Elizabeth I(1533-1603)

The Sixteenth CenturyTexts Contexts1557 Tottle’s Songs and Sonnets

(printing poems by Wyatt, Surrey)

1558 Mari dies; succeeded by Protestant Elizabeth I

1563 John Foxe, Acts and Monuments

1567-68 Mary of Scots, forced to abdicate; succeeded by her son James VI; Mary imprisoned in England

1567 Arthur Golding, translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses

1570 Elizabeth I excommunicated by Pope Pius V

1578 John Lyly, Euphues 1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of French Protestants

1580 Montaigne, Essais 1583 Irish Rebellion crushed

Ca. 1587-90 Shakespeare begins career as actor and playwright

1584-87 Sir Walter Ralegh's earliest attempts to colonize Virginia

Texts Contexts

1588 Thomas Hariot, A brief and True Report of…Virginia

1586-87 Mary, Queen of Scots, tried for treason and executed

1589 Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations…of the English Nation

1588 Failed invasion of the Spanish Armada

1590 Sir Philip Sidney, Arcadia 1595 Ralegh’s voyage to Guiana

1595 Sidney, The Defense of Poesy

1599 Globe Theater opens

1596-1598 Spencer, The Faire Queene, Books4-6(with Books1-3); Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humor

1603 Elizabeth I dies; succeeded by James VI of Scotland(as James I), inaugurating the Stuart dynasty

Plot Overview

• This film details the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

• The Main Focuses: 1.The endless attempts by her council to

marry her off 2.The Catholic hatred of her 3.Her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.

• When catholic Queen Mary dies the succession goes to Elizabeth, the protestant half-sister Mary was not prepared to execute.

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• The new queen finds herself surrounded by advisors, some supportive but some plotting to restore the catholic line by almost any means.

• She is also under pressure to marry and produce an heir, but her lover Lord Robert Dudley is not considered suitable.

• Elizabeth realizes she has some decisions to make, the most important being who rules England.

Memorable Quotes

• Elizabeth: When I am queen, I promise... to act as my conscience dictates.

Queen Mary: Well do not think to be queen at all!

→self- conscious performer

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(Ring)• Elizabeth: This is the Lord’s doing. And it

is marvelous in our eyes.

→ gratitude → faithful , full of piety

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• Elizabeth: Although my affection for you is undiminished, I have, after an agonizing struggle, determined to sacrifice my own happiness for the welfare of my people.

Duc d'Anjou: Oh! My God, ha-ha...

→ very concern about her people

• Aided by Sir Francis Walsingham she manages to kill all her enemies and ascends the throne as the "Virgin Queen".

→ sharp contrast between her attitude toward her people

and her enemies.

Film Mistakes

1.Sir William Cecil was only 38 at Elizabeth's accession. In the film, he was an old man over 50. Besides, he was never retired by Elizabeth, but remained her chief minister for the rest of his life.

2. Elizabeth was perfectly well aware that Lord Robert Dudley was married.

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3. Lord Robert Dudley was created Earl of Leicester in 1564 and remained in favor with Elizabeth for the rest of his life, although she did refuse to marry him.

4. Elizabeth was arrested and sent to the Tower in 1554, but was then placed under house arrest at Woodstock (not Hatfield) for four years.

5. Sir Francis Walsingham was only a year older than Elizabeth.

6. Although King Phillip II did send an ambassador to congratulate Elizabeth while Mary was dying, he did not propose marriage until a year later.

7. Elizabeth did not start wearing wigs and heavy makeup until later in her reign. Elizabeth very much wanted to keep the image of an eternally youthful Queen, both for her own vanity, and to belie the fact that she was aging, and possibly weak or ill.

8. The Pope did not excommunicate Elizabeth, thus making her fair game for Catholic assassins, until 1570.

9.

• Elizabeth was nearly twenty years older than bisexual transvestite Duke of Anjou, and they never met in person.

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• He went on to become King Henry III of France, and his younger brother became Duke of Anjou. It was this Duke that Elizabeth met, and they actually got along very well and even talked about getting married.

10. Mary of Guise did die mysteriously in 1560, but far from being near victory, she was actually on the verge of defeat by an allied army of Scottish rebels and English troops.

• Isabel —The Queen’s maid

• Monsieur de Foix —

The ambassador of France

11.The fictional character

12. Duke of Norfolk

• Far from being the sinister

plotter portrayed in the film,

he actually seems to have

been somewhat weak and

easily dominated.

13. Horse-drawn carriages

• In the scene where Elizabeth is being taken to see her sister, Mary, she is in a horse-drawn carriage. Horse-drawn carriages, however, were not introduced to England until late in Elizabeth's reign.

14.Lady in waiting

• Elizabeth's lady in waiting Cat Ashley was actually much older than her and took care of her when she was a child, not the young woman portrayed in the film.

15.The death of Bishop

• Bishop Stephan Gardiner is named as one of the traitors and is mysteriously murdered near the end of the film. In fact, he died from natural causes in 1555 during the reign of Mary I.

16. The Church of England

• In one scene, Elizabeth proposes to the bishops of England that they create a "single Church of England." In reality, the Church of England existed since as early as the 7th century.

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17. Walsingham

• Elizabeth knighted Walsingham in 1573. At the time depicted in the film he was still plain Francis Walsingham.

18. The Death of Norfolk

• Walsingham did not trap and arrest Norfolk. Norfolk was executed in June 1572. Walsingham was then in Paris as English ambassador and returned to England in May 1573.

19. The Parliamentary Bill

• The parliamentary bill to establish the Anglican Church was forced through the first session of Parliament by Cecil (not Walsingham), using more complex means than that portrayed in the film.

20.The War in Scotland

• Queen Mother Mary of Guise did garrison Scotland with troops, but Elizabeth sent a fleet, not an army.

Movie Trailer - The Golden Age -

Thanks for your listening!