Then Came the Queens

The late Tudor Era

A Boy King – A Question of Which Faith – The Nine Days’ Queen – A Letter to Queen Mary – A Spanish Match? – “I Pray You Dispatch Me Quickly” - Thin and Delicate – The Fires of Smithfield - The Dread Sovereign Lady, Elizabeth –Set a Limit to Your Love – I Will Marry as Soon As I Can – The Tale of Mary Stuart – Elizabeth Threatens the Queen of Scots – Sentence is Passed - The Last Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots – Rising in the Night – The Spanish Armada - Let Tyrants Fear – Francis Drake Keeps Bowling - A Challenge to the Queen – An Audience With the Queen

H. E. Marshall – A Boy King From Our Island Story

HENRY VIII. had three children. They were called Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. Edward was the son of Lady Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, and was the youngest of the three. But for several reasons he was made King. Edward was only nine years old and his uncle, Lord Somerset, was made Regent or Protector. Lord Somerset was not a strong man and did not rule well. He wished to be powerful and tried to make himself King in all but name. His brother, Thomas Seymour, also wanted to rule, so there were plots and quarrels between them and between the other great nobles.

… Lady Jane Seymour had been a Protestant and so was her brother who was now Protector. Edward VI had been brought up in the new religion and although he had very little power, he wanted the country to become Protestant. But this was not the wish of the whole people. Many of them did not like the new English service which the King ordered to be used in the churches. It was like a Christmas game, they said, and they asked for the old Latin service called the Mass to which they were accustomed. When Henry VIII shut up the monasteries he brought great distress on the poor in many ways. He gave some of the monastery land to his friends, and these gentlemen, growing greedy, began now to add to their possessions by enclosing with fences the common lands, which before had been free to everyone. The poor had been allowed to feed their cows and sheep on these common lands but now that they were enclosed by fences, the sheep and cows died from hunger, and the poor people were worse off than ever. … At last the people rose in rebellion…. But the rebellion was soon crushed and the ringleaders put to death. …But the people rose again and again. One of the chief rebellions was under a man called Ket. He was a tanner. A great many people gathered round him, and they camped near Norwich on a plain, in the centre of which stood a great oak tree. This tree they called the Oak of Reformation, and under its branches Ket held his Parliament and Court, deciding quarrels, making laws, and punishing wrong-doers. Ket encouraged his followers to pull up the hedges, throw down the fences, and fill up the ditches with which the common lands had been surrounded. Otherwise they behaved in a wonderfully orderly manner. They did indeed steal sheep and cattle from the rich gentlemen round so that they might have plenty to eat in the camp. But Ket ordered his men not to hurt any honest or poor people. He called himself the King's friend, and said he fought only against the wicked lords who gave him bad advice…. The Protector had gathered an army, intending to make war on Scotland, and this army he now sent against Ket and his men. There was a good deal of fighting. Many people on both sides were killed, the town of Norwich was taken and retaken, but in the end Ket was defeated. He and his brother were made prisoners with many of their followers. They were put to death, and nine of the chief rebels were hanged upon the branches of the Oak of Reformation. … Edward had never been strong, and Northumberland [the royal protector while the king was underage] knew that he was not likely to live long. The next heir to the throne was Mary, Edward's elder sister. She was the daughter of Katherine of Arragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. Princess Mary was a Roman Catholic. She [rejected] the Protestant religion as much as Edward loved it.

Edward VI – A Question of Which Faith From Edward VI’s Private Diary

The lady Mary, my sister, came to me to Westminster, where after greetings she was called with my council into a chamber where it was declared how long I had suffered her Mass, in hope of her reconciliation, and how now, there being no hope as I saw by her letters, unless I saw some speedy amendment I could not bear it. She answered that her soul was God's and her faith she would not change, nor hide her opinion with dissembled doings. It was said I did not constrain her faith but willed her only as a subject to obey. And that her example might lead to too much inconvenience. On 19 March the emperor's ambassador came with a short message from his master of threatened war, if I would not allow his cousin the princess to use her mass. No answer was given to this at the time. The following day the bishops of Canterbury, London and Rochester, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and John Scory, concluded that to give licence to sin was sin; to allow and wink at it for a time might be born as long as all possible haste was used.

H. E. Marshall – The Nine Days’ Queen From Our Island Story

It made Edward sad to think that, when he was dead, Mary would undo all that he had done and that England would again become Roman Catholic. Northumberland knew this, and he persuaded Edward to make a will leaving the throne to his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. Of course Edward had no right to do this, but he did do it. Lady Jane Grey was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII., and she was married to the Duke of Northumberland's son. She was very young, being only about sixteen, and the duke thought that if she were Queen, he would be able to do just as he liked. He tried to keep his plan secret, for he knew that many of the people wished Mary to be Queen. He succeeded so well that even Lady Jane herself did not know what he intended to do. In 1553 A.D., [when Edward was sixteen] soon after [he] had made his will, leaving the crown to his cousin, he died. He was a good and gentle boy, fond of books and learning…. Edward was very anxious to do what was right, but like his father Henry VIII., he was also fond of his own way. Had he lived to be old enough really to reign, he might have proved to be a good King. But it is hard to tell…. A soon as King Edward VI. was dead, Northumberland, with several other nobles, went to Lady Jane Grey, and offered her the crown. They knelt to her, kissing her hand and greeting her as their Queen. It was a great thing to be Queen of England, but Lady Jane was not glad. She was sad and frightened. She trembled as the duke spoke to her, then covering her face with her hands, she fell fainting to the ground.

