lives of many of william's descendants but his romantic nature was perhaps best exemplified by his kidnapping of his supposedly willing victim vicartes donjaroos at his installation of her in the morgan york tower of his castle in poitiers much to his wife's consternation he is even said to have painted an image of her on his shield and so eleanor was born into a family dominated by position intrigue sex and power and as the duchess of aquitaine she would have been probably the most eligible bride in europe it is also true that she would have enjoyed a life of luxury and refinement given her father's wealth and status meaning that she would have been given the best education money can buy from the finest scholars clergymen and tutors friends had to offer accounts claim that eleanor's father ensured she was afforded lessons in a myriad of subjects and disciplines including mathematics astronomy latin as well as history and literature whilst also learning what at the time were considered more feminine skills housekeeping and needlework sewing spinning and weaving as well as this she was also told to play backgammon checkers and chess she also danced and played musical instruments such as the harp and it is also said of her that she was extremely confident intelligent and willful despite possessing these qualities eleanor's life as was common for daughters of noblemen was destined to be shaped by marriage in motherhood and as she was the eldest of her parents three children the others being her brother william and her younger sister petronilla eleanor's future would have been determined from an early age and would have entailed a marriage into a high-ranking noble family however as was common in medieval europe the child mortality rate was high even in families of noble birth therefore when her younger brother william died at the age of four in 1130 when young eleanor was only eight she became the heir to her father's lands and titles which meant that her future husbands were more likely to be monarchs than magnates as her mother had died in the same year as her brother in 1130 the prospect of her aging father marrying or producing another heir was made even less likely and so when duke william finally died in 1137 in accordance with her father's wishes eleanor was placed under the protection of the king of france louis vi who acted as her guardian although louis was a noted monarch the french crown at this time was not nearly as powerful as it would become in the late medieval era largely because of the sheer power and autonomy of the various dukedoms such as burgundy normandy and aquitaine that rivaled the french kingdom itself the origins of the duchy of aquitaine date for the time of the roman empire when it was known as aquitania primer and would later be ruled by the visigoths and then the franks who formed the territory into a duchy which had remained until 8 52 a.d when eleanor's ancestors were granted the title of dukes of aquitaine although it remained a fiefdom as it had been granted to eleanor's family by the kings of france in return for their services in homage the duchy of aquitaine at its greatest extent consisted of the southwest quarter of modern-day france making it the largest and arguably the richest of the french dupedums essentially meaning that whoever controlled it would hold the balance of power in northwestern europe and it was this colossal and priceless inheritance that was given to eleanor in 1137 effectively making her at the tender age of 15 the most sought after and desirable woman in europe king louis vi who now had eleanor under his protection devised a plan to marry the young heiress to his son louis the younger the future louis vii however the only sticking point from the french king's perspective was that the condition for eleanor to inherit her father's lands and titles in aquitaine was that she must retain control over the duchy until her children with louis came of age when the duchy would be united with france prince louis himself had not always been the heir to the french throne as his older brother philip had died in 1131 when his horse tripped over a black pig that darted out of a dung heap in paris resulting in the 15 year old prince being thrown violently over the horse's head and onto the ground where he received crippling and ultimately fatal injuries on impact as he passed away a day later because louis was the spare to the air he was not afforded the kingly education that his brother enjoyed as at the time of his elder sibling's death he was preparing to embark on a pious life of religion however almost immediately after the king's eldest born had been laid to rest louie's father made him co-regent and the young prince's religious upbringing would go on to shape his character as would his marriage to the young eleanor a clue to the reason why louis the sixth made both his son's regent in quick succession can perhaps be found in his nickname louis the fat and in 1137 the king's declining health was further compounded by him contracting dysentery which prompted him to dispatch his son to aquitaine along with 500 heavily armed knights where on the 25th of july eleanor married young louis in the cathedral of san andre in bordeaux who would only one week later become king louis vii of france it was customary for couples from noble families at the time to exchange wedding gifts to further seal their union but eleanor honored this custom by giving her new husband a rock crystal vase that she had been given by her troubadour grandfather william ix and amazingly the artifact is still in existence today as it is kept in the louvre museum in paris and is widely considered to be the only surviving object that we know for certain belongs to eleanor after their marriage both louis and eleanor travelled to poitiers the capital of aquitaine where they were confirmed as duke and duchess of aquitaine on the 8th of august 1137 but the festivities were short-lived as word soon reached the couple that the king of france louis vi had succumbed to his dysentery and so both louis and his new bride immediately rode to paris where they were crowned king and queen consort on christmas day 11 37 it is evident that eleanor not only possessed fierce intelligence but was also captivatingly beautiful and there are accounts which state that the young king soon became besotted with his wife who in turn quickly gained a reputation with the king's family as well as france's clergy and nobility as being something of a troublemaker or bad influence as she would wear revealing clothing and supposedly act in an improper manner that was unbecoming of a woman of her status this hostility towards eleanor was largely due to the fact that she was an outsider who had been raised in no small part due to her grandfather william ix influence in the more liberal secular fashion whilst the parisians on the other hand were more traditional and conservative and it is possible that eleanor knew that her status in france depended on the good favor of the king thus she may have sought to exploit the pious young louis naivety by bewitching him with her womanly charms which evidently were considerable even at an early age moreover the advantage of eleanor's beauty and charm was seen almost instantly much to the annoyance of the french court as the formerly reserved young man began to lavish his queen with hundreds of expensive gifts presumably in an effort to please his new wife indeed further evidence of eleanor's supposed grip over the french king came one year after their wedding when louis along with a small army put down a rebellion near poitiers and three years later undertook a campaign to capture toulouse which eleanor laid claim to through her paternal grandmother philippa although there is no evidence to suggest that louis undertook these campaigns at his wife's insistence it is certain that any campaign in aquitaine or toulouse would at the very least have concerned her and what we also know for certain is that eleanor's arrival at the french court did cause some intrigue as his sister the year old pedranilla who had relocated to paris with eleanor began an affair with the 50 year old cousin of the king raul the first of vermendoir the couple soon made a public declaration that they intended to marry despite the fact that raoul was already married to eleanor of champaign niece of fear bowled the second count of champagne however the queen once again used her influence over the king to have raul and eleanor's marriage annulled on grounds that they were too closely related and so petronilla and raoul were then married in 1142 understandably this union greatly angered the count of champagne who appealed to the then pope innocent ii who declared that raul's marriage to patronilla was in turn invalid meaning that both now faced excommunication as a result king louis who had previously quarreled with the pope of the archbishopric of porge was in no mood to back down and so marched on champagne with an army an assault at its then capital vitri which in quick order was burnt to ashes as were around one thousand of the city's inhabitants who had taken refuge at a church louis was greatly affected by the agonizing deaths of so many civilians and according to accounts pleaded to undertake a pilgrimage to the holy land to atone for his sins but despite the king's apparent sorrow the war against champagne would go on for two more years until peace was finally agreed with the assistance of the french abbot bernard of clevel who in a private meeting with eleanor promised that god would grant her children if she ceased to be a negative influence over her husband this eventually had the desired effect as both eleanor and her husband soon backed down and louis agreed to return theobald's captured lands to him and also agreed to cease his opposition to the pope's choice for the archbishopric of bush whilst raul and petronilla remained excommunicated until pope innocent ii's death in 1144 for eleanor however the church's blessing seemed to have paid dividends as she gave birth to a daughter named marie in 1145 who would go on to marry theobald ii the count of champagne's son henry in 1164 and as well as this the queen then gave birth to a second daughter in 1151 named alex but she and her husband were never to be blessed with a son which was a fact that would fuel their later division this episode which had seen eleanor and her sister spark a full-scale war within france demonstrates the power and influence they had acquired over the french king but even a monarch as powerful as louis could not fight for long against his own nobles and the might of the catholic church and so when soon afterwards the king who was still racked with guilt at the burning of civilians at victory was asked by the new pope eugene iii to lead a crusade against the saracens in the holy land louis could hardly say no and so on christmas day 11 45 in burj cathedral the king made it known that he intended to take the cross and set sail for the middle east eleanor true to character also took the cross alongside her husband the reasons for which are still debated today as some historians suggest that louis could not bear to leave his beautiful bride whilst others state that it was eleanor herself who planted the idea of taking the cross in her husband's mind a possible reason for which may lie in the fact that her father's brother raymond of pati was the leader or prince of the principality of antioch which was one of the christian crusader kingdoms that had been established after the first crusade in 1098 another possible reason that louis allowed eleanor to accompany him on crusade could be that her doing so ensured the backing of the duchy of aquitaine as eleanor's subordinate magnates provided troops for the campaign whilst her presence would have inevitably meant that the french king also received financial backing from his wife's duchy the king his wife and their army of fellow crusaders then set out from france in june of 1147 and across western and then eastern europe towards the byzantine empire where they were received with suspicion by the then emperor manuel the first commenus also known as manuel pufragenitus or born into purple who feared what the influx of hordes of westerners might do to his empire whilst the crusaders in turn viewed the byzantines as decadent and reliable christians despite this hostility eleanor herself seemed to have made a considerable impression on the byzantines who were clearly not used to being confronted with a woman of the french queen's power and confidence as they later portrayed her in accounts as a warrior queen who rode horses in the male fashion at the head of her crusader army this interest in the french queen seems to have also been reciprocated and so the crusaders stayed for over a fortnight in the byzantine capital of constantinople but then received a message that conrad iii of germany had secured a great victory against the turks and not wanting to miss out on the glory louis and his queen then followed but upon entering anatolia found that the message informing them of conrad's victory was false and that the german king had actually been defeated by the seljuk turks judging that they had come too far to turn back the french crusaders joined with conrad's much reduced force and headed further into the hinterland of anatolia towards antioch for their journey there was leading them over the hilly and mountainous terrain of asia minor which proved to be as difficult for the french as it had been for the germans after crossing into anatolia the crusaders headed south over the phrygian mountains and whilst approaching the summit of mount cadmus on the 6th of january 1148 louis ordered his vanguard to halt and make camp but its commanders one of whom was eleanor's vassal jeffrey durranco decided to continue into the following valley which stretched the crusaders line of advance considerably and made it vulnerable to attack seljuk blow then fell in the middle of the crusader force that effectively chopped it in two resulting in parts of the christian baggage train being either destroyed or captured in the following route in which many hundreds of crusaders and unarmed pilgrims were slain as they retreated back down the narrow passes or fell to their deaths in the deep ravines later eleanor would be blamed for this defeat by chroniclers in what is now known as the battle of mount cadmus as some claim that she gave rank on the order for the crusader vanguard to march on whilst others state that her baggage train slowed the crusader force down but it should be noted that there is no concrete evidence to suggest where eleanor was during this incident although women being blamed for male deficiencies or mistakes at the time was not uncommon over the coming days the turks mounted more raids on the crusaders as they traversed the anatolian mountains and eventually louis was forced to abandon the majority of his force and proceed to the holy land by ship which effectively consigned those left behind to death from exposure starvation or by the seljuk turks themselves king and eleanor finally arrived in the city of antioch in march of 1148 where they were greeted by eleanor's uncle raymond of party but it soon became evident that all was not well between the french king and his wife as louis being eager to fulfill his pilgrimage wanted to continue onwards to jerusalem whilst raymond requested that the french king should aid his siege of aleppo about 40 miles to the east of antioch eleanor in turn spent many hours in private conversations with her uncle for unknown reasons some say she was seeking raymond's advice whilst others state he was attempting to win her support for his war against the muslims while some chroniclers even accused raymond and eleanor of starting an incestuous affair but modern historians believe this to be false as eleanor had been close to her uncle since childhood as well as this the queen and louis continued to share a bed together after this period which suggests that the french king had no such suspicions it must be remembered that rumors of eleanor's promiscuity abounded both during her life and following her death with one 13th century minstrel even claiming that eleanor had an affair with saladin went on crusade however this story along with many others concerning eleanor has no grounding in historical fact and simply reflects the fascination that surrounded eleanor as a powerful medieval woman and the many attempts that were made to both denigrate and mythologize her and her legacy whatever the purpose of eleanor's conversation with her uncle they seem to have resulted in her turning against her husband as despite raymond's requests for help louis decided to carry on to jerusalem whilst the queen insisted on remaining in antioch with her uncle indeed her involvement with raymond was a sign that eleanor had grown tired and disappointed with her marriage to louis and the french king in turn was upset and jealous over raymond and eleanor's close relationship the king's insistence that eleanor accompanied him to the holy land led her to propose what she had been considering for some time annulment and so eleanor proposed annulment on the grounds of consanguinity as she and louis were fairly closely related by blood and consanguinity was common grounds for annulment during the medieval period and was an effective tool for divorce for the nobility as the vast majority of noble couples at this time were related to each other in some way louis was devastated by his wife's proposal and forcibly removed her from antioch and marched on with his army to the holy land and in may 1148 the crusaders finally reached the holy city of jerusalem where they were welcomed by a jubilant crowd which included the patriarch of jerusalem and the emperor conrad after finishing his pilgrimage with prayer at jerusalem's holy sites thus purging himself of his sins louis embarked on a siege of damascus however this ended within four days on the 28th of july with failure and retreat and as french resources were by now running low as was morale and as autumn was approaching the army began to disintegrate as men either demanded to go home or deserted there is very little mention of eleanor's activities during the 11 months she spent in jerusalem suggesting that she was still in disgrace and the relationship between her and the french king was steadily worsening and as was typical with eleanor's life there arose numerous legends of her activities in the holy land including one which suggested that she brought back silkworms from the middle east and introduced them to aquitaine after celebrating the easter of 11 1149 in jerusalem eleanor and louis departed by ship towards italy but during this journey the royal ships were attacked by a byzantine fleet intent on capturing the couple and after narrowly escaping the ships of louis and eleanor were then separated by a violent storm eleanor's whereabouts remained unknown for two months until her ship was finally brought to port at palermo in sicily and where she was during that two-month period remains a mystery to this day king and queen were finally reunited in calabria in the late summer of 11 49 but eleanor's relief was soon dissipated by news that on the 29th of june raymond of antioch had been killed and decapitated by muslim forces greatly bereaved eleanor now set off with her husband north towards rome where pope eugenius iii had invited the royals to stay in his palace at tuscaloo just south of the city both louis and eleanor separately confided in the pope about their marital problems during their visit but eugenius adamantly refused to consider an annulment rather he blessed the marriage and commanded that it should not be dissolved under any pre-tanks whatever even encouraging the couple to sleep in the same bed when residing with him on november the 11th louie and eleanor had last returned to paris after an absence of over two years and although they were received by demonstrations of joy there was underlying discontent pervading france at the ignominious failure of the crusade with the blame being laid primarily at louie's and especially eleanor's door heightening the discontent with eleanor of aquitaine among the french elite louis and eleanor's already tense marriage was irreparably broken by the birth of their second child in the latter half of 1150 as the arrival of another daughter was a bitter disappointment to louis who approaching the age of 30 craved a male there to succeed him in the capetian royal line indeed he took the birth as a sign that god did not approve of his marriage and that eleanor had been right to call its validity into question this view was shared by the barons of france who encouraged louis to divorce eleanor and marry someone less controversial and powerful who could deliver him sons and so finally recognizing that the marriage was doomed louis agreed to initiate proceedings of an annulment in late 1151 and on the 21st of march 1152 four archbishops of france gathered at the royal castle of beaujon sea on the loire river and with the reluctant approval of the pope annulled eleanor's marriage on the grounds of consanguinity [Music] the divorce had immense consequences not just for eleanor but for the future of the european balance of power as by renouncing his marriage the king of france had also renounced more than half of his domains and this would lead to a disastrous disturbance of the balance of power in france precipitating 300 years of conflict with england following her divorce eleanor had instantly become the most coveted and sought after woman in western europe so much so that as she made her way back to partier she twice avoided abduction from would-be suitors but nevertheless eleanor already knew who she was to marry indeed it was likely she knew well before her divorce from louis as only eight weeks after the annulment eleanor was again standing at the altar this time beside henry of anju the future king henry ii of england eleanor first met henry in paris in 1151 and though she was 11 years his senior they were attracted to one another and perhaps more importantly both eleanor and henry would receive immense political gains from the marriage as at this time henry's lands included the northern french provinces of anshu and normandy and after the crafting of an agreement with king stephen of england in late 1153 whom he had been fighting for the english crown henry who was the grandson of king henry the first would be heir to the throne of england as well as this henry's personal courage political talents and immense power resonated with eleanor's ambition for influence after arriving in poitiers eleanor sent envoys to henry requesting marriage then summoned the chief vassals of her lands to renew their allegiance to her and to approve her choice of husband and so on the 18th of may 1152 eleanor and henry were married in the cathedral of sapir in poitiers much to the fury of louis vii who already regarded henry as his foremost enemy with his holding of normandy and attempts to gain the english throne and the addition of eleanor's considerable provinces which more than doubled henry's holdings in france left louis extremely vulnerable on the continent the speed with which eleanor remarried and the fact that henry was louis arch rival left the french king greatly stung by eleanor's actions nevertheless eleanor did not simply want to see henry's lands and power increase at louie's expense rather as an ambitious woman she wished to expand her own power and influence and by siding with henry eleanor believed she had put herself in the best situation to wield control over a larger swathe of western europe little is known about the state of the marriage before 1173 but it is likely that what was to become one of the most turbulent royal marriages in history began well as eleanor and henry had plenty in common such as their forceful ambitious personalities and high levels of energy and intelligence nevertheless henry was determined to be the dominant partner and expected eleanor to be submissive to his will even if she was allowed a certain degree of autonomy over the ruling of her own lands she was not to interfere in political affairs of state over the course of their marriage eleanor bore eight children five sons william henry richard jeffrey and john however william died at the age of three whilst richard who had come to be known as the lionheart and john would both inherit the english crown the daughters were named matilda eleanor and joan and they would go on to marry some of the most powerful men in europe including henry the lion duke of saxony in bavaria alfonso the eighth king of castile and william ii king of sicily and so eleanor's unofficial title as the first grandmother of europe is therefore well deserved in january 1153 after he and eleanor had completed a tour of aquitaine henry set sail for england at the head of an invasion force intent on bringing king stephen to submission and seizing the english crown and after months of successful skirmishing during which henry took many english towns and castles and cemented a reputation for bravery and military skill many english barons and bishops urged the leaders to negotiate and after the death of his eldest son eustace on the 17th of august king stephen agreed and in a november peace conference he accepted henry's hereditary right to the throne and agreed to recognize him as his heir whilst in return henry conceded that stephen would rule england until his death henry did not have long to wait as on the 25th of october 11 king stephen died and on the 7th of december henry and eleanor set sail for england to take possession of their new kingdom being crowned on the 19th of that month after being received by a jubilant london crowd who hailed the new royal couple as peacemakers come to restore order after the many disturbances and wars that had characterized the reign of king stephen and so began the reign of the first plantagenet king and queen of england whose house would rule england for the next 330 years though henry rapidly established his authority over england implementing legal reforms and consolidating his power he found his continental holdings much more difficult to govern particularly aquitaine whose nobles were hostile to outsiders and the region remained in a state of almost constant revolt against henry and recognized only eleanor as possessing dominion over the province meaning that the queen was able to exercise strong personal management of her hereditary lands furthermore though henry ensured he possessed complete control over the most important matters of state during the reign's early years eleanor acted as regent of england on the numerous occasions when henry was away on the continent dealing with routine business of state implementing and approving the acts of ministers and touring and arbitrating in disputes across the country as queen and as a pious woman eleanor was a great benefactor of religious institutions funding the building and restoration of churches abbeys and cathedrals in puerto an aquitaine as well as the abbey of fontevro which benefited most from eleanor's patronage as under her influence the religious order of the abbey based on the border between portugal and aquitaine grew in influence and prestige and it was here that eleanor spent her final years and was buried alongside henry in 1168 eleanor took a permanent residence in poitiers establishing her court in the city along with her favorite son richard and although it was eleanor that initiated this separation from henry the king approved of it and was not upset or disturbed by the queen's move as having dealt with a large aquitanian revolt in the spring of 1168 henry thought eleanor's presence would help quell the province of aquitaine whose nobles were still fiercely loyal to their duchess there is much debate as to why eleanor wanted to move away from henry to poitiers the marriage had by now certainly gone stale partially due to henry's frequent and public affairs and at 46 having born eight children it is possible that eleanor believed she had done her duty within the marriage and no longer wanted to take an active part in it furthermore living in her own lands with a relative degree of autonomy allowed eleanor to exercise greater power than when she was with henry whose domineering personality constrained her desire for influence from 1168 to 1173 eleanor held a court a party that has become legendary as the so-called court of love where chivalric romance was prominent and the medieval lyrical poetry of the troubadours flourished under eleanor's patronage indeed the idea of courtly love the conventional medieval tradition of love between a chivalrous knight and a noble woman in many ways sprung from the legends surrounding eleanor's court it is true that eleanor did attract troubadours to her court through her patronage of their work and the queen herself was often mentioned in the poems of the troubadours of southwest and france at the time described admiringly as an elegant and noble woman however like so much of the story surrounding the life of eleanor her court of love was almost certainly a myth a literary conceit concocted by andreas capilanus a chaplain at the court of trois as between 1174 and 1196 after eleanor's court had been dismantled andreas wrote the art of courtly love in which he describes eleanor along with her daughter marie as presiding over a tribunal that made judgment on intellectual disputes concerning courtly love despite these writings there is no real evidence for this court of love in any contemporary sources furthermore there is no evidence that marie ever visited eleanor apathy thus eleanor's appearance in andreas work owes far more to her european reputation than her actions indeed eleanor's court was a very pious household frequented by chaplains and often taking part in communal worship whilst eleanor was at potty pressure was growing on king henry's rule from his eldest son henry and with the treaty of monmourial in january 1169 the king divided his vast inheritance between his three eldest sons henry receiving england normandy and on shoe richard receiving aquitaine and jeffrey gaining brittany and furthermore henry was prematurely crowned as king of england in june 1170 in anticipation of his succession and was dubbed the young king nevertheless the young king took after his father in his restless desire for power his vanity and his fierce temper and having grown up spoiled by his parents henry found his position of having titles yet no power infuriating and in his anger a rift began to grow between the young king and his father who refused to cede any political power to his son furthermore king henry was increasingly isolated politically primarily due to the murder of the archbishop of canterbury thomas beckett in december 1170 by four of henry's knights an act which henry had not explicitly ordered and deeply regretted yet one in which he was still implicated and which shocked christian europe and caused great anger toward the english king from across the continent [Music] beckett's murder was another factor which drove eleanor and henry further apart as she was angry at henry for the incident and after living separately for five years in 1173 eleanor was firmly on the side of her sons and as the split between her husband and her offspring who were demanding autonomy over their promised lands grew indeed eleanor did not just oppose a king for her son's sake as she had substantial control over her children and knew that the more power they gained the more political influence she herself would gain henry was also coming under growing pressure from his vassals especially in puerto an aquitaine who resented his heavy-handed imposition of authority and dictatorial governance and after henry's dramatic loss of international prestige following the murder of beckett they sensed an opportunity to overthrow the authority of the english king and their growing rebelliousness was encouraged by eleanor and her three eldest sons as well as king louis who relished a chance to undermine the might of henry's continental empire the stage was the set for the most dangerous rebellion ever to confront henry ii and although eleanor's precise role in the build-up to the uprising is not certain it is clear that she was a key player in helping to form the hostile coalition that confronted the english king in 1173 in march of the same year the young king escaped from his father and fled to paris where he and king louis pledged to assist each other against their common enemy and so many of henry ii's vassals declared their support for the young king and eleanor soon sent his younger brothers richard and jeffrey to paris to join him in revolt whilst encouraging the lords of her southern lands to rise up in support of the rebellion fearing for her safety in poitiers eleanor left for paris sometime between the end of march and the beginning of may 1173 but on her journey the queen was captured by men in henry's pay and sent to his castle in rua as for the king this was an extremely bitter betrayal and he had eleanor confined as his prisoner contemporary chroniclers were unanimous in condemning eleanor's treachery as her actions violated every medieval concept of the duties and loyalties of a wife indeed whilst sons rebelling against fathers were fairly common in this period it was virtually unheard of for a queen to rebel against her husband the rebellion of 1173-1174 saw little open warfare however many castles were besieged and lands ravaged as henry's sons and the king of france used scorched earth tactics to decimate swathes of the king of england's territory nevertheless despite the power of their coalition the young king and louis were unable to effectively organize the divided rebel groups into a cohesive force but henry did retain the support of the church as well as the vast majority of the english who feared invasion and instability above all and gave henry considerable financial and military support the summer of 1173 saw henry fight tirelessly across his lands to suppress the rebellion and after a winter lull the spring of 1174 saw fighting break out again in force but then the rebels lack of unity and henry's ceaseless energy saw the revolt begin to erode a key moment coming when the invasion of england by william the lion king of the scots was repulsed and the king captured by henry's troops led by ranolf de ganville in the summer of 1174 leading to the english rebels suing for peace that july and william acknowledging henry as his feudal overlord this forced louis and the young king to call off their planned invasion of england and when their attack on rua in august ended in retreat back to paris in the face of henry's advance the rebellion was virtually at an end and for henry this was a glorious and skillful victory against overwhelming odds and it restored his international reputation from the tarnish it had received with the death of saint thomas beckett the outcome of these events was that a piece was reached on the 30th of september between henry and his sons batman louis the king generously giving money and castles to his remorseful sons but not ceding any political power indeed there was to be no savage retribution rather henry proclaimed a general amnesty for all those who had risen up against him all that is save his queen after traveling to england with henry on the 8th of july 1174 eleanor was made a prisoner and for the remainder of henry's life until 1189 she would remain in captivity by order of the king permitted only limited contact with her children the king dealt with eleanor so discreetly that very little is known about her life during these years as a prisoner but she resided mostly at winchester castle and in the early years of her captivity her allowance was meager although it did become more substantial during the 1180s and although eleanor lived in fairly luxurious surroundings the king ensured she was completely cut off from the outside world as he had first-hand proof of how dangerous eleanor could be to his power when allowed freedom during this time the king enjoyed many years of peace throughout his realm but this was shattered once again by the antics of henry's sons as in the early 1180s richard's harsh suppression of rebellious barons and the ruthless enforcement of his authority in aquitaine which he effectively ruled in eleanor's absence caused his bitter vassals to look to the young king to challenge richard and so the impetuous young henry jealous of his brother's autonomy over his lands joined with the barons of aquitaine and invaded richard's territory in 1182 after this the young king's anger soon turned once again to his father demanding greater power in furious outbursts to the king and when henry ii stopped his son's allowance the young king formed a mercenary band and raided and looted territories throughout southern france however in june of 1183 the young king fell violently ill with dysentery and died at the age of 28 leaving the king overcome with grief even though he was now more secure in his rule after the shock death of the young king from the late summer of 1183 eleanor was allowed greater freedom resuming her place as queen and occasionally appearing at henry's side in public but there were no obvious signs that the couple's personal estrangement had ended by 1189 henry had reached the age of 56 and although 12 years younger than eleanor a lifetime of relentless activity had left him suffering from numerous health problems including a bleeding ulcer and only six years after the loss of young henry after hearing that his son john had sided with richard in conflict against his father the king died on the 6th of july 1189 in his castle at china and was buried at the nearby fontivrol abbey and so richard the first was crowned king of england in westminster abbey on the 3rd of september 1189 following his father's death in front of an enthusiastic gathering and one of his first acts as king was to formally order the release of queen eleanor from captivity indeed despite having been a prisoner for 15 years eleanor emerged with ferocity onto the european political scene at the age of 67 and for the remaining 15 years of her life would play a greater and more influential political role than ever before as the queen was able to exert far more influence over her children than she did over her late husband with richard in aquitaine ellen all set about drumming up support for her son in england a country that richard had barely visited and so upon traveling to westminster the queen received oaths of loyalty from the lords of england on behalf of the king and in addition eleanor passed a host of laws in an attempt to endear the english people to their new king including ordering the release of vassals who had rebelled against henry ii the 31 year old richard sailed to portsmouth on the 13th of august where thanks largely to eleanor's efforts he was greeted with great public enthusiasm but richard the lionheart who spoke no english had very little interest in administering his new domain rather he immediately threw himself into preparing for the project that had dominated his imagination since he took the cross as the count of pontius in 1187 that being the third crusade on the 2nd of october 1187 the turks led by their brilliant military commander saladin had occupied jerusalem and massacred the knights templar causing the leaders of western europe led by pope urban iii to rally for a new crusade and after implementing heavy and unpopular taxes on the english people as well as the nobility to pay for his supplies richard departed from england in december 1189 to make his way to the holy land and in his absence he left eleanor unofficially in charge of the english government her imprisonment had made eleanor increasingly pious and wise yet her tenacious energy and will had not been eroded in the slightest and in richard's absence she transacted the business of state using her own seal on official documents demonstrating the qualities of a benevolent and statesmanlike ruler and greatly impressing contemporary chroniclers eleanor also had to deal with the intrigues of richard's younger brother john who furious at richard's intention to name his four-year-old nephew arthur of brittany as his heir traveled up and down england in an attempt to gain support amongst the english in addition philip ii of france had left the crusade due to illness and upon his return to france in 1191 eleanor realized that the king presented another threat to richard's authority in europe and after john and philip formed an alliance in early 1191 the queen spent considerable time and energy thwarting the intrigues of the two princes during richard's absence eleanor ordered the reinforcement of all castles guarding the border between richard's empire and phillips france and upon hearing in february 1192 the john was preparing to cross the channel with an army to join with philip eleanor traveled to england from normandy to stop him and after making every english magnate swear a new oath of fealty to richard elenor threatened to confiscate john's castles and estates if he defied her and he backed down however as the crusaders began arriving home in the winter of 1192 having won victories but failed to recapture jerusalem there was no sign of richard then in january 1193 eleanor received a letter from the holy roman emperor henry vi stating that richard had been captured by the emperor's cousin duke leopold of austria whom he had offended whilst on crusade leopold's overlord henry viii was a ruthless man who was an enemy of the plantagenets after henry ii had supported his great rival henry the lion duke of saxony and after taking control of the prisoner henry demanded an extortionate ransom of one hundred thousand silver marks equivalent to twice the annual revenue of england with her customary figure eleanor set to work raising the king's ransom whilst keeping the kingdom united as news of richard's capture threatened political chaos this included reinforcing odes of fealty and again blocking john's attempts to claim the throne though england was already financially exhausted after the crusade eleanor imposed a levy demanding a quarter of every person's annual income as well as extracting wealth from churches and abbeys rich or poor every member of the kingdom was made to contribute to richard's ransom nor were these efforts limited to england as eleanor sent officers to anshu and aquitaine to collect ransom money indeed a considerable percentage of the sum was raised abroad with the money raised eleanor herself set out for germany in december 1193 and was received on the 2nd of february 1194 by the emperor at his court in maine's but henry vi announced that philip and john had offered him an even greater ransom some to hand richard over to the king of france and it was only after 48 hours of negotiations that eleanor and richard's german allies persuaded the emperor to release the king who departed with eleanor back to england on the 4th of february with the triumphant return of the crusader king to england on the 12th of march 1194 all rebellious support for jon was crushed and richard quickly re-established his authority forgiving his troublesome younger brother whom he did not regard as a serious threat indeed jon was utterly obedient to his brother for the remainder of his reign the same could not be said of king philip of france however and during the final five years of richard's short reign the english king would be engaged in a bitter struggle with philip tirelessly defending his territories against the aggressive ambition