ELIZABETHAN [ NGLAND

~ ngland in the 16th century was still essentially an agricul-tural society and had changed little since medieval times.Although there was a growing affluent middle class, life for

many people was little more than a struggle for survival, enlivenedperiodically by annual fairs and itinerant bands of musicians orcompanies of actors

The majority of the population lived in the south of the countryand York was the only northern city of any significant size. About120,000 people lived in London while Salisbur-" was the fourth largestcity in England. The total population of England increased by over amillion during Elizabeth’s reign.

The outwardly romantic appearance of the average Tudor dwellingbelied a dark, dingy interior, lit by candles or rush torches. There wasno running water or properdrainage and many poorer peoplelived and cooked in a single room,while the entire family slept in aroom above.

Such cramped and unhygienicliving conditions provided a fertilebreeding ground for disease, andbubonic plague was a majorthreat. In 1561 this pestilenceraged uncontrollably throughoutsouthern England, ldlling morethan 17,000 people in London alone. Smallpox was equallydreaded and Elizabeth herself nearly died of the disease in 1562.Lady Mary Sidney who nursed the Queen, was less fortunate;she was so badly pockmarked that she fled the Court.

Communications in England had improved little since theMiddle Ages. The roads outside the towns were little more than dusttracks in summer while in winter they became virtually impassable.The only means of transport was on horseback or by boat along theriver. Outside of London it took days to travel any distance and theQueen never were further north than Staffordor west of Bristol.

Ad~OVE

The magmficent astrologi-cal clock at HamptonCourt displays both thetime and the state of thetide at Westminster. Timeand tide wait for no onenot even a monarch beingtransported down theFhames on the royalbarge!

Elizabethan Englat~dwas prosperous and manypoor folk were reduced

lo begging, as shown inthis illustration

from a moral

publishedin 1569.

LEFTThis coinfrom the

British Museumcommemorates

Elizabeth’s miraculousrecovery ftom the dreadedsmallpox *n 1562. Equalljamazingly she was left

~rologi-

,f the

beinghed

d

~hed69

eadedlualb

LEFT

[n Elizabethan England, themajor indust~ was wool whichwas mainly exported as cloth toEurope. W~ter-powered millsclustered along the river-banks in~he Cotswolds, Wiltshire East

Anglia and Gloucestersh~re, wherethe plump sheep were famousbknown as ’the Coi~wold lions~

[ LIZABETH 1558-1603

~ lizabetJ~’s accession in 1558 was greetedwith joyous acclailn by Court andcommoner alike. She continued to

eniov this popularity throughout her long lifebut, as Queen, she was to need the nation’s ful!support. She had inherited not only the Crownbut all the difficulties that came with the posi-tion. England was at war with Prance, which, sincethe marriage of Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary Queen ofScots- to the Dauphin in 1558- was allied with Scot-land. This created the potential for that military ulgn~-mare of a war on two fronts.

At home there were grievous religious difficulties. The nation hadexperienced the traumas of Henry VIII’s break with Rome. the disso-lution of the monasteries and the establishment of the Church ofEngland. Hard-line Protestantism then ensued under the young andimpressionable Edward VI. followed by a sudden enforced return roCatholicism during the reign of Mary I, accompanied by the dreadfulsights of heretics being publicly burned at the stake. One of thehapless victims was Thomas Cranmer former archbishop of Canre>bury and Elizabeth’s godfather.

The nation’s finances ~ 7ere in dire straits: the currency was debased-inflation was rampant and living standards were continually falling.After her triumphant coronation at Westminster, Elizabeth quicklyperceived the immensity of the task ahead of her. It is to her creditthat she never evaded the issues nor instigated speculative short-termsolutions that might well have tempted those of lesser stature. Thelessons of her upbringing - caution, discretion- avoiding extravaganceor high-risk strategies - were ro stand her in good stead. She avoidedconfrontation with her Council and Parliament something which herStuart successors would have done well to heed , listened to advice,was influenced by popular opinion and was acutely conscious of howshe was perceived both at home and abroad.

While her father and half~sister had ruled the kingdom throughfear, Elizabeth did so with love and, in turn, the nation loved her. Itwas a romance that was to last a lifetime,

The "London’ plate,datlngfrom c,1600. ~stin-glazed and shows theTower )f London togetherwith an inscription: ’Th~rose is red, The leaves aregrene God save Elizabethour Queend

BBLOWElizabeth is carried to hercoronation in great slvleon a canopied, horse-drawn litter, followed byLord Robert Dudley,Master of the Horse.

RIGHT

Elizabeth I, portrayed bja 16th-centurv artistwearing her coronationrobes, and carrying an orband sceprre.

f he illuminated service-book used b~ Elizabeth 1during her coronation,

CO1Lo

AB

w~15:De

RIGHT

Document bearing the signatures o]-Mary I and herconsort, Philip of Spain. validating a passport issued toLord Howard of Effingham, Priv~ Councillor to both

Mary and Elizabeth. Howard Elizabeth’s drear-uncle, was a powel~d advocate when she

was sent to the Tower in !554.