When she came to herself again she cried bitterly for sorrow at the death of her cousin, whom she had loved dearly. She was only a very little older than he and, like him, she was fond of learning; indeed they had often had the same masters. Lady Jane was even more clever than Edward. She could speak and write Greek and Latin, and she knew some Hebrew. This was more wonderful in those days than it would be now, for then very few people had any learning at all. As Lady Jane wept for her cousin, the nobles tried to comfort her by reminding her how great she herself now was. But that did not comfort her. It frightened her. "I cannot be Queen," she said. "I cannot bear so great an honour. I am not fit for it." "It is your duty," said the duke. "You cannot put away from you the duty God gives you." With tears running down her face, Lady Jane fell upon her knees, and clasping her hands said, "Then if it must be so, God give me strength to bear this heavy burden. God give me grace to rule for His glory and the good of the people." The next day Lady Jane was taken in state to the Tower. But no crowds gathered to greet and cheer her as their Queen. A few people came out of idle curiosity, but they were all silent. Not one voice cried, "God save the Queen!" But while these things were happening, the Princess Mary did not sit still. [She was the rightful heir to the throne according to the succession, and the entire country but for a few courtiers upheld her as the true queen.] She raised an army and claimed the crown. Northumberland marched against her with another army, leaving Lady Jane in the Tower. No sooner had he gone, than many of the lords, who had joined him in helping to put Lady Jane on the throne, began to regret it. They one and all declared for Queen Mary and, marching to the Tower, demanded the keys in her name. Lady Jane's father, who had been left to guard the Tower, was afraid to resist, and he opened the gates to Mary's friends. Then running to his daughter's room he told her that her reign was at an end. "Dear father," she said, "these are the happiest words I have ever heard since you told me that I must be Queen. May I go home now?" she added. But alas! it was easier to enter the Tower than to leave it, and she was kept fast prisoner. Meanwhile Mary had been proclaimed Queen in the streets of London. Instead of the gloomy silence which had greeted Lady Jane Grey, the people shouted with joy, "God save the Queen! God save the Queen!"

The news spread fast. The church bells rang, the people sang and shouted, bonfires were lit, everywhere there was feasting and rejoicing. Mary was Queen. The news travelled on. It reached Northumberland and his army. The duke knew when he heard it that his cause was lost, that his hopes and his fortunes were fallen and broken. Only one thing was left to him. He, too, took off his cap and shouted with the rest, "God save the Queen!" Poor Lady Jane, the nine days’ Queen, was forgotten. …

Lady Jane Grey – A Letter to Queen Mary From a Letter Addressed to the Queen, 1554

'Although my fault be such that but for the goodness and clemency of the Queen, I can have no hope of finding pardon.... having given ear to those who at the time appeared not only to myself, but also to the great part of this realm to be wise and now have manifested themselves to the contrary, not only to my and their great detriment, but with common disgrace and blame of all, they having with shameful boldness made to blamable and dishonourable an attempt to give to others that which was not theirs...[and my own] lack of prudence...for which I deserve heavy punishment...it being known that the error imputed to me has not been altogether caused by myself. [The Privy Council]....who with unwontd caresses and pleasantness, did me such reverence as was not at all suitable to my state. He [Dudley] then said that his Majesty had well weighed an Act of Parliament...that whoever should acknowledge the most serene Mary...or the lady Elizabeth and receive them as the true heirs of the crown of England should be had all for traitors...wherefore, in no manner did he wish that they should be heirs of him and of that crown, he being able in every way to disinherit them. And therefore, before his death, he gave order to the Council, that for the honour they owed to him...they should obey his last will... All these I have wished for the witness of my innocence and the disburdening of my conscience.'

H. E. Marshall – A Spanish Match? From Our Island Story

Mary was so glad and happy to have won the crown that she was… kind to everyone. She would not put Lady Jane and her husband to death—an innocent girl was not to blame, she said. But she kept them both prisoners in the Tower. Mary was a Roman Catholic, and she made up her mind to bring England back to that faith. At first many of the people were glad of this, for… they did not like the new religion. But when Mary let it be known that she meant to marry Philip of Spain, the people were very angry…. The English hated the Spaniards, and were afraid of them. The Spaniards they knew were cruel…. They tried to make Mary marry an Englishman, [but Mary was a believer in the idea that a princess could marry no one less than a prince, and a queen no one less than a king. No Englishmen could fit these qualifications.]

No one was pleased with this marriage, and the Protestants were very much afraid. Anything, they thought, would be better than to allow a Spaniard to rule in England. So a plot was formed to put Mary from the throne, and to set either her sister Elizabeth or Lady Jane Grey in her place. But the plot failed. All the leaders were beheaded, and… their followers were hanged… Lady Jane, who had never wished to rule, was blamed for this rebellion.

Anonymous Eyewitness – “I Pray You Dispatch Me Quickly” From the Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary

By this time was there a scaffold made upon the green over against the White Tower, for the said Lady Jane to die upon.... The said lady, being nothing abashed....with a book in her hand whereon she prayed all the way till she came to the said scaffold.... First, when she mounted the said scaffold she said to the people standing thereabout: 'Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the queen's highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day' and therewith she wrung her hands, in which she had her book.

And then, kneeling down, she turned to Feckenham [the dean of St Paul's] saying, 'Shall I say this psalm?' And he said, 'Yea.' Then she said the psalm of Miserere mei Deus, in English, in most devout manner, to the end. Then she stood up and gave...Mistress Tilney her gloves and handkercher, and her book to master Bruges, the lieutenant's brother; forthwith she untied her gown. The hangman went to her to help her therewith; then she desired him to let her alone, and also with her other attire and neckercher, giving to her a fair handkercher to knit about her eyes.

Then the hangman kneeled down, and asked her forgiveness, whom she gave most willingly. Then he willed her to stand upon the straw: which doing, she saw the block. Then she said, 'I pray you dispatch me quickly.' Then she kneeled down, saying, 'Will you take it off before I lay me down?' and the hangman answered her, 'No, madame.' She tied the kercher about her eyes; then feeling for the block said, 'What shall I do? Where is it?' One of the standers-by guiding her thereto, she laid her head down upon the block, and stretched forth her body and said: 'Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!' And so she ended.

Giovanni Michele: Thin and Delicate Description of an Audience With Mary Tudor

She is of short stature, well made, thin and delicate, and moderately pretty; her eyes are so lively that she inspires reverence and respect, and even fear, wherever she turns them; nevertheless she is very shortsighted. Her voice is deep, almost like that of a man. She understands five languages, - English, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, in which last, however, she does not venture to converse. She is also much skilled in ladies' work, such as producing all sorts of embroidery with the needle. She has a knowledge of music, chiefly on the lute, on which she plays exceedingly well.