of the french king eleanor meanwhile lived at the abbey of fontivrol for the final years of richard's reign looking toward the salvation of her soul and death as by 1199 the queen was 77 years old a remarkable age by contemporary standards richard's warring with philip was brought to an end on the 13th of january 1199 when a five-year truce was concluded with the lionheart not ceding any of his territory to philip and richard's reign would end less than three months later when he was struck by an arrow whilst besieging the castle of a rebellious aguitanian vessel and he died of his wound on the 6th of april at the age of 41 declaring jon as his heir moreover eleanor was at the bedside of her beloved son when he perished and she saw to it that he was buried at the abbey at fontevro at the feet of his father's tomb of immediate importance to eleanor following richard's death was to ensure that her son john received his inheritance as the ever troublesome philip ii proclaimed richard's nephew arthur of brittany who was residing with the french king in paris as the rightful heir to his empire leading to numerous vassals in the province of anjou declaring themselves for arthur the queen responded by ordering the devastation of the lands of any vassal disloyal to her son and arthur's supporting onshoe was soon quashed furthermore eleanor embarked on a tour of her southern lands to consolidate support for john inequity and puerto indeed when john was crowned as king of england in may 1199 his continental holdings were secure thanks largely to the energy of his mother in late 1199 philip concluded a truce with john recognizing the english king as richard's heir and providing for the marriage of philip's heir to one of john's castilian nieces the daughters of his sister eleanor of england and it was decided that queen eleanor should travel to castile to select one of the princesses and convey them back to france an extremely strenuous journey for a woman of 77 yet elenor welcomed the opportunity to see her daughter for the first time in 30 years [Music] following the truce eleanor set off from poitiers and was ambushed and captured just south of the city by rebellious vassal hugh de lucino who demanded she grant him the title count of lamarche in return for her release and deciding that the castilian marriage was of greater importance than a disputed fiefdom eleanor capitulated and continued her journey south crossing the pyrenees mountains in the depth of winter the elderly queen arrived at the court of castile in late january in the year 1200 and chose the 16 year old blanche to marry the french heir a choice that would prove to be a wise one as blanche of castile would ultimately become almost as formidable a queen as her grandmother keeping france stable during the minority of her son the future saint louis ix an exhausted eleanor arrived back in southern france in april having spent two months at the castilian court and retired to the fontevero abbey where during the summer of 1202 eleanor's final impactful actions on the european political stage would become apparent as war again broke out between john and philip and the queen immediately declared her support for john outraged at arthur of brittany's invasion of puerto to claim the province for himself with philip support in late july eleanor set out from fontevero with a military escort to install herself at portier to deter arthur's advance and stopped on the way to lodge at the castle of mirabeau some 20 miles northeast of pati however arthur learned of her whereabouts and then besieged the castle intending to take the old queen hostage instructing her men to defend the fortress eleanor smuggled out a messenger to john requesting aid and upon receiving the letter the king immediately marched to the castle arriving on august the first and in a surprise attack the procedures were overcome arthur captured when eleanor freed and escorted to safety in her final defining act eleanor had helped john to achieve the greatest military victory of his reign returning to fontifur abbey eleanor took the veil and became a nun for the remainder of her life finally dying on the 1st of april 1204 at the age of 82 and was buried in between her husband and her son henry ii and richard the first during her final years the queen's empire was falling around her as the ineffectiveness of king john was ruthlessly exploited by philip of france who by 1205 had taken normandy anjou and from the weak king moreover eleanor's immediate legacy was marred by the fall of her empire and medieval 13th century chroniclers ensured her reputation was dominated by the rumors of scandals of her youth rather than the wise and pious rule that defined her later years indeed the collapse of john's continental holdings demonstrates eleanor's importance and skill as a queen as it was only when eleanor withdrew from her political life that the empire that she had spent so much of her life working to uphold collapsed the fact that the life of eleanor of aquitaine has been and continues to be surrounded by legend and myth speaks to the face grip she held on the imagination of medieval europe and still holds on us today as she has gone from being portrayed as an evil and scandalous queen throughout the 19th century to a romantic heroine in the 20th and even today her failings and her achievements are often exaggerated eleanor achieved a remarkably long career as a central political figure in europe ruling as capably as any man at a time when most people of her age should have been dead she also had an important impact on history in an era when women were so often relegated to a servile role indeed there are not many more influential figures in the history of medieval europe as the nuns of fontevro wrote in her necrology about the first queen of the plantagenet dynasty she surpassed almost all the queens of the world what do you think of eleanor of aquitaine was she really a charming seductress using her womanly wiles to their greatest advantage or was she a beautiful and intelligent states woman whose fierce loyalty to her children outranks the love of any king or commoner please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Music] it is the 9th of april 1483 edward iv yorkist king and victor in the wars of the roses is dead he leaves the throne of england to his young son edward whilst his second richard is given the title duke of york but in a turn of fate the two boys are declared illegitimate by their uncle and protector richard duke of gloucester who seizes the throne for himself and shortly afterwards both children go missing after being imprisoned in the tower of london distraught at their demise the boy's mother blames the newly crowned richard iii for her son's disappearance assuming the murdered she soon begins plotting with the last remaining lancastrians to seize the crown and bring down her son's murderer her name elizabeth woodville the white queen [Music] the woman known to history as elizabeth woodville was born during october of 1437 in northamptonshire in the small village of grafton regis previously known as grafton woodville in a manor house called woodville manor which previously belonged to the local norman monastery her father was sir richard woodville first earl rivers the son of joan bittlesgate and richard woodville who was a member of the house of the duke of bedford sir richard was a member of the landed gentry he was from a wealthy family and he would like his father work in the household of the duke of bedford elizabeth's mother was jaketta of luxembourg the eldest daughter of peter the first of luxembourg and his wife margaret of beau count and countess of saint paul conversano and brienne jakarta had been married before she wed elizabeth's father in fact she had married the duke of bedford in 1433 aged 17 when sir richard was part of the bedford's household and as such she was a firm ally of the house of lancaster however that would all change when she married sir richard as together they would be allied closely to the house of york when the duke of bedford died in 1435 it came as no surprise he'd been much older than his young bride and also in ill health and his passing left his second wife jaketta a wealthy widow with no children from the marriage a second marriage to sir richard however would cause a scandal at court as the two were of very different social standing jakarta being the daughter of a noble whilst sir richard was only a member of the gentry and so was considered an unsuitable match for her in fact jaketto was fined one thousand pounds for disobeying the terms of her dowry and marrying without the consent of the king she sold some of her west country manners in order to pay the fine despite this scandalous start to their marriage they would become known as the handsomest couple in england and jaketto would go on to bear richard woodville 14 children their life together was one centered around family they were also prosperous thanks in large part to jaketta's links with the royal family as the duchess of bedford richard woodville was given various military positions and was considered a distinguished soldier and a knight of considerable valor when henry vi of england where margaret of anshu on the 23rd of april 1445 the woodville family were amongst those chosen to accompany margaret on a journey to england this was because there were family ties between the bride and jaketta as her sister isabelle was married to margaret's uncle charles dumaine further honours arrived in 1448 when sir richard was made barren rivers making their life and that of their children one of comfort and privilege elizabeth would spend her early years in the company of her brothers and sisters in the nursery at grafton where she would have been cared for and educated by servants nurses and either a master or mistress who would have provided their early education the siblings would not have spent a great deal of time with their parents who were frequently absent from the home but despite this elizabeth is thought to have had a good relationship with her parents and to have been a bright and intelligent child when she was seven years old elizabeth woodville was sent away to be educated at another household that of sir edward gray and his wife elizabeth lady ferris the sixth baroness pharaohs of grobee a custom of the time which enabled young children of nobles to make social contacts with other noble families whilst she was there elizabeth studied latin french and english being told to read and write in all three languages she also studied law and mathematics and would have also been able to visit home periodically as the grey sea to grobee in leicestershire was not too far from grafton manor whilst growing up elizabeth was considered to have a good figure and be somewhat of a beauty with long blonde hair fair skin a fetching smile and high forehead she had quote heavy lidded eyes like those of a dragon the most beautiful woman in the island of britain and so it was that in 1452 at the age of 14 elizabeth earlier resulted in her marriage to sir john gray of grobe the 20 year old son of her tutor lady elizabeth farris elizabeth would go on to have two sons with sir john the first born was thomas who was born in 1455 who later became the marquis of dorset and two years later in 1457 richard was born and it was richard who had later be executed on the orders of richard iii in june 1483 at the age of 26 sir john gray supported the lancastrian cause during the wars of the roses which was a bloody struggle for the throne of england between the descendants of king edward iii of the plantagenet dynasty the house of lancaster whose symbol was a red rose was led by king henry vii a descendant of john of gaunt the third surviving son of edward iii and the house of york whose token was the white rose was led by richard duke of york who was a descendant of edmund of langley the fourth surviving son of edward iii at this time when elizabeth was a teenaged girl the position of henry vi as king was tenuous and it was further compounded when he suffered his first mental breakdown in 1453 possibly as a result of his army's final defeat against the french in the hundred years war resulting a year later in richard iii's father richard duke of york being made protector of the realm whilst the king was recovering the wars of the roses began when elizabeth woodville was 18. they started when the duke of york who greatly resented the power wielded by a few aristocratic favorites of henry vi attempted to remove henry's followers from power and were fueled further by social and financial difficulties following the hundred years war various battles took place between 1455 and 1487 with other related skirmishes taking place outside of this time frame but the eventual outcome was that the male line of both families were eliminated the duke of york was the grandson of edmond of langley the first duke of york whilst anne mortimer his mother was herself the great granddaughter of edward iii's second son the duke of clarence as her grandfather edmund mortimer third earl of march had married clarence's only daughter philippa the power and influence of the duke of york increased when he inherited the duke of clarence's claim to the throne through his mother erm at her brother edmund mortimer fifth earl of march died with no heirs in 1425. this effectively made him one of the country's richest landowners this maternal lineage formed the backbone of richard duke of york's claim to the english throne and is one of the main reasons for the wars of the roses as although he was a descendant of the fourth son of king edward iii he was now also the heir of edward iii's second surviving son lionel of antwerp the duke of clarence who had technically been the next in line to the throne after the death of richard ii york sought to capitalize on henry vi weakness by demanding he be recognized as the rightful heir to the throne but he inevitably faced opposition from the king's lancastrian supporters most notably his wife queen margaret of anju who wanted her infant son with henry edward of westminster to succeed him as king outraged by york's actions margaret formed a powerful coalition against him and with the support of other lancastrian nobles such as the duke of somerset she pressured the king to remove york from his role as protector of the realm henry vii then recovered from his illness in december of 1454 and relieved york of his position after which richard gathered his supporters and marched on london in the hope of confronting henry's lancastrian advisers the two sides met on the 22nd of may 1455 in what is regarded as the opening confrontation of the wars of the roses the first battle of saint albans in which the yorkist side triumphed over the lancastrians the duke of somerset was killed and henry vi was taken prisoner however in 1459 fortunes were to favor the lancastrians when fighting resumed more violently than ever and the duke of york and his followers fled the country after which henry was briefly returned to power until york's ally richard neville the earl of warwick who is known to history as the king maker invaded england from calais on the 26th of june 1460 and henry vi was captured once more at the battle of northampton on the 10th of july richard returned to england and took the title of protector of england but he was persuaded not to take the crown but instead with the act of accord it was agreed that henry vi would retain the crown but the descendants of richard duke of york would succeed henry bypassing henry's own son edward of westminster henry had no choice but to agree to the act but instead of prompting peace it provoked even more discontent as edward's mother margaret ovaju would not accept the disinheritance of her son and so she gathered together her lancastrian supporters in the north and richard began his march north to engage their forces however both richard and his second son edmund were slain at the battle of wakefield on the 30th of december 1460. on the 2nd of february 1461 edward earl of march won a victory against the lancastrians at mortimer's cross however the joy of the victory was short-lived as after the second battle of saint albans on the 17th of february 1461 the lancastrians recaptured henry vi after having lost him to the yorkists the previous year in july 1460 at northampton as a knight elizabeth woodville's husband sir john gray fought for the house of lancaster at the second battle of saint albans on the 17th of february 1461 which took place at saint albans in hertfordshire the yorkist army under the command of the earl of warwick made an attempt to block the road to london but the lancastrians outflanked warwick's forces to take him by surprise cut off any escape route to london and route his army from the field at dusk the earl of warwick realizing his forces were outnumbered withdrew king henry vi was released and was famously said to have spent the battle singing under a tree and although it had been a victory for the lancastrians sir john gray died in battle leaving elizabeth woodville a widow at the age of 23. one account suggests that in the autumn of 1461 elizabeth was betrothed to jocelyn the son of roger de hardwick who was a cousin of elizabeth's mother-in-law lady ferris jocelyn had admired elizabeth from afar but the marriage never took place although jocelyn did swear to devote his whole life to elizabeth's service and died fighting for her on the field at bosworth when the duke of york died in december 1460 at the battle of wakefield his son edward earl of march inherited the yorkist claim to the throne taking up his father's mantle he defeated the lancastrians at mortimer's cross and towton in 1461 and deposed king henry vi the boy king who had gained the crown at the age of only nine months on the death of his father he also became king of france on the death of his maternal grandfather charles vi the only english monarch to have succeeded to the french throne as henry ii in 1431. contemporaries described edward as handsome agreeable and energetic and also unusually tall being six feet four inches in height he must have been an impressive sight dressed in for llama he also made sure that his clothes were splendid in complete contrast to henry whose physical and mental frailties must have made him a pathetic figure in the eyes of the court edward earl of march was hastily crowned king edward iv in london the first ever yorkist king on the 4th of march 1461 before marching north to meet the remaining lancastrian forces at the battle of towton on palm sunday the 29th of march the weather was deplorable for the battle a snowstorm blew up and heralded the most bloody battle ever in england it ended in victory for the orcs but only after a count of between nine thousand and twenty thousand dead according to various estimates as well as the loss of many lancastrian nobility which meant that resentment for their losses were held enduringly by the surviving lancastrians who continued to fight in the north until 1464. it is unclear when or how edward actually met elizabeth woodville and they may have even known each other as children however it has been suggested that they may have first become interested in each other in france when elizabeth's parents were serving at rua in normandy whilst edward's father was in residence in the city in his position as lieutenant of normandy throughout edward's formative years elizabeth would have been unattainable as she was wet to another nonetheless it is still possible that edward and elizabeth had known each other for some time and that edward had developed a liking for her in the years before he became king the woodvilles were put in a difficult position following edward's victory at towton in 1461 as elizabeth's family had fought with the lancastrians but regardless edward stayed at their home at grobe in leicestershire in june 1461 and according to accounts issued a reprieve to elizabeth's father which marked a new beginning between the woodvilles and the yorkist court and as the newly widowed elizabeth was probably staying at her parents home this could be seen as a decisive moment in their relationship the first recorded contact between elizabeth woodville and the court of king edward iv occurred on the 13th of april 1464 when she was 26 only a few months before their marriage when elizabeth made an appeal to lord hastings to ask for assistance concerning a quarrel between her and her mother-in-law and some sources suggest that elizabeth was waiting with her children under a great oak tree in whittlebury forest when edward came riding by and heard her problems regarding the inheritances of her offspring promptly falling in love with her but accounts of elizabeth's guile might also suggest that it was no happy accident indeed rumors at the time suggested that elizabeth practiced magic and used spells on edward to entrance him and make him fall in love with her the story went that a water goddess named melusina married one of elizabeth's ancestors count siegfried and that all their female descendants were possessed of magic powers such rumors were likely spread to discredit the woodvilles who were unpopular with the nobles due to their low social standing with elizabeth seen as a poor match for the king edward was known as a philanderer at the time and had many mistresses as well as illegitimate children during his life but despite this he fell head over heels in love with elizabeth who resisted his approaches at first and held out for marriage before allowing him into her bed and because of the contentiousness the marriage would provoke their wedding took place in secret on the 1st of may 1464 about three years into edward's reign although the date is not certain the wedding took place in her family home in grafton regis northamptonshire in a small chapel called the hermitage hidden in the woods the bride attended by her ladies in waiting and her mother the king consummated the marriage after the ceremony but was called away to stoney stratford for military reasons but he returned that night and his new wife was brought to his bedchamber once again by her mother and thereafter he stayed for four days receiving the hospitality of his new in-laws until the 4th of may when edward left to meet up with his forces at leicester and it wasn't until a year after their marriage that elizabeth woodville was crowned queen on the 26th of may 1465 amidst lavish celebrations in westminster abbey the sunday after ascension day the first time a commoner had married a king since before 1066 when edward iv came to the throne gaining support at court would be a major consideration however victory at the battle of hexam in 1464 just two weeks after edward's secret marriage to elizabeth seemed to end the remaining lancastrian military threat at least the battle of hacksome fought on the 15th of may 1464 put an end to any lancastrian footholds in the northern marches of england the battle was fought in northumberland where an army commanded by john neville routed the lancastrians with many of their leaders being imprisoned and executed in the aftermath such as henry beaufort the duke of somerset and lord hungerford but henry vi was kept at a safe distance as he had been captured in battle three times before he was able to subsequently escape to the north reportedly riding the fastest of any man on the day to ensure his safety and remained a fugitive from edward for over a year meanwhile at court divisions were arising amongst the nobility caused by both differences over policy and anger over the exorbitant taxation required to recoup the cost of the lancastrian war as well as by warwick's claim that he was the most senior member of king edward iv's court this caused internal argument and feuding during this time despite being already married edward allowed warwick to continue negotiating a proposed marriage between edward and either anna france the daughter of the french king or boner of savoy king louie's sister-in-law even though edward preferred burgundy as an ally not least because of the trade england profited from however warwick held the vested interest of a promised personal european duchy from louis should the match be successfully made and so when edward's marriage to elizabeth woodville became public knowledge with edward announcing it to the council meeting of nobles and clerics in reading warwick was angry embarrassed as well as offended not only was this woman a commoner but she was also a widow with two sons she was four years the king's senior and she was from a family of lancastrian supporters and so his relationship with edward iv dwindled beyond recovery in addition the marriage was badly received by edward's family his household and the privy council which was a body of advisers to the king who told edward that quote he must know that she was no wife for a prince such as himself edward's choice of a bride was seen as unwise not only had he chanced political unrest at court he was also thought to have wasted the chance of a useful politically expedient foreign marriage but although his choice was seen as unusual it was not without precedent as edward the fourth's grandson henry viii would later make himself head of the church in order to marry his second wife and berlin and like anne boleyn chroniclers record that elizabeth may have also used her wiles to capture her king not succumbing to his advances without first being married but elizabeth also possessed charm physical beauty and intelligence whilst edward wanted elizabeth whilst most historians agree that the marriage was an impulsive decision to marry for love on the part of edward others suggest that there may have been a political motive to the decision the marriage would however have the advantage of making the king appear even-handed as well as his own man as he made the decision independently of warwick but whatever the motive all opinions agree with the contention that the marriage would cause disunity amongst the orchests alienating warwick in particular but also having political implications which affected the rest of edward's reign the new queen started making her mark on court from very early on with regal ceremony whenever she appeared in public insisting that even her brother anthony should kneel before addressing elizabeth was given an allowance of 4 000 marks for the running of her household which was reportedly well administered and she was also given the palace of greenwich at a house in london near smithfield as well as this edward ordered that the arms of queen's college cambridge be replaced with those of his wife in 1465. elizabeth used her charm on edward to secure favors and position for many of her family and friends which further angered some of the older noble families who saw the woodvilles as unwelcome newcomers upstarts and commoners at that who were attempting to take over the running of the court as well as gaining too great an influence over edward in the meantime henry the sixth had been captured in july of 1465 and brought to london lashed to a small horse he was abused by the crowd and imprisoned in the tower he was given wine the services of a chaplain and also allowed visitors one of whom tried to kill henry he forgave the attacker and generally bore his confinement with strength and patience edward's decision to treat henry well may have been an attempt to strengthen the view of himself as an even-handed and reasonable king in january of the following year edward and elizabeth attended a solemn ceremony at fathering a for the reinternment of the duke of york and the earl of rutland elizabeth was heavily pregnant by this time and on the 11th of february 1466 the queen gave birth to their first child a girl they called elizabeth edward had been told by the attending doctor that the baby would be a boy but the doctor made a swift departure before the king had been told that the baby was actually a girl edward marked the birth of his daughter by giving elizabeth a jewel encrusted ornament which cost 125 pounds she was later churched in a grand ceremony at westminster abbey attended by her mother two dukes and 60 attendants followed by a grand feast which elizabeth hosted from a golden chair warwick was made godfather and the baby's grandmothers the duchesses of bedford and york were made her godmothers the baby girl was the first princess born to a reigning queen of england for over 100 years also at this time another marriage shocked the court which was that of catherine duchess of norfolk a three times widowed woman of 67 who married elizabeth's brother john who was 20 at the time which created much gossip and scandal at court for such a young man in his prime to marry a woman of her age as well as this thomas gray elizabeth's son from her first marriage wed the first of two wealthy heiresses he would eventually marry firstly lady anne holland in 1466 who died without issue and then cecily bonneville the seventh baroness harrington in 1474 whose family had been loyal supporters of the house of york during the dynastic civil wars as well as this elizabeth's father was made earl rivers and treasurer of england in the spring of 1466 replacing warwick's uncle lord mountjoy the rising confidence of the woodville family continued to cause much conflict to court elizabeth woodville's brother anthony woodville second earl rivers who was a talented jouster bibliophile and writer most famous for his translation of the dictates and sayings of the philosophers one of the first texts printed by william caxton brazenly began to challenge warwick's position at court and in political spheres as well as this the woodville supported edward's wish for a burgundian alliance rather than an alliance with louis which was favored by warwick frustrated by this opposition warwick hatched a plan that involved one of his entourage accusing elizabeth woodville's mother jacata of luxembourg of black magic but despite the accusation she was acquitted one year later the woodville's interference in warwick's foreign policy continued as did their opposition to the wider neville family this culminated in edward dismissing warwick's brother george neville archbishop of york as his lord chancellor in 1467 warwick then decided to issue a remonstrance which was a list of alleged abuses carried out by the woodvilles and assembled an army to remove the king and his councillors and establish a government at the battle of edgecut moore the royal yorkist army was routed by the nevilles on the 24th of july 1469 leading to edward being imprisoned in midland castle but despite this victory richard woodfell and his younger son john were captured and then executed on the 12th of august 1469 at kennelworth nonetheless the king was released a few months later in september of 1469 meaning that despite the carnage the strategic position had not changed and tensions remained warrick and clarence initiated a full-scale revolt in march 1470 which was swiftly put down after which the two fled to france in may where louis xi persuaded warwick to seek the aid of his one-time adversary margaret of arju the wife of king henry vi who eventually agreed and so with french backing warwick invaded england on the 9th of september 1470 to restore henry and so the lancastrians were able to assemble an army and edward was forced to flee the country to bruges where he spent his exile edward spent his exile in flanders in the duchy of burgundy he was accompanied by anthony woodfield william hastings and his younger brother richard duke of gloucester as well as a contingent of a few hundred men however although the ruler of the duchy charles the bold was married to edward's sister margaret edward received little aid from him something he would never forget meanwhile back in england following edward's flight from the kingdom elizabeth woodville after taking refuge in westminster abbey gave birth to a baby boy named edward who would later briefly become edward v of england henry's return to power lasted less than six months as the issues which affected his first reign arose again his mental and physical frailties making him unable to rule effectively and so warwick and clarence governed the restored lancastrian regime in his name resulting in a power struggle that was exacerbated by internal wrangling between bitter enemies in the lancastrian ranks such as edmund beaufort the fourth duke of somerset a cousin of both henry vi and richard duke of york who blamed warwick for his late father's demise in 1455 and also for his brother's execution in 1464 which inevitably led to clarence and warwick quickly finding themselves at odds with their former allies henry vi had made clarence his heir after his son edward of westminster but warwick's actions made clarence realize that he was unlikely to have retained the throne if his father-in-law had his way as warrick had wed his younger daughter and neville to the king's son edward of westminster in december 1470 and so on hearing of this the duke of clarence was secretly reconciled with edward iv edward finally had the help he needed to win back his throne and so in march 1471 edward invaded england the first significant group to join was a contingent commanded by sir james harrington and sir william parr made up of 500 men at arms and whilst power had originally fought for the lancastrians at edgecurt in 1469 he also decided to defect and like clarence made the decision to change his allegiance and whilst marching south more recruits joined them including thousands of troops from the city of leicester king edward then arrived at the capital and entered the city without opposition taking henry as his captive meanwhile warwick was slain on the 14th of april 1471 at the battle of barnet after which the final victory for the yorkists came at the battle of tewksbury on the 4th of may 1471 where the 16 year old prince of wales edward of westminster the lancastrian heir to the throne was killed in the fighting although some accounts state that he was summarily executed in the aftermath of the battle by clarence's men this defeat was then compounded by the death of henry vi in the tower of london on the 21st of may 1471 possibly at the hands of the king's brother richard duke of gloucester or at least by his order indeed several accounts state that gloucester was there along with many others and the murder was almost certainly carried out on the orders of edward iv but it was announced that he had died quote of pure displeasure and melancholy because of the loss of his son at dukesbury but few believed this version of events and despite the continued presence of the outcast henry tudor a lancastrian with a tentative claim to the throne king edward could have been forgiven for thinking the war was won over the next 12 years king edward would seek to consolidate and secure his victory over the lancastrians this included the putting down of the last remaining pockets of lancastrian resistance such as a rebellion by the earl of oxford who would later command henry tudor's army at the battle of bosworth whilst in 1478 edward ordered the death of his own brother george duke of clarence reportedly by having him drown in a vat of wine this demonstrates how ruthless and cold-hearted edward could be and is at odds with the romantic view of him we have particularly in reference to his relationship with his wife who over the next decade would continue to exert a considerable yet subtle influence over her husband one of elizabeth's roles at court was to provide counsel to her husband on issues of the day and although decisions were made by the king her influence must have been considerable and her views were no doubt behind the king's preference for an alliance with burgundy as well as his decision to favor the woodville family in terms of titles and marriages her household which was separate to that of her husband the king was well administered and quite frugally run which was in line with edward's wishes that costs for the royal household should be brought under control elizabeth did not take a back seat by any means in the running of her considerable estates as well as in the king's business writing on one occasion to ensure that a servant of edwards who had been caught disturbing the peace was imprisoned until edward had time to decide his fate elizabeth was also a very pious queen and indeed inspired the pope to provide indulgences to those who said the angelus three times daily in order to promote christian piety throughout the kingdom and on occasion intervened with the king to plead for mercy on the behalf of others she would also make charitable donations and pay for gifts from her own household budget but a task which fell to both elizabeth and edward would have been the arranging of appropriate marriages for their 10 children however as with so many other times in world history the destiny of the plantagenet dynasty and elizabeth woodville herself would be flipped upside down by a chance occurrence an event occurred which like the death of the black prince a hundred years before as well as the demise of lancastrian warrior king henry v would change the course of history and would see a hitherto healthy and vigorous man struck down in his prime in early 1483 edward's health began to fail and so by easter the king fell fatally ill but despite his failing strength he added addendums to his last will and testament stipulating that his brother richard duke of gloucester should become guardian of his children after his passing and so on the 9th of april 1483 edward iv the victorious yorkist king of the house of plantagenet died of an unknown illness at westminster before being interred in saint george's chapel in windsor castle after the death of edward iv the dowager queen elizabeth woodville remained politically influential arranging the coronation of her twelve-year-old son edward the fifth as king however there was disagreement within the house of york over whether the boy was old enough to govern in his own name queen elizabeth believed so and the former king's council agreed that edward should be crowned without delay the boy's uncle king edward iv's younger brother richard evidently saw it differently and former lord chamberlain and close friend of edward iv william hastings who was an enemy of the woodvilles but had long been friendly with richard was a key figure in reporting what was happening to him elizabeth woodville's brother anthony second earl rivers brought the young edward immediately back to the capital along with a heavily armed escort under the instructions of his sister nonetheless the party was intercepted by richard on the road north of london culminating in the earl's arrest as well as the seizure of edward who richard then escorted to the capital on the 30th of april elizabeth was told of her brother's arrest along with her son's capture prompting her to take refuge in westminster abbey and was shortly afterwards joined there by her remaining offspring including her daughters and most notably her youngest son richard of shrewsbury the duke of york the younger brother of edward v and son of edward iv then in june richard writing to lord neville concerning quote the queen her blood adherence and affinity asked for his assistance in dealing with elizabeth and accused her of planning his assassination but then on the 13th of june 1483 affairs took a dramatic change when richard at the tower of london accused two council members as well as hastings of committing treason by plotting with the woodville family to oust him leading to a number of suspected traitors being taken prisoner whilst hastings was dragged from the tower and beheaded in a shocking act of brutality meanwhile three days later elizabeth agreed to deliver her son the duke of york to the archbishop of canterbury possibly assuming that as he was a clergyman the boy would be safe and so that he might be present at his brother edward's coronation which was arranged for the 22nd of june however on the 25th of june 1483 events took a turn for the worse when richard ordered the execution at pontefract castle yorkshire of elizabeth woodville's sons richard and anthony from her first marriage sweeping away more remaining obstacles to his kingship until ultimately young edward v and younger brother the duke of york were infamously installed in the tower of london by richard supposedly to prepare for edward's forthcoming coronation however before the king could be crowned the titulous regius was issued which declared edward and his brother illegitimate by act of parliament the act declared that a pre-existing contract between edward and a certain widow lady eleanor butler essentially meant that his marriage to elizabeth woodville was null and void and so after this announcement wretched duke of gloucester edward's brother and lord protector seized the crown becoming king richard iii there was a final sighting of the two brothers in the tower during the summer of 1483 but it is unclear what happened to the boys after this last sighting of them elizabeth was heartbroken when she heard the rumors of the demise of her sons and reportedly fell to the ground pulling out her own hair and beating her breast no doubt blaming herself for letting her younger son be taken out of the safety of their sanctuary this after the loss of her elder son richard gray as well as her brother a pontefract must have been too much to bear and her health suffered following the news the physician who attended her was a dr lewis who was also physician to margaret beaufort and it was he who first suggested the idea of a marriage union between the families elizabeth who is now known as dame elizabeth gray both grief stricken and furious allied herself with lady margaret beaufort as well as henry stafford duke of buckingham the husband of her sister catherine woodville who had originally supported richard's claim although his motivation for agreeing to the alliance may have been out of his own self-interest to secure closer ties to the potential new king or to even claim the throne for himself as he was descended from edward iii through john of gaunt through his paternal and maternal lineage together the three gathered support for the claim to the throne of margaret beaufort's only son henry tudor a great-great-great-grandson of edward iii and one of the few remaining male lancastrians to hold any kind of claim on the english crown the plotters then conspired to arrange a marriage for henry to the daughter of elizabeth woodville and edward iv elizabeth of york who would become the heiress of the house of york upon the death of her brothers such a marriage would finally unite the two feuding houses of york and lancaster henry tudor agreed to the plan and on christmas day 1483 swore to honor the agreement at wren cathedral in france despite the fact that richard had seized all of elizabeth woodville's property by an act of parliament in early 1484 the king nonetheless pledged that neither the dowager queen nor her children would be harmed by him resulting in them leaving their self-imposed isolation after which richard promised to give her daughters marriage dowries and arrange for them to wed quote gentlemen born this can be viewed as a very clever move by elizabeth woodville as if the plot to place henry tudor on the throne succeeded her eldest daughter would be the mother of the heir to the throne whereas if richard iii had been victorious in the final stages of the wars of the roses her daughters may still have secured marriages to wealthy and influential noblemen although richard iii was only king of england for two years and two months he nonetheless had to deal with major rebellions the last of which would be fatal to his kingship