Elizabeth I.

[lexi4]

I thought it was time to start a thread for Elizabeth.

Here are some of her facts.
She was born September 7, in 1533 in Greenwich Palace. The daughter of King Henry VII and Anne Boleyn.
The reign of Elizabeth began in November 1558 and lasted until her death in 1603. Her reign is referred to as The Golden Age.
She spoke several different languages. She loved hunting, horseback riding, music and dancing.
Maybe this will get us started.

[Finelly]

Of all of Henry's children, Elizabeth was the least dysfunctional.  She overcame, for the most part, the traumas of her childhood and teen years and made the most of the opportunities that faced her.

Edward and Mary were intelligent, but Elizabeth, I think, was close to brilliant.   Not only did she have the required "book learning", but she was a critical thinker with excellent strategic skills.

I admire her a lot.  One of the first feminists.

[bluetoria]

I found the last episode of the David Starkie TV series about her very sad. It was pitiful to see so great a Queen going into such a decline and losing her mind. Of all the kings & queens of Britain, I think she still remains the greatest symbol of monarchy and the nation. The myth she created about herself - the almost mystical Virgin Queen married only to her country & 'Gloriana' - fit perfectly into the age of the Renaissance, Shakespeare, the begins of 'Britannia ruling the waves' etc.

[lexi4]

I agree Blue.
In some ways, she was Anne's best revenge. She ruled well. I like the story about the Spanish Armada, she refused to sit safely tucked away in her castle, but joined her troops. What a woman.

[ilyala]

she was indeed amazing. and i think she was a lot like her mother but a little bit more caucious because of the way she grew up...

[helenazar]

Of all of Henry's children, Elizabeth was the least dysfunctional.  She overcame, for the most part, the traumas of her childhood and teen years and made the most of the opportunities that faced her.

Edward and Mary were intelligent, but Elizabeth, I think, was close to brilliant.   Not only did she have the required "book learning", but she was a critical thinker with excellent strategic skills.

I admire her a lot.  One of the first feminists.

Absolutely! Elizabeth was able to, single handedly, turn something that was a liability (her being a woman monarch) into a tremendous asset. I don't think any king has ever been able to use himself this way! Most likely all along Elizabeth had no intention of ever marrying, but she milked her single status for as long as she could, while very few realized whether she "meant it" this time or not... Her courting strategies were targeted to politically benefit her country first and foremost, not her personal life. I think that this is an excellent trait for a ruler. She was a brilliant ruler and what a stark contast to other reigning queens, Mary Stuart for one, who seemed to have been the antithesis of Elizabeth.... After Elizabeth's reign, no one can say that women are not fit to rule...

Clear evidence of the fact that Elizabeth was indeed brilliant is that at the age of 15 or 16 she was able to outwit seasoned politicians three times her age during the Thomas Seymour fiasco. Most adults would not have gotten out of that one, but she did and came out almost unscathed...

[rskkiya]

   While I have little love for 'Thin Lizzie' nevertheless here is a fine example of a woman who used her neurosies (sp) to her atvantage!
   Her fear of intimacy and her love/hate relationship with her parents made her focus on her brain rather than her body. Rather than risk the humiliation and suffering she witnessed with her half sister Mary's attempt to have a child - she opted to marry "England' and keep all the power in her own hands rather than give them to a man who might betray her.

[lexi4]

She was indeed brilliant in every way

[Sunny]

Some favorite:)quotes:

"Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: That I have reigned with your loves."

Answer on being asked her opinion of Christ's presence in the Sacrament. " 'Twas God the word that spake it, He took the Bread and brake it; And what the word did make it That I believe, and take it."

"The use of the sea and air is common to all; neither can a title to the ocean belong to any people or private persons, forasmuch as neither nature nor public use and custom permit any possession thereof."

"I am your anointed Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am endued with such qualities that if I were turned out of the Realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom."

"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 Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm."

"I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire that my name may be recorded in a line or two, which shall briefly express my name, my virginity, the years of my reign, the reformation of religion under it, and my preservation of peace."

"As for me, I see no such great cause why I should either be fond to live or fear to die. I have had good experience of this world, and I know what it is to be a subject and what to be a sovereign. Good neighbours I have had, and I have met with bad: and in trust I have found treason."

Sunny

[bluetoria]

Thank you, Sunny,  for these brilliant quotations!  

They seem to show that she had inherited much of her father's showmanship and flair for creating the right impression of a monarch. I imagine in her own time, the myth she created about herself had a far greater impact on the majority of people than the reality of who she was (even though she was brilliant anyway).

Whatever did not fit her image, had to be disposed of. When for example, this rather unflattering miniature of her was created:



she (unsurprisingly) disliked it and had other, far more flattering ones made.
Her ability to keep all the foreign suitors waiting, only added to her mystique. Her speeches remind me of Marie of Roumania who, I think, is the only other Queen who could have come near to Elizabeth's ability to create that image.

I do not see any similarities between Elizabeth and her mother, and I wonder what Elizabeth - intelligent as she was - thought of Anne, who imo, was really very much to blame for the cruel treatment of Queen Katherine to whom she owed a debt of loyalty. (But that's another thread!  )

[Finelly]

Elizabeth apparently had the same build, the same figure, the same eyes, and the same long, slender fingers as her mother.  She inherited her father's chin, mouth, and red hair!

There is evidence that she treasured memory of her mother, keeping a locket or a ring that had her mother's portrait in it.  She was very private about her mother, but since she kept her cousins and other relatives around her (Carey cousins, mostly) we can assume that she felt the family ties.

[helenazar]

IMO, Elizabeth looks amazingly like her mother, and only inherited her father's coloring.




Her personality, I think was a combination of both her parents, with lots of "hindsite 20/20" thrown in!  

[helenazar]

Whatever did not fit her image, had to be disposed of.

I don't blame her  

[bluetoria]

Myabe she should have disposed of her teeth as well - weren't they all rotten?  

In saying she didn't resemble her mother, I meant in her characteristics, not so much her appearance. I cannot see any character trait which she shared with Anne. Can anyone else?  

[ChristineM]

She was an absolutely incredible character and an amazing monarch.

In a recent television programme there was a nationwide opinion poll to find Britain's most popular monarch (and why).

Elizabeth I was a hands-down winner.   Deservedsly so in my opinon.

tsaria