As to the qualities of her mind, it may be said of her that she is rash, disdainful, and parsimonious rather than liberal. She is endowed with great humility and patience, but withal high-spirited, courageous, and resolute, having during the whole course of her adversity not been guilty of the least approach to meanness of deportment. She is, moreover, devout and staunch in the defense of her religion.

Some personal infirmities under which she labors are the causes to her of both public and private affliction; to remedy these, recourse is had to frequent bloodletting, and this is the real cause of her paleness and the general weakness of her frame….

The cabal she has been exposed to, the evil disposition of the people toward her, the present poverty and the debt of the crown, and her passion for King Philip, from whom she is doomed to live separate, are so many other causes of the grief with which she is overwhelmed. She is, moreover, a prey to the hatred she bears my Lady Elizabeth, and which has its source in the recollection of the wrongs she experienced on account of her mother, and in the fact that all eyes and hearts are turned towards my Lady Elizabeth as successor to the throne..."

"An Audience with Queen Mary, 1557," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2007).

Herbert Thurston – The Fires of Smithfield From “Mary Tudor”

Meanwhile the restoration of the old religion went on vigorously. The altars were set up again, the married clergy were deprived, High Mass was sung at St. Paul's, and new bishops were consecrated according to the ancient ritual…. On 30 Nov., [Cardinal Pole, on behalf of the universal Church,] pronounced the absolution of the kingdom over the king and queen and Parliament all kneeling before him…

All this seems to have excited much feeling among the… Reformers, men who for some years had railed against the Pope… Mary and her advisers [began to enforce penalties for teaching Protestantism.] Both under Henry VIII and Edward VI men had been burned for religion, and Protestant bishops like Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley had had a principal hand in their burning. It seems to be generally admitted now that no vindictive thirst for blood prompted the deplorable severities which followed, but they have weighed heavily upon the memory of Mary, and it seems on the whole probable that in her conscientious but misguided zeal for the peace of the Church, she was herself principally responsible for them. In less than four years 277 persons were burned to death. Some, like Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, were men of influence and high position, but the majority belonged to the lower orders. Still these last were dangerous, because, as Dr. Gairdner has pointed, [most of the Protestants so were burned were also involved in treasonable plots.] In regard to these executions, a much more lenient and at the same time more equitable judgment now prevails than was formerly the case. As one recent writer observes, Mary and her advisers "honestly believed themselves to be applying the only remedy left for the removal of a mortal disease from the body politic...”

Something, perhaps, of Mary's severity, which was in contradiction to the clemency and generosity uniformly shown in the rest of her life, may be attributed to the bitterness which seems to have been concentrated into these last years. Long an invalid, she had had more than one serious illness during the reign of her brother. But the dropsy had now become chronic… Again it was her misfortune to have conceived a passionate love for her husband. Philip had never returned this affection, and when the hope of her bearing him an heir proved illusory, he treated her with scant consideration and quit England forever…

Mary died most piously...

And for the third time, England looked to a queen to lead the sovereign island. Mary had been the only living child of Henry VIII’s first wife, the unhappy, divorced Katherine of Aragon. Now all England turned to her cousin, Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry’s fatal second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth Tudor came out from the home she had made in the Tower of London, a fresh- faced young woman with flowing, flame-red tresses, and made a stunning impression on the nation – she would be England’s longest reigning queen until the nineteenth century.

Richard Mulcaster: The Dread Sovereign Lady, Elizabeth From The Passage of our Most Dread Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth, Through the City of London to Westminster, the Day before her Coronation

Upon Saturday, which was the 14th day of January in the year of our Lord God 1558 [1559], about two of the clock in the afternoon, the most noble and Christian Princess, our most dread Sovereign Lady, Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc. marched from the Tower to pass through the City of London, towards Westminster: richly furnished and most honorably accompanied, as well with Gentlemen, Barons and other of the Nobility of this realm, as also with a noble train of goodly and beautiful Ladies, richly appointed.

And entering the City, was of the people received marvelous entirely, as appeared by the assembly’s prayers, wishes, welcomings, cries, tender words, and all other signs: which argue a wonderful earnest love towards their sovereign. And on the other side, Her Grace, by holding up her hands, and merry countenance to such as stood afar off, and most tender and gentle language to those that stood nigh to her Grace, did declare herself no less thankfully to receive her people’s goodwill, than they lovingly offered it.

Near to Fanchurch, was erected a scaffold richly furnished; whereon stood a noise of instruments; and a child, in costly apparel, which was appointed to welcome the Queen’s Majesty, in the whole of the City’s behalf.

In Cheapside, Her Grace smiled; and being thereof demanded the cause, answered “For that she heard one say “Remember old King Henry VIII!” A natural child which at the very remembrance of her father’s name took so great a joy; that all men may well think that as she rejoiced at his name whom the realm doth hold of such worthy memory, so, in her doings, she will resemble the same.

England was delighted with their young monarch, but most anxious that she should marry and provide a secure heir to the throne.

Elizabeth I – Set a Limit to Your Love Response to Erik of Sweden's Proposal, 1560 Elizabeth had dozens of suitors during her life, none so ardent as King Erik of Sweden, who had proposed to her when she was only the "Lady Elizabeth." In 1560, he tried to come to England, but was thwarted by storms, so he sent his brother as a proxy groom. Here is Elizabeth's reply: Most Serene Prince Our Very Dear Cousin, A letter truly yours both in the writing and sentiment was given us on 30 December by your very dear brother, the Duke of Finland. And while we perceive there from that the zeal and love of your mind towards us is not diminished, yet in part we are grieved that we cannot gratify your Serene Highness with the same kind of affection. And that indeed does not happen because we doubt in any way of your love and honour, but, as often we have testified both in words and writing, that we have never yet conceived a feeling of that kind of affection towards anyone. We therefore beg your Serene Highness again and again that you be pleased to set a limit to your love, that it advance not beyond the laws of friendship for the present nor disregard them in the future. And we in our turn shall take care that whatever can be required for the holy preservation of friendship between Princes we will always perform towards your Serene Highness. It seems strange for your Serene Highness to write that you understand from your brother and your ambassadors that we have entirely determined not to marry an absent husband; and that we shall give you no certain reply until we shall have seen your person. We certainly think that if God ever direct our hearts to consideration of marriage we shall never accept or choose any absent husband how powerful and wealthy a Prince soever. But that we are not to give you an answer until we have seen your person is so far from the thing itself that we never even considered such a thing. But I have always given both to your brother, who is certainly a most excellent prince and deservedly very dear to us, and also to your ambassador likewise the same answer with scarcely any variation of the words, that we do not conceive in our heart to take a husband, but highly commend this single life, and hope that your Serene Highness will no longer spend time in waiting for us. God keep your Serene Highness for many years in good health and safety. From our Palace at Westminster, 25 February. Your Serene Highness' sister and cousin, Elizabeth