the first of these occurred in october of 1483 when henry stafford the duke of buckingham tried and failed to dethrone richard with the backing of henry tudor and the conspirators who in exile had been financed by duke francis ii of brittany to land troops in england in support of stafford in what would become known as the buckingham rebellion however a premature uprising in kent warned richard that buckingham had changed sides and so following the rebellion richard ordered the execution of henry stafford for treason on the 2nd of november 1483 and he was beheaded in the marketplace in salisbury the sister of elizabeth woodville catherine was thus made a widow with the death of buckingham they had been married since they were both children and a contemporary source relates that at the coronation of elizabeth woodville on the 26th of may 1465 the two had been carried on squire's shoulders because of their youth as henry stafford was nine and catherine was just seven but only two years after the death of stafford on the 7th of november 1485 catherine wed jasper tudor the uncle of henry tudor whilst in exile in brittany in 1485 henry tudor initially enjoyed the support of pierre landes however richard persuaded him to turn henry over along with jasper tudor and the other exiled lancastrians promising him military support for his campaign against the rebel breton nobility whereupon henry fled to paris where he was able to secure troops and equipment for an invasion with the help of the french regent and of bonjour and so in august 1485 henry tudor sent forth from france with a small contingent of french and scottish mercenaries landing in southern wales at mill bay not far from his birthplace at pembroke castle after which he proceeded with his troops towards central england his numbers growing all the while henry planned to seize the throne by acting quickly to engage richard before he could call on his reinforcements in nottingham and leicester and although they were outmatched by the yorkists henry tudor nonetheless emerged triumphant from the confrontation with richard iii at the battle of bosworth field near the leicestershire town of market bosworth on the 22nd of august 1485. the decisive outcome of the wars of the roses was that king richard iii was slain at the battle of bosworth by the lancastrian forces of henry tudor making him the last king of the plantagenet dynasty and the last king of england to die on the battlefield whilst henry the first king of the tudor dynasty was then crowned in westminster abbey on the 30th of october 1485. the following year the newly crowned henry vii as he would be known married elizabeth woodville and henry iv's daughter elizabeth of york on the 18th of january 1486 at westminster abbey thereby uniting the two rival houses and so it was that elizabeth woodville played a crucial role in hatching the plot to secure the crown for henry tudor thus ending the wars of the roses and establishing the tudor dynasty which would end with the reign of elizabeth woodville's namesake elizabeth the first who is regarded by many as england's greatest queen once henry vii had been crowned king he returned elizabeth woodville to the status she should have held as the widow of an english king by allocating her further lands to her dowry including farnam as well as giving her an annual annuity elizabeth was also made godmother to prince arthur the firstborn son of henry and her daughter elizabeth of york through her daughter's marriage elizabeth woodville would become the future grandmother of henry viii and the great grandmother of elizabeth the first indeed without elizabeth woodville it is highly likely that richard iii would have maintained his place on the throne of england and the tudor dynasty would very likely never have on existed king and after his marriage to elizabeth of york henry vii revoked the titulus regius essentially meaning that the princes in the tower along with all of elizabeth woodville's children including elizabeth of york were once again regarded as legitimate and in so doing henry fused the hitherto warring houses of york and lancaster together and placing the red rose of york on top of the white rose of lancaster formed the red and white tudor rose the iconic symbol of the combined royal houses after over 30 years of continuous war which had ripped the kingdom of england apart at this time elizabeth woodville retreated to birmingham summer test to lead a contemplative life whilst others suggest that she retired to the abbey on the 12th of february 1487 because henry vii forced her to whilst yet another theory suggests that she was made to retreat to birmingzi because she was part of the yorkist rebellion surrounding lambert seminole in 1487. other sources suggest that elizabeth woodville was forced into a retirement at birmingham at the behest of margaret beaufort who was now known as my lady the king's mother because this title was not quite so exalted as dowager queen of england the title held by elizabeth woodville and perhaps for margaret having to continue to defer to this woman whom she had previously served and who continued to outrank her despite margaret's own position as the mother of the king was more than she could bear however at birmingham elizabeth lived a regal life by all accounts being given a lifestyle befitting her status her allowance was 400 pounds and she was permitted to be present at the birth of her daughter's second son henry the future henry viii in june 1491 at the palace of greenwich whilst at birmingham 1491 elizabeth would become the co-heiress of the estates of her late brother richard woodville the third earl rivers who had assumed his brother anthony woodville's title upon his death at the hands of richard iii and although the dowager queen was now beyond childbearing age this did not prevent henry vii according to accounts considering offering his mother-in-law's hand to king james iii of scotland upon the death of his wife however this plan fell through when the king of scots was slain on the 11th of june 1488 when the king faced an army near stirling at the battle of sochiben and so elizabeth woodville lived out her remaining days at birmingham eventually dying there on the 8th of june 1492 with a number of her children attending her internment at st george's chapel in windsor castle however the queen did not attend as at the time she was heavily pregnant nonetheless the late queen's body was conveyed to windsor by water by the river thames with the funeral paid for by her son lord dorsett and despite the apparent simplicity of her last rites elizabeth woodville's final resting place in saint george's chapel at windsor by the side of her husband edward iv and surrounded by nearly a dozen kings and queens of england and later britain could not be more impressive or splendid during her life elizabeth woodville was known for her christian piety having founded the chapel of saint erasmus in westminster abbey and made many pilgrimages she was an important figure in the history of the english monarchy having started her life as the daughter of a commoner and using her charm intelligence and beauty she was able to make her way up the social hierarchy of medieval england eventually becoming the wife of a king and in many ways one of the founders of the tudor dynasty elizabeth and edward had 10 offspring not including her children from her first marriage many of whom she would end up grieving for as he either died of natural causes or executed or murdered by the adversaries of the woodville family indeed out of the 10 children elizabeth woodville bore edward iv only five daughters reached adulthood from seven girls and three boys it therefore goes without saying that elizabeth's life was touched by tragedy the like of which few can imagine today and many would succumb to such is testament to the strength of her character despite these tragic events the family unit that elizabeth produced remained a loyal and supportive family group which her eldest offspring elizabeth of york sustained when she was queen continuing to help her siblings in many ways just as her mother had indeed elizabeth's legacy would live on in many ways as henry viii would name his daughter with anne berlin after his mother elizabeth of york who in turn was named after her mother elizabeth woodville an england's present queen also shares the same illustrious name edward and elizabeth were married for almost 19 years but might have hoped for many more years together their marriage by all accounts being one based on love and affection with edward the strong victorious yorkist king who it seemed had won the wars of the roses and his intelligent beautiful wife elizabeth providing the house of york with offspring but no doubt exerting considerable influence over her husband at the same time indeed the marriage of edward iv and elizabeth woodville could have very easily been damaged or strained due to tumultuous political events that were taking place at the time with the newfound wealth and influence of the woodvilles in particular causing resentment at edward's court but there is no evidence that suggests that the king and queen enjoyed anything other than a close and harmonious union and unlike many english and indeed british royal marriages the union of edward iv and elizabeth woodville is not only one of the most important marriages in english history but is one of the few based on true love it is to edward's credit that he did marry for love as opposed to diplomatic or monetary advantage as elizabeth woodfell was after all an unusual choice coming from a common family and being the elder of her husband as well as a widow however it is evident that the king found her legendary beauty charm and flowing blonde tresses impossible to resist as he married her against the advice of his counselors and ignoring tradition despite the protestations of many of edward's closest advisors concerning her lowly status and her family's lancastrian ties it is clear that elizabeth used her position as queen to isolate those who were against her marriage and influence her husband to appoint her own family members to positions of high office this is all despite the fact that her family could offer edward no dowry for her hand in marriage as she was not the daughter of a great prince due carol however what she did hold as a great advantage was her fertility bearing the king 10 children as well as two sons to her first husband it should have been the case that elizabeth woodville likes so many consorts of medieval kings would have remained a mere footnote in medieval history but with the premature death of her husband along with the probable murder of her children elizabeth conspired to claim revenge on those she perceived responsible for her children's demise and in doing so laid the foundations not only for the brutal and bloody climax of the wars of the roses but also those of one of england's greatest royal dynasties the tudors what do you think of elizabeth woodville the white queen did she betray the yorkist cause by bringing about richard iii's downfall or was she one of the most remarkable and powerful women in english history who used her intelligence as well as her beauty to win one king's heart and destroy another thereby uniting the houses of york and lancaster and so founding the tudor dynasty let us know what you think in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching it is the 19th of may 1536 at the tower of london a raven head woman accused of high treason approaches the scaffold after ascending the steps she turns to face the gathered crowd and recites a prepared speech in which she praises king henry and bids the people to pray for her soul she then kneels on the straw scattered on the floor and praise herself until silently the french executioner approaches from behind and with a single swing of his sword decapitates the noble lady her name one time queen of england and berlin [Music] the woman known to history as amberlynn was born in or around 1501 at blickling hall in norfolk although sometime in her early childhood the family would move to what would become their principal residence which was hever castle in kent her father was sir thomas berlin intelligent well-educated and fluent in french he was also very ambitious promoted by henry vii to deputy warden for customs at calais and's great-grandfather was lord mayor of london in 1457 sir jeffrey berlin a successful merchant who bought the family seats of both blickling hall and heather castle anne's mother was elizabeth howard daughter of the earl of surrey who would laterally become the second duke of norfolk elizabeth howard was a noble woman who served as lady in waiting to catherine of aragon during the early part of the reign of henry viii the howards could rightfully claim to move in royal circles not least because anne's uncle the third duke of norfolk had married the daughter of edward iv and of york and was educated to a high standard along with her siblings by members of her household and it was anne and her brother george who were the better students the two also sharing a particular closeness as brother and sister and would have learned the traditional lessons of the time such as reading and writing as well as languages and music but she also would have been taught the traditionally feminine lessons of needlework dancing and singing only two of anne's siblings survived into adulthood they were george and mary however their ages and even the order of their birth is a point of contention although the probable order was that mary was the oldest as per lord hunsden's account and that anne was the middle child born before george who was born in either 1504 or 1505 making anne's probable birthdate sometime around 1501 and was considered the less attractive of the two sisters and rumors abound that she was born with physical marks of a large mole on her neck and an extra finger on one hand attributes that would have arose suspicion that she carried quote marks of the devil and took care to hide these marks and they did not appear in her portraiture she also had black hair and dark eyes not the conventional picture of beauty at the time despite her unusual marks on her body and the fact that she was not the oldest berlin girl her intelligence meant that her ambitious father thomas berlin chose anne to send into service as a lady in waiting at the court of margaret of austria regent of the netherlands and so she left england for the first time in 1513 entering the household of margaret of austria in brussels she would have set out for brussels with a contingent of her father's servants beginning the journey with anticipation and excitement at taking up such a sought after position as well as with her father's words in mind to make sure she made the best of herself as the representative of the family abroad at one of the most cultured courts in europe she quickly made a good impression at the dutch court and margaret of austria wrote to thomas berlin stating how pleased she was to receive his daughter and made good progress in learning the french language and wrote a long letter in french to her father which is the first example of ann's own voice in original sources after the king of france louis the twelfth's wife died in 1514 he requested of henry viii the hand in marriage of his sister mary tudor who traveled to france to become queen by this time anne's fluency in french had become well known and her father was asked to send her from brussels to france to serve under mary tudor this would have been a difficult request for thomas berlin to ask of margaret of austria as there were rumors that margaret herself may have been a likely candidate for marriage to king louis and sister mary berlin traveled with mary tudor to france and she was by now part of mary's household and traveled directly from brussels to france and joined the french court and was also reunited with her sister there and when after their marriage king louis sent many of mary tudor's attendance home to england ann and her sister mary were two who were spared and so they would have been quite close confidant to the new queen however when king louis died only three months after their marriage most of mary tudor's attendance returned to england with her in may 1515 but anne and mary berlin decided to stay at the french court in the new queen claude's household and had most likely acted as an interpreter between mary tudor and her stepdaughter claude when louis was still alive and so the relationship they formed must have been a good one since anne stayed in queen claude's service for the next seven years whilst queen claude's court was quiet and demure that of her husband francis the first was much more debauched and frivolous and both mary and ann would on occasion visit the king's court in the course of their duties during this time mary berlin gained quite a reputation for being generous with her sexual favors even earning the nickname the english mayor and becoming the mistress of both francis the first and several other french courtiers when he discarded her and when word reached mary's family in england of her behaviour she was sent for to return home ending what must have been an embarrassing time for anne at the french court whilst anne was at the court of queen claude she would have spent much of her time doing needlework and playing music but also during this time she met with the sister of francis the first margarite of angelem who may have influenced anne with her reformist views and would have had the opportunity of seeing her father during her time at the french court as thomas berlin took part in several court visits from england one of which was for the christening of francis the first and queen claude's son henry duke of orleans in 1519 she would also have met him at the famous field of cloth of gold meeting between france the first and henry viii in 1518 although not recorded as such ann would almost certainly have been present at the famous meeting between the kings as one of the ladies in waiting to the french queen and this would also probably have been the first time that she had set eyes on her future husband king henry viii who was 30 at the time and in his prime as well as the first time that she would have seen catherine of aragon the king's older wife and would return to england after nearly nine years abroad in 1522 after her father requested her presence in late 1521 and by february or march 1522 she had become a member of the household of catherine of aragon in greenwich and's presence at court caused a stir she was seen as somewhat of a fashion icon as well as being possessed of considerable poise grace and charm even her detractors at the time wrote of the magnetism of her demeanor in march 1522 anne was chosen to take part in a play or mask at court in which eight princesses dressed in white satin would portray various virtues mary tudor would portray beauty whilst and sister mary would portray kindness and anne was chosen to portray perseverance by the time anne returned to court in england her sister mary was mistress to king henry viii an involvement that would last for several years despite mary's marriage to william carey in 1521 which was thought a cover to protect her reputation should she feel pregnant by the king mary's relationship with henry could also be the reason for thomas berlin's progression as he was made controller of the household in 1520 and treasurer of the household in 1522 as well as being made by count rochford in 1525 however mary received little from her relationship with henry after she was discarded in 1525 this treatment may have well warned anne to hold out for what she wanted when looking for marriage and love and this she would make sure she did what anne hadn't realized when she left france was that she was being summoned home in order that she should be married thomas berlin and cardinal woolsey in talks with king henry had arranged for anne to be married to the eldest son of sir pierre's butler james to avoid a succession disagreement over the rightful ownership of the title of the earl ship of ormond over which thomas berlin had a claim as did the butlers it seems that anne was not keen on the match between herself and james butler her delaying tactics eventually proved successful and the marriage idea dwindled and never in fact happened despite having the approval of the king anne wanted an advantageous marriage for herself and was also known as a willful character she defied the conventions of the time and arranged a marriage for herself her chosen partner was henry percy heir to the earldom of northumberland it was a very good match for anne and henry percy immediately fell deeply in love with her it has been speculated that following their engagement they may have actually consummated their relationship as ann would have been eager to ensure her path to becoming countess of northumberland this fact could also have been known to lady wingfield who anne wrote to quite humbly before her later marriage to henry probably hoping to keep the matter a secret the marriage never in fact happened as the king heard of their plans and instructed woolsey to put a stop to it he summoned percy to him forbidding the marriage on the grounds that anne was beneath him in terms of rank and was furious at this decision and held a grudge against cardinal woolsey for the decision henry percy pined for anne and was almost continually ill until his death in his early thirties following her failed engagement anne returned to heaven castle and became reacquainted with her next love interest her neighbor thomas wyatt whose family was well known by thomas berlin as wyatt's father sir henry wyatt had been created a knight of the bath along with thomas berlin at henry viii's coronation and they shed the office of constable of norwich castle from 1511. thomas was a handsome athletic figure as well as a poet who was well respected at court the only downside was that wyatt was already married and so their relationship remained a flirtation which continued when anne was called back to catherine of aragon's court in 1525 however wyatt's writing made it clear that he was highly attracted to anne and did in fact love her with some sources suggesting that their relationship may have actually been more than platonic however anne's feelings for an extent of relationship with wyatt is ultimately uncertain several sources claim that anne was not at all chased and virtuous and that thomas white was allowed into her bed and that she may have even entertained other lovers as well with one writer claiming that the first was her father's butler when she was a girl of only 15 another more salacious anti-berlin rumor stated that henry viii who had found anne's mother elizabeth howard attractive had father dan however this is highly unlikely as henry would have only been 16 at the time and still under the protection of his father henry vii the accounts of her carrying on an affair with wyatt also seem unlikely as there were several other likely candidates she could have chosen who were not married and as well as this she would hold back from sleeping with the king until they were eventually married both arguments point to the inaccuracy of the wyatt affair being anything more than simple flirtation by the mid-1520s queen catherine of arrogance failure to produce a son and air would have made king henry more and more impatient and because catherine was more or less constantly pregnant for the first decade of her marriage henry was used to taking mistresses even fathering an illegitimate son whom henry acknowledged as his own child the boy was named henry fitzroy literally meaning son of the king he was born in june of 1519 his mother elizabeth blount one of the queen's ladies in waiting henry had proven that he could father a son and while henry never openly blamed catherine for her failure to produce a boy it is likely that the continued absence of a legitimate heir some 10 years into his marriage stoked resentment as well as anxiety in him especially as henry was now 27 years old and catherine was 33 and so the time left for her to conceive was growing short and within a decade henry's attempts to address the absence of an heir would change the face of england forever culturally henry was a devout catholic and evidence suggests that he essentially remains so throughout his life however his commitment to the pope's right to govern the church would present him with perhaps his greatest dilemma when his views conflicted with both his desire to remarry and his increasingly desperate need for a son and heir the one thing that seemed to be out of his reach by the mid-1520s the situation became more strained henry was no longer the popular teenage king but was still a fairly young man in his early 30s and never having abandoned his athletic lifestyle in pursuits he had kept his trim handsomeness and vigor catherine however was nearing 40 and had gained a great deal of weight in the year since her marriage as well as this six pregnancies in nine years had wreaked havoc on her body and catherine now past childbearing age was losing both the love and interest of her husband when amber ling came to the tudor court in 1525 as a lady in waiting to queen catherine having recently returned from the french quarter queen claude she must have been a breath of fresh air to the king she was much admired for her cosmopolitan air her style wit and charm and still in her mid-20s she was fashionable and attractive with dark hair and eyes and commanded attention at court and henry longing for a younger more vivacious wife who might give him a son fell deeply in love with her the affair of ancestor with the king ended before 1526 and so on her return to court anne was seemingly available and king henry was on the lookout for another mistress and continued her flirtatious behaviour with thomas wyatt caught thomas at one point taking a jewel from anne which he kept on his person presumably as a reminder of her during this time both henry and wyatt vied for the attention of anne before wyatt realised just how serious the king was about winning her hand henry also took a ring from anne and began wearing it on his little finger at the time the first indication perhaps that his feelings for her were deepening and in 1528 king henry made wyatt marshall of calais perhaps to make sure wyatt was absent from court to clear the way for henry to secure his relationship with anne initially for the first few months of their courtship there seemed to be no question of henry casting off his wife he frequently begged and to become his mistress which she refused to do as although she was flattered to receive the attention of the king she insisted that she would give her virginity only to her husband henry's letters to anne from 1526 and 1527 some of which survive are full of passionate declarations of his love and desire for her henry continually commissioned new jewels and trinkets for her and publicly showed her favor and affection in historical terms and berlin had been given the reputation of the other woman at worst a grasping political climber and conspirator who usurped the place of a legitimate wife and queen much loved by the english people however there is no evidence that she encouraged henry's interest in her initially indeed she reportedly made an abrupt departure from court in the spring of 1527 returning to her family's home at heaven castle and the letter that henry wrote to anne soon after her departure conveys the impression that she might have simply left to avoid henry zarda and avoid turning down a king who held power over the livelihood and lives of the entire court the letter from henry reads quote in turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters i have put myself into great agony not knowing how to interpret them whether to my disadvantage as you show in some places all to my advantage as i understand them in some others beseeching you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us two it is absolutely necessary for me to obtain this answer having been for above a whole year stricken with the dart of love and not yet sure whether i shall fail of finding a place in your heart and affection while some might accuse her of playing a skillful game of manipulation it seems unlikely that a young woman like anne from a respectable but not a powerful family would imagine that she would be anything more than henry's temporary mistress it is difficult to believe that anne might be presumptuous enough to think that she could take henry from his legitimate wife or that she might emerge victorious from a battle with the queen of england at the time anne was still set on arranging a high-ranking marriage for herself and may have seen the status that the king's attention gave her as a distinct advantage in the marriage market making her seem all the more worthy to would-be suitors the alternative account that she set out to take the king from his wife is unlikely but her mixed messages confused and frustrated the king until he became besotted by this alluring seemingly unattainable woman however it is true that amelia's and with the king would have no doubt placed her marriage prospects and future prosperity at great risk and so it is likely that she came to love henry as he loved her after her abrupt departure from court henry continued writing to anne in his own hand and sending her gifts and in time and began to respond to henry with feelings and gifts of her own and the two began carrying on their relationship quite publicly at court there is of course no way to know whether anne and henry maintained their abstinence as anne had insisted she must however the fact that ann did not become pregnant throughout the nearly seven years of their courtship suggests she stayed chaste methods of contraception were available at the time but were extremely unreliable so while henry and anne were likely intimate with one another there is no evidence which suggests that they slept together prior to late 1532 at the earliest their intimacy is attested to in their letters to one another in one of which henry mentions that he misses anne's duckies an informal term for her breasts by 1527 a year after anne's arrival at court henry had proposed marriage to anne and she had after much thought accepted henry decided to seek a divorce from catherine so that he could marry anne henry's rationale for the divorce has been argued by some to illustrate the fundamental flaws in his personality a tendency towards cold abandonment and indifference towards those he had no more useful as well as a willingness to interpret facts to suit himself when henry had first married catherine he had done so against objections from all sides because he loved her the pope issued a special dispensation to allow henry to marry catherine since she had been first wed to henry's brother arthur and henry and catherine's marriage according to catholic doctrine could otherwise have been considered incest based on a provision in leviticus 2021 quote if any man should take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing they will be childless and so when the teenage henry had wanted to marry catherine of aragon he readily accepted both the pope's dispensation and catherine's claim that her six-month marriage to his brother arthur had never actually been consummated due to arthur's continual ill health it was not until years later when henry had fallen in love with anne and the possibility of having a son had become realistic again that henry decided that catherine and arthur's marriage may not have been consummated he reasoned that the pope had overreached his own authority and that the very reason he had no son was because his current marriage was a sin against god for which divorce was the only remedy henry's ambition for love and an heir changed everything the king would spend the next few years pursuing the great matter of his divorce he began with a direct appeal to pope clement vii hoping that his noted devotion to the catholic church would secure him an annulment a prospect which at the time was not as outrageous a request as it seems today as for literally centuries various successive popes had dissolved literally dozens of royal marriages even marriages of relatively long duration which had already produced children most of which were annulled for political reasons although official annulments always cited some biblical or doctrinal explanation for the dissolution of these marriages however henry was about to find his dreams of a quick and easy divorce dashed when in 1527 emperor charles v sacked rome and took the pope as his prisoner in addition to being arguably the most powerful man in europe charles was also queen catherine's nephew and by this point even if the pope had wished to grant henry his divorce he would have been unable to henry then turned to cardinal woolsey who had never failed him and who owed literally all he had to the king thomas woolsey was not born to the nobility like most clergymen of the day who became archbishops cardinals and papal legates woolsey was the son of a butcher from ipswich originally an obscure chaplain until under henry's patronage he was made bishop archbishop and cardinal in fairly quick succession woolsey had not only been henry's law chancellor he'd also been his mentor as a young king still finding his way but whatever the reason for wolsey's failure to procure the divorce whether inability or reluctance it would lead to his ruin the cardinal working with cardinal campaggio a special legate appointed by the pope set up a legating court to determine henry's great matter but the court was unable to reach a decision with regard to the merit of henry's claims for an annulment and ruled that the matter should be decided by the college of cardinals in rome it is unclear whether woolsey truly wanted to give henry his desire or if like his ecclesiastical counterparts he saw the danger of allowing the king to divorce his famously pious catholic wife and marianne who was reliably rumored to be a lutheran reformer but whatever his intentions the failure of the legating court was woolsey's downfall as henry commanded his arrest and imprisonment citing the treasonous tone of letters wolves he had written to the vatican officials however the cardinal in fact died of natural causes on his way to london before henry could behead him henry did not sit idly by waiting for the college of cardinals or the pope to decide the fate of his marriage instead he began to canvass the opinion of theologians at europe's universities asking them to study deliberate and pronounce a verdict on the merits of his case for divorce however henry would be disappointed twice more as the majority of university theologians and later the college of cardinals would decide in favor of queen catherine declaring the king's first marriage valid after all it is unclear when henry first began to consider repudiating the pope's authority in england thus removing the obstacle to his divorce ambulance influence as a lutheran sympathiser and reformer is entirely plausible as is the influence of thomas cromwell another reformer who was first henry's private secretary and later rose to become law privy seal in fact there were quite a few reformers in the english parliament and at court at the time and anti-clericalism was rife among them but perhaps it was his introduction to the little known clergyman and theology professor from cambridge thomas cranmer which truly planted the seed in his mind according to cranmer who was a passionate reformer kings anointed by god answered only to god and therefore henry should not have to pursue his divorce through legal means this atmosphere and these ideas may have emboldened henry to formally break with the roman catholic church and pursue one of the most radical bids for power ever made by a european monarch the claim to absolute powers of both king and pope it would take nearly two years for henry to establish the fulfillment of his will over both parliament and the english clergy but by 1532 henry had what he wanted he was the supreme head of the church of england and parliament had legislated a full break with the pope stopping virtually all payments to rome and because he wanted his great matter decided by the english church which was much better from a public relations standpoint than declaring it himself he made thomas cranmer archbishop of canterbury empowering him to lead the clergy to the right decision in other words to vote in henry's favor with regard to his divorce in april 1533 archbishop cranmer declared henry's marriage to catherine invalid but by that time henry had already been remarried for three months having wed and berlin in a secret ceremony on the 25th of january 1533 as well as this anne had already made her first appearance at quarters queen and had taken up residence in what had been catherine of arrogance apartments also taking up the motto the most happy however controversially some historians suggest that when she came to the altar and was already pregnant as on the 7th of september 1533 just over seven months after their marriage and gave birth to princess elizabeth the future elizabeth the first of england the king once married had wanted anne to be crowned queen speedily due to her burgeoning pregnancy as he wanted his expected child to be born to a consecrated mother and so plans went ahead for anne's coronation as part of her procession and would take a barge and she made sure that it was catherine of aragon's barge that was commandeered for the royal procession reportedly she had catherine's coat of arms not only removed from the barge but also destroyed the festivities began on the 29th of may 1533 and lasted for five days the king wanted anne ceremony to reflect that she was every inch the magnificent queen he wanted her to be seen as and so on the 31st of may anne's procession left the tower consisting of foreign ambassadors and nobles bedecked in purple robes ermine and other finery followed by anne carried in a litter accompanied by her ladies in waiting also finally attired in resplendent fashion all to the salute of guns from the tower and pageants at the roadside the site must have been astonishing for spectators lining the route however when anne noticed that some of the crowd were not dotting their caps and calling god save the queen and had one of her attendants approach the lord mayor to complain of it he replied that quote he could not command people's hearts and that even the king could not do so despite the blatant signs of her unpopularity anne was resolute she would be crowned queen and she was on the very next morning in westminster abbey by archbishop cranmer anne was never a popular queen as papers from the time attest to subjects being taken to task over comments on the marriage and rudeness to her personally and in 1533 a priest was recorded as being subject to investigation over calling anna harlot and a and quoting a prophecy that a queen would be burned at smithfield this and similar incidents led to the king issuing a proclamation that anyone who came forward with information against those who spoke out against his marriage would be offered a reward despite the apparent loyalty and favor the king showed to anne this did not translate to the marriage bed as although the king had been faithful to ant during their courtship the same was not true of their marriage and by 1533 henry already had a mistress and amberlynn knew of her this must have struck and like a lining bolt as until she gave henry his son her position was reliant only on his passion for her which was perhaps waning when anne reacted angrily to the news of the affair the king rebuked her with righteous indignation not speaking to her again for two or three days her detractors at court must have reacted gleefully at this first hint of a rift in the royal marriage and anne decided not to raise the matter until she had given birth to her child who she fully expected to be a son on the 7th of september 1533 anne gave birth to a daughter to both hers and henry's great regret the expected son had not arrived and the planned tournament to greet his birth was cancelled but once their initial disappointment waned the couple accepted the new baby happily she was his heir after all until her son appeared and she was happy and healthy and looked like the king they named their daughter elizabeth the name not only of henry's mother but anne's also baby elizabeth was christened and thomas cranmer was named as her godfather and the duchess of norfolk and the martinez of dorset were named as her godmothers and after her christening the baby was proclaimed princess of england as well as heiress supplanting her half-sister mary in the line of succession as queen and divided opinion both at home and abroad some loved her but many hated her some due to her lowly origins and some because catherine had always been such a popular queen but they hated her also because of anne's reformist religious views which were alien to a great portion of the largely catholic population one person who spoke out against anne and was a thorn in both hers and henry's side was a young woman called elizabeth barton who claimed to have been cured of an illness miraculously by god she became a nun and claimed to prophesize the future telling henry that she had seen a place for him prepared in hell and that he would stop being a king a month after his marriage to anne in november 1533 henry had barton arrested and she confessed after questioning that all her claims have been a sham she was executed along with five of her associates on the 20th of april 1534 as a reformist queen anne set an example in her court by reading the bible and in treating her courtiers to be both godly and pious although she would have had music and dancing at court she demonstrated a degree of reformist fervor and would read her bible in french as well as english she also did charitable works distributing arms to the poor and also supporting a cambridge scholar in her brief time as queen anne also secured several bishoprics for a reformist clergyman including thomas cranmer and hugh latimer who became bishop of worcester she also offered sanctuary a court to foreign reformers who needed it as well as this she had a great love for her daughter as did henry and it must have been a wrench for anne when the princess was given her own household in december 1533 as was usual for the time well understood the enormity of what he had done by removing the power of rome in order to marry anne and he moved swiftly to consolidate his new powers and impose his will implacably upon the english people catherine of aragon was still widely popular and her replacement queen anne was widely resented but more importantly the majority of the english people still identified closely with roman catholicism henry knew he would have to establish control quickly before the foreign influence and support of catholic europe emboldened uneasy catholic englishman to act and his answer was the act of supremacy which he proposed following his marriage to anne in which parliament passed in 1534. the act required all the king's subjects to swear an oath recognizing henry as supreme head of the church and affirming the legality of the king's marriage to anne boleyn refusal to swear the oath was considered treason the punishment for which was death for devoted catholics the oath of supremacy was seen as a referendum on morality most chose to swear the oath and escape with their lives no matter how painful the cost to their beliefs others like henry's old friend and mentor sir thomas more would not moore had