Elizabeth I – I Will Marry As Soon as I Can Response to Parliamentary Delegation on Her Marriage, 1566 In 1566, Parliament was still nagging Elizabeth to marry. A delegation from both houses came to petition her. Here is part of the angry dressing-down she gave them: 'Was I not born in the realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country? Is not my kingdom here? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I enriched to other's harm? What turmoil have I made in this commonwealth that I should be suspected to have no regard to the same? How have I governed since my reign? I will be tried by envy itself. I need not to use many words, for my deeds do try me… And therefore I say again, I will marry as soon as I can conveniently, if God take not him away with whom I mind to marry, or myself, or else some other great let happen. I can say no more except the party were present. And I hope to have children, otherwise I would never marry. A strange order of petitioners that will make a request and cannot be otherwise assured but by the prince's word, and yet will not believe it when it is spoken. Elizabeth never did marry, much to the consternation of her ministers. After a number of years, she declared that she was married – to England. Charles Dickens – The Tale of Mary Stuart From a History of England The one great trouble of this reign [was the enormous trouble between Elizabeth Tudor and her cousin,] MARY STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTS…She was the daughter of the Queen Regent of Scotland, MARY OF GUISE. She had been married, when a mere child, to the Dauphin, the son and heir of the King of France. The Pope… was strongly opposed to Elizabeth[‘s treatment of Roman Catholics, as she had reinstated all the old laws banning freedom of religion for them, and daily had been executed numbers far exceeding any that that had died during the reign of Mary Tudor.] And as Mary Queen of Scots would have inherited the English crown in right of her birth, supposing the English Parliament not to have altered the succession, the Pope himself, and most of the discontented who were followers of his, maintained that Mary was the rightful Queen of England, and Elizabeth the wrongful Queen. Mary being so closely connected with France, and France being jealous of England, there was far greater danger in this than there would have been if she had had no alliance with that great power. And when her young husband, on the death of his father, became FRANCIS THE SECOND, King of France, the matter grew very serious. For, the young couple styled themselves King and Queen of England…

Now, the Protestant religion, under the guidance of a stern and powerful preacher, named JOHN KNOX, and other such men, had been making fierce progress in Scotland. It was still a half savage country, where there was a great deal of murdering and rioting continually going on; and the Reformers, instead of reforming those evils as they should have done, went to work in the ferocious old Scottish spirit, laying churches and chapels waste, pulling down pictures and altars, and knocking about the Grey Friars, and the Black Friars, and the White Friars, and the friars of all sorts of colours, in all directions. This obdurate and harsh spirit of the Scottish Reformers (the Scotch have always been rather a sullen and frowning people in religious matters) put up the blood of the Roman Catholic French court, and caused France to send troops over to Scotland, with the hope of setting the friars of all sorts of colours on their legs again; of conquering that country first, and England afterwards; and so crushing the Reformation all to pieces. The Scottish Reformers, who had formed a great league which they called The Congregation of the Lord, secretly represented to Elizabeth that, if the Protestant religion got the worst of it with them, it would be likely to get the worst of it in England too; and thus, Elizabeth, though she had a high notion of the rights of Kings and Queens to do anything they liked, sent an army to Scotland to support the Reformers, who were in arms against their sovereign. All these proceedings led to a treaty of peace at Edinburgh, under which the French consented to depart from the kingdom…. It happened, soon after matters had got to this state, that the young French King died, leaving Mary a young widow. She was then invited by her Scottish subjects to return home and reign over them; and as she was not now happy where she was, she, after a little time, complied. Elizabeth had been Queen three years, when Mary Queen of Scots embarked at Calais for her own rough, quarrelling country. As she came out of the harbour, a vessel was lost before her eyes, and she said, ‘O! good God! what an omen this is for such a voyage!’ She was very fond of France, and sat on the deck, looking back at it and weeping, until it was quite dark. When she went to bed, she directed to be called at daybreak, if the French coast were still visible, that she might behold it for the last time. As it proved to be a clear morning, this was done, and she again wept for the country she was leaving, and said many times, ‘Farewell, France! Farewell, France! I shall never see thee again! …. When she came to Scotland, and took up her abode at the palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh, she found herself among uncouth strangers and wild uncomfortable customs very different from her experiences in the court of France. The very people who were disposed to love her, made her head ache when she was tired out by her voyage, with a serenade of discordant music—a fearful concert of bagpipes, I suppose—and brought her and her train home to her palace on miserable little Scotch horses that appeared to be half starved.