largely retired from court and public life in general following the death of thomas wolsey henry had named moore lord chancellor a post which he resigned from only two years later in 1532 alienated and demoralized by the erosion of the papal authority he had witnessed at court he had never spoken publicly against the king or against his marriage to anne but as of 1535 he remained one of only a few of henry's subjects who still had not taken the oath moore's refusal to do so resulted in him being imprisoned in the tower and at his trial when it was clear that he would be found guilty he'd loudly affirmed the authority of the pope over all matters religious and denied the ability of parliament to declare the king head of the church moore was immediately sentenced to death for treason a crime which carried the penalty of hanging drawing and quartering henry had already demonstrated that he was not averse to removing his subjects when they failed to deliver challenged his power or acted contrary to his will but perhaps it is a small testament to his remembrance of moore's friendship and service to him that henry commuted his sentence to beheading on the 6th of july 1535 thomas more went bravely to the scaffold he jokingly asked the executioner to hold a moment while he shifted his beard from the edge of the block saying that after all it was he not it that had committed treason and in a loud clear voice he declared that he died quote the king's good servant and god's first as well as more queen catherine and mary also refused to sign the oath which henry and anne saw as a direct act of defiance that anne and catherine hated each other was no secret and it could have been under pressure from anne that henry demoted queen catherine to the rank of princess dowager and had her move to a household further from london the royal couple were probably not best pleased to hear that the crowds had cheered the old queen on her journey there in december 1533 henry and anne decided that catherine should move house once again this time to summersham a house surrounded by a moat and marshes and by reputation a most unhealthy place catherine protested at her forced move and locked herself in her rooms refusing the duke of suffolk's attempts to remove her catherine had not been allowed to see her daughter mary since the summer of 1531 when henry had left catherine but she wrote to her daughter in september 1533 preparing her for possible troubles ahead and warning her not to incur the king's anger by this time henry had already replaced mary's livery on her household coaches with that of his own in effect declaring her illegitimacy a delegation was also sent to her requesting that she relinquish her title princess of england and although it may have been anne who inspired this action against his daughter it was ultimately the king who ordered it carried out in november 1533 henry ordered that mary's household should be dismantled and that she would be sent instead to serve as lady in waiting to her sister elizabeth at court mary went to elizabeth's household but was defined stating that she would not call her princess of england but sister instead just as she called henry fitzroy brother anna pointed her aunt lady shelton as mary's governess so she would have a direct line of information about what was going on at court and in particular of how mary was behaving and was also terrified that the king would meet with his daughter mary and so when henry visited elizabeth's household mary would be confined to her rooms but when on one occasion henry saw mary at her window whilst leaving he waved at his daughter but was berated by anne for doing so as anne's attempts to make mary behave as she wished her to were not working and instead tried to befriend her stepdaughter in march 1534 whilst visiting elizabeth and asked for mary to be brought to her she offered her reconciliation with her father in exchange for her admitting that she was illegitimate and that her parents had never been married however mary defiantly refused angering anne yet again certain sources have stated that anne had told henry percy earl of northumberland that she was planning to murder her rival mary by administering her poison and that she called catherine and mary rebels and traitorouses deserving death but the truth is this was probably more wishful thinking and words spoken in anger rather than any real plot indeed there is evidence from anne's letters to mary to suggest that anne did try to befriend her stepdaughter in one letter in which she refers to herself as queen she thanks mary for curtsying to her after a massive eltem and she says that she would have done the same back if she had seen her at the time however mary's reply was as defiant as ever stating that the queen meaning her mother catherine was not present at the time and that she was actually curtsying to the altar and so and attempts to be kind to mary seemed to have gone unheeded and this response from mary angered anne greatly another incident in 1534 involving her own family also prompted anger from anne when her sister mary appeared and caught and announced that she had married one of her servants william stafford this so angerdan that she banished her sister barry from court also cutting her off from any financial support and whilst it was known that the two sisters were not close anne's reaction could be seen as quite harsh under the circumstances apart from the defiance from mary by 1534 henry and anne had finally dealt with or removed all who seemed openly opposed to the new order and the death of catherine of aragon from natural causes on the 7th of january 1536 appeared to remove the last barrier to the legitimacy of their marriage however a black cloud hovered anne had become pregnant twice following the birth of elizabeth but both pregnancies had resulted in miscarriages additionally some historians have speculated that henry and anne's relationship was growing increasingly strained due to anne's failure to adjust to her new role of wife as henry's mistress she might have been allowed a certain amount of license to speak and act as she pleased her prolonged refusal to sleep with henry likely put her in a rather dominant position however as henry's wife she would be expected to be far more submissive but of course her lack of submissiveness would likely have been overlooked had she not committed the terrible sin of failing to produce a son following the miscarriage anne suffered in the summer of 1534 king henry had taken another mistress when anne complained to the king about this situation his reaction was very harsh he stated that quote she had good reason to be content with what he had done for her which he would not do now if the thing were to begin and that she should consider from what she had come the king was clearly losing patience with that as well as perhaps regretting marrying her at all and realized that without her son she was in a very insecure and vulnerable position exactly the position that catherine had been in ironically and she felt she must act she took lady rochford her sister-in-law into her confidence and conspired to have henry's latest mistress removed from court however their plan failed and only resulted in lady rochard being banished from court by early 1535 anne was becoming even more isolated at court her confidant was now gone and she had alienated many others through her outbursts of anger and even her husband preferred the company of his mistress it was during this time that his daughter mary started to come back into favour with henry also and must have felt alone and isolated as time went on however in the summer of 1535 a ray of hope appeared for anne when the couple were briefly reconciled and became more accepting of the idea of henry's mistresses if not completely silent about them and henry made a public display of loyalty to anne when in july 1535 he sent sir thomas more to the scaffold for refusing to swear the oath of supremacy and after all if henry wanted a legitimate son as things stood it was only anne who could provide one they began the court summer progress of 1535 with the united front they visited salisbury and porchester first also visiting wolf hall in wiltshire during this time the family home of one of anne's ladies jane seymour reaching windsor by november and when they arrived back in london in late 1535 and was pregnant again for the third time on hearing the news of catherine of aragon's death in july 1535 ann could not have been happier her rival was now gone and she was carrying another heir for henry there were rumors of course that ant had arranged for catherine to be poisoned especially when on the post-mortem catherine's heart was found to be blackened however this is unlikely as if she had wanted rid of catherine enough to kill her she would surely have done so earlier after her mother's death anne made one last attempt to befriend mary writing to her to say that if she were to put aside her obstinacy and obey the king that anne would be the best friend to her and she need not hold the train of anne's gown on her return to court mary again refused and this would be the last time that anne would attempt reconciliation with her stepdaughter then on the same day as catherine's funeral anne went into labor prematurely and after only a three and a half month gestation she miscarried a little boy and's grief and frustration must have been plain for all to see as she wept following this tragedy for her and for henry however the king's grief soon turned to anger at an and the king confronted anne in her rooms stating that quote he would have no more boys by her this was a direct threat to anne as she was devastated and even more so when she heard the rumors that the king felt that anne had been quote seduced by witchcraft to induce the miscarriage and that he ought to find a new wife and remonstrated with henry and blamed the loss of the child first on the news she was given by the duke of norfolk that the king had fallen from his horse claiming the consequences of his possible death had shocked her to such an extent that it resulted in miscarriage when henry dismissed her reasoning and then claimed that finding the king with jane seymour sitting on his knee made her lose her child as it had been such a shock to her to see for herself that the king had feelings for others king henry took little heed of anne's reasoning although he did leave jane seymour at home during the next court's progress but with an isolated court after falling out with her ally cromwell and with the king becoming further infatuated with jane seymour who cleverly portrayed herself as the mirror image of ann in all things and was at her wit's end the king's patience had also finally run out and on the 24th of april 1536 a commission led by thomas cromwell was set up to investigate anne and by may accusations of adultery were leveled at her and henry chose to believe them the private interrogation of the queen's household elicited fantastic claims of her degeneracy accusing her of incest and witchcraft as well as adultery mark smeaton a musician in anne's household was held in the tower and tortured until he confessed that he was having an affair with anne the king himself questioned henry norris over a possible affair with anne after she dropped a handkerchief to him as one of the jousters at a tournament that she and henry attended and then lastly amberlynn herself was arrested on the 2nd of may by her uncle the duke of norfolk and was questioned over her behaviour and installed in the tower of london evidence was sought from her ladies in waiting lady rochford and lady worcester and from a deathbed note belonging to lady wingfield whom anne had previously tried to silence concerning her premarital behavior with henry percy was suggested that anne was morally lacking cromwell was rumored to have used all means at his disposal including torture and bribes to bring a devastating case against anne as well as this and sister-in-law lady rodford was said to have admitted that her husband george berlin and anne would openly mock the king questioning whether he was impotent and whether elizabeth actually belonged to another father as she was arrested anne pleaded her innocence and asked for the king but she was denied she's said to have lost her famous composure and collapsed to her knees she asked if she would be kept in a dungeon but was informed that she would be kept in the royal apartments to await her trial she reportedly alternated between laughing and crying and spoke openly about what brought her to such a position and her mention of francis weston in her rantings meant that he too would be arrested and brought to the tower where her brother george had also been taken the fact that she spoke of western her brother george smeaton and norris was used as evidence that the crime she was accused of were true in addition to the men that dan spoke of william breiten a member of the king's privy council was also taken to the tower along with thomas wyatt and sir richard page all accused of being anne's lovers on hearing evan's arrest her bishop thomas cranmer sought to distance himself from a man which he did in a letter to the king whilst privately he may have had sympathy for anne no one was brave enough to show it and chance the wrath of the king yet despite this it was only ever smeaton who confessed to the charges brought against the men who allegedly consorted with anne however it is unlikely that anne would have had the time or the inclination to have slept with so many men including her own brother and the accusations were likely conjured up by cromwell and henry to secure henry's freedom to marry jane seymour anne went over everything in her mind and prepared her defense although she would have known in reality that the outcome of the trial would be a foregone conclusion on the 12th of may the accused men were taken to court at westminster hall smeaton confessed to the charges whilst the other men pled not guilty as accused all four were found guilty and were sentenced to be hung drawn quartered as well as beheaded as members of the nobility anne and her brother george were tried in the tower and having known of the outcome at westminster hall and would have fully understood the ramifications for her own trial which took place on the 15th of may no queen of england had ever been placed on trial before and so a large scaffold was erected in the tower to house all the people expected to attend the trial henry percy as well as thomas berlin and anne's uncle the duke of norfolk were all expected to attend as members of the nobility although henry percy had to leave george berlin's trial part way through due to his ill health and for her part had no counsel and called no witnesses but prepared her own defense for the charges brought against her which laid out specific dates and times that anne and the accused men had enjoyed carnal knowledge of each other she was also accused of conspiring to kill the king so that she would be free to marry one of her accused lovers anne stood and defended herself of all charges eloquently however she was found guilty by each of the nobles who in turn stood to deliver their verdict each having no choice but to go along with the king's wishes the final verdict was read out by her uncle the duke of norfolk but in a final twist he stated that the queen should be either burned or beheaded at the king's pleasure whereas the usual punishment for treason was to be burned at the stake at a church court in lambeth on the 17th of may thomas cranmer announced the marriage of anne and the king based on the evidence of a pre-contract that existed between anne and henry percy so that quote she was never lawful queen of england on the same day five of the men accused were put to death by beheading which was a sentence commuted by henry from the usual hanging drawing and quartering which was the fate of sweden alone as a commoner george berlin western brereton and norris did not confess to any of the crimes on the scaffold which anne would have been pleased to hear and smeaton's only comment was that he deserved death and continued to protest her innocence but prepared herself for her certain demise with composure she even joked with her captain kingston that she had but a small neck laughing in the irony that she would make the executioner's job all the more easy she spent her final evening laughing and joking that she may well be known to history as quote queen anne lackhead this was perhaps the last act of defiance opened to her on the 19th of may 1536 anne boleyn was taken to the scaffold in front of the gathered nobles and dignitaries she held her composure and walked with dignity to face the crowd and made the last speech of her life she spoke briefly and movingly of her love for the king her sins of pride and her desire that the people pray for her good christian people i am come hither to die for according to the law and by the law i am judged to die and therefore i will speak nothing against it i am come hither to accuse no man nor to speak anything of that whereof i am accused and condemned to die but i pray god save the king and send him long to reign over you for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never and to me he was ever a good a gentle a sovereign lord and if any person will meddle of my cause i require them to judge the best and thus i take my leave of the world and of you all and i heartily desire you all pray for me o lord have mercy on me to god i commend my soul the king had sent for an expert swordsman from calais to come to the tower to carry out the execution of the queen she knelt on the scaffold as there was no need for a block and with one swift blow of his sword her head was removed from her body and the first queen of england to ever be executed was dead and within 24 hours of his second wife's execution henry was already betrothed to anne's lady in waiting and the woman who had become his third wife lady jane seymour in the aftermath of anne's death in 1536 abbeys shrines and monasteries throughout england were purged of religious relics such as true fragments of the cross and vile supposedly containing the blood of christ this statewide systematic clampdown was not only undertaken for theological reasons but also largely because the seizure of church property brought in colossal amounts of revenue to the royal coffers following disturbances and a march against the dissolution of the monasteries henry unleashed a brutal repression and hundreds of rebel leaders were arrested and executed after which henry proclaimed that quote our pleasure is that dreadful execution be done on a good number of the inhabitants of every town village and hamlet that have offended in this rebellion indeed even his own family were not spared henry's wrath as when jane seymour begged him on her knees to restore the abbeys he exploded with quote get up and do not presume to meddle in my affairs remember anne anne is well remembered not only as the second wife of henry viii and the leading figure in the reformation but also as the mother of elizabeth one of the most important monarchs to grace the throne of england she died on the scaffold with the grace and dignity which had first drawn her to king henry's attention but more than this even anne was unique she was a determined driven woman with a strong personality who inspired love in a king that boarded on obsession a truly exceptional woman of her time who no doubt passed on her strong character to her daughter what do you think of amber lynn was she a saintly figure who inspired love and suffered because of it or was she an ambitious sinner who manipulated her way into the king's life for her own ends please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching it is february 1554 sir thomas wyatt and 3 000 rebels are marching towards the city of london with the intention of deposing the queen the reigning monarch acts quickly and speaks to her people i am your lawful crowned queen with this ring i wedded my realm it has never left my finger and will never leave my finger the crowds act to protect her and hold their defenses by barring the city gates to the rebels the rebellion fails and the supposed conspirators are duly executed without remorse by the queen her name queen mary tudor bloody mary [Music] before we begin a quick word from our sponsor skillshare the online learning community for people like you who are curious and love learning skillshare offers a choice of classes to develop your skills including classes on photography design history and even memory techniques to enhance your knowledge or increase your well-being using proven study techniques to provide inspiring learning that fits into your schedule and with no ads you learn uninterrupted when you want to for less than ten dollars per year if you're interested in vlogging we would recommend how to vlog the complete beginner's guide by jevin dovey this succinct and expertly delivered course will tell you everything you need to know to become the next youtube sensation and remember the first 1000 people to use the link in the video description will get a free trial of skillshare premium membership the woman known to history as mary tudor was born on the 18th of february 1516 at greenwich palace just outside london mary's father was henry viii the reigning king at the time of her birth and son of henry vii and elizabeth of york her mother was catherine of aragon first wife of henry viii and daughter of ferdinand ii of aragon and isabella the first of castile all of england welcomed mary's birth with joy relief and hope after a tragic series of miscarriages stillbirths and infant deaths spanning the seven years since her parents marriage and as mary was the first and only child of henry and catherine to survive to adulthood the very fact of her birth contained the promise of a son eventually for henry further fact that none of henry and catherine's son survived made mary's life in existence all the more precious and not just to her parents who loved and doted on their only child but for dynastic and political reasons as well especially as no woman had ever ruled england as queen pregnant before this time during the mid 12th century king henry the first had designated his daughter the empress matilda as his heir and the ensuing dynastic struggle and civil war had soured the english on any further experimentation with a female monarchy in early modern england women were generally believed incapable of exercising power responsibly rationally and intelligently and even those who believed that women might be fit to rule distrusted the concept of a female monarchy for the instability it invited that mary was a girl and the only royal child was naturally problematic in past cases when the only heir to the throne was female the solution was to arrange her marriage so that a male heir could be produced who could securely inherit the throne mary's eventual marriage was therefore of greater interest to those in power than anything else about her in the absence of any other male heirs to the throne it was believed that whoever became mary's husband would rule england making her one of the most coveted brides in all of europe during the first half of the 16th century at the time england held the balance of power in europe between spain and france whom together ruled most of western and central europe as well as italy the monarch who wed mary tudor might also absorb england into their expanding empires henry viii capitalized on the lure of this proposition by frequently using his daughter as a bargaining chip to solidify international treaties with his constantly shifting rivals and allies mary was first betrothed to the doufan of france at just two years old an engagement which like several others made in the ensuing years was abandoned when alliances shifted once again at age six mary was betrothed to her cousin the holy roman emperor charles v in order to cement henry's alliance with the emperor against the king of france and just four years later fortunes would shift once again when charles married isabella of portugal instead an act which utterly enraged henry however mary was much more than europe's most attractive marriage proposition and despite the objectification implied by her father's frequent offer of his daughter on the marriage market both henry and catherine adored mary and seemed determined that she would be honoured exalted and as rigorously educated and prepared for royal authority as any prince of wales mary did indeed have quite a pedigree to live up to her grandfather henry vii had ended the wars of the roses leaving to his son henry viii a state and a throne both wealthier and more stable than they had been in a century her maternal grandparents isabella of castile and ferdinand ii of aragon have been the foremost monarchs in europe leading the continent in both military and naval prowess and therefore also conquest exploration and wealth mary was raised with the notion of herself as heir to the legacies of some of europe's greatest kings and queens catherine herself supervised mary's early education providing foundational religious instruction teaching her daughter to speak french and spanish as fluently as english and instilling great pride in both mary's english and spanish heritage mary was also instructed in music and dance both of which like her parents she showed a talent for at four years old she honored a delegation from the king of france with a performance on the virginal the forerunner of the harpsichord catherine also provided mary with foundational instruction in latin one of the most important aspects of an elite education the language of the church of philosophy of law and of the classics early modern european men learned latin far more frequently than women yet understanding that mary might have to do a man's job catherine was determined that mary would be as educated confident and well prepared to rule as any man catherine's own experience of having a strong independent indeed legendary mother like isabella of castile a great military commander and queen in her own right almost certainly influenced catherine's approach to raising and educating her daughter it is perhaps partly because her mother did not doubt that mary could be queen that mary herself acquired the confidence and conviction of her eventual right to a seed to the throne mary's father king henry viii also adored his daughter lavishing frequent gifts and affection on her and referring to her as my pearl in the world mary resembled her father in many respects she had the same fair complexion pale blue eyes ruddy cheeks and red hair like him she loved music dancing and scholarly pursuits mary's happy childhood as a much-loved and favorite princess of england lasted as long as her parents marriage remained happy which it did for nearly 15 years when mary was nine years old her father still lacking a legitimate son made her the de facto princess of wales vaguely confirming that she was heir to the throne of england he sent her to ludlow castle in the welsh marches to rule wales in his name and to complete her education this practice was typical for a king in waiting but some historians emphasized the fact that while mary was treated in every other way as heir to the throne she was never officially invested with the title of princess of wales which no woman in history had ever held except the wife of the prince of wales this lack of formal investiture might suggest that henry did not really intend that mary should be queen and hoped that he might still have a son further henry did not officially designate mary as his heir until she was two years old however when she was sent to wales and given her own independent household for the first time this seemed to indicate that henry had finally accepted that mary was his only heir and that the next dynastic move should be to arrange her marriage as carefully and strategically as possible henry's failure to formally give mary the title of princess of wales may have been due to his unwillingness to flout the long-standing legal tradition that women could not inherit the throne in their own right henry was in many ways a conservative even as a young man yet henry also seemed to want people to view mary as a legitimate princess of wales even if he had withheld the title officially he had spent generously on outfitting mary's household at ludlow with everything needed to advertise her position as heir to the throne of england he financed her household to the tune of 1100 pounds per year there was a throne in mary's presence chamber where she received ambassadors dignitaries and petitioners on her father's behalf cloth of gold covered the altar at mary's chapel at bloodlow and a staff of literally dozens served at her court as well as this her royal badges were plastered on every possible surface of the castle historians have noted however that henry spent about the same amount of money annually on the household of his illegitimate son henry fitzroy whom he had also made duke of richmond and somerset some therefore still consider it an open question as to whether henry might have ultimately decided to leave his throne to his illegitimate son had the young man not died in 1536 and had prince edward not been born the following year naming an illegitimate son as his heir would after all have been just as unprecedented as designating a girl to be princess of wales however despite the inability of women to inherit the throne themselves medieval english history contains quite a few examples of kings who claimed royal descent through female ancestors inheritance through the matrilineal line was uncommon in most of medieval and early modern europe but england was unique in this respect henry ii edward iv and mary's own grandfather henry vii all claimed to have inherited a legitimate right to rule from female forebears henry vii had simultaneously buried his legitimacy from his wife elizabeth of york and his mother margaret beaufort most scholars therefore assumed that henry viii in the absence of a son intended that his daughter would be queen but that her power would be exercised primarily by her husband until a male heir of hers came of age as precedent dictated but less than a year after mary was sent to wales and berlin arrived at the english court and everything changed increasingly disenchanted with his wife henry felt deeply in love with anne and pursued her relentlessly in treating her to become his mistress which she refused protesting that she would only give up her virginity to her husband the attraction between them developed into an ardent and very public relationship which they carried on at court for the next seven years initially this would not have been alarming because henry had taken mistresses before henry fitzroy had been born when mary was just three years old while the king had acknowledged his son and endowed him with titles and property he had not attempted to legitimize him thus mary had remained henry's heir for the next eight years with it seemed no real threat to her position mary was 11 years old in 1527 when henry viii first began his campaign to divorce her mother henry sought an annulment of his marriage on the grounds that his union with catherine had broken biblical law because she had previously been married to his older brother arthur who had died in 1502 henry and catherine received papal dispensation to be wed when he became king because catherine had claimed that the brief marriage to prince arthur had never been consummated madly in love and impatient for a son henry seems to have convinced himself that his lack of a male heir must be god's punishment for the sin of marrying catherine those that the king enlisted to argue his case cited leviticus 20 21 if any man should take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing they will be childless in 1527 henry secretly made his first overtures to pope clement vii regarding his divorce unfortunately for henry the emperor charles v on campaign in italy sacked rome and made the pope a prisoner charles was queen catherine's nephew and henry's hopes of a quick divorce shriveled when he realized that the pope now could not grant his divorce without risking the emperor's vengeance the succeeding pope paul iii and the roman curia would eventually refuse henry's request anyway and affirm the legality of his marriage to catherine henry would spend the next several years pursuing the great matter of his divorce through various legal academic and theological avenues by means of which he would eventually break with rome declare himself supreme head of the church in england and through his new archbishop of canterbury the protestant reformer thomas cranmer henry would finally obtain his divorce the process of this fervent pursuit of a sun and heir radically altered the lives positions and happiness of both henry's wife and his daughter in 1528 henry recalled mary to court for what it seems was to be a significant duration this was unusual for the prince of wales who typically remained more or less permanently at ludlow once their vice regal household had been established mary's recall to london suggests that her father anticipated that he would soon acquire his divorce marry anne and produce a son in that case mary would have outstripped her usefulness as a placeholder for a male heir yet although henry must have considered that his divorce would bastardize his daughter he did not immediately withdraw her status as the de facto princess of wales a title with which she had never been formally invested to begin with perhaps this was simply for practicality's sake after all henry could not be certain that he would get his divorce or that anne would give birth to a son mary had been recalled from ludlow but was not disinherited even as henry pursued the divorce which would make his daughter illegitimate she remained princess mary her servants continued to wear her badges and henry continued to support her household financially both at ludlow and at court in terms of her position mary probably felt as if she was standing on shaky ground but it is likely that the public humiliation of her mother grieved mary far more than anything else for it represented a sharp painful and jarring break with her happy childhood the ensuing years were indeed painful and humiliating for both catherine and mary mother and daughter were subjected to tales of henry's open intimacy with anne and henry continued to browbeat catherine for denying that her marriage to arthur had been consummated she continued to insist that it had not been but henry it seems had convinced himself that she was lying for why else did he have no son it is also possible that henry believed catherine but pursued the annulment on these grounds for convenience's sake he continually demanded that she submit to a dissolution of their marriage either by cooperating with the annulment or by renouncing her marriage vows and entering a convent resolute catherine refused asserting that their marriage was valid and that she already occupied the place which god had agreed for her as henry's wife and queen of england in retaliation henry forbade her to see or communicate with mary until she submitted to henry's will catherine never did henry's apparent cruelty in these matters is usually remarked upon as a given but it deserves some more exploration few historians dispute that henry loved his family catherine and mary both at the same time henry was king of england it was his responsibility above absolutely everything else to pass on the throne to a legitimate heir in the most secure fashion possible if history is any indication the birth of only a single child and a daughter at that might signify that henry had failed to uphold his father's legacy the closest male heir to england's throne at the time was king james v of scotland and if henry and england were united in nothing else they certainly shared a horror of the idea of england becoming a vassal kingdom of scotland which also happened to be france's closest ally henry was thus in a difficult position however his love for anne and his desire to wed her surely encouraged him to believe that his marriage was indeed cursed in the end it seems henry embraced whatever he found most conveniently supported his goals cut off from her mother and uncertain of her fate at her father's hands fifteen-year-old mary's health began to suffer she began increasingly to experience irregular menstrual patterns and bouts of crippling depression it is unclear what caused these symptoms while adolescent girls frequently have unpredictable cycles some sort of reproductive health issue is possible it is also just as likely that the intense stress of the changes taking place in her family might have contributed to her symptoms it is worth noting however that these health conditions persisted intermittently throughout mary's life and that she almost certainly had major reproductive health problems in her final years having to watch her mother's humiliation and endure separation from her was difficult but equally stressful for mary as for any other english catholic was henry's increasingly visible movement towards certain protestant religious doctrines particularly the notion of a king's right to rule the church in his own realm the idea of the church hierarchy and monasteries as corrupt and the pope as a usurper and perverter of the authority of kings appointed by god having been bolt in the pursuit of his divorce by the roman church henry was deeply attracted to these ideas first expounded upon to the king by thomas cranmer whom henry had first met in autumn of 1529 the subsequent canvassing of university opinion across europe took more than a year and was riddled with rigged committees bribery and threats to academics across the continent to decide the matter of the divorce in king henry's favor most did not in january of 1531 henry received a communication from the pope ordering him to separate from anne until rome had made his final decision on his annulment which continued to encounter delay after delay the pope warned henry that he was not free to marry again and assured him that any children born of his relationship with anne would be considered illegitimate and unfit for proper marriage or succession prospects henry was utterly enraged by this a month later on the 11th of february 1531 henry addressed parliament making his intentions unmistakably clear for the first time he demanded to be recognized as supreme head of the church parliament acquiesced in principle and henry's new title was proclaimed but it would take more than a year to obtain the final submission from england's clergy by the time they gave in in may of 1532 catherine and mary had not seen or communicated with one another for more than a year and anne and henry had been living together quite publicly at court with anne firmly ensconced in what had once been queen catherine's chambers it cannot be doubted that all of this hurt mary deeply not only was she forced to witness the collapse of her parents marriage but brought up to be a devout catholic like her mother mary had also caused fear not only for her father's soul but for the souls of all the english people carried along by the current of what catholics considered dangerous heresy which threatened to plunge the country into chaos and damnation one of the characteristics most often ascribed to mary tudor is a remarkable piety and an overzealous devotion to catholicism however it is not until much later in life that her engagement with religion would increase to the point of becoming especially noteworthy or extreme it is likely that her long separation from her mother and the pervasiveness of protestant reform in england's halls of power made her cleave more closely to what came to be called the old religion for comfort whatever the state of her faith mary nonetheless became a rallying symbol for english catholics resistant to henry's reforms as the daughter of the catholic queen catherine who many still viewed as the true queen of england and also because henry had always presented her as his heir even unofficially many continued to view mary as henry's rightful successor rather than her younger sister elizabeth daughter of queen anne whose protestant and reformist sympathies were widely rumored yet through the years of henry's bitter remonstrance with catherine which permanently separated mary from her mother brought her position into question and threatened to turn the world upside down henry continued to show affection and favor to mary the first truly bitter clash between father and daughter would unfold over mary's refusal to accept henry's new marriage and it would not be the last on the 25th of january 1533 henry viii married anne boleyn in a secret early morning ceremony in his private chapel at whitehall palace she was already pregnant events then began to proceed at pace as henry and his newly created archbishop of canterbury thomas cranmer acted to consolidate henry's control over the church to affirm england's separation from rome and to finalize his divorce from catherine of aragon who was now banished from court and living at kim bolton castle in cambridgeshire her health already beginning to decline in may of 1533 archbishop cranmer declared the king's first marriage null and void and his marriage to anne as valid this supposedly made the now 17 year old mary illegitimate yet henry did not immediately proceed to declare her as such in fact she retained her title and her father's financial support for her household during the ensuing months on the 1st of june anne berlin was crowned queen of england and on the 7th of september mary's half-sister elizabeth was born at whitehall several weeks after elizabeth's birth henry instructed that mary's title of princess should be revoked and from then on she should be referred to as the lady mary her servants were told to remove her royal badges and to thenceforth where only the kings and her household was dissolved with mary being sent to serve as lady in waiting to her baby sister elizabeth the new and legitimate heir to the throne traditionally historians have emphasized mary's mistreatment while living at elizabeth's establishment at hadfield it was said that amberlynn instructed mary's senior guardians to hit her and swear at her if she in any way proclaimed herself princess or put on such pretensions reportedly letters had been written to henry requesting that the budget for mary's support be expanded because she was lacking enough meat in her diet it is difficult to know whether or how much the descriptions of mary's treatment tend to exaggeration but it likely would have been counterproductive to henry's political goals for him to treat his daughter with overt cruelty especially because mary and her mother remained popular with the english people however it is clear that mary was constantly reminded that elizabeth was now air and she was not henry and anne made every effort to spend lavishly on elizabeth's wardrobe and household appointments and forbade mary's guardians to allow her to wear royal robes or to dress more ostentatiously than her sister however one recent study on the tudor princesses theorizes that perhaps henry had not initially planned that mary's situation should be so some textual evidence suggests that while henry may have stripped her of her title he may have also offered to allow mary to continue to keep her own independent household as it was provided that she acknowledged the illegitimacy of her parents marriage and the validity of henry's new one which mary like her mother flatly refused to do the considerable