Among the people who were not disposed to love her, she found the powerful leaders of the Protestant Church, who were bitter upon her amusements, however innocent, and denounced music and dancing as works of the devil. John Knox himself often lectured her, violently and angrily, and did much to make her life unhappy. All these reasons confirmed her old attachment to the Roman Catholic religion, and caused her…. to give a solemn pledge to the heads of the Roman Catholic Church that if she ever succeeded to the English crown, she would set up that religion again…. That Elizabeth, on the other hand, was not inclined to like her, is pretty certain. Elizabeth was very vain and jealous, and had an extraordinary dislike to people being married. She treated Lady Catherine Grey, sister of the beheaded Lady Jane, with such shameful severity, for no other reason than her being secretly married, that she died and her husband was ruined; so, when a second marriage for Mary began to be talked about, probably Elizabeth disliked her more. Not that Elizabeth wanted suitors of her own, for they started up from Spain, Austria, Sweden, and England…. Divers princes proposed to marry Mary, but the English court had reasons for being jealous of them all, and even proposed as a matter of policy that she should marry that very Earl of Leicester who had aspired to be the husband of Elizabeth. At last, LORD DARNLEY, son of the Earl of Lennox, and himself descended from the Royal Family of Scotland, went over with Elizabeth’s consent to try his fortune at Holyrood. He was a tall simpleton; and could dance and play the guitar; but I know of nothing else he could do, unless it were to get very drunk, and eat gluttonously, and make a contemptible spectacle of himself in many mean and vain ways. However, he gained Mary’s heart, not disdaining in the pursuit of his object to ally himself with one of her secretaries, DAVID RIZZIO, who had great influence with her. He soon married the Queen…. Mary had been married but a little while, when she began [she became dreadfully unhappy, due to her husband’s notorious conduct,] who, in his turn, began to hate that David Rizzio, with whom he had leagued to gain her favour, and whom he now believed to [be secretly working against him.] He hated Rizzio to that extent, that he made a compact with LORD RUTHVEN and three other lords to get rid of him by murder. This wicked agreement they made in solemn secrecy upon the first of March, fifteen hundred and sixty-six, and on the night of Saturday the ninth, the conspirators were brought by Darnley up a private staircase, dark and steep, into a range of rooms where they knew that Mary was sitting at supper with her sister, Lady Argyle, and this doomed man. When they went into the room, Darnley took the Queen round the waist, and Lord Ruthven, who had risen from a bed of sickness to do this murder, came in, gaunt and ghastly, leaning on two men. Rizzio ran behind the Queen for shelter and protection. ‘Let him come out of the room,’ said Ruthven. ‘He shall not leave the room,’ replied the Queen; ‘I read his danger in your face, and it is my will that he remain here.’ They then set upon him, struggled with him, overturned the table, dragged him out, and killed him with fifty-six stabs…. [Not long afterwards, Darnley was found murdered it is not known to this day who did it. Some said it was undoubtedly Rizzio’s friends, seeking revenge for his murder. But others accused Mary Stuart, sayng that she had so wearied of her husband behaviour that she could endure him no more. Whatever the case, a riot broke out, and people began to chase after Mary, screaming out that she was a murderess, even going so far as to interrupt her prayers. The people did not so much believe that she had murdered her husband, as to take the opportunity to posit that Mary was secretly working to undermine Elizabeth I’s reign. The lords forced her under duress to sign an abdication. She was for a time confined on suspicion at the castle of Lochleven.] She had better have remained in the castle of Lochleven, dull prison as it was, with the rippling of the lake against it, and the moving shadows of the water on the room walls; but she could not rest there, and more than once tried to escape. The first time she had nearly succeeded, dressed in the clothes of her own washer-woman, but, putting up her hand to prevent one of the boatmen from lifting her veil, the men suspected her, seeing how white it was, and rowed her back again. A short time afterwards, her fascinating manners enlisted in her cause a boy in the Castle, called the little DOUGLAS, who, while the family were at supper, stole the keys of the great gate, went softly out with the Queen, locked the gate on the outside, and rowed her away across the lake, sinking the keys as they went along.

On the opposite shore she was met by another Douglas, and some few lords; and, so accompanied, rode away on horseback to Hamilton, where they raised three thousand men. Here, she issued a proclamation declaring that the abdication she had signed in her prison was illegal, and requiring the Regent to yield to his lawful Queen. Being a steady soldier, and in no way discomposed although he was without an army, Murray [who had made himself regent of Scotland,] pretended to treat with her, until he had collected a force about half equal to her own, and then he gave her battle. In one quarter of an hour he cut down all her hopes. She had another weary ride on horse-back of sixty long Scotch miles, and took shelter at Dundrennan Abbey, whence she fled for safety to Elizabeth’s dominions… When Mary Queen of Scots arrived in England, without money and even without any other clothes than those she wore, she wrote to Elizabeth, representing herself as an innocent and injured piece of Royalty, and entreating her assistance to oblige her Scottish subjects to take her back again and obey her. …She was told in answer that she must first clear herself. Made uneasy by this condition, Mary, rather than stay in England, would have gone to Spain, or to France, or would even have gone back to Scotland. But, as her doing either would have been likely to trouble England afresh, it was decided that she should be detained here. She first came to Carlisle, and, after that, was moved about from castle to castle, as was considered necessary; but England she never left again…. Elizabeth I – Elizabeth Threatens the Queen of Scots From a Letter to Mary, Queen of Scots

To Mary, queen of Scots, October 1586 :

You have in various ways and manners attempted to take my life and to bring my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never proceeded so harshly against you, but have, on the contrary, protected and maintained you like myself. These treasons will be proved to you and all made manifest. Yet it is my will, that you answer the nobles and peers of the kingdom as if I were myself present. I therefore require, charge, and command that you make answer for I have been well informed of your arrogance.

Act plainly without reserve, and you will sooner be able to obtain favour of me.