length of time nearly two months in fact between elizabeth's birth and the dissolution of mary's household suggests that it may have been mary's refusal to acknowledge amberlynn as queen and herself as a bastard which had made henry behave vindictively by dissolving her household and forcing her to serve her sister however on the other hand it was unusual for unmarried princesses to head their own households at all normally all royal children except the prince of wales lived in a shared household the tudor princesses mary and elizabeth are unique in this aspect of english history and tradition so for most people henry's act of merging his daughter's households was not necessarily as dishonorable for mary as was being disinherited nonetheless while henry continued to support mary financially and did allow her to retain most of her former servants at hatfield for the next three years there would be little more than chilly silence between father and daughter bereft of both her parents mary's depression worsened her health became more delicate and she became more devout taking greater comfort from daily prayer the following three years were full of both religious and dynastic upheaval in march of 1534 the act of succession was introduced in parliament followed later in the year by the institution of the oath of succession the act of supremacy and the treason act taken together these measures delegitimized henry's marriage to catherine legitimized his marriage to anne set the seal on henry's power as head of the english church and decreed the denial of any of this was a treasonable offence and punishable by death in january of 1535 henry's administration began to accelerate reforms by abolishing england's monasteries and appropriating their goods resources and funds for the crown additionally legislation now dictated that funds which used to be paid to the roman church were now paid directly into henry's treasury eventually making him even richer than his father these reforms were greeted with grave acceptance by most and few dared to refuse taking the oath among them were bishop john fisher henry's old friend mentor and earthworld chancellor sir thomas moore henry's first wife catherine and their daughter mary fisher and more were executed for treason within a few weeks of each other during the summer of 1535 mary began to grow increasingly fearful that her father might proceed against her as well but she still refused to submit meanwhile despite the legal protections being enacted to defend her marriage and her daughter from accusations of illegitimacy and berlin's star was nonetheless fading she had not given henry the son he wanted following elizabeth's birth and two miscarriages had occurred in the interim by november of 1535 henry's attention had already wandered to anne's lady in waiting jane seymour soon after and announced she was pregnant again and was once more restored to favor on the 7th of january 1536 catherine of aragon died it is believed with cancer some who hated ambulin for usurping catherine's place whispered of poison but catherine's health had in fact been steadily worsening for several years and due to her continued intransigence to henry's will he forbade mary to attend her mother's funeral for mary her mother's death was devastating making her feel more alone in the world than ever with her mother gone and queen anne pregnant and back in the king's graces once again mary considered that she might be vulnerable and considered fleeing the country going as far as to right to her cousin emperor charles v however only a few months later when anne was accused of adultery and treason imprisoned in the tower and executed the now 20 year old mary's fortunes had seemingly changed for the better that mary found the courage to write her father in june of 1536 to seek a reconciliation suggest that she at least partly blamed anne's influence for her father's reforms and for his withdrawal favor from her mary asked to be allowed to return to court to serve henry's new queen jane seymour and to be near him as well so that their relationship might end however mary was to receive a rude awakening when a reply came via henry's chief minister thomas cromwell that henry had once again demanded that mary submit to him regarding the act of succession which now rendered elizabeth illegitimate as well but also regarding the act of supremacy which amounted to a denial of mary's catholic faith mary wrote desperately to cromwell swearing that she had quote done the utmost that her conscience would suffice and could do no more without risking her soul cromwell replied that if such were the case then henry would most likely find her guilty of treason for which the punishment was death having witnessed the way her father had cast off two wives deserting one and executing the other and allowing thomas moore one of his oldest friends to be executed mary was convinced that she had no other choice and so terrified that her own father might execute her for refusing again mary signed the oath without even reading it swearing that she would never forgive herself despite her fears that she might suffer for her catholicism or for her insistence on being legitimate mary did have allies who supported her for these very qualities this was made especially apparent during the uprising known as the pilgrimage of grace which began in october 1536 the rebels not only demanded the restoration of the monasteries which have been abolished and stripped and a return of catholic rituals and holy days but also mary's restoration to the right of succession mary's circumstances and family relationships improved markedly after she was received back at court henry was happy to welcome her back once she had signed the oath and father and daughter achieved a delicate but increasingly warm reconciliation henry gave mary splendid chambers of court as well as princely accommodations at the country estates of hunsden buley and hatfield the last of which had been taken from elizabeth along with her title and legitimacy when her mother was executed a warm relationship developed between mary and her new stepmother jane seymour who is often credited with helping to restore henry's two daughters to favor the relationship between mary and elizabeth changed too previously mary had not been able to develop much sisterly affection for the half-sister who had replaced her and a 17-year age gap between them did little to encourage their closeness but elizabeth's delegitimization effectively made the two sisters equals both the natural daughters of the king equally excluded from the line of succession this likely made it easier for mary to develop a closer and less complicated relationship with elizabeth who after all was still barely five years old and now motherless like mary herself she had resented the sister who had taken her place but mary was not cruel and rarely vindictive she willingly added her voice to her stepmothers in persuading henry to welcome elizabeth back to court too for the first time a close and peaceful family life seemed possible indeed all england rejoiced when on the 12th of october 1537 queen jane gave birth to prince edward being supplanted by a male heir was likely much easier to accept for mary since it was the accepted convention but mary also loved her baby brother and proudly stood as godmother to him sadly jane seymour died a peripheral fever then known as childbed fever within two weeks of giving birth to her son and mary served as chief mourner at her stepmother's funeral during the last 10 years of her father's reign mary held an eminent place at his court and their relationship remained on a positive footing henry mourned jane's death deeply and despite pressure from his council would not marry again for two years by 1539 negotiations were underway for henry's marriage to anne of cleves mary was now 23 years old her life was considerably happier more peaceful and more stable than it had been in years and her status had altered considerably one thing which had not changed however was the extraordinarily complex pitfalls surrounding her prospects for marriage as henry's only child her marriage had been virtually assured it was just a question of which husband would be the best choice for the benefit of england now her prospects of ever being married were more complicated than ever as the king's daughter she could not be married to an englishman below her station and if a foreign prince were to be the solution the problem arose of how to make the safest choice in a europe of constantly shifting religious tides and even if she did marry and produce a male heir ambitious people might attempt to place her on the throne ahead of her brother prince edward mary would continue to be courted and to receive offers of marriage but her peculiar position left her in limbo for most of her life as far as a marriage and a family of her own was concerned it is unclear how much this grieved her but otherwise mary seemed happier than she had been for many years presiding over her father's court as hostess and spending more time with her younger sister elizabeth when she visited her at hatfield when henry's marriage to anne of cleves was arranged a simultaneous offer was made for mary's hand by anne's cousin duke philipp of bavaria in december of 1539 duke phillip arrived quietly in england in advance of his cousin anne mary and philip met in the gardens at westminster abbey where they got to know each other first in german through an interpreter and then in latin more privately philip expressed his eagerness to marry her the fact that mary's prospects had diminished significantly in recent years did not seem to bother philip she was illegitimate neither she nor her children were expected to ever ascend the throne and her dowry was now less than impressive to a duke however it is believed by some historians that all this was proof that philip a protestant no less and 13 years older than her genuinely cared for mary and admired her for her personal qualities above all else whatever her feelings were at the time mary told phillip in proper fashion that she was not opposed to his suit for her hand but that she would obey her father's wishes and only consider marrying the duke if henry gave his official consent encouraged by the first meeting philip stole a brief kiss from mary and gifted her with an exquisite diamond cross with a pearl pendant philip continued to press his suit in the ensuing weeks but henry's disappointment with his new bride and of cleves made him immediately begin to seek avenues to have the marriage annulled henry therefore abandoned plans to wed his daughter to the duke and quickly put pay to their courtship spending the next several months trying to divorce anne henry's marriage to another protestant likely did not meet with mary's full approval yet even though henry's marriage to anne only lasted 6 months mary developed a closeness with her new stepmother which outlasted the divorce anne of cleves had made special effort to develop warm relationships with henry's three children which she maintained for years after her divorce in july of 1540 before the ink was even dry on his annulment henry had wed catherine howard the 17 year old former lady in waiting to anne of cleves and his fifth wife mary now dealing with her fourth stepmother in seven years found it excessively difficult to get along with her catherine howard was nine years younger than mary herself and their personalities were almost opposed catherine was high-spirited vivacious more poorly educated and to mary's mind rather juvenile and silly mary on the other hand was now 26 far more reserved and dignified than catherine and one of the most educated women in europe she was also frequently haughty despite her disinheritance so it could not have pleased mary that she remained illegitimate and unmarried while her father married a girl who from mary's perspective seemed little more than an empty-headed teenager queen catherine soon began to complain to king henry the lady mary did not show her enough respect mary's presence at court proved to be less frequent during her father's fifth marriage mary's resentment for catherine may have also stemmed from misplaced resentment against henry who had cast off anne of cleves who mary admired cared for and undoubtedly would have preferred as her stepmother than catherine howard despite the religious differences between mary and anne additionally mary may have resented henry for sending thomas cromwell to what proved to be a cruelly hideous execution for his role in arranging henry's disappointing marriage to anne and for his supposedly extremist protestant sympathies cromwell was even said to have been plotting to arrange a marriage with lady mary for himself so that their children might eventually ascend the throne but it is highly unlikely this charge has any foundation some historians however have not ruled out the notion that privately there might have been a warm and friendly relationship between mary and cromwell at first glance they seem to be natural enemies the lofty dignified devoutly catholic daughter of the king and the common protestant bureaucrat who had helped engineer her parents divorce their surviving letters to one another however defied this picture full of kind and even affectionate sentiments there is little to no hint of romance in these textual sources and historians caution students against reading too far into these letters after all it was the accepted convention to express oneself sentimentally in letters even when writing to one's bitterest enemy in his frequent letters to the king of france henry usually referred to his lifelong art rival francis the first as his dearest friend and brother however mary was rumored to have gifted cromwell the diamond cross given to her by duke philip of bavaria sometime between the end of their courtship and cromwell's execution all of this might very well be speculative but if true it weakens the argument that mary was always a hardline religious zealot heaping judgment and condemnation on those who did not share her faith her warm relationship with annecleaves also weakens this image of mary she had a great deal more reason to resent her father the following year not only was there bad blood between queen catherine and mary but henry reacted to a potential coup with the execution of nearly an entire family of cousins to the tudors the poles margaret pohl the countess of salisbury was the daughter of the long dead george clintagenet duke of clarence and younger brother of king edward iv margaret's family were amongst the few descendants of the old house of york who remained after the wars of the roses each of her four sons represented a potential rival claimant to the throne moreover the poles were fervently catholic and traditionally supporters of mary's succession rights when the protestant reforms had advanced to the point of henry's excommunication from the church a faction began to form around cardinal reginald pold who was then living in italy to raise him to the throne henry made every effort to capture cardinal pole sending his agents to chase him all over europe but he did not succeed instead henry executed the cardinals mother the 67 year old margaret pohl two of her sons and imprisoned her grandson who died most likely of starvation within a year mary was deeply grieved by lady salisbury's execution which had been botched so significantly that it degenerated into a horror show requiring multiple strokes of the axe to complete the execution margaret had been mary's governess for many years at whitehall at ludlow even accompanying mary to hatfield when she had been sent there to serve her sister elizabeth the two women had remained close although mary had outgrown the need for a governess many years before any anger or resentment she may have harbored towards her father the king however could not be expressed and throughout her life mary must have found this both painful and extremely challenging yet her place at court remained secure and favored and mary whatever resemblance she may have felt continued to serve graciously as her father's hostess on all occasions during the years when henry was unmarried henry ordered the execution of his fifth wife catherine howard for adultery and treason in february of 1542 and less than a year later he married his sixth wife catherine parr like jane seymour and anne of cleves catherine parr made efforts to be a loving stepmother to all three of henry's children and encouraged a close family environment while it might have been difficult for mary to regard catherine park as a maternal figure since catherine was only three years older than herself the two had known one another for several years and got along well both women were highly educated sharing a love of scholarly pursuits and intelligent company catherine is often credited with influencing henry to restore his daughters to the line of succession which mary was deeply grateful by 1546 however mary started to become wary of catherine a highly learned woman catherine had written and was about to publish her third book this book lamentations of a sinner struck religious conservatives as protestant extremism henry even issued a warrant for queen catherine's arrest but the two reconciled and a warrant was never served mary was at heart catholic and like her father a conservative she had observed that catherine had hitherto kept hidden beliefs which both she and henry considered radical and both her brother and sister were being heavily influenced by them under katherine's care prince edward's uncles edward and thomas seymour also attempted to influence the boy's views henry's declining health over the next two years made mary realise that soon the man that held this strange family together would be gone and that the differences between herself and her siblings might be harder to reconcile in future she began to withdraw from court life and from her family more and more barry's friendship with her stepmother fizzled out completely when catherine secretly married thomas seymour just a few months after henry's death henry viii died on the 28th of january 1547 and three days later his nine-year-old son was proclaimed king edward vi under a protectorate and regency council until the boy came of age henry was generous to his children in his will he left fast estates and movable property to both of his daughters and explicitly recognized them as heirs to the succession if edward died without an heir mary would succeed him first and lacking any issue herself the throne would then pass to elizabeth henry left his daughter mary extensive estates in east anglia including land in the counties of norfolk suffolk and essex mary now headed her own independent household an extremely rare state for an unmarried woman even a princess legitimate or not she was wealthier than she had ever been and it was both her wealth and her ongoing popularity with the english people which would help her to maintain her position and rise still further after her father died henry's children drifted apart from one another after his death mary rarely came to court preferring to live quietly on her estate in east anglia rather than witness the advance of what she viewed as increasingly radical protestant reforms which were emerging from edward's government his regency council was dominated by protestants who sought greater reforms than the more religiously conservative henry viii had allowed henry had been a catholic in virtually all aspects except the matter of papal supremacy understanding that the english people were divided over matters of religion henry had sought a cautious middleway his son edward on the other hand was heavily influenced by queen catherine parr his uncle edward seymour and his tutors protestants all and was thus himself a committed and confirmed protestant reformer from an early age in 1549 edwards government passed the act of uniformity which abolished the latin mass and introduced the english book of common prayer written by thomas cranmer which prescribed a new protestant church service in english catholic processions pilgrimages and other ceremonies were prohibited the act also called for the removal of all catholic style display and in churches and abbeys across england stained glass windows were smashed and crucifixes and religious images were torn down and burned this attack on traditional faith combined with economic turmoil sparked widespread rebellion in devon and cornwall within several months edward had crushed the rebellion but remained uneasy the most significant obstacle to his reforms in his mind was not his rebellious subjects who still clung to their religious traditions it was the catholic figurehead they looked to his sister mary according to henry viii's will and the laws of england mary was edward's heir until he could marry and produce a son the fervently protestant edward was horrified at the idea of his reforms sliding back into nothing should his catholic sister see to the throne it was therefore a source of anger and indignation to him that mary flouted the act of uniformity by continuing to hear the latin mass and not privately either but frequently inviting other catholic adherents to join her it was when she was in her early thirties and during her brother edward's reign that mary's religious devotion began to be remarked upon as extraordinary she reportedly began attending mass as many as four times daily and spending hours of prayer edward resolved to put a stop to his sister's open practice of catholicism which continually undermined his authority he invited his two sisters to court for christmas in 1550 for a rare family reunion an exceptionally embarrassing episode occurred during the celebrations when the 13 year old edward publicly chastised and denounced his 34 year old sister in front of the whole court for her disobedience to edward's religious policies the accusations of recriminations brought both brother and sister to tears but mary refused to bend a few weeks later when mary was summoned to appear at court once again she arrived with a large retinue every last one of her attendants visibly carrying rosary beads when edward once again called upon her to submit she invoked the protection of her cousin emperor charles v the spanish ambassador then stepped forward and threatened edward with war should lady mary not be permitted to practice her religion freely enraged and humiliated edward was forced to back down he grudgingly agreed to allow mary to continue to hear the latin mass but only in private mary had scored a great victory not just for herself but for catholics across england who were encouraged and emboldened by her resistance the struggle with her brother no doubt called up terrible memories of similar conflicts with her father and mary began to be afraid that she might have gone too far fearful that edward might now seize upon any excuse to imprison her mary seriously considered fleeing into exile in the spring of 1551 she wrote secretly to emperor charles v seeking his help in escaping england charles organized an escape from mary via the essex coast and on the 5th of july charles's emersary met with mary herself she was panicked hurriedly and haphazardly packing things herself and alternately pausing in agony of indecision over whether she should flee or remain she continually repeated what shall i do what will become of me mary's closest advisors and counseled her against leaving england edward had anticipated that mary might attempt an escape and the ports of east anglia were being closely watched furthermore her advisers claimed that horoscope had been secretly cast for the king and it had predicted that he would die within a year if mary left england and edward died she would be unable to assert her claim to the throne whereas if she remained her brother might decide to proceed against her for treason in the end mary summoned the courage and resolve to remain she could only hope that she would not live to regret it contrary to the traditional historical characterizations of him edward vi was not the weak and sickly boy he has often been portrayed to be he was actually a strong healthy and athletic boy much like his father had been as a young man no one therefore had any serious expectation that the boy would not grow up however during the autumn of 1552 he suffered in quick succession an attack of measles and then one of smallpox these illnesses were catastrophic to his immune system and edward subsequently became perilously weak and sick fearing that he might die and leave the english throne to his catholic sister edward personally wrote a new plan for england's succession with the flourish of his pen he nullified the last wish of his father and formally excluded both of his sisters from the succession he observed that his sisters were both illegitimate and as such neither were fit to inherit the crown edward was no proponent of female monarchy but the only legitimate protestant candidate with the claim to the throne was a girl the 15 year old lady jane grey the granddaughter of henry viii's younger sister mary to make his intent clear edward specified that if he died without issue the throne would pass to lady jane grey and her heirs male but because jane had no children yet edward was forced to make her queen in her own right but only until a male heir was born to her by early 1553 edward's condition had worsened he had began to cough up blood and historians generally accept that as a result of his massively compromised immune system he was now suffering from tuberculosis he continued to weaken through the spring and summer knowing that his time was short edward made plans to summon his sisters to court and commissioned john dudley the duke of northumberland to capture and imprison them both when they arrived the goal was to ensure that lady jane grey would be proclaimed queen without opposition mary received edward summons on the 2nd of july 1553 she was aware that he had been ill but believed he was recovering in the months since she had abandoned her plan to escape mary had begun to relax her brother had not moved against her as she had feared therefore when she received his summons she was not worried and departed hunson house for london with several retainers the following day mary and her retinue got as far as hertfordshire when they were intercepted on the road by a supporter of mary's from court he had ridden hard to warn her of the trap her brother had set for her and informed her that edward was dying and was planning to place the protestant lady jane grey on the throne mary immediately turned around and rushed back to east anglia she retreated to the fortress at framillingham castle and began to mobilize her supporters and she had many on the 6th of july 1553 15 year old edward vi died at greenwich palace lady jane grey was proclaimed queen of england on the 10th of july and was brought to the tower as was the tradition for the king or queen before their coronation however she was never crowned as while jane waited in the tower the national tide shifted overwhelmingly in mary's favor the privy council seeing that edward's plan for the succession was proving to be widely unpopular transferred their support to mary and proclaimed her queen on the 19th of july virtually all catholics and numerous protestants as well preferred to see mary take the throne rather than lady jane an unknown cousin to the tudors mary was henry viii's eldest child and daughter of catherine of aragon and both mother and daughter were still widely beloved figures throughout england in little more than a few weeks mary had mobilized the force of more than 15 000 supporters and departed for london to claim the throne she met her sister elizabeth just outside of london who'd ridden out with 1 000 of her own livery retainers to support mary this support did not necessarily imply genuine sisterly affection mary and elizabeth had never had the closest relationship and they had grown apart in the preceding years but if mary should have no children then elizabeth was her heir her support for mary was both a show of solidarity and stability for the ruling house of tudor but also an attempt to protect her own interests as heir to the throne the stony silence that had greeted the announcement that lady jen gray would be queen was explanation enough for the ecstatic welcome mary received as she entered london instead of resistance and obstruction mary was showered with adulation she rode at the head of her supporters followed by elizabeth and they processed through the streets hung with tapestries and lined with people cheering towards the tower mary's accession to the throne was greeted with a sense of both continuity and relief to many who had feared the excess of her brother's reforms protestants on the other hand fearing the religious upheaval to come began to leave england for exile most historians identify mary's major objectives as queen as restoration of the catholic faith in england marriage and the production of an heir these were certainly cherished goals of hers but they were certainly not the only ones that these objectives were foremost in her mind should not suggest that mary's ambitions ended with their achievement in her mind and according to conventional wisdom they were foremost because nothing else could be achieved in any lasting way without them without an heir she would have no stability and therefore could not ensure that any reforms she might enact would outlast her further it is worth noting that england was still a mostly catholic country and mary believed as did many catholics the restoration would help to unite england and save the souls of all those who were forced against their will to dwell in religious disobedience mary moved first to secure london from those who had tried to elevate lady jane grey to the throne john dudley the duke of northumberland was the only leader of the grey faction to be executed lady jane was also found guilty of treason but mary understood well enough that the 16 year old girl had been little more than a pawn in edward's plan for the succession and had not been given the choice to refuse the throne mary spared her life but could not release her without risking further protestant rebellion additionally mary had to tread lightly on the religious question because the privy council as it stood was religiously mixed and all had initially supported the elevation of lady jane grey over mary the new queen needed allies mary liberated noted catholics from the tower to work closely with her in her new government including thomas howard duke of norfolk and bishop stephen gardner who marry made bishop of winchester and lord chancellor and it was bishop gardner who placed the crown upon mary's head at her coronation in westminster abbey on the 1st of october 1553. mary came to the throne when it was in a bleak state her father's spendthrift habits in the last decade of his reign had seen the fabulous wealth built during the reigns of henry and his father drain away precipitously a process of currency debasement had followed the weight of gold and silver and coinage began to decrease as the english treasury grew increasingly desperate to hold on to their gold and silver bullion edward vi had also been forced to continue debasement of the coinage to maintain his own government and by his death the english coins were largely copper sandwiches and as well as this massive inflation was compounded by recent harvest failures and trade interruptions and so the people were struggling with no short-term solution in evidence mary decided on a two-pronged strategy to resolve the problem a budgetary retrenchment in key departments and a reorganization and streamlining of the tax system it would take years and mary would not live to see the better days for the english economy but she laid the groundwork for later effective fiscal reform mary was indeed her mother's daughter and comprehended a nation's might in much the same way as her spanish royal forebears did as such she was keen to promote the development of navigation and cartography exploration particularly in pursuit of the northwest passage and international trade mary charted the muscovy company the first joint stock company in english history under the governorship of the famed explorer sebastian cabot giving them a trading monopoly in russia and the baltic region she patronized cartographers and navigators to produce maps and atlases and sponsored naval adventures to sail south to establish trade relationships with the west coast of africa these examples likely only scratch the surface of what mary foresaw for england however most historians continue to emphasize the religious and marital dramas of her reign which were the most sensational and highly publicized as the first real queen regnan mary was in unfamiliar territory and the best course seemed to be to go with conventional wisdom a female ruler needed a husband and an heir and mary confronted a serious dilemma in her choice of husband most englishmen occupied the station too low to wet the queen and the few eligible english catholic nobles proved unsuitable mary's cousin charles v offered her marriage to his only son prince philip of spain a portrait of prince philip painted by teishan was sent to mary in late 1553 and mary was said to have instantly fallen in love with the young man in the portrait this anecdote if true reveals a part of mary's personality but here the two she had been forced to keep hidden like her father mary was a romantic years of failed betrothals and years of living with her problematic status had made her marriage a political hot potato and nearly impossible to arrange without jeopardizing the security of either her father's or brother's reigns now finally mary was queen and could pursue marriage on her own terms and so at the age of 36 she insisted on marrying the handsome 25 year old prince philip who was 11 years younger than herself at the time mary's choice of husband was widely unpopular most english people were deeply suspicious of foreigners and feared that spain would swallow england politically protestants feared that the might of catholic spain would result in greater repression of their faith and mary's determination to wed the spanish prince despite protestations from her parliament sparked rebellion in january of 1554 originating in kent led by sir thomas wyatt 3 000 rebels marched towards london with the intention of deposing mary and either placing lady jane back on the throne or failing that mary's younger sister elizabeth mary had fewer loyal supporters in the capital than elsewhere in england and was forced to act quickly to persuade london to hold its defenses against the rebels on her behalf mary stood up before restive crowds of london's guild hall on the 1st of february and the speech she gave found echoes in far more famous speeches given years later by her sister elizabeth i am your lawful crowned queen with this ring i wedded my realm it has never left my finger and will never leave my finger i am childless so i have never known the love that a mother feels for her child but i love you my people as a mother loves her child and i swear to you that i never intended nor ever shall marry without the consent of my counsel my parliament and you my people mary's speech was received for the claim and as the rebels approached londoners acted decisively to bar the city gates to the rebels leaving them with no other option but to surrender this time mary's response was far more severe wyatt sir henry gray his daughter lady jane and her husband gilford dudley were all executed for treason elizabeth who insisted that she had not been involved in the plot was arrested and imprisoned in the tower for several months but she was eventually released to a more appropriate situation of house arrest at the palace of woodstock this episode made mary no less determined to marry phillip but more cognizant of the compromises she would have to make to allay her subjects fears surrounding her choice of husband the solution was the marriage act in april 1554 parliament decreed that prince philip would bear the title king of england and have the right to summon parliament jointly with his wife england however could not be obliged to provide troops for spanish wars and philip could not enact anything or appoint anyone to any position without the queen's approval effectively the marriage act limited phillips powers during mary's lifetime and removed them completely upon her death mary met philip for the first time at hampton court palace on the 23rd of july 1554 she was strongly attracted to him telling him that she looked forward eagerly to their marriage one of philip's aides confided to a correspondent that philip did not find the now 37 year old mary attractive at all but obeyed his father's command to marry the queen of england for dynastic reasons of good sense and for the influence spain might now be able to exercise in england despite the official limitations placed on the marriage by parliament the two were married at winchester cathedral two days later on the 25th of july 1554 the wedding emphasized mary's commitment to simplicity and tradition rather than the fabulous display typical of royal weddings mary's was rather simple her love of fine fashion was evident with the bride in a gown of purple and gold tissue but she wore a plain gold wedding band and swore the old-fashioned marriage oath to her husband to be bonnie and buxom at bed and at board and to be good and obedient in her wifely duties this time saw the blossoming of mary's happiness and her hope for the future little more than a month later mary began to show symptoms of pregnancy she ceased menstruating experienced morning sickness and began to gain weight on the 24th of november mary received cardinal reginald poll at court the official payable envoy who would help begin the process of restoring england to the roman church cardinal poll greeted the queen by quoting the arva maria in the christian scriptures the angel gabriel salutes the virgin mary with this prayer when delivering the news that she is pregnant with the christ child mary later reported that as she listened to cardinal paul speak the baby stirred in her womb in early modern europe even if a woman showed symptoms of pregnancy she was not considered officially pregnant until she felt a quickening that is until she felt the baby move inside her england rejoiced and parliament promptly passed an act designating philip as regent for mary's heir should she die in childbirth in april of 1555 mary withdrew from court for her confinement about six weeks before her anticipated due date as was the tradition mary's sister elizabeth still under house arrest at woodstock more than a year after wyatt's rebellion was summoned to court to attend her sister along with numerous ladies and midwives and to witness the birth of the child who'd replace her as mary's heir the birthing chamber was an extremely rarified atmosphere a world of women not to be seen by public eyes still mary could not resist flaunting her joy and on saint george's day soon after she entered her confinement mary quite deliberately appeared at the window to watch her husband lead the festivities standing in a side profile so the crowd could see her big belly england and indeed all of europe waited with baited breath for the child who would inherit one of the greatest royal legacies in european history both the throne of england and the spanish habsburg empire on the first of june mary complained of pain and cramping and the midwives and court physicians predicted the birth for no later than the sixth but mary's due date came and went and no baby was born the summer stretched on and mary's attendance became more uneasy it was forcefully reported that mary had been delivered of a son on the 30th of april in response to which many bonfires were lit and celebrations planned the public mood changed however when the reports proved false as the summer passed and still no child was born more and more people began to doubt the queen's pregnancy and the jokes began that mary was pregnant with a monkey or a lap dog or that perhaps this supposed pregnancy would all end in wind more serious than this there were rumors that a new mother in london had been approached by conspirators in the service of the queen and asked to give up her newborn son as a substitute by late july mary's belly had begun to recede and she had to admit the truth there would be no baby it had been a phantom pregnancy a rare condition in which the fervent desire to conceive a child is so great it causes a woman to physically manifest all the symptoms of pregnancy on the 1st of august mary quietly exited her confinement and returned to court with no public announcement philip was deeply disappointed that no child had been born and to mary's grief he departed england soon after to manage his affairs on the continent mary was heartbroken abandoned by her husband and humiliated in the eyes of her people mary grew despondent lapsing into depression the possibility cannot be denied that her despair and precarious mental state might have influenced her subsequent decisions and policies mary was heard to blame her misfortunes on the judgment of god for her toleration and mercy towards heretics thus far it is perhaps no accident that the religious persecutions under mary's government accelerated following the summer of 1555. interestingly a few weeks after she ascended the throne mary had proclaimed that she would force no one to convert to catholicism like lady jane several influential protestant clergymen were imprisoned but not harmed likely for security's sake and at her first parliament in early october 1553 mary's goal was twofold to legitimize her rule and to begin the restoration of catholicism the first true queen ragnant she claimed that female monarchs designated by god had all of the power and authority of men she revoked thomas kramler's declaration of 1533 and declared her parents marriage to be valid mary began to roll back edward's 1549 act of uniformity also the latin mass and catholic ceremonies were once again permitted monasticism was revived clerical celibacy was re-established and married clerics were removed from their offices and ordered to leave their wives the six articles of faith promulgated under henry viii were also reinstated this satisfied most english people but more conservative catholics including mary still wanted to abolish the royal supremacy and return to the fold of the roman catholic church mary had not changed her views on the papal supremacy but she had practical reasons too but wanting to reconnect with rome without the pope's authority she could not support her claim that her parents marriage had been lawful and that she was therefore a legitimate claimant to the throne the reproduction with rome was a delicate negotiation which would take many months to complete and because she needed their support the settlement allowed mary's wealthiest and most powerful subjects who benefited from henry viii's dissolution of the monasteries to keep the land and the abbeys that had been taken from the church philip insisted on going further and mary agreed that in addition the old heresy laws should be re-established and accordingly in february 1555 as mary eagley anticipated her first child the first executions of protestants by burning at the stake for which mary would become known above all else were carried out from the perspective of mary's legacy and certainly for those protestants affected by it reinstituting the heresy laws was the first in a series of fatal mistakes when the heresy laws were reintroduced the slow trickle of protestant exodus which had begun when mary assumed the throne swelled to a flood and by 1558 over 800 protestants had fled england and over 300 had been executed mostly by the hideous method of burning at the stake which was the punishment for refusing to recant one's heresy the first executions took place in february of 1555 and were largely made up of protestant leaders and clergy but following mary's false pregnancy and humiliation later that year they accelerated executions for heresy had occurred with some general regularity during her father's reign but both the scale and brutality of the marian executions shocked english protestants an important factor was also the coverage of these executions they were exceptionally well documented in john fox's acts and monuments more popularly known as fox's book of martyrs besides the bible this book became the most commonly read book in the english language setting the seal on mary's historical reputation as a zealot and a butcher the illustrations were particularly hideous and remain some of the most haunting images in western literature probably the most famous marion martyr documented by fox was the former archbishop of canterbury thomas cranmer cranmer had been imprisoned almost as soon as mary ascended the throne he had seen fellow protestant clergy dear friends and colleagues burnt at the stake he had undergone a humiliating heresy trial and finally despondent and terrified that he too would be sentenced to burn cranmer renounced his protestatism typically it was the practice to spare the lives of repentant heretics if they recanted their previous beliefs in public but in a rare move mary interfered she decreed that not only would cranmer be forced to repeat his recantation in public but would also be sentenced to burn nonetheless it is difficult not to see this action of mary's as personally motivated revenge cranmer was an old man imprisoned for nearly three years before his execution and no significant threat to mary especially since according to his own theology monarchs were appointed by god and all of their subjects bound to serve them but he was also a man responsible for her parents divorce and a major architect the course her life had taken as a result mary also wanted the prestige that a public recantation from the former archbishop of canterbury would bring to the cause of the catholic restoration when cranmer was paraded out for his second and public recantation on the 21st of march 1556 he abandoned his prepared script realizing that he had nothing left to lose he disavowed his recantation reaffirmed his protestantism and denounced the pope as the antichrist grandma was roughly pulled down from his platform and taken to the scaffold cranmer died a magnificent martyr's death as the flames were ignited before him cranmer who had been so terrified of what was to come willingly thrust his right hand into the flames to burn first for the sin of signing his recantation of protestantism this scene was immortalized in fox's book of martyrs and remains one of the most recognizable images in english history cranmer's martyrdom not only dealt catholic restoration a solemn blow and served as glorifying propaganda to strengthen the protestant movement which at the time was still quite small in england but it also set the seal on mary's eternal reputation as a murderous zealot and tyrant power and influence began to flow away from mary her false pregnancy and her husband's abandonment of her tarnished her image this was heavily compounded by ongoing harvest failures caused by several years of excessive rain and flooding in march of 1557 philip now king of spain returned to england to convince mary that england should provide troops to support the spanish in their war against the french mary and her parliament relented in light of a plot backed by the french to depose mary the english celebrated their victory against the french at the battle of saint quentin in august of 1557 but disastrously in january 1558 the french reclaimed calais the last english stronghold on the continent this loss was the final blow to mary's images queen in addition the fact that the pope was allied with the king of france against philip strained england's relationship with catholic rome impeding mary's goals of a catholic restoration in england an incomplete restoration which would fail to outlast the queen's short reign some months after philip had returned to spain in july 1557 mary believed that she was pregnant once again and announced that she would give birth in march of 1558 this time few believed her claim other than mary herself she even altered her will leaving the throne to her unborn child doubtless vastly relieved that she would not have to pass the crown to her protestant sister elizabeth as the months wore on mary's abdomen initially swelled but then her appetite disappeared as she grew thinner and weaker most suspected that she was terribly ill rather than pregnant and likely to die by the spring and summer of 1558 allegiances were already beginning to shift to her sister elizabeth by the autumn mary faced facts and began to put her affairs in order mary instructed that her estate should settle the remaining debts of her father and brother she endowed monastic and educational institutions with bequests and scholarships and instructed that daily masses should be set for her soul and for those of her parents mary requested that her mother catherine of aragon be exhumed from her grave at peterborough cathedral so that mother and daughter might be buried together at westminster abbey this last request was never carried out and indeed few directives in mary's will were followed for long mary was pressured by her more hardline catholic advisors none of whom wanted to see a protestant queen ascend the throne to execute elizabeth for treason a death warrant was drawn up and it was said that mary very nearly signed it her hand hesitated over the document and in the end she refused to execute her sister historians believe that mary most likely died of ovarian cancer which she had probably been living with for years some of the symptoms of which may help to account for her phantom pregnancy she died on the 17th of november 1558 and was buried in westminster abbey in a modest tomb which would become much more elaborate when elizabeth 45 years later was buried next to her inscribed above their resting place in a latin inscription consults in realm and tomb we sisters elizabeth and mary here lie down to sleep in hope of the resurrection the overwhelming impression of the life of queen mary the first is one of tragedy and unfulfilled promise it is an old and well used cliche that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and mary no doubt believed that her efforts for the catholic restoration would both appease god and unite the english people once again restoring them to the fold of catholic europe she had too little time to realize any of her ambitions and during her reign she did more damage to her own legacy with the heresy campaigns than any protestant propaganda would have been able to do had she stuck to her initial offer of religious tolerance the marian persecution still horrifies students of history today and even historical revisionists seeking to rehabilitate mary's image are hard pressed to justify her actions especially in light of how the shadow of genocide hangs over the history of the 20th century the humiliation of the queen's marriage and her unsuccessful pursuit of an heir undermined and weakened her she had not been free to marry until it was too late the years mary had spent in the grasp of her father and later her brother were perhaps at the root of her personal tragedy that of a woman standing at an eternal precipice waiting for her life to start feeling lonely bereft and terrified of the future a small simple rectangular black stone in westminster abbey marks mary's grave and is dwarfed by an enormous monument to her sister and successor elizabeth like her monument dwarfs mary in english history to the point that people often forget that elizabeth first emerged as england's queen by standing on the shoulders of her sister who was the first english queen in her own right the debated reigns of empress matilda and lady jane gray aside mary laid a foundation of legitimacy for female authority which elizabeth built upon elizabeth's accession to the throne was one of the smoothest in over a century partly because mary had gone before her elizabeth had learned important lessons from watching her sister and was determined not to make the same mistakes particularly regarding religious policy but observing her sister undoubtably influenced her own decision not to marry and to remain the mother of her people as mary had once so winningly described herself after mary catholicism would never be england's dominant religion again but elizabeth would continue to develop some of the non-religious reforms which were first introduced during mary's reign immortalizing herself as gloriana the queen who ushered in a golden age over the last four decades more and more historians have began to challenge the traditional image of mary tudor this first true queen of england as excessively conservative overly zealous religiously or inept at stake craft but are also forced to confront the many mistakes and crimes of her short turbulent reign mary the first enduring legacy is largely as bloody mary during whose short reign hundreds of protestants were burned in the queen's campaign to restore catholicism to england following the tumultuous religious reforms of her father henry viii and her brother edward vi this legacy alone however does not fully do merry justice and obscures a woman who was in reality highly intelligent a formidable politician and as determined as any monarch to increase the prosperity peace and might of her country what do you think of queen mary the first have historians condemned her too harshly or not harshly enough please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching it is the 8th of february 1587 at fathering gay castle in northamptonshire england a noble queen stripped of her ancestral birthright faces certain death as she lays her head upon a chopping block with the executioner at hand just before the fatal blow is struck defiantly she utters immanus tus domine commendo spiritum mayhem into thy hands o lord i commend my spirit her name mary queen of scots [Music] the woman known to history as mary stewart queen of scots or mary the first of scotland was born on the 8th of december 1542 in the lithgow palace west lothian in the former kingdom of scotland mary's mother was mary of geese or in her native french marie de lorraine who was born on the 20th of november 1515 in france and was the daughter of claude of lorraine the duke of geese she served as regent of scotland from 1554 until her death in 1560 for the then 12 year old mary mary's father james stewart of rothsay or james v of scotland was a scottish king of the house of stuart and was descended from a long line of the high stewards of scotland the traditional royal officers of the scottish monarchy who themselves had merged with the house of bruce sometime in the late 14th century raised in scotland for only a brief period of her life mary became queen of scots at only six days old on the 14th of december 1542 following the death of her father at which time her mother became a de facto regent supported by cardinal beaton the then archbishop of saint andrews who also assumed the role of chancellor of scotland during her infancy with james hamilton the second earl of aaron acting as the true regent being the governor and protector of scotland from her birth until 1554 at the beginning of his regency the earl of aram betrothed mary to marry edward vi of england henry viii's only son in a peace agreement known as the treaty of greenwich in 1543 which was an attempt to create a symbolic union joining the opposing countries following a number of unsuccessful attempts made in the middle ages mary was crowned queen of scots on the 9th september 1543 at the chapel royal in stirling castle at only nine months of age on the 30th year anniversary of the battle of flodden the scottish parliament who were unhappy with this arrangement took the opportunity to repudiate the greenwich agreement this was seen as an act of war against their english counterparts ushering in a period of war known as the rough wooing a military campaign designed to impose the marriage of mary to edward this had significant implications largely for scotland with large-scale conflicts taking place primarily between the borders of the two kingdoms king henry ii of france proposed the marriage of his three-year-old son the dolphin francis of valois and gulen to five-year-old mary with the aim of uniting france and scotland the earl of aaron agreed to the arrangement with the reward of a french dukedom for himself as well as the promise of french military aid the arrangement was ratified at the scottish parliament held near haddington on the 7th of july 1548. with war on the horizon and her marriage plan set mary's mother smuggled her to france at just five years old she set sail from dumbarton on the 7th of august 1548 and arrived in brittany a week later and she spent the next 13 years growing up living with her grandmother antoinette de beauvoir duchess of ghees the matriarch of the most powerful noble family in france where she was brought up in the catholic tradition and learned to speak french as her primary language also changing her name from mary stuart to marie stewart which was much more suitable for the french court mary was a beautiful young girl with a long graceful neck bright auburn hair and hazel eyes with heavy eyelids and arched brows pale smooth skin and a high forehead and was considered very attractive as a young woman as well as being beautiful mary was also very intelligent she was taught french italian latin greek and spanish and was an accomplished young woman learning the loot as well as horsemanship falconry poetry prose and needle work notably tall for the time at five feet 11 inches as well as eloquent she stood in contrast to dolphin francis who was unusually short and stuttered but the two got on very well from the moment they met and young mary became a well-loved figure for the french people becoming very popular indeed except with her future mother-in-law catherine de medici on the 4th of april 1558 mary signed over her rise to scotland and her claim to england to the french crown should she die without heirs and 20 days later she sealed her commitment to francis of valois angulem at the famous notre dame cathedral in paris at just 15 becoming queen consort of france upon his accession to the french throne in 1559 while francis would become king consult of scotland upon their marriage taking advantage of mary's naivety a number of individuals from the french aristocracy conspired to join france and scotland into a single kingdom albeit making scotland a subservient addition to the french throne although their hopes failed to materialise as she moved home to scotland upon the death of her husband in 1560 ending any hope of a union between the two kingdoms and resuming her place as the queen of scots at the age of 18 years old while also informally terminating their pact of mutual assistance mary was said to have become a charismatic and starry-eyed young lady he was also known to be rather reckless but despite this she still remained one of the most revered queens in europe at the time and to this day remains one of the most popular and loved monarchs in scottish history her real life story of treachery and murder plots inextricably linked with her grace and her love for her son as well as for her people throughout mary's childhood and even before her time europe had been engulfed in the italian wars in which mary's french family played a prominent role the wars only came to an end in 1559 after ravaging europe for approximately 65 years and were essentially a fight for the european balance of power between the french and the king of spain charles v the holy roman emperor who spent the majority of his life defending the holy roman empire from protestant reformation the french fought for domination over the habsburg family and over the continent of europe which if successful would have had wide scale repercussions as those who controlled italy under the pope would wield considerable influence over both western and southern europe mary's reign covered a chaotic period in european history her kingdom had gone through a series of wars impacting on every aspect of the continent with many prominent figures dying as a result coming to grips with the aftermath of the italian wars and the protestant reformation would create a very turbulent situation one that has had repercussions in great britain ever since king henry viii transformed his beloved england into a protestant nation despite the rapid changes in the religious landscape on the continent western and southern europe remained largely catholic if france had won the italian wars its supremacy would have posed a significant threat to the protestant countries in the converted regions of northern europe this was a situation that england was desperate to avoid especially because scotland's support for france and the conflict would have spelt disaster for the tudors however it was a war that the french ultimately lost despite their best efforts resulting in a win for the spanish empire earlier in the conflict mary's grandfather king james iv of scotland had invaded england in 1513 to honor his country's relationship with france the invasion brought an end to the so-called treaty of perpetual peace signed just 11 years earlier by james iv and henry viii however the invasion proved a disaster for the scots they suffered a major defeat at the battle of flodden field on the 9th of september king james iv himself was amongst the scottish dead leaving the throne to his one-year-old son young james v who did not assume kingly duties until he turned 16 in 1528 he would also go on to be defeated by an english force failing to avenge his father at the battle of solway moss in 1542 james v died shortly after the battle at the age of 30 said to have been crushed by the defeat he was succeeded by his baby daughter mary at the age of just six days it was an appropriate start to a life that would come to be dominated by drama turbulence triumph and disaster with the new queen still a baby in arms scotland was overseen by a regent it was during this time in 1543 that the catholic revival began in the country as a counter-movement to the protestant reformation notable figures in the revival included george gordon the fourth earl of huntley and a grandson of james iv matthew stewart the fourth earl of lennox and patrick hepburn the third earl of bothwell who was the father of the man who became mary's third husband james hepburn the scottish parliament's decision to annul the treaty of greenwich in 1543 led to the period known as the rough wooing which saw the english ravage much of the southern scottish lowlands from 1543 until 1551. the english forces were under the command of edward seymour the earl of hartford by may of 1543 they had attacked edinburgh and burned down most of the city including hollyrood palace and abbey this period saw a flurry of battles between the two kingdoms with one of the most notable the battle of ancremor in february 1545 resulting in a victory for scotland over the army of the mighty henry viii following this scottish triumph cardinal beaton had the well-known protestant reformer george wishart burned at the stake for heresy in 1546 although this led to beaton's own assassination in may of the same year at the hands of conspirators led by norman leslie a scottish nobleman and soldier the killers hanged the mutilated corpse of the cardinal from a window at saint andrews castle for all to see the death of beaton a fierce fighter for the catholic cause was perceived to be in the interest of henry viii struggle to promote protestantism throughout britain however the english king did not have long to take advantage of beaton's death just eight months later on the 28th of january 1547 henry viii also died obese covered in painful sores and possibly suffering from scurvy he left the throne to his nine-year-old son edward vi as the boy was too young to rule lord hartford now the first duke of somerset governed in his place irrespective of the king's death the rough ruin continued somerset engaged scotland at the battle of pinky clue on the 10th of december 1547 it was the last great battle of the anglo-scottish conflict and is also considered the first battle of the early modern era to be fought in the british isles in the battle a renaissance english army commanded by hartford confronted a medieval scottish army led by the earl of aaron it ended in a resounding english victory it had been estimated that up to 10 000 scots lost their lives while many more were taken prisoner in the aftermath of the battle mary was ushered to inch my home priory near sterling to be kept safe the english forces soon returned in 1548 attacking dunbar castle in musselburgh near edinburgh before focusing their attention on dull keith and haddington in present-day east lothian in the meantime the five-year-old mary was transferred to dunbarton castle as french troops returned to retake haddington with their scottish counterparts meanwhile in france king henry ii began his pursuit of mary as a marriage prospect for his young son francis this resulted in the treaty of haddington signed on the 7th of july 1548 which led to the young mary leaving scotland for her new home on the continent mary boarded a french ship upon the clyde estuary at dumbarton castle on the 7th of august 1548 escorted by john erskine the fifth lord erskine and alexander livingstone the fifth lord livingstone she arrived on the french coast at roskoff following six days at sea seven months later in march 1550 mary of geese visited her daughter in her native france seeking support to help her replace the earl of aaron as regent however her plans were thwarted as england and france signed the treaty of bologn leading to peace between the two countries this was followed shortly afterwards by a similar pact between scotland and england in june 1551 the treaties brought the rough wooing to an end with victory for the franco scottish forces and not long after it was signed tragedy again struck in england as the teenage edward vi fell ill and died on the 6th of july 1553 he was succeeded by his half-sister mary the daughter of henry viii and catherine of aragon a year later north of the border the earl of aaron stepped down as regent after being bribed with the dukedom of chateau laurel and a handsome pension mary of geese took his place ruling scotland in the place of her young daughter however in 1557 the protestant cause took a great step forward in scotland as in that year a number of prominent scottish nobles signed the covenant a formal proclamation detailing their intentions to uphold protestant teachings in the country these men included alexander cunningham the fifth earl of glencairn archibald campbell the fifth earl of argyll james douglas the fourth earl of morton and john erskine of dunn all of whom had supported both mary and her mother during previous conflicts and had helped her escape to france but now they were taking a stand in opposition to mary's marriage links with the dauphine of france which was in the process of being negotiated by mary's half-sibling lord james stewart in 1558 mary was formally betrothed to francis at the great hall of the louvre palace in paris in an agreement known to history as the treaty of edinburgh they were married on the 24th of april 1558 when mary was 15 and france is 14. the marriage contract stated in a hidden clause that should mary die without a child both scotland and her claim to the english throne would pass to the french crown which was a dire prospect for england and scotland alike however within seven months of the wedding the question of mary's claim to the english throne would again become a live issue with the death of mary the first of england mary the first had briefly restored catholicism to england earning herself the nickname bloody mary in the process for her zealous persecution of protestantism however her marriage to philip ii of spain had produced no children therefore as a granddaughter of henry vii the first tudor king mary queen of scots was regarded by some as the rightful heir to the english throne the catholic church backed mary's claim because in its eyes the other claimant henry the eighth daughter elizabeth was the illegitimate child of an illegal marriage this was because henry viii had controversially divorced his first wife catherine of aragon to marry elizabeth's mother and berlin breaking away from the catholic church in the process the catholic argument in favor of mary was one that the church of england of course rejected in favor of elizabeth they did so with the support of the majority of the english aristocracy who under the guidance of the third succession act of 1543 designated the protestant elizabeth as the successor to her half-sister and because elizabeth the first or the virgin queen as she came to be known had produced no heir any children born to lord darnley who was second in the line of succession or mary who was first would have a very strong claim to the throne shortly after mary the first death the explosive italian wars came to a final halt with england france and spain each committing to the treaty of catoa cambrasis in april 1559 the peace was cemented through the marriage of mary queen of scots sister-in-law the princess elizabeth de valois to philip ii of spain who was the son of charles v as well as the widower of mary the first of england the treaty brought a period of much welcome stability to europe but indefinite peace was never an option and the fight for italy would resume in the following century in september 1559 king henry ii of france died taking part in a jousting tournament allowing francis and mary to step up to become king and queen consort immediately after their coronation french troops were sent to scotland to aid mary of geese in her conflict with the duke of chateau laurel who had been supporting the protestant nobles in their struggle against catholicism elizabeth the first however soon threw her weight behind the scottish protestant nobility stand against catholic influence in the region signing the treaty of beric in february 1560 and starting the siege of leith in march in response to these attacks mary of geese fled to edinburgh at the beginning of april the year 1559 had also seen the return to scotland of john knox who had been in geneva studying the genevan bible also known as the calvinist doctrine under john calvin back in his native land knox spearheaded the reformation crises of 1560 and was successful in persuading the scottish parliament to formally sever ties with rome and under knox's influence scotland became a protestant nation following the calvinist tradition shortly after her move to edinburgh mary of geese died on the 11th of june 1560 forcing the franco-scottish alliance to agree to the treaty of edinburgh by the terms of the treaty queen elizabeth the first was formally recognized as a legitimate queen of england and the french withdrew their troops from scotland and relinquished their claim to the lucrative crown at this moment of chewed triumph it would have been hard to predict that in a mere 43 years their dynasty would be over and the stewards would rule both north and south of the border however long before that another dark period in mary's life was about to shatter her entire existence in november 1560 mary's husband the king of france became seriously ill with some reports suggesting he had been poisoned and by the 5th of december he was dead mary's mother-in-law catherine of medici secured the regency on behalf of her son charles ix no longer queen of france mary still aged only 18 was forced to return to her ancestral home almost 700 miles away leaving behind a country very much intertwined in her identity she was escorted by her brother the lord james stewart who agreed terms with the french she made her way to scotland via calais and into leith harbour near to edinburgh mary returned to a largely unstable scotland the country had already gone through the theological restructuring of the reformation crises and so resisting increasing pressure from france and the catholic church to reject protestant influence in her courts mary allowed individuals from opposing fates into her government this ensured the survival of protestantism in scotland but it came at a personal cost to mary she became the focus of much criticism especially from religious leaders from the conflicting factions some saw mary's decision as being motivated by her desire to take the english throne giving birth to a conspiracy that would come to play a major role in mary's life as well as her death in fact mary never disguised her desire to sit on the english throne she even made a direct appeal to elizabeth herself asking the english queen to select her as heir presumptive under the condition that she take an english nobleman as her husband however any chance of being nominated as the successor to the throne soon faltered as the man she was supposed to marry turned down the request rejected she returned to her role as queen north of the border her reign was to prove brief and turbulent generating controversies that are still debated to this day from august to november 1562 mary embarked on a tour of scotland stretching from lindithgow to sterling and including inverness and aberdeen meanwhile during this journey her brother lord james now the earl of moray met the leaders of the huntley rebellion the gordons and accepted hostages from them following which the son of the earl of huntly sir john gordon was summarily executed for his part in the opposition to the queen of scots and mary would soon embark on further travels to assert her authority in scotland visiting even more of the country in a series of tours between july 1563 and february 1565. following her return to scotland the young widow married for a second time her new husband was henry stewart better known as lord darnley whom she had met in february 1565 darley was the grandson of margaret tudor and her second husband archibald douglas the sixth earl of angus this meant that mary and darnley were cousins they were also both cousins of elizabeth the first it was also margaret tudor's granddaughter darnley however did not bring any honour to his illustrious family being vain arrogant and a notorious drinker with a violent temper proving to be a liability to his new wife and the country she ruled prior to mary's marriage to darnley a number of prominent scottish lords declared their displeasure with the relationship but mary perhaps blinded by love was undeterred and despite the opposition of lords moray morton glenn ken and chatelairu she married darnley on the 29th of july 1565 and her new husband now the duke of albany assumed the role of king consort of scotland by august 1565 mary's own half-brother the earl of moray had turned against her in protest had her marriage to darnley as well as alleged plans to restore roman catholicism in scotland mouri's rebellion set in motion to chase about raid which saw his forces and mary's pursuing each other around the kingdom without ever fighting a significant battle but ultimately moire failed to draw up significant support and retreated into england in the face of mary's superior army further drama followed shortly afterwards in march 1566 as david rizio mary's italian private secretary was shockingly murdered rizio was a close friend of mary's allegedly her lover and this appears to have stirred the jealousy of her violent husband lord darnley as on the 9th of march 1566 while mary died with rizio a group of men led by patrick ruthven the earl of ruthven accompanied by the earl of morton burst into the room mary was held at gunpoint while the italian suffered 57 dagger wounds and died soon afterwards mary and darley set off for dunbar castle with the help of the earl of bothwell and arthur erskine an officer of the scottish monarchy upon arriving at the castle she offered to pardon those responsible for the chase about raid allowing both maury and glenn ken back into her trusted circle of councillors but she stops short of offering terms of peace to those involved in rizio's killing with morton and ruthven both escaping to england rizio was killed because of how close he was to mary the queen was six months pregnant at the time of the murder and some speculated that rizzio was the real father of the child she was carrying was it possible that the shock of murder had also been intended to induce a miscarriage well if that was the plan it didn't work as on the 19th of june 1566 at edinburgh castle mary gave birth to her son james she always maintained that darnley was the boy's father further strengthening the infant's claim to the english throne which he would one day inherit after the birth mary remained in edinburgh castle nursing her infant child she left in november to travel to craig miller castle where some of her advisors proposed the idea of a plot to assassinate darnley but mary rejected the notion however it would not be long before she was facing accusations of involvement in her husband's untimely death on the 17th of december 1566 james was baptized at sterling chapel in a catholic ceremony with both the king of france and the duke of savoy as well as elizabeth the first all named as his godparents darnley missed the ceremony however a month later mary traveled to see him in glasgow having already pardoned the rizio plotters and convinced him to return to her court he arrived in edinburgh in february taking up residence at kirkoff field currently the site of edinburgh university before she agreed to allow him to return to hollywood shortly after on the 9th of february 1567 mary attended the wedding of a french servant of her court at hollyrood she left to return to darnley after promising she would rejoin the wedding guest later in the evening and so at 10 p.m she left her husband's side to return to the wedding on a cold edinburgh night but around 2am there was an explosion at darnley's residence and he was later found dead outside his home in an orchard mary the apparently grieving widow would soon be accused of his murder alongside her husband-to-be the earl of bothwell in remembrance of her late husband mary visited seton castle near longnidry on the firth of fourth and whilst there darnley's father matthew stewart the earl of lennox accused bothwell of murder which led him to being put on trial in edinburgh perhaps out of fear lennox himself did not attend and in the absence of witnesses bothwell was found innocent the acquitted lord sought the support of other scottish nobles for his proposed marriage to the queen producing the 29 pledges that made up the ainsley tavern bond the protestant reformer john knox a fierce opponent of mary accused her of her husband's murder by strangulation the claim of strangulation was never confirmed nor ever recorded as a cause of death and the accusations against mary would follow her for the rest of her life it is unlikely that the true circumstances will ever be known but in the aftermath of the murder mary was imprisoned at the palace of hollyrood house until she was rescued by her future husband the earl of bothwell together they soon mustered up an army with the help of those scottish nobles who supported her cause mary visited her infant son at sterling in late april but sadly this would be the last time she ever set eyes on james soon afterwards she was met by bothwell who allegedly abducted her and took her to dumbar castle he then took her possibly against her will to edinburgh where on the 6th of may he divorced his wife lady gene gordon on the 15th of may bothwell and mary were married but the honeymoon period was to be brief they left edinburgh for borthwick castle but hearing word of an army moving against them by opposing scottish lords they moved on during the night to seek safety at dunbar with the support of lords huntley and thomas crawford of jordan hill mary and her husband confronted the protestant lords at the battle of cardbury hill near musselbra in present-day east lothian on the 15th of june little fighting took place before mary surrendered and she was taken as a prisoner to lord provost's house in edinburgh before being taken to lochleven castle in perth and kinross just north of edinburgh there she was denounced as a murderer and an adulteress and spent close to a year imprisoned at the castle on the 24th of july 1567 mary was forced to abdicate adding the throne to her young son james the new james vi aged only one was taken from his mother to be raised by protestant nobles to ensure he grew up following the new faith and his uncle the earl of moray was appointed as regent charged with ruling over scotland until the boy king came of age however this did not stop mary from trying to regain power dressing herself as a serving mate she attempted to escape from imprisonment in loch levan castle the failure of her first attempt did not deter the ever determined mary and during the mayday festivities in 1568 she again disguised herself as a maid and this time escaped successfully with the intention of fighting to reclaim her throne following her dramatic escape mary allied with the catholic scottish nobles and quickly raised an army of 6 000 men but on the 13th of may 1568 she was defeated at the battle of langside a village just south of glasgow after the battle mary fled to dunder in an abbey near the solway firth and from that she rejected the advice of her nobles and crossed the water into england throwing herself in the mercy of her cousin queen elizabeth escaping to england however would bring only temporary respite for the troubled former queen within a week of entering cumbria mary was imprisoned in the wardens tower in carlisle castle under the supervision of sir francis nollies initially imprisonment in england was not all bad as a noblewoman mary was accommodated in some luxury and attended upon by up to 50 servants a secretary and a personal doctor however in mid-july mary was moved to bolton castle where she was accused of having plotted the murder of her former husband lord darnley the evidence against her was the mysterious casket letters allegedly sent by mary to her new husband bothwell which seemingly proved her involvement in the assassination mary maintained that the letters were forgeries but because of the accusations queen elizabeth refused to meet with mary until the issue was resolved and she was found innocent by january 1569 the conference of westminster inquiry concluded that the casket letters were insufficient evidence to prove mary's involvement with the murder but despite that judgment mary's circumstances became worse unable to prove that the scottish lords campaigned against her unjustly she remained in custody and in early february she was moved again this time to tupbury castle and staffordshire where she was put in the care of the earl of shrewsbury in tuppery she was not accommodated in the luxury to which she had become accustomed as the castle was run down and in the damp and squalid conditions mary developed arthritis in june 1569 mary wrote to pope pius v asking for permission to divorce bothwell her intention was to marry the catholic duke of norfolk thomas howard however the plans were discovered by queen elizabeth who in july obstructed mary's attempts to divorce and remarry a second blow came in the same month as the earl of moray oversaw the rejection of mary's bid to be restored to the scottish throne mary had continued to argue that she was the legal queen but in a vote on the issue at the perth convention her claims were opposed by an overwhelming majority who firmly rejected the idea of mary ever becoming queen of scotland again also in 1569 england witnessed yet another rebellion this time by elizabeth's opponents charles neville the sixth earl of westmoreland and thomas percy the seventh earl of northumberland the two led the rising of the north in an attempt to oust the new queen from her position and the conflict lasted through to january 1570 even receiving support from pius v who excommunicated elizabeth but his response was too late and the rebellion was crushed many of the leaders of the rising fled to scotland while the earl of westmoreland moved to the court of king philip ii of spain charles v successor on the iberian peninsula the earl of northumberland was ultimately executed in 1572 for his part in the uprising but mary always claimed that she had never approved of the action against her cousin on the 23rd of january 1570 the earl of moray was shot dead in lin lithgow by one james hamilton of bothwell hall and wood housley the assassination had the dubious distinction of being the first ever committed by a firearm in recorded history so estranged was married from her brother at this time that she even rewarded the murderer and hamilton escaped into self-imposed exile in france to serve under the geese family however his uncle dr john hamilton the archbishop of saint andrews was subsequently hanged for his part in the conspiracy by may 1570 mary was the subject of another escape plan this one was devised by sir thomas gerard a local catholic squire working with other supporters of mary but his ill-conceived plan unsupported by mary herself soon failed mary was then involved in a murder plot once again this time the plot was led by one robert rodolfi a florentine nobleman rodolfi also planned to arrange the marriage of the duke of norfolk to mary and realising that she was unlikely to be allowed her freedom or her power back mary agreed but the plan was uncovered before it could take place and rodolfi fled to spain whilst mary was imprisoned indefinitely at sheffield castle she was to spend nearly 14 years locked up there almost a third of her lifetime and in 1572 her co-conspirators including the duke of norfolk were executed for their roles in the plot following the rodolfi plot scotland's former monarch was confined in yet another cold and damp castle this time she was treated with greater contempt than she had ever faced before her freedoms were further restricted and the poor conditions in which she was kept caused her joint pain to become worse however although mary was restricted mainly to the castle and the nearby sheffield manor house she did on occasion visit other towns in the vicinity although only ever under the watchful eye of her guards while in sheffield mary was able to read books and write composing over 2 000 letters during this time she was also tasked with embroidery work working beside the countess of shrewsbury otherwise known as beth of hardwick but much of her time was spent with her animals as she was allowed to keep birds and dogs even keeping an avery with a barbary foul partridges and doves no doubt she invested a lot of attention in the animals she loved knowing that any day she could find herself in an even worse situation or even facing execution despite being a prisoner of the earl of shrewsbury mary was the most senior member of the royal family after queen elizabeth this meant that if her cousin died mary would have had a strong claim to be recognized as the new queen many plotters seeking her favor saw to plan her escape and her embroidery partner bess of hardwick also