Elizabeth

Charles Dickens – Sentence is Passed From a History of England Queen Elizabeth had been warned long ago, by one in France who had good information of what was secretly doing, that in holding Mary alive, she held ‘the wolf who would devour her.’ [for people would support Mary Stuart’s claim to the throne.] The Bishop of London had, more lately, given the Queen’s favourite minister the advice in writing, ‘forthwith to cut off the Scottish Queen’s head.’ The question now was, what to do with her? The Earl of Leicester wrote a little note home from Holland, recommending that she should be quietly poisoned… His black advice, however, was disregarded, and she was brought to trial at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire, before a tribunal of forty, composed of both religions. There, and in the Star Chamber at Westminster, the trial lasted a fortnight. [Though her prosecutors believed her guilty, they knew there was not enough evidence to convict her, and so produced forged confessions of guilt, as well as papers Mary had actually written to her friends asking for help in escaping, which had fallen into their hands.] She was found guilty, and declared to have incurred the penalty of death. The Parliament met, approved the sentence, and prayed the Queen to have it executed. … The citizens illuminated their houses and lighted bonfires, in token of their joy that all these plots and troubles were to be ended by the death of the Queen of Scots. She, feeling sure that her time was now come, wrote a letter to the Queen of England, making three entreaties; first, that she might be buried in France; secondly, that she might not be executed in secret, but before her servants and some others; thirdly, that after her death, her servants should not be molested, but should be suffered to go home with the legacies she left them. It was an affecting letter, and Elizabeth shed tears over it, but sent no answer. Then came a special ambassador from France, and another from Scotland, to intercede for Mary’s life; and then the nation began to clamour, more and more, for her death. What the real feelings or intentions of Elizabeth were, can never be known now; but I strongly suspect her of only wishing one thing more than Mary’s death, and that was to keep free of the blame of it. On the first of February, one thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, Lord Burleigh having drawn out the warrant for the execution, the Queen sent to the secretary DAVISON to bring it to her, that she might sign it: which she did. Next day, when Davison told her it was sealed, she angrily asked him why such haste was necessary? Next day but one, she joked about it, and swore a little. Again, next day but one, she seemed to complain that it was not yet done, but still she would not be plain with those about her. So, on the seventh, the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury, with the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, came with the warrant to Fotheringay, to tell the Queen of Scots to prepare for death.

Mary Stuart: The Last Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots From a Letter to Henry III of France 8 February 1587 To the most Christian king, my brother and old ally,

Royal brother, having by God's will, for my sins I think, thrown myself into the power of the Queen my cousin, at whose hands I have suffered much for almost twenty years, I have finally been condemned to death by her and her Estates. I have asked for my papers, which they have taken away, in order that I might make my will, but I have been unable to recover anything of use to me, or even get leave either to make my will freely or to have my body conveyed after my death, as I would wish, to your kingdom where I had the honor to be queen, your sister and old ally.

Tonight, after dinner, I have been advised of my sentence: I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning. I have not had time to give you a full account of everything that has happened, but if you will listen to my doctor and my other unfortunate servants, you will learn the truth, and how, thanks be to God, I scorn death and vow that I meet it innocent of any crime, even if I were their subject. The Catholic faith and the assertion of my God-given right to the English crown are the two issues on which I am condemned, and yet I am not allowed to say that it is for the Catholic religion that I die, but for fear of interference with theirs. The proof of this is that they have taken away my chaplain, and although he is in the building, I have not been able to get permission for him to come and hear my

confession and give me the Last Sacrament, while they have been most insistent that I receive the consolation and instruction of their minister, brought here for that purpose. The bearer of this letter and his companions, most of them your subjects, will testify to my conduct at my last hour. It remains for me to beg Your Most Christian Majesty, my brother-in-law and old ally, who have always protested your love for me, to give proof now of your goodness on all these points: firstly by charity, in paying my unfortunate servants the wages due them - this is a burden on my conscience that only you can relieve: further, by having prayers offered to God for a queen who has borne the title Most Christian, and who dies a Catholic, stripped of all her possessions. As for my son, I commend him to you in so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him. I have taken the liberty of sending you two precious stones, talismans against illness, trusting that you will enjoy good health and a long and happy life. Accept them from your loving sister-in-law, who, as she dies, bears witness of her warm feeling for you. Again I commend my servants to you. Give instructions, if it please you, that for my soul's sake part of what you owe me should be paid, and that for the sake of Jesus Christ, to whom I shall pray for you tomorrow as I die, I be left enough to found a memorial mass and give the customary alms.

Wednesday, at two in the morning Your most loving and most true sister,

Mary R Charles Dickens - Rising in the Night From a History of England When those messengers of ill omen were gone, Mary made a frugal supper, drank to her servants, read over her will, went to bed, slept for some hours, and then arose and passed the remainder of the night saying prayers. In the morning she dressed herself in her best clothes; and, at eight o’clock when the sheriff came for her to her chapel, took leave of her servants who were there assembled praying with her, and went down-stairs, carrying a Bible in one hand and a crucifix in the other. Two of her women and four of her men were allowed to be present in the hall; where a low scaffold, only two feet from the ground, was erected and covered with black; and where the executioner from the Tower, and his assistant, stood, dressed in black velvet. The hall was full of people.

While the sentence was being read she sat upon a stool; and, when it was finished, she again denied her guilt, as she had done before. The Earl of Kent and the Dean of Peterborough, in their Protestant zeal, made some very unnecessary speeches to her; to which she replied that she died in the Catholic religion, and they need not trouble themselves about that matter. When her head and neck were uncovered by the executioners, she said that she had not been used to be undressed by such hands, or before so much company. Finally, one of her women fastened a cloth over her face, and she laid her neck upon the block, and repeated more than once in Latin, ‘Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!’ Some say her head was struck off in two blows, some say in three. However that be, when it was held up, streaming with blood, the real hair beneath the false hair she had long worn was seen to be as grey as that of a woman of seventy, though she was at that time only in her forty-sixth year. All her beauty was gone. But she was beautiful enough to her little dog, who cowered under her dress, frightened, when she went upon the scaffold, and who lay down beside her headless body when all her earthly sorrows were over. H. E. Marshall – The Spanish Armada From Our Island Story

PHILIP, King of Spain, who had been married to Mary I., wanted, after her death, to marry her sister Elizabeth who was now Queen of England. But Elizabeth would not marry him… He made up his mind to conquer England…. He gathered together a great number of soldiers and sailors and guns and ships, and made ready to invade… Among the many famous Englishmen of this time was a man called [Sir Francis] Drake. He had sailed in far-off seas to newly-discovered countries, and was very bold and daring. While Philip was busy making ready to invade England, Drake sailed over to Spain, and boldly entered the harbour where the Spanish vessels lay. He sank and burned thirty or more of them, damaged others, and then sailed away again. "This," he said with a laugh, "was just singeing the King of Spain's beard." King Philip was very angry, but he at once set to work to repair his ships and to build others, and next year was ready to attack England. In May 1588 A.D., one hundred and twenty-nine great ships sailed out from Spain but, hindered by a storm, it was many weeks later before they came in sight of the English coast. These Spanish ships with their gilded prows and white sails shining in the sun made a splendid show as they sailed along in the shape of a crescent seven miles long. King Philip called his fleet the Invincible Armada. … Armada is a Spanish word meaning "navy."