became involved in scheming concerning the succession promoting the claims of her granddaughter lady arabella stewart as a prospective queen hardwick's scheming was much to mary's displeasure and would ultimately prove to be of no avail meanwhile hardwick's husband was rumored to be having an affair with mary mary's husband bothwell ended up spending his final days in a danish prison at draxholm castle near copenhagen where he died in april 1578 the year before his death mary had been involved in another marriage proposal but because her marriage to bothwell was still valid she was unable to secure her freedom her intended husband had been king philip of spain's illegitimate sibling don john of austria mary made it clear at the time that she wished her son james to marry into the spanish monarchy and convert to catholicism but as history would show her wish never came true perhaps not recognizing the grave mistakes of her past or the impact that her supporters schemes had had on elizabeth mary attempted to resolve the problems with her enemies and persuade the aristocracy to allow her to reign jointly with her son in what was to be known as the association but the plan was redirected by one of her representatives patrick gray who persuaded james to side with elizabeth instead gray believed that an alliance between james and elizabeth would prove more profitable for himself swelling his own fortunes in 1581 in the face of elizabeth's opposition to mary's scheme the english government passed the active persuasions bill this made it against the law to deny that elizabeth was the rifle queen of england and also hindered reconciliation with the catholic faith using further restrictions to try and force obedience and conversion to anglicanism but despite increasing her legal power the queen soon faced another threat to her life with the throckmorton plot in 1583 a scheme which had been given the blessing of the spanish ambassador to england bernardino de mendoza the representative of king philip ii the plot leader nicholas thrall-morton was executed for his part in the planned assassination and his cousin francis throckmorton was also arrested and he claimed that mary was one of the plotters the aftermath of the scheme led to the bond of association a statutory instrument that sanctioned the execution of anyone who attempted to usurp the throne or kill elizabeth the implication of this new legislation was that mary would lose her life for any plot carried out in her name by september 1584 mary finally left sheffield due to the earl of shrewsbury's declining health she herself was barely able to walk due to her own deteriorating condition aging before her time and she was soon to witness her hope of freedom slip away from her when in march 1585 james rejected the implementation of the bond of association with mary and she was subsequently condemned to prison for the rest of her life however as it transpired that was not to be such a long time after all in june 1586 mary received correspondence introducing her to anthony babington who forthrightly declared his intention to kill the queen of england mary mistakenly replied agreeing with the scheme but babington was arrested on the 14th of august and executed four days later mary herself was soon to be martyred in the name of the catholic cause as elizabeth the cousin whom she had never met began preparations for her execution in september mary arrived at fathering gay castle where she would live out the rest of her life she refused to admit to any crimes and on the 8th of october the government's commissioners met at westminster and agreed that under the act of association mary should be tried with plotting the assassination of the queen her trial was scheduled to take place in the great hall over two days but elizabeth decides to pro-row proceedings attempting to extract a confession but when one was not forthcoming the queen issued the sentence of death and signed the warrant informed of the execution on the day before her death mary spent the evening of the 7th of february in prayer and distributing her belongings she even wrote to the king of france expressing her wish for james to live under his care on the morning of the 8th of february 1587 charged with high treason mary lay her head on the chopping block she was decapitated shortly after 9 am in a brutal execution that required more than one blow to the neck she was aged only 44 at the time mary was initially buried at peterborough cathedral but later in 1612 she was moved at the request of her son to westminster abbey ironically her final resting place was next to that of queen elizabeth the cousin she never met in life and who had ordered her death her son who was by this time king james the first and his successors would rule over england and scotland during one of the most important periods in european history following mary's premature death elizabeth would die in 1603 with james the first succeeding her the union of the crowns did not however bring peace to the island as the 17th century was to subsequently witness the english civil war the beheading of james's own son charles the first the formation of the english republic under oliver cromwell and the restoration of the monarchy under charles ii charles's brother and heir james ii was then deposed in the so-called glorious revolution by prince william of orange stadt holder of the dutch republic he was invited to become king alongside his wife mary ii a descendant of mary queen of scots this was a destructive period in british and european history but one which would also give birth to the modern era we now know without a doubt mary's story is one of the most captivating of the early modern period leaving an indelible imprint on the minds of the people who followed her it was revisited in the 19th century discussions about queen victoria's succession to the throne when mary and her cousin elizabeth were used as examples with which to compare or critique their descendant who would go on to become one of the longest serving monarchs of all time and in victorian eyes mary was cast as the tragic heroine and elizabeth as the moral heroine perhaps if mary had been a more ruthless figure she may have not met her end the way she did her approach to gaining the english throne by first of all declaring her interest and then trying to appease the protestant lords show that she could be manipulated some took advantage of mary and played her for their own gains ultimately leading to her downfall her life was a succession of failures both when she tried to use diplomacy and when she tried to use force and it ended with her facing the sharp end of an axe for her treachery against a tudor monarch and so the question arises was mary an innocent party or was she wholly complicit to answer this question we must analyze the evidence she was never actually convicted of her husband's death in fact when the protestant nobles rushed against her they had detained the queen of scotland unlawfully forcing her abdication for a crime for which there was no evidence whilst in england her cousin's unwillingness to offer a reprieve in the uprising against her offered her no way out it appears that the ruling classes were suspicious of her but perhaps they were right to feel so she truly was a threat to elizabeth and for her actions and the actions of others she paid the ultimate price what do you think of mary queen of scots was she simply a tragic heroine or was she a machiavellian schemer like many of those who came before her please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching it is july 1588 a massive armada under the flag of philip ii of spain surges of the channel with the aim of bringing protestant england back under the sway of the papacy on the 29th battle is joined with an english fleet and not knowing if her sailors are victorious on the 8th of august the queen of england parades in front of her troops at tilbury in essex where she gives a speech that will echo down the centuries i know i have the body of a weak and feeble woman but i have the heart and stomach of a king and a king of england too and think val scorned that palmer or spain or any prince of europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm her name elizabeth the first england's greatest queen [Music] the woman known to history as elizabeth tudor queen elizabeth the first of england was born on the 7th of september 1533 at the palace of greenwich near london her father was king henry viii of england the second son of henry tudor or king henry vii and his wife elizabeth of york who in their marriage had joined the houses of york and lancaster after henry's victory at the battle of bosworth in the wars of the roses elizabeth's mother was queen anne berlin the daughter of diplomat thomas berlin and lady elizabeth howard and is now known to history as the infamous second wife of henry viii for whom the tempestuous king famously moved heaven and earth to marry elizabeth's parents the king and queen had hoped for a son but her birth and survival did offer the promise of a male heir eventually blunting the edge of her parents disappointment and so despite her gender elizabeth's birth was celebrated and she was promptly proclaimed henry's heir presumptive being proclaimed the high and mighty princess of england at her gristening when she was just three days old a title which was taken from her older half-sister mary when henry divorced mary's mother and his first wife catherine of aragon in december of 1533 the three-month-old princess elizabeth was established in her own royal household primarily at hatfield but also with accommodations and various other royal residences elizabeth's household was staffed by numerous servants and a group of guardians hand-picked by her mother and berlin and most of elizabeth's closest attendants were extended relations through blood or marriage of the bolin family one exception being elizabeth's half-sister mary having divorced her mother and rendered mary illegitimate henry had demanded that she recognize her own illegitimacy and the invalidity of her parents marriage and it may have been mary's refusal to do so that spurred henry to force his eldest daughter to move to hatfield to serve in the court of her younger sister and henry's new heir elizabeth in this way henry effectively set his daughters on a path to an unavoidable rivalry which neither could change or control mary could hardly have helped resenting her younger sister in some fashion despite her infancy helplessness and innocence especially in light of mary's reported treatment at the hands of her stepmother queen amberlynn and senior members of elizabeth's household mary staunchly refused to recognize anne boleyn as queen or elizabeth as the heir and some sources claimed that in retaliation and instructed that mary should be physically punished if she in any way claimed the title or the privileges of a princess queen anne spent extravagantly on her daughter's household and wardrobe and forbade mary to dress more opulently than her sister and when king henry visited elizabeth he ordered the servants to keep mary confined to her rooms so that he would not have to see or speak to her this pattern continued for nearly three years and few families could have done a more thorough job of sowing enmity between two sisters however elizabeth was only a baby unable to recognize anyone as her enemy and while her mother loved her and her father showed a fondness for her she was in a sense little more than a gaming piece a placeholder for the male heir that her father still hoped to have and that reality was heavily underscored when in may of 1536 henry had amberlynn executed for charges of adultery incest and treason it is likely anne's only real sin was her failure to produce a son making her enemies more likely to level outrageous charges against her certain that henry resentful of the wife who had failed to deliver his desire would be only too ready to believe them and so it was that elizabeth was not yet three years old when her mother was beheaded henry claimed that he'd entered into the marriage seduced by witchcraft and thomas cranmer an ardent protestant reformer who had admired amberlynn placed the crown upon her head at her coronation and had even stood as elizabeth's godfather at her christening was now tasked with procuring yet another marital annulment for his king one which would render the little princess illegitimate within two weeks of ambulance death henry was married to his third wife jane seymour and soon he ceased supporting elizabeth's household at least in the fashion that he previously had and then in july of 1536 parliament confirmed the succession act which stated that henry's marriage to amberlynn had been invalid this act explicitly recognized both of henry's daughters for the first time as officially illegitimate during the same month mary finally submitted to henry on the matter of her parents marriage the act of succession and regarding the act of supremacy which acknowledged the king as head of the church in england and despite the fact that henry had threatened mary's life for refusing to sign the oath via his secretary thomas cromwell he performed a complete about-face and welcomed her warmly back to court once she had signed while she secretly vowed that she would never forgive herself [Music] henry had always demonstrated an attachment to his eldest daughter mary up until the time she had refused to recognize his marriage and it showed in his readiness to forgive her and once again show her open affection and favor but despite her tender age henry made no such efforts for his youngest daughter and notably distanced himself from her indeed elizabeth's governess lady margaret bryan was soon writing to thomas cromwell henry's chief minister begging him to intercede with the king on the child's behalf and in her letter lady brian wrote that elizabeth was growing out of her clothes quickly and had neither gown nor curdle nor petticoat there were also struggles within elizabeth's household over the diminished financial support she was receiving as a toddler who by birth outranked everyone in her household it was hard to know how to treat elizabeth especially now that her mother had been executed in disgrace and no one knew how henry intended to treat her elizabeth was not old enough to exercise any sort of authority and so there was conflict between the senior members of her household with some trying to use their now limited funds to keep up the hospitality and grandeur of the house and others trying to ensure that elizabeth was still clothed and presented like a princess indeed two members of elizabeth's household were even charged for poaching deer in the parklands surrounding hatfield the luxury of daily meat now being unaffordable on the new budget all of this of course was indicative of the drastic change in elizabeth status from princess to illegitimate which he was still not yet old enough to understand however it was precisely elizabeth's new status as well as the birth the following year of prince edward that made it easier for henry to reintegrate her into his life and the life of the court this was because mary and elizabeth were both illegitimate and so now were on a more equal footing although mary as the older sister would once again take precedence and indeed henry continued to show markedly more favor and affection to his older daughter than his younger in the years to come one historian posits that henry used the opulence of the households and the court chambers he provided for his children to signal their status for example after prince edward was born he was the only child given his own independent princely household until henry's death whilst mary and elizabeth technically shared a combined household but spent time together in their shared houses only intermittently over the next seven years still the change in their respective statuses made a sisterly closeness more likely and mary as well as queen jane seymour are both traditionally credited with reintroducing the four-year-old elizabeth to court and persuading king henry to restore her to favor henry did but in many ways he will continually demonstrate that his youngest daughter was not only last in the succession but also in his heart yet of all of his children elizabeth would prove to be the most like her father she resembled henry even more than mary did with the same light red hair pale skin and ruddy cheeks but with amberlyn's brown eyes but elizabeth unlike her more reserved and dignified sister mary resembled the young henry in that she was vivacious witty charming and a ferocious intellectual mary was highly educated and fond of scholarly pursuits but elizabeth proved to be one of the most brilliantly learned women in 16th century europe she also inherited her father's famously passionate and fiery temper and could be a difficult mistress to serve at times deprived of her mother at a painfully young age and her relationship with her father being what it was elizabeth looked elsewhere for familial closeness mentorship and love elizabeth did develop a closeness with her younger brother prince edward most likely because they were so much closer in age than herself and mary and elizabeth came to love her baby brother she carried the chrism at edward's baptism they shared the same tutors when it came time for their formal education and shared their lessons with one another even writing letters to one another in latin and they were both raised and influenced by the same ardently protestant reformers elizabeth found surrogate mothers in her governesses and in the succession of stepmothers the protestant german princess anne of cleves whom henry married when elizabeth was seven years old took both interest and delight in henry's youngest daughter whilst her marriage to henry lasted only six months anne and elizabeth continue to visit and write each other following the divorce however elizabeth had little time to get close to jane seymour or catherine howard both of whom were dead within two years of marriage to the king jane in childbirth and catherine executed for adultery and treason just as elizabeth's mother had been when the 19 year old catherine howard who was in fact amberlyn's cousin was beheaded elizabeth drew an important lesson from it the eight-year-old princess no doubt remembering what had happened to her mother also remarked to her friend and schoolmate robert dudley i shall never marry this lesson would be reinforced over and over again as elizabeth grew up as she observed that married women were invariably at the mercy of their husbands surrendering all power and self-determination to them henry's sixth wife catherine parr whom henry married when elizabeth was 11 years old was also kind and motherly towards her catherine recognized the young princess's intellectual potential and encouraged her in her academic pursuits and it is catherine parr who is often credited with persuading henry to restore both mary and elizabeth to the line of succession for the throne after their younger brother however ultimately it was the serving members of elizabeth's household most of whom were extended relations of her mother and berlin with whom elizabeth found the closest and most secure sense of family particularly her beloved governess and companion catherine cat ashley who would remain with elizabeth as lady in waiting when she became queen william cecil who would become a great statesman when elizabeth ascended the throne also served in the young princesses household as her surveyor an important mentor to elizabeth he would remain her closest and most trusted advisor throughout her reign as queen her murky status and unconventional family life aside elizabeth grew up very privileged her position as the daughter of the king entitled her to the finest education and elizabeth took great joy in both learning and mastery developing a passion for academic and intellectual pursuits that was to last her entire life her beloved cat ashley organized elizabeth's foundational education consisting largely of english grammar logic and rhetoric arithmetic music dance religious instruction and various languages including french dutch italian and spanish like her father and sister before her elizabeth excelled at her studies and when she was 11 years old the first of a series of eminent cambridge educated tutors took over for mistress ashley to provide elizabeth with her more formal education by this time the princess was quite a force to be reckoned with academically she proved to be a polyglot reportedly able to speak read and write fluently in latin and greek in addition to the five languages already in her command and by the end of her life she had also reportedly learned to speak cornish welsh and both scots and irish gaelic she enjoyed translating both classical and contemporary texts immensely a pastime which she continued to engage in joyfully throughout her life in her adolescence she personally translated classical and religious texts as new year's gifts for her father and stepmother catherine parr inscribing them herself in an exquisite calligraphy impressive for her age elizabeth is often remembered for her clever and poetic turn of phrase she both spoke and wrote elegantly and remains one of english history's most quotable monarchs and despite her youth elizabeth was much admired by the adults around her and even as a young teenager elizabeth's eloquence logic and rhetoric were highly developed and her quick wit made her both an entertaining and intimidating conversationalist elizabeth was 13 years old when henry viii died in january of 1547 some might describe her reaction as cold but her father's consistent distance from his youngest daughter could hardly have made it otherwise elizabeth wrote to her younger brother edward that she was grateful not to have been at the dying henry's bedside and seemed to prefer to confront her father's loss on a more philosophical level than an emotional one henry was generous to his daughters in his will despite their supposed illegitimacy allowing each of them an annual income of 3 000 pounds however the property and movable goods given to mary were much more extravagant and valuable than those given to elizabeth and her comparatively lower status in the succession continue to manifest in such ways however it should also be taken into account that unlike her sister mary elizabeth was technically too young to head her own independent household although she was already quite assertive and decisive with those serving and attending her after henry's death nine-year-old edward became king edward vi assisted by his privy council and his uncle edward seymour who'd seen himself appointed lord protector the 31 year old mary now spent most of her time at her extensive estates in east anglia and elizabeth was left at something of a loose end and so her stepmother damager queen catherine parr invited elizabeth to live with her and her new husband thomas seymour in their home at chelsea elizabeth lived there for little more than a year and her experience there would teach her yet more bitter painful and frightening lessons that likely stayed with her for the rest of her life catherine park's third husband thomas seymour lord high aberral of england and brother-in-law protector edward seymour is now generally perceived by historians to be an impulsive unscrupulous and grasping man constantly seeking to ingratiate himself with senior members of the english court in pursuit of greater power he had attempted in various ways to manipulate his young nephew the king to have himself appointed guardian of edward's person and to gain his approval to marry elizabeth thomas had capitalized on catherine parr's long-standing romantic feelings for him by marrying her in secret after king henry's death and by doing so he gained control of the vast wealth which her two previous husbands had given her but distrust for thomas seymour among the privy council prevented him from reaching his further marital goals [Music] clearly his marriage to catherine did not satisfy his ambitions and he continued to pursue a relationship with the teenaged elizabeth which to modern sensibilities clearly hints at sexual abuse or at the very least the grooming of a young and vulnerable female regardless of his pregnant wife catherine whom he had been married to for less than a year see more engaged in highly inappropriate and seemingly unwanted horseplay with the young princess both openly and privately he frequently visited her bed chamber in the early mornings still in his nightgown sitting on her bed uninvited tickling her and even slapping her on the backside elizabeth began to get up earlier in the mornings ensuring that her maids attended her as early as possible to avoid seymour's visits it must have been enormously confusing to her when her stepmother rather than confront her husband about his behavior began to participate in horseplay and inappropriate touching once catherine even reportedly held elizabeth down in the garden while seymour cut the princess's dress quote into a thousand pieces this leaves us with many questions and if true it is a damning indictment not only of seymour but of power as well in her role as stepmother to henry's children did catherine believe that her husband's behavior towards her stepdaughter was in fact innocent and all in fun was she jealous or insecure and seeking to keep herself involved in and informed of her husband's activities whatever catherine's beliefs and motives were she promptly sent elizabeth away in may of 1548 when she unexpectedly discovered her husband and fifteen-year-old step-daughter quote in an embrace to give catherine the benefit of the doubt she may very well have sent elizabeth away to protect her but despite her position strength intelligence wealth and extensive education the dowager queen was a subject to the marital practices and gender roles of the tudor age as was any other woman and her ability to moderate her husband's behavior may have been out of her control her participation might have simply been an attempt to be present to ensure that his actions might not go too far and after being sent away elizabeth never saw her stepmother again the two exchanged a few letters after elizabeth's departure but catherine park died as a result of complications from childbirth less than four months later but elizabeth had not heard the last of thomas seymour catherine parr was barely cold in her grave when thomas began actively pursuing elizabeth's hand in marriage once again and it is difficult to guess how elizabeth must have felt about this as much of the information on the seymour plot comes from later interrogations of elizabeth and her household members but some believe that elizabeth may have had feelings for thomas seymour in return cat ashley admitted to teasing her young mistress on occasion about seymour's pursuit of her saying that elizabeth would blush when she did so ashley also reported however that she had suggested that elizabeth wright to seymour to come for him following his wife's death and that elizabeth had coldly replied that she believed seymour stood in little need of comfort and so whether she was receptive to seymour's advances or not elizabeth was smart enough not to encourage them in any open way her adult guardians however were far less discreet than she was and when seymour's activities began to resemble the beginnings of a coup d'etat in other words an attempt to control the king or to marry his sister without royal permission apparently with the hope of one day ruling england he was soon arrested and his failure to account for his suspicious behaviour resulted in him being detained for treason elizabeth was interrogated closely about the seymour plot but she adamantly denied any involvement either on the part of herself or her household in any plans or schemes of which king edward or the privy council did not approve including any question of marriage she was reported to have lapsed into sad contemplation when it became clear that seymour would be executed for treason and refused to hear anyone speak ill of him the seymour episode blew over and elizabeth likely learned a great deal from it and for the next two years she passed most of her time at hatfield immersed in her studies and wrote regularly and dutifully to her brother king edward she began to visit court more regularly beginning in or around 1551 and her reputation quickly recovered she became the very model of the virtuous protestant princess dressing with modesty and little ostentation engaging in learned pursuits and much admired for her loyalty to her brother her wit and her charm elizabeth may have been largely protestant in her religious leanings like her brother king edward but despite this she made no effort to support her brother's plan to place lady jane grey upon the throne ahead of their catholic sister mary elizabeth had been warned by william cecil as well as one of mary's supporters that edward was dying and that there was a plot of foot to imprison both sisters and so neither elizabeth nor mary proceeded to london to take the bait three days later edward vi died and lady jane grey was proclaimed queen and although elizabeth mourned her brother's passing edward's attempt to defy henry viii's will and remove both mary and elizabeth from the line of succession probably wrangled her and so when the privy council proclaimed mary queen a mere nine days after the succession of jane grey had been announced elizabeth promptly wrote to mary to congratulate her and as mary's official heir elizabeth accompanied the new queen as she progressed triumphantly through london towards the tower in august of 1553 mary's reign would however prove tumultuous and dangerous for elizabeth because as a protestant and mary's heir she was a figurehead for all english people who would rather have seen a protestant on the throne and when mary insisted upon marrying the catholic prince philip of spain it sparked a rebellion in early 1554 led by thomas wyatt whose goal was to depose mary and place elizabeth upon the throne instead elizabeth might have been made aware of wyatt's plan but there is no evidence that she endorsed or encouraged them in fact she flatly denied any involvement in the wired plot but her protestations did not prevent queen mary from sending her sister to the tower where she remained for two months all of elizabeth's eloquence then came to the fore she wrote letter after letter to her sister protesting her innocence and swearing her loyalty she was then released but placed under house arrest of woodstock but throughout her imprisonment and the frightening few years of mary's reign elizabeth could never be certain that her life was secure during this time she cleaved ever closer to the serving members of her household whom she considered her family these included the ashley's the sheltons thomas parry and william cecil she also grew closer during these years to her friend robert dudley whom she referred to affectionately as sweet robin and she addressed her letters to him using the coded nickname eyes robert was the fifth son of john dudley earl of warwick and duke of northumberland whom queen mary had executed for his part in the plot to raise his daughter-in-law lady jane grey to the throne and so as the son of a protestant traitor robert dudley was taking a great risk continuing to openly demonstrate his loyalty and friendship to the protestant princess elizabeth while her catholic sister still sat on the throne even more controversial was the very apparent closeness between the princess and a married man dudley had been married since 1550 to amy robzard who was an only child and on the death of her parents the dudley stood to inherit the robzard's lands and increased their own influence and while some described it as a love match whether it was is unclear but robert's father the duke of northumberland approved the marriage nonetheless and so whilst it is uncertain whether robert dudley really loved his first wife he certainly proved to be a less than attentive husband the more time he spent with elizabeth in april of 1555 elizabeth's house arrest abruptly ended when queen mary summoned her to court laboring under the belief that she was expecting a child mary requested elizabeth join her in her confinement elizabeth complied and dutifully attended her sister in the birthing chamber throughout the summer but mary's due date came and went and no baby was born it had been a phantom pregnancy and mary finally returned to court in august quietly without any sort of public announcement elizabeth remained the heir to the throne and thus remained a threat to her catholic sister who did not wish to see a protestant rule england yet rather than being sent back to woodstock and house arrest mary invited elizabeth to remain at court giving her chambers befitting her position and allowing her more and more freedom as time went on and eventually she was permitted to return to her house and attendance at hatfield it is possible that mary's conduct in this matter indicated some renewal of sisterly feelings between the two women mary had after all just gone through a painful and humiliating experience which had seriously undermined her authority and popularity and elizabeth's service to her during this time may have provided welcome support for which she was grateful especially when she could not fail to hear the jeez and jokes being made about her mistaken pregnancy and her husband's abandonment of her however mary may have invited elizabeth to remain at court simply to keep a closer eye on her but in that case why would mary have allowed her to return to her independent household within months elizabeth remained at hatfield surveyed and under guard but more or less free to do as she pleased for the next two years and during this time she and robert dudley became closer than ever he visited her often and they enjoyed many of the same pursuits including riding hunting dancing playing at cards and witty conversation william cecil now a senior serving member of elizabeth's household disliked dudley intensely because as a married man dudley could bring cecil's young mistress nothing but scandal and heartbreak and both dudley's father and grandfather had been executed for treason this was not a good family record for a young man who was the intimate friend of an already controversial princess but elizabeth and robert seem not to care about the implications of their relationship when in each other's company and there was little cecil could say to his young mistress to dissuade elizabeth from continuing to receive dudley elizabeth endured two years of tension and uncertainty after her return to hatfield but then on the 17th of november 1558 her sister mary died most likely of ovarian cancer a likely explanation for some of the symptoms accompanying her two phantom pregnancies mary had refused to sign the death warrant her advisers had drawn up for her sister and lacking any other heir elizabeth the last tudor princess was promptly proclaimed queen elizabeth the first of england the new queen set the date for her coronation and made plans to move to whitehall palace the same day she was informed of mary's death but despite the fact that her religious sympathies were generally known it was not immediately apparent whether elizabeth meant to rule as a protestant elizabeth was content that this ambiguity should last as long as possible until she could consolidate her power and popularity as she well understood that england was still heavily catholic as were many of the nobles and clergy around her nearly two decades of separation from rome had rendered many english ambivalent about papal supremacy even those who considered themselves catholics in fact parliament proved willing to reintroduce royal supremacy as early as december 1558 and to grant elizabeth the title of supreme governor of the church of england but while they may not have been eager to return to the roman fold most catholics still strongly identified with the cultural elements of catholicism and were happy to have the latin mass processions pilgrimages holy days and monasteries restored during mary's reign elizabeth understood that she must tread carefully and slowly while her reign was still new and uncertain queen mary's body lay in state and saint james's palace until mid-december with regular catholic vigils performed until her internment westminster on the 14th of december elizabeth continued to have the latin mass celebrated in her private chapel but demonstrated her discomfort with catholicism in other small ways such as requesting removal of specifically catholic rituals such as the use of tapers and sensors for incense or the raising of the host during mass elizabeth ensured that her sister's funeral was both magnificent and in keeping with catholic tradition although she did imprison a eulogising priest following the funeral for vaguely referring to her supposed illegitimacy and not surprisingly at elizabeth's coronation a month later no such doubts were expressed and elizabeth spent that month on an extensive public relations campaign in and around the capital where she was received rapturously wherever she went men knelt before her women offered her bouquets of flowers children recited poetry for her and she received the adulation with warmth modesty and gratitude it was during this period that elizabeth first began to cultivate the public persona for which she would become legendary she was now 25 tall with a good figure and often described as handsome but far more than her looks people were drawn to her personality elizabeth seemed to know just how to approach everyone showing motherly kindness to one jesting daringly with another or flirting outrageously with yet another the people loved her and her beauty charm and vivaciousness made people compare her with the young henry viii who had also inspired much hope and admiration when he first ascended the throne when the day of her coronation arrived she knew she had won the crowd as she processed through the city of london on the 14th of january 1559 the people cheered and greeted her joyfully several pageants were presented along the procession route all of which were designed to emphasize elizabeth's legitimacy and right to rule she was anointed and crowned queen of england and ireland the next day in westminster abbey entering the church dressed in magnificent royal robes of gold trimmed with ermine and jewels her long red hair loose and flowing as elizabeth passed by attendees promptly cut off pieces of the blue carpet upon which she walked as souvenirs ever conscious of how controversial her protestant faith still was to many of her subjects elizabeth's coronation was a catholic service but it would be the last one in english royal history however elizabeth did not prostrate herself for the anointing instead she simply knelt in a dignified fashion moreover as soon as the latin mass began the queen was said to have promptly withdrawn to a private chamber to change her costume for the upcoming feast and celebration a clear disregard for one of the most significant catholic customs emerging in an exquisite costume of purple and irman she headed the procession out of the church smiling graciously greeting members of the cheering crowds in a manner that one observer believed to quote exceed the boundaries of gravity and decorum elizabeth had cleverly managed to have herself crowned more or less within the sanction of the catholic church proper without ever having declared herself a catholic she had learned important lessons from the reigns of her father brother and sister and knew she had to approach the religious question carefully to prevent strife and persecution erupting once again but at the same time she would not be cowed by the nobles ambassadors and clergy around her she asserted her will as anointed sovereign and held her popularity with the people before her like a shield one of elizabeth's first act as a crowned queen was a religious settlement at her first official parliament she managed to convince her government to pass an act of uniformity which reinstated the 1549 book of common prayer with a few alterations notably to the administration of the eucharist and one sticking point concerned the real presence of christ's body and the blood in the eucharist known as transubstantiation which catholics believed in and protestants did not some historians argue that the liturgical alterations made it possible for both protestants and catholics to interpret communion as they pleased in addition the traditional catholic vestments were preserved as with the images and crucifixes in churches and monasteries across england unlike during edward's reign but while some historians characterize these actions as concessions to catholics others point out that vague permissiveness and a few visual reminders of catholicism would not have been enough to satisfy catholic clergy and laity who had so briefly had their religion restored before it was taken away once again rather they argued that the more visual traditions retained by the new church of england were meant to distinguish the faith from the more radical reformed protestants it seems that elizabeth originally intended to walk a similarly cautious middleweight in religion as her father henry viii had done and at the beginning of her reign elizabeth had filled as many bishops and archbishops posts as possible with protestants many of whom were returning from exile into which they had fled when her sister had been crowned queen and the marian persecutions had begun these protestant bishops had complained bitterly to elizabeth upon their first inspections of churches and monasteries claiming that the clergy and their congregations clung to their images and superstitions stubbornly they asked for the authority to impose a more calvinistic austerity elizabeth however refused to allow the fixes and other seemingly polished symbols to be removed even from her own chapel the widespread disagreement illustrates the level of religious discord which was prevalent not just in england but across europe during the 16th century elizabeth's religious settlement abolished the heresy laws removing the violent penalties for lack of religious conformity and the settlement also decreed punishment for refusal to attend sunday services or for other examples of catholic failure to conform but the penalties were small fines which frequently went unenforced depending on religious sympathies in a given region many catholic clergy and laity found it convenient to conform outwardly while inwardly retaining their own beliefs and as elizabeth once declared quote there is only one christ one faith all else is a dispute over trifles indeed the english certainly had their struggles with sectarianism like most europeans at the time but under elizabeth these struggles were considerably less violent than they proved to be elsewhere such as in france for example where saint bartholomew's day of 1572 saw parisian catholics massacre over 3 000 protestant huguenots in a single day roughly a third of all the protestants in paris compared to this level of religious strife england remained fairly calm under elizabeth and more than a decade would pass between her accession to the throne and the events which would finally force her to escalate protestant reforms in england or crack down on catholicism and so once elizabeth had settled the religious question which she and her brewery council considered paramount they could turn their attention to the business of governing which under the circumstances promised to be challenging england's administrative economic and military infrastructure all needed urgent attention henry viii had spent ruinously during his reign and his two subsequent heirs had not lived long enough to see england fully recover the decades of currency debasement to fund henry's wars and luxurious lifestyle and to keep edward's government going followed by several years of failed harvests had left many regions of england still struggling english trade had fallen off as well following the decreasing value of the english currency which for centuries have been renowned for its stability the english had begun to hoard gold coins leaving only the coppers in circulation moreover foreign traders were soon refusing english currency and insisting on payments in gold and as a result gold continued to fly out of the english treasury it was one of the worst cases of currency debasement in history elizabeth worked closely with her newly appointed secretary of state her mentor william cecil and thomas gresham financer merchant and long-time economic advisor to the tudors to formulate a strategy to rescue the economy and so by 1561 all of the debased currency had been withdrawn from circulation dissolved and replaced with freshly minted coins of gold and silver impressively gresham was able to help the crown reaper profit of 50 000 pounds in the process the recovery of england's currency helped the economy rebound nicely prices stabilized and trade boomed once more in addition gresham founded london's royal exchange just four years later further facilitating the growth of trade and investment the result was not just an explosion of mercantile activity but also exploration an island nation requires ships for economic as well as military purposes and elizabeth understood that a good deal of investment was needed in this area yet she was still constrained by budgets and therefore the process of naval development was a careful exercise in necessity and practicality england already had a fairly decent fleet of ships thanks to the naval programmes undertaken by henry and continued under edward and mary yet the english fleet was no match for spain the pre-eminent power in europe nor did england yet had the financial resources to construct a war fleet with hundreds of ships as such the ships built during elizabeth's reign tended to be multi-purpose in design meant for trade exploration fishing and warfare they were smaller faster much more maneuverable than the standard warship and yet not so diminutive that they could not be equipped with multiple gun carriages only about three dozen would be built for the royal fleet but they were amazingly versatile and contributed greatly to england's exploration trade and military capability ships of course require experienced and competent men to man them and william cecil was quickly persuaded to recommend investment in regular fishing voyages to newfoundland the grand banks and inshore fishery of newfoundland produce the richest cod fish stocks in the world not only was dried cod a lucrative commodity which english west country merchants as well as britain basque spanish and portuguese fishermen had all been benefiting from for decades already but newfoundland also promised to be a nursery for semen in other words the sailors who undertook these annual fishing voyages not only made excellent money for themselves their investors and the crown but they also received naval training and experience which increased their value as potential troops england's economic recovery was impressive and much credit is due to elizabeth and her advisors especially as unlike other states regular taxation was not a strategy england could resort to because taxes had to be approved by parliament and anyway imposing taxes would be unpopular and might perhaps even spark rebellion in a people already poor and struggling all sources of funding for england's recovery came from crown land revenues customs duties and the queen's personal fortune due to this necessity elizabeth's court was markedly less extravagant than her father's indeed as her court was heavily protestant both religiously and culturally careful economy and an avoidance of excessive ostentation was generally approved of she kept her staff and privy council small installing most of the members of her traditional household in positions at court and entertainments and banquets in the early years were elegant but not overly extravagant the budgetary concerns could be problematic when it came to the way elizabeth was presented as when she was still a princess elizabeth could afford to dress more modestly and simply and be admired for it but appearing in plain and unadorned clothing just would not do for those who expected the queen to look like a queen when her father was king he had spent tens of thousands of pounds on fine clothes and jewels but elizabeth could not do the same but despite this during the first decade of her reign she and her ladies in waiting did become very clever about reusing and reworking old dresses into new ones plucking the ornamental materials from one costume and sewing them onto another style on a budget worked for several years because she did not need any great adornment being still very young and pretty because elizabeth was young single and the queen the question of her marriage consumed everyone around her if elizabeth should die childless the closest remaining heir to the english throne was mary stewart queen of scots nine years younger than elizabeth and the granddaughter of margaret tudor henry viii's elder sister mary was catholic however and so elizabeth and her advisors understood that the preservation of the new religious settlement hinged on the religion of their heir to the throne when elizabeth was crowned office for her hand began to pour in from every royal court in europe she rarely refused any of them outright making a great show of taking her time to consider even receiving some at court and exchanging gifts but ultimately she refused them all and once remarked quote better a beggar woman and single than a queen and married to the great consternation of her advisors her privy council her parliament and william cecil in particular the only man she seemed to show any sustained interest in was robert dudley and so when elizabeth became queen she appointed dudley her master of horse this was not only a position of prestige but it was also the least demanding job at court and the most fun rather than being buried under paperwork and commissions for the queen robert's position allowed him to delegate most menial tasks to servants while he accompanied the queen on her rides and hunts despite her new position as queen and the many more eyes upon them as a result elizabeth and robert failed to mask their enjoyment of each other's company as they danced and verbally sparred with one another before spectators are caught every gesture between them seemed to signal courtship and tongues were soon wagging disapprovingly not just in england but across europe as well about the queen's married favorite the scandal escalated when in early 1559 she moved robert's chambers to the rooms of joining her own likely with a view to regaining their earlier luxury of privacy and intimacy now all of europe began to wonder just how far their intimacy had escalated and to wonder where their relationship was leading ambassadors nobles and royal personages across europe seemed certain that they had slept together many times these rumors resurfaced nearly three decades later when a man appeared at the court of king philip ii of spain claiming to be arthur dudley the illegitimate son of queen elizabeth and robert dudley he claimed to have been born at hampton court and quietly taken away by a servant who had raised him and revealed the truth of arthur's parentage on his deathbed coincidentally his age would place his conception sometime in 1561 around the same time that elizabeth was reportedly confined to her bed with a mysterious illness accompanied by bodily swelling the story seemed plausible and probably seemed especially so to philip who would gladly have believed anything to elizabeth's discredit and at this time dudley had already been largely absent from court but elizabeth was still seeing him discreetly however many historians give the queen the benefit of the doubt as whilst there is no denying that she had an intimate and intense relationship with dudley some historians doubt the likelihood that it was fully sexual elizabeth's life had been one long object lesson in the dangers of sex and love which for her meant loss of power vulnerability betrayal and the deadly dangers of childbearing a regular and fully sexual relationship seems an enormous risk for elizabeth to have willingly taken but whatever the truth of their relationship in september of 1560 robert's wife amy robsart suddenly died under suspicious circumstances and the scandal exploded since speculation had surrounded elizabeth dudley for months already suspicion fell naturally upon the two of them particularly dudley who many believed had murdered his wife so that he would be free to marry the queen not to mention become king of england amy had reportedly sent the servants away from the house for the day and was found later at the bottom of a staircase with her neck broken theories abounded among contemporaries and continued to do so among historians today including murder suicide as well as accidental death the discovery in 2008 of the coroner's report which accompanied the examination of amy's body has shed a great deal of additional light on the circumstances of her death but the ultimate cause of amy robson's sudden demise remains a mystery most historians are now fairly doubtful that either elizabeth or dudley had any part in amy's death as they would have known that suspicion would fall upon them immediately and they would have realized that such suspicion would make it impossible for them to ever marry the belief however false that the queen and her lover had murdered his innocent wife could very well spark civil war and knowing this elizabeth distanced herself from dudley publicly but they continued to meet in secret and he remained her closest friend the questions surrounding elizabeth's supposed virginity however did not abate and it was around the time of amy's death some historians note that the queen began to cultivate the public image of herself as the virgin queen pledged in marriage to the realm rather than a husband and mother to all of her people this campaign manifested itself in elizabeth's speeches in the portraiture she commissioned and it even appeared in the poems and dramas in which the great writers of the day immortalized the queen her older sister mary may have been the first truly legitimized female monarchy but elizabeth truly elevated it moulding a cult of personality that would long outlast her in which people found echoes of the virgin mary a divine queen whose power and devotion to her people could not be corrupted elizabeth would continue to entertain suitors proposals such as those from eric the 14th of sweden her widowed brother-in-law philip ii of spain francois the duke of alonso and anjou and ivan iv the terrible of russia but she ultimately refused them all dudley also did not give up trying to persuade elizabeth to marry him for a further 15 years and in 1575 when they were both in the early 40s dudley staged a magnificent series of entertainments over several days at his estate in kenilworth costing him thousands of pounds in a grand romantic gesture to finally persuade the queen to marry him ultimately as much as she loved dudley she had to refuse understanding that as a woman and a queen she could not marry without risking the loss of her royal authority she had learned a great deal from the experiences of her mother sister stepmothers and from her own experiences with thomas seymour that the only way for a woman to reign supreme and stay alive and secure was to stand alone and above everything this view was likely at the root of elizabeth's determination for england to have one mistress and no master she would feel the sting of betrayal however when soon after her refusal of dudley's last proposal he took one of her ladies in waiting lettuce nollies as his mistress eventually marrying her when she discovered she was pregnant fiercely jealous and enraged elizabeth banished both of them from court for over a year elizabeth's gender and position as monarch did require some adjustment for courtiers parliament and privy council in england and throughout europe women were still generally believed incapable of exercising authority responsibly or competently and elizabeth therefore initially found herself questioned at every turn and in order to maintain control she summoned all of her father's brash imperiousness and her own exceptional gift of rhetoric to assert herself if she had been a king her courtiers would have related to her man to man because she was a woman elizabeth was forced to cultivate relationships with her ministers and nobles which emphasized an element of callie love characterized by their flattery subservience and adoration of her elizabeth understood her beauty and personal charms could be employed to maintain her authority indeed elizabeth seemed most at home in the company of men riding hunting joking with them and teasing them when not pre-barricating over marriage or accepting the adoration of men around her she was frequently plain spoken and appreciated the same quality in others elizabeth's comparatively greater comfort with men might help explain why she discouraged her courtiers from bringing their wives to court but elizabeth was also known to be rather vain and likely would have preferred to have no competition for attention besides herself and her ladies however elizabeth would only be a young woman for so long able to wield her youth and beauty as a tool of authority in 1562 the 29 year old elizabeth contracted smallpox she recovered without any significant long-term damage to her overall health but the disease left her face badly scarred wounding her pride she began to wear elaborate makeup to ameliorate her pop-marked appearance and heighten her image of glamour unfortunately the white makeup she wore to mask her scarred complexion every day was lead-based and the vermillion she used to redden her cheeks and lips contained significant amounts of mercury it might have been the regular use of these compounds which contributed to the continuing damage to her skin as well as her hair loss later in life when elizabeth began to noticeably lose her hair she began to wear elaborate wigs in addition to her makeup and after the austerity measures of her early reign elizabeth could afford to spend more lavishly on her wardrobe and wore increasingly more elaborate dresses with magnificent roughs or broad lace collars splendidly embroidered and sewn with jewels to compensate for her advancing age and to maintain her image unfortunately by her fifties elizabeth's teeth had begun to blacken and decay due to an excessively sweet tooth sugar was a great novelty in europe since it had been introduced from the americas and the queen loved to sprinkle it in just about everything even her wine her oral health eventually degenerated to such a state that elizabeth was forced to use rolled up strips of linen soaked in fragrant oil and placed it between her cheeks and gums to sweeten the foul stench of her breath as a result of her decaying teeth and within a few decades she was significantly less pretty and youthful but still sharp cautious charming witty and charismatic as ever and england's prosperity relative peace and cultural flowering during the years of elizabeth's reign was the envy of europe and ensured her continuing popularity with her own people of all the achievements of the elizabethan period the one which probably most deserves the label golden age is that of english literature as some of the greatest writers poets and dramatists in english history dedicated their works to elizabeth which were performed for her at various palaces the authors receiving patronage from members of her court to continue their literary pursuits elizabeth rarely patronized writers personally but loved theater and poetry and certainly encouraged them christopher marlowe william shakespeare edmund spencer ben johnson and philip sydney are just a handful of the many great literary minds who enriched english culture during elizabeth's reign and even the gallant courtier explorer and soldier walter raleigh was a poet the sheer breadth of raleigh's experiences encapsulated the excitements and pursuits of the elizabethan age he explored north america founded the first albeit short-lived english colonial settlement in north america at roanoke island captured spanish gold as a privateer in the unofficial service of his queen and is credited with introducing tobacco to england the exciting new frontiers of exploration and trade broadened english horizons immensely just as literary flowering did for english culture and between 1576 and 1578 martin frobisher sailed in search of a northwest passage francis drake became the second person ever to circumnavigate the globe in 1581 for which he received a knighthood and riley's older brother sir humphrey gilbert landed in newfoundland in 1583 officially claiming the island for elizabeth in order to secure england's pre-eminence in the lucrative fishery which had been for more than a century an international open access resource in the region colonization was not considered a priority at this time but became more so the following century with the reign of james the first and most of the profit gleaned from elizabethan exploration came from either legitimate trade or from english privateers plundering bullion from spanish ships and these english naval activities combined with religious differences increased tensions between england and spain the only truly serious military threat elizabeth's regime ever faced the first years of elizabeth's reign saw fairly good relations with spain king philip had more or less permanent offers of marriage on the table with elizabeth and what he wanted least of all was to have her marry a prince of france spain's mortal enemy elizabeth saw no need to endanger england's healthy relationship with spain by refusing him too quickly but finally did reject his pursuit of her on the basis of affinity since philip had been married to her sister this soured philip and within a decade relations between england and spain have begun to degenerate once again the fact that philip was a committed catholic made him especially beholden to the pope whom even the king of spain could not refuse when disgusted with the actions of the english queen the head of all christendom ordered him to invade england and depose elizabeth all of this was tied up with an ongoing succession crisis in which the religion of elizabeth's de facto heir mary queen of scots was the main issue mary was the closest relation to the throne that elizabeth had which she readily admitted saying that she knew of no other with a claim as good as mary's yet elizabeth refused to name her explicitly as the heir to the throne having once been in mary's position herself a position which she referred to as second person she well understood that naming mary as her heir could inspire plots to engineer her rise to the throne just as the wyatt plot had attempted to place elizabeth on the throne ahead of her sister mary when she had been queen the queen of scots was a catholic and for elizabeth to encourage her claim would be to open herself up to the plots and determination of catholics to place one of their own on the throne of england and to restore catholicism elizabeth hoped that by stalling mary in a diplomatic fashion she could keep her at arm's length but this proved to be impossible the queen of scots was also briefly queen of france between 1559 and 1560 she returned to scotland in 1561 eight months after the death of her husband the teenage king francis ii mary's presence in scotland was much more unnerving than when she had been living in france as england and scotland she had an easily passable border and for the next four years mary continued to entreat elizabeth to be named as her heir unwilling to leave her throne to a catholic but thinking that she might be able to control mary if she could choose an english protestant husband for her elizabeth proposed in 1563 that the queen of scots wed her favorite robert dudley neither party found this an attractive proposition and when elizabeth failed to give mary what she wanted the scottish queen decided to pursue the english throne through a marriage of her own choosing she quietly ended it in negotiations with the family of henry stewart lord darnley as darnley and mary were cousins both grandchildren margaret tudor henry the eighth sister and both catholic this marriage was an enormous threat to elizabeth since any children born of it would indisputably be viewed as legitimate as to england's crown in a way that elizabeth was not being a protestant who had not only been conceived out of wedlock but also one whose parents marriage had been declared invalid her restoration to the succession in henry viii's will had been enough proof of parliament of elizabeth's legitimacy and right to the throne but it was not enough for the catholic church or for english catholics who wanted to see the protestant elizabeth removed mary did indeed give birth to a son james vi of scotland but her marriage was her undoing and within two years alienated protestant rebels had triumphed over the queen darnley not only turned against mary but it proved to be a vicious and unstable alcoholic was murdered by conspirators who blew up the house where he was staying at curco field danny's body was discovered in the garden without any burn marks or ash on him apparently strangled to death the leader of the conspiracy leading to danny's death is generally believed to have been james hepburn earl of bothwell two months later mary wed bothwell feeding the rumors that she had been involved in her husband's murder causing most scots both protestant and catholic to turn against her horrified elizabeth wrote to her cousin urging her to distance herself from her husband's murder and to do everything possible to bring the guilty to justice even if the guilty were very close to her she said hinting at the suspicion around bothwell some historians believe that mary may have been raped by bothwell to coerce her into marriage and it seems that the queen of scots was indeed pregnant when she married miscarrying twins some months later she was forced by the scottish nobles to abdicate in favour of her son james and was imprisoned in lochleven castle and after an ill-fated attempt to regain her throne mary fled to england to seek elizabeth's help in restoring her power elizabeth found herself in an impossible position the instability of any female monarchy spelled trouble for her own reign and if mary could be so easily pulled down so could elizabeth and although mary would no doubt have been grateful for any assistance elizabeth might provide in regaining her throne on the other hand mary had already jeopardised elizabeth's position once by marrying darley against her wishes producing an heir to scotland and potentially england as well and so keeping mary in england where she could be watched and guarded might be the safest course until elizabeth could figure out what to do with her however mary's very presence inspired a series of catholic-backed plots to depose elizabeth and raise mary to the throne instead the first erupting in 1569 only a year after mary's arrival in england and when the rebellion was crushed elizabeth ordered the executions of 750 catholic rebels and catholic resistance to elizabeth's rule increased not just in england but across europe as well in 1570 pope pius v issued a papal bull in response to the execution of catholic rebels in england the regnans in its chalces which excommunicated elizabeth and absolved all of her subjects from their allegiance to her this was essentially a kill order authorizing any loyal catholic in europe to assassinate the queen forcing elizabeth's government to legislate the death penalty to anyone promoting conversion to catholicism in england many missionary priests were executed in the ensuing years and these developments convinced elizabeth of the need for a greater intelligence and security infrastructure and in 1572 william cecil recalled sir francis woolsingham from his post in paris to serve as the queen's spymaster woolsingham was a brilliant man building one of europe's first truly comprehensive intelligence networks training and sending out numerous agents employing code breakers and intercepting communications wherever possible he proved himself to be nearly as indispensable to the queen as her right-hand man william cecil himself a committed protestant bullsingham was only too happy to remain loyal to elizabeth and defended her position on the throne he had personally witnessed the mass slaughter of protestants at the same bartholomew's day massacre in paris prior to his return to england and he was determined not to see the same thing happen in his own country and so with the help of her advisors and spy network elizabeth managed to weather two additional catholic conspiracies to engineer the rise of the queen of scots to the throne of england the rodolfi plot of 1571 saw the conspirators planning to wed mary to thomas howard elizabeth's cousin and the duke of norfolk who would then become king consort of england alongside mary when the plot was crushed howard was promptly executed for treason and mary was moved to a far more secure and confining residents then in 1586 the babington plot was foiled and elizabeth's advisors began to urge her to execute mary for treason waltzingham had carefully assembled a collection of letters comprising comprehensive and damning evidence of mary's involvement in the plot and elizabeth was persuaded that catholic opposition in europe to her rule was serious enough that allowing mary to live could invite further conspiracies until one eventually succeeded despite her initial refusals to entertain any suggestion of executing a fellow queen and also believing that the spanish might invade to aid mary's cause elizabeth was eventually persuaded to sign mary's death warrant and the queen of scots who'd been imprisoned in england for 19 years by the woman she had appealed to for help was beheaded on the 8th of february 1587. she went to her death with dignity and courage removing her black gown to reveal a scarlet petticoat the colour of martyrdom before kneeling in front of the block elizabeth reacted to mary's death with an agony of rage and remorse the sincerity of which her contemporaries debated and which historians continued to question today elizabeth claimed that she had instructed the secretary of whom the warrant had been entrusted william davidson not to execute the warrant unless the spanish invasion was imminent but the fact remains that elizabeth did sign the death warrant and that she undoubtedly knew she was safer with mary dead the backlash from mary's death was to present elizabeth in england with the greatest challenge yet the battle against the spanish armada when it came to foreign policy elizabeth had always been extraordinarily cautious and avoided engaging in military conflict wherever possible a far cry from the medieval warrior monarch she participated in several intermittent conflicts but her commitment was never very great wars were expensive but more than that elizabeth was concerned about her inability to direct the actions of her absent generals on campaign elizabeth approved and ultimately failed occupation of leave early on in her reign between 1562 and 1563 in an attempt to win back calais formerly the last english stronghold on the continent which her sister mary had lost to the french in 1557 the failure and expense soured elizabeth on continental military matters for the next 20 years but her discreet encouragement of privateering and the frequent attacks and robberies of spanish bullion ships in the interim made spain an increasingly bitter enemy by 1585 philip of spain had allied with the french catholic league concentrated on the channel coast which left england open to invasion philip was also moving to take control of the netherlands causing elizabeth to sign a treaty promising english military support to the dutch to resist the spanish conquerors she appointed the earl of leicester her old flame robert dudley to lead the campaign in the netherlands but it ultimately ended in failure and disgrace for dudley due to the conflicts between his mandates from the queen and the reality of the situation in the netherlands elizabeth expected lester to give the impression of upholding england's treaty promises but to simultaneously negotiate a secret peace with the spanish but above all she wanted him to avoid conflict and further entanglements but he did accept the position of governor general from the dutch states general and elizabeth interpreted this as very unwelcome pressure on her to assume sovereignty over the netherlands which the dutch had offered to her a decade before to help defend them from spanish and catholic domination unwilling to enter into perpetual war with spain elizabeth had refused and now she raged dudley for also pressuring her to send more funding and reinforcements to assist the dutch defense she penned a sharp rebuke and ordered that it be read in dudley's presence before the state's general dudley resigned his post in disgrace in 1587 and the spanish ultimately took most of the southern netherlands it would be several months before the queen's anger would cool and she would forgive her old favorite in the meantime elizabeth had now every reason to expect an invasion from the spanish in response to elizabeth's execution of mary queen of scots the pope had asked philip of spain to invade england depose elizabeth and take the throne for himself philip was the pre-eminent catholic monarch of europe and refusing a solemn order to a crusade from the pope was not something he could do he gravely acquiesced to the pope's request and prepared to sail for england anticipating the advance of the spanish armada elizabeth authorised sir francis drake to sail to cadiz and lay siege to the spanish fleet the raid was a great success with dozens of ships destroyed and the armada unable to sail out and face her enemies this gave england time to prepare while spain recovered from the setback at cadiz on the 12th of july 1588 the 130 ships in the spanish armada departed for their invasion of england intending to collect troops in the netherlands first part of the army of 55 000 men they intended to unleash on england who were nearly twice as many ships of spain but only 34 out of 200 comprise the english royal fleet the rest belonged to merchant mariners and privateers however despite their greater number of ships the english vessels were much smaller and were equipped with about half of the firepower of the spanish fleet the odds seem to be against an english victory and as much of the english channel coastline as possible was being fortified for defense the ensuing sea battle took place over approximately two weeks on the 19th of july the spanish fleet was first sighted off plymouth and the next day the english sailed out to fire on the spanish the english ships proved much faster and more maneuverable but few were willing to get close enough to inflict significant damage and so only one spanish ship was taken the spanish seemed unwilling to attack until they had rendezvoused the rest of their fleet and they anchored off of calais to await their allies but then on the 29th of july the english launched a night attack with fire ships assisted by the dutch who had blockaded the rest of their ships they scattered the armada forcing them to abandon their rendezvous the english pursued the fleeing spanish ships north along england's east coast and in the ensuing severe weather many spanish ships were wrecked off the coast of scotland and ireland with less than a third of the original armada eventually limping home to spain on the 8th of august elizabeth rode out to review her troops at tilbury who were mustering to defend england under the command of the earl of leicester dudley was old and ill now but stood staunchly at elizabeth's side dressed in white wearing a magnificent silver breastplate she gave the most famous and perhaps the greatest speech of her reign i am come to live and die amongst you all to lay down for my god and for my kingdoms and for my people my honor and my blood even in the dust i know i have the body of a weak and feeble woman but i have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of england too and think foul scorn that any prince of europe should dare invade the borders of my realm i myself will take up arms i myself will be your general judge and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field the troops cheered in response to this heartening speech from the queen and made ready little did they know that they were already safe and that the defeat of the spanish at sea had already occurred the defeat of the armada was one of the greatest military victories in english history and the first and largest engagement of the undeclared anglo-spanish war which lasted until 1604 but despite england's glorious victories in 1588 spain would see far more success throughout the conflict than the english ultimately did some historians have referred to elizabeth's remaining years following 1588 as the second reign england's economy began to suffer due to the cost of war with spain and of quelling rebellion against english authority in ireland taxes mounted to pay for these expensive conflicts and prices rose as the country experienced a series of poor harvests additionally by the 1590s most of elizabeth's old guard of advisers courtiers and friends were dead and gone their positions taken over by a younger generation for many of whom ambitions and advancement seemed impeded by an aging queen more set in her ways than ever these problems contributed to a dip in elizabeth's popularity during the last 15 years of her reign she faced one painful personal loss after another less than a month after england's victory over the spanish armada her longtime love robert dudley died he remained with her until he was certain the danger of invasion had passed and then he left her safe at richmond palace elizabeth received a letter from him a mere four days before his death and after hearing of his passing she labelled it his last letter and kept it in a lock box next to her bed with his miniature portrait until her own death elizabeth was utterly heartbroken at dudley's loss and stayed in her room for days unable to see to the business of court or her council she could not bear to hear dudley's name spoken thereafter without lapsing into a longing sadness and in 1598 elizabeth's heart broke once more when william cecil lord burley her childhood mentor and most trusted friend died at the impressive age of 74 she had forbidden his retirement as long as she could certain that she would be unable to manage without him and the loss of one old friend after another wore elizabeth down over the next few years the final blow was a betrayal by her newest court favourite robert devereaux earl of essex the son of elizabeth's lady lettuce nollies and stepson of robert dudley in his early twenties handsome brash and outrageously flirtatious the young earl felt no shame in taking liberties with the queen who was both flattered and indulgent with him she gifted him monopolies on wine imports and continually appointed him military positions despite his demonstrated record of irresponsibility and even incompetence elizabeth sent essex to ireland to put down a rebellion in 1599 but was enraged when he lost more than 11 000 men in only two months thanks to highly effective guerrilla tactics by the irish and rather than attacking ulster as he was commanded he negotiated for peace with the earl of tyrone instead and on hearing of his queen's deep disapproval of his actions he deserted his post in ireland traveling ceaselessly until he reached london he believed that if he could manage to speak to elizabeth alone that he could assuage her anger and she would quickly forgive him however he made a fatal miscalculation impulsively essex burst into the queen's private chambers unannounced and found her in nothing but her smock without her wig makeup and elaborate dress to mask her pockmarked aged skin and her boldness elizabeth was deeply embarrassed by the intrusion but she was much more humiliated to learn that essex had disparaged her appearance publicly following the incident wounding her fragile vanity and sending her into a rage essex was placed under house arrest and deprived of his monopolies and in february of 1601 he sought to lead an insurrection against elizabeth not to depose her but to extract concessions from her including the return of his privileges but he was unable to attract enough support to be successful i was executed for treason on the 25th of february 1601 essex's death depleted elizabeth and observers remarked that her mourning for him lasted until the following year the queen was growing older and weaker all the time and it fell to robert cecil son of william cecil and now elizabeth's chief minister to encourage a settlement of the succession quietly and gently he knew that if elizabeth had thus far refused to name a successor she was not going to do so now and so cecil entered into secret negotiations with king james vi of scotland who remained the nearest claimant to the english throne advising him on the manner of which he should write to elizabeth to put her in the best frame of mind to name him her heir james listened well and his overtures were received warmly by the queen some historians maintain that while she did not explicitly state in her replies the james would be her heir her acceptance of him as such was clearly implied in her letters in march of 1603 elizabeth fell seriously ill and for nearly two weeks she sat despondent and seemingly semi-conscious on cushions on the floor of her bed chamber she was suffering from a fever and from sores in her mouth and throat cecil urged her and pleaded with her to go to bed saying she must rest little man she snapped to him must is not a word to use to princes showing that even towards the end in her despair she was still the queen possessive of her royal prerogative elizabeth died in her bed at richmond palace on the morning of the 24th of march 1603 she was 69 years old and had ruled england for 44 years and beside her few mementos of dudley and her other loved ones a locket ring was found among the queen's few obviously sentimental possessions the ring opened to reveal two tiny miniatures one of elizabeth and one of another young woman dressed in a much older tudor fashion historians theorize that the woman featured in the second miniature may have been amberlynn if so this sheds a revealing light on elizabeth's feelings surrounding her mother's almost total absence for most of her life no one had ever really told her the whole story but as queen elizabeth would have been able to find out precisely the cruelties to which her mother had been subjected at henry's hands and that she was still wearing the keepsake right up until her death shows how closely she cherished the memory of the mother whom she could barely remember the mother whom she was never allowed to openly honor but whom elizabeth was certain had loved her and the fact that elizabeth was still wearing the ring at the end of her life is emblematic of the choices she made to avoid her mother's fate and those of other similarly unfortunate women she had seen killed ruined humiliated betrayed and used elizabeth had ruled long and successfully as queen regnant as no woman had done before and in doing so had changed the institutions of government over which she had presided elizabeth's determination to reign supreme and avoid the many pitfalls of marriage meant that the tudor line ended with her death and james vi of scotland the son of mary queen of scots elizabeth's greatest rival would rule england also as james the first elizabeth's reign had been in decline throughout the last decade and a half and while multitudes mourned her passing others viewed it with the hope of a new beginning within a few decades however disillusionment with the government of james the first had revived a wave of enthusiasm and nostalgia for what came to be known as the elizabethan age its glamour its relative peace its flowering of the arts and its largely strong economy for the first 25 years of elizabeth's reign much of the dissatisfaction of the final 15 years of her tenure as queen was forgotten and several generations of historians wrote and waxed lyrical about the golden age presided over by elizabeth the first gloriana or good queen bess as she was called by some and looking back across over 400 years elizabeth's reign would show several signs of emerging modernity including global exploration expansion of world trade the advent of modern finance and investment structures the creation of comprehensive intelligence structures the enactment of the earliest social welfare programs consciously active avoidance of ruinous wars and perhaps most modern of all a female authority figure holding power and legitimacy in her own right elizabeth blazed a trail for other female rulers in that few could reliably claim following her reign that women did not possess the capability to govern she died having committed the cardinal sin for any monarch of the medieval world dying on the throne without leaving behind the sun and heir of her own body to inherit the crown yet elizabeth is remembered with far more reverence and interest than almost any medieval king and as was her wish elizabeth is still remembered today as one of the most legendary rulers in english history whose marble stone set above her tomb in westminster abbey does indeed record that this queen having lived such a time lived and died a virgin what do you think of queen elizabeth the first of her triumphs defeats loves and losses was she truly england's greatest queen or half historian simply lionized her because of the disappointments of previous or subsequent rulers let us know in the comments section below and in the meantime thank you very much for watching hello guys thank you so much for watching this video if you enjoy our work and would like to support the channel please visit our revamped patreon and buy me a coffee membership pages which contain rewards such as early access to our content merchandise discounts and audio versions of our videos along with much more than we give to our valued supporters if you have not yet signed up to help our cause we'd like to ask you to please consider doing so as we need to secure the channel by safeguarding it from possible demonetization but also invest in better equipment software and more people to help us improve our videos going forward in short without your contributions these videos would not be 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Channel: The People Profiles

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Rating: 4.8256612 out of 5

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel, Boudicca, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth Woodville, Bloody Mary, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Queens of Britain, Britain's Royal Women

Id: 3b3sUGXlnYs

Length: 401min 30sec (24090 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 02 2021