Once again, as in the days of the Romans and as in the days of the Danes, the little green island in the lonely sea was threatened with conquerors coming in great ships. The people of England had been slow to believe that there was any danger from Spain, and the Queen was unwilling to make preparations. But when at last they saw that the Spaniards meant to come, the country rose like one man. Roman Catholics and Protestants forgot their quarrels, and remembering only that they were Englishmen, worked together against the common enemy. The English navy at this time was very small, but gentlemen and merchants gave money and ships, and soon it was almost as large as the Spanish navy, although the ships were smaller. Besides these ships and sailors, a great army gathered on land in order to resist Philip, should he succeed in reaching England, in spite of the "wooden walls" as the English war vessels came to be called. Men young and old flocked to the standard. Very few were real soldiers, but all of them were eager to fight for their Queen and for their country. Elizabeth herself reviewed the army and spoke such brave words that the hopes of the men who heard her rose high.

Doctor Leonel Sharpe – Let Tyrants Fear From a Letter to the Duke of Buckingham

I remember in '88 waiting upon the Earl of Leicester at Tilbury camp, and in '89, going into Portugal with my noble master, the Earl of Essex, I learned somewhat fit to be imparted to your grace.

The queen lying in the camp one night…The queen the next morning rode through all the squadrons of her army, as armed Pallas, attended by noble footmen, Leicester, Essex, and Norris, then lord marshall, and divers other great lords. Where she made an excellent oration to her army, which the next day after her departure, I was commanded to re-deliver to all the army together, to keep a public fast.

Her words were these.

My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety to take heed how we commit ourself to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safe guard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects, and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all, to lay down my life for my God and for my kingdom and for my people, my honour, 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 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; the which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know, already for your forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the meantime my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject, not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”

H. E. Marhsall – Francis Drake Keeps Bowling From Our Island Story

So eagerly did the people work that England was ready before Spain, and Lord Howard, the chief admiral, sailed out to meet the enemy. But week after week passed, and as still the Spaniards did not come, he returned to Plymouth with his ships. Elizabeth was not fond of spending money. She thought that it was dreadful waste to keep all these soldiers and sailors and ships waiting for an enemy who never came, and she told Lord Howard to pay off his men, and send them to their homes. But Lord Howard refused to obey, and he with his captains and his men held their ships in readiness at Plymouth. Day by day they kept watch, looking always anxiously out to sea, and spending the long, weary hours as best they could. At last, one sunny day in July, when Drake and some of the other sea captains were playing at bowls [lawn bowling], they were interrupted by a cry, "The Spaniards! the Spaniards!" The game was stopped, all eyes were turned towards the Channel. Yes, there at last, far out to sea, the proud Spanish vessels were to be seen. They were distant yet, but a sailor's eye could see that they were mighty and great ships, and the number of them was very large. But the brave English captains were not afraid.

"Come," said Drake, after a few minutes, "there is time to finish the game and to beat the Spaniards too." So they went back to their play, and when the game was finished they went down to the harbour, got the ships ready, and sailed out to meet and fight the Spaniards. For more than a week the battle lasted, the English always having the best of it. Their ships were smaller, but for that very reason they could be moved and turned about more easily than the great painted and gilded Spanish vessels. The wind, too, was in favour of the English and against the Spaniards. In those days, before steam-engines and steamers had been invented, when ships were still moved by sails, the wind was of great importance. Day by day the wind grew fiercer, the waves became white and wild, till the Spanish ships were driven northward by a terrible storm. Without pilots, through unknown seas, past strange islands they were driven. Shattered on unfriendly rocks, refused the shelter of every port, up to the north of Scotland and back round the west coast of Ireland they sped. At last, ruined by shot and shell, torn and battered by wind and waves, about fifty maimed and broken wrecks, all that were left of the Invincible Armada, reached Spain. Once again England was saved. How the people rejoiced! Bells rang, bonfires blazed, and every heart was filled with thankfulness. In memory of the victory, the Queen ordered a medal to be made, and on it, in Latin, were the words, "God blew with his breath, and they were scattered." Although Philip had lost nearly all his ships, he did not consider that he was beaten, and the war went on until the death of Elizabeth. But the English people no longer feared the Spaniards.

Fr. Edmund Campion: A Challenge to the Queen The Challenge to the Privy Council

Father Edmund Campion was a Roman Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus, which, in an effort to convert England’s protestants, had been sending many missionaries. Parliament was infuriated, and outlawed any Catholic priests at all within the borders of Britain, and employed priest-hunters to drag them from their hiding places to be thrown into prison and executed. Fr. Edmund Campion refused to back down in spite of the laws and punishments, and ssent the following letter to the government. Enemies of Fr. Edmund Campion (1540-1581) disparagingly referred to his apologia as "Campion's Brag," the title by which his "Challenge to the Privy Council" is most commonly known today. It is perhaps the earliest defense of the Catholic faith to appear in English during the Reformation.

To the Right Honourable, the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council:

Whereas I have come out of Germany and Bohemia, being sent by my superiors, and adventured myself into this noble realm, my dear country, for the glory of God and benefit of souls, I thought it like enough that, in this busy, watchful, and suspicious world, I should either sooner or later be intercepted and stopped of my course.

Wherefore, providing for all events, and uncertain what may become of me, when God shall haply deliver my body into durance, I supposed it needful to put this in writing in a readiness, desiring your good lordships to give it your reading, for to know my cause. This doing, I trust I shall ease you of some labour. For that which otherwise you must have sought for by practice of wit, I do now lay into your hands by plain confession. And to the intent that the whole matter may be conceived in order, and so the better both understood and remembered, I make thereof these nine points or articles, directly, truly and resolutely opening my full enterprise and purpose. i. I confess that I am (albeit unworthy) a priest of the Catholic Church, and through the great mercy of God vowed now these eight years into the religion [religious order] of the Society of Jesus. Hereby I have taken upon me a special kind of warfare under the banner of obedience, and also resigned all my interest or possibility of wealth, honour, pleasure, and other worldly felicity. ii. At the voice of our General, which is to me a warrant from heaven and oracle of Christ, I took my voyage from Prague to Rome (where our General Father is always resident) and from Rome to England, as I might and would have done joyously into any part of Christendom or Heatheness, had I been thereto assigned. iii. My charge is, of free cost to preach the Gospel, to minister the Sacraments, to instruct the simple, to reform sinners, to confute errors—in brief, to cry alarm spiritual against foul vice and proud ignorance, wherewith many of my dear countrymen are abused. iv. I never had mind, and am strictly forbidden by our Father that sent me, to deal in any respect with matter of state or policy of this realm, as things which appertain not to my vocation, and from which I gladly restrain and sequester my thoughts. v. I do ask, to the glory of God, with all humility, and under your correction, three sorts of indifferent and quiet audiences: the first, before your Honours, wherein I will discourse of religion, so far as it toucheth the common weal and your nobilities: the second, whereof I make more account, before the Doctors and Masters and chosen men of both universities, wherein I undertake to avow the faith of our Catholic Church by proofs innumerable—Scriptures, councils, Fathers, history, natural and moral reasons: the third, before the lawyers, spiritual and temporal, wherein I will justify the said faith by the common wisdom of the laws standing yet in force and practice. vi. I would be loath to speak anything that might sound of any insolent brag or challenge, especially being now as a dead man to this world and willing to put my head under every man's foot, and to kiss the ground they tread upon. Yet I have such courage in avouching the majesty of Jesus my King, and such affiance in his gracious favour, and such assurance in my quarrel, and my evidence so impregnable, and because I know perfectly that no one Protestant, nor all the Protestants living, nor any sect of our adversaries (howsoever they face men down in pulpits, and overrule us in their kingdom of grammarians and unlearned ears) can maintain their doctrine in disputation. I am to sue most humbly and instantly for combat with all and every of them, and the most principal that may be found: protesting that in this trial the better furnished they come, the better welcome they shall be. vii. And because it hath pleased God to enrich the Queen my Sovereign Lady with notable gifts of nature, learning, and princely education, I do verily trust that if her Highness would vouchsafe her royal person and good attention to such a conference as, in the second part of my fifth article I have motioned, or to a few sermons, which in her or your hearing I am to utter such manifest and fair light by good method and plain dealing may be cast upon these controversies, that possibly her zeal of truth and love of her people shall incline her noble Grace to disfavour some proceedings hurtful to the realm, and procure towards us oppressed more equity. viii. Moreover I doubt not but you, her Highness' Council, being of such wisdom and discreet in cases most important, when you shall have heard these questions of religion opened faithfully, which many times by our adversaries are huddled up and confounded, will see upon what substantial grounds our Catholic Faith is builded, how feeble that side is which by sway of the time prevaileth against us, and so at last for your own souls, and for many thousand souls that depend upon your government, will discountenance error when it is bewrayed [revealed], and hearken to those who would spend the best blood in their bodies for your salvation. Many innocent hands are lifted up to heaven for you daily by those English students, whose posterity shall never die, which beyond seas, gathering virtue and sufficient knowledge for the purpose, are determined never to give you over, but either to win you heaven, or to die upon your pikes. And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league—all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practice of England—cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted: So it must be restored. ix. If these my offers be refused, and my endeavours can take no place, and I, having run thousands of miles to do you good, shall be rewarded with rigour. I have no more to say but to recommend your case and mine to Almighty God, the Searcher of Hearts, who send us his grace, and see us at accord before the day of payment, to the end we may at last be friends in heaven, when all injuries shall be forgotten.

Andre Hurault-Sieur de Maisse: An Audience with the Queen From a Report

Queen Elizabeth I was sixty-five years old in 1597 and had reigned for 39 years. In December of that year Andre Hurault-Sieur de Maisse, the French ambassador to Elizabeth's court, was granted an audience that he had been seeking for some time. The French emissary was pleasantly surprised when his request was suddenly granted. Transported by boat up the Thames River to the Queen's palace, de Maisse was ushered into an antechamber and, along with a number of other expectant visitors, told to wait until summoned. After some time the ambassador is approached by the Lord Chamberlain and led to the Queen. We join his account as he enters the Queen's presence:

"...He led me along a passage somewhat dark, into a chamber that they call the Privy Chamber, at the head of which was the Queen seated in a low chair, by herself, and withdrawn from all the Lords and Ladies that were present, they being in one place and she in another. After I had made her my reverence at the entry of the chamber, she rose and came five or six paces towards me, almost into the middle of the chamber. I kissed the fringe of her robe and she embraced me with both hands. She looked at me kindly, and began to excuse herself that she had not sooner given me audience, saying that the day before she had been very ill with a gathering on the right side of her face, which I should never have thought seeing her eyes and face: but she did not remember ever to have been so ill before.

She was strangely attired in a dress of silver cloth, white and crimson, or silver 'gauze', as they call it. This dress had slashed sleeves lined with red taffeta, and was girt about with other little sleeves that hung down to the ground, which she was for ever twisting and untwisting… The collar of the robe was very high, and the lining of the inner part all adorned with little pendants of rubies and pearls, very many, but quite small. She had also a chain of rubies and pearls about her neck. On her head she wore a garland of the same material and beneath it a great reddish- colored wig, with a great number of spangles of gold and silver, and hanging down over her forehead some pearls, but of no great worth. On either side of her ears hung two great curls of hair, almost down to her shoulders and within the collar of her robe, spangled as the top of her head….

As for her face, it is and appears to be very aged. It is long and thin, and her teeth are very yellow and unequal, compared with what they were formerly, so they say, and on the left side less than on the right. Many of them are missing so that one cannot understand her easily when she speaks quickly. Her figure is fair and tall and graceful in whatever she does; so far as may be she keeps her dignity, yet humbly and graciously withal."

"An Audience with Queen Elizabeth I, 1597," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2004).