A3JOVE

The anointing spoon usedat the coronation of EIizabeth I atWestminster Abbel on i5 ]anua~!559. The date was chosen by lohnDee, who later became astrologer.

A SPANISH SUITOR

Philip, widower ot~Mary I, had initiallysupported Elizabeth’s succession and hadeven proposed marriage tO Elizabeth earlyin her reign. Her polite but firm rejectionof this all-powerful King of Spaim who

had dominion over the Netherlands, partsof Italy, large areas of Central and SouthAmerica. and later Portugal, began thesteady deterioration of Anglo-Spanish

relationships which eventually led to war.

MZABETH S ( OURT

~ ife in Elizabethan England focused on the royalCourt, the centre of power and influence in thekingdom. It was a focus for men of ambition.

attracted by the possibility of fame and fortune- and thechance of catching the Queen’s attention and making themost of any opportunities that might arise. Colourfulcourtiers revolved around the monarch like so many plan-ets orbiting the sun - from Privy Councillors, peers of therealm and senior Court officials to young opportunists.’When she smiled it was pure sunshine that everyone didchoose to bask in if they could, but anon came a storm andthunder fell in wondrous manner on all alike.’

8

ABOV£

Hanging on &e GrandStaircase in Lor, xleat,Wiltshire~ is this magnifi-cen~ portrait of LordCobham and his family.He was Lord Wa~den of~he Cthque Ports and hisw~fe, for a long time, waslady-in-waiting to theQueen,

/~BOVE LEFT

Da~ tilt, an importantannual ceremon) celebrat-ing the proclamation ofElizabeth as Queen.Man? leading courtierstook part, including theEarl of Essex.

ABOVEElizabeth’s virginals;small harpsichords like¢his were popular in theI6th and 17th centuriesand the Queen was aproficient player,

Elizabeth had inherited herfather’s red hair together with hisfiery temper. Like Henry she lovedhunting and all manner of enter-tainment. ’She took the cross-bow~nd killed six does and she did methe honour to give me a share ofthem" marvelled the French ambas-sador at Woodstock Palace when theQueen was well into middle age.

She had also inherited HenryVIII’s restless energy and so theCourt, like a huge travelling circus,

scurried endlessly between Hampton Court.Whitehall- Richmond Nonsuch~ Windsor,Hatfield and other royal palaces

In summer, Elizabeth conducted her famousroyal progresses around the kingdom and she andher entourage would be entertained at colossalexpense in the palatial homes of her wealthiercourtiers. These progresses were essentiallyintended to demonstrate the grandeur of thesovereign and to impress the Queen’s subjects.Similarly, annual ceremonies such as the Knightof the Garter processions at Windsor and theAccession Day tournaments were designed toportray royal splendour: the Queen surroundedby devoted knights competing for favours.

Elizabeth was an accomplished musician on avarretv of instruments. She could also sing welland greatly enjoyed dancing, especially the gall-lard, a quick, lively dance, featuring a spectacular

leap in the air ’after theFlorentine style’.

While theCourt wasenter tal~l~dby masques,banquets,

theatrical performances and musicalextravaganzas, Elizabeth would invariably retireto study state papers. Messengers could arrive arall hours and the Priw Council was constantlyon call for late-night consultations with theQueen. The royal Court was essentially livingtheatre with Elizabeth always cenrre stage.

~ s soon as Elizabeth had ascended the throne, her newlyppointed Council urged her to marry, out of a desireo see the Queen produce a healthy m~]e heir who

would maintain the Tudor dynasty. ’God send our mistress ahusband and by time a son so that we may hope our posrerirvshall have a masculine successor.’ prayed William Cecil.

The Queen, however, was reluctant to oblige, although shewas certainly not short of suitors. She was young and attractiveand the prospect of becoming her consort was dazzling. Thecream of English aristocracy and foreign royalty flocked to Courtvie for her favours. Their attentions were greatly enjoyed by theQueen. who adored flattery, particularl~z when it was bestowed bythe most powerful men in Europe

Elizabeth preferred her men to be tall- dark and handsome.Robert Dudle, later Earl of Leicester), Christopher Hatton andWalter Raleigh were all cast in this mould and they wooed herunavailingly. However. unlike her father, Elizabeth never let herheart rule her head, astutely realizing that marrying one of her

12

ABOVESir Christopher HaY;on wonthe Queen’s favour for hisdancing. Educated at Oxford,he entered Parliament andwas appointed LordChancellor in 158Z

s

(

own countrymen could severely upset theothers. Dudley was undoubtedly her onegreat love but he was alreadymarried and, when hiswife died in suspbCIOUS circumstances-

Elizabeth was afraidto continue therelationship in caseit tarnished herreputation, Hattonnever married and,in 1592, Raleigh wassent to the Towerwhen he fell in lovewith one of the -- "Queen’s maidsof honou~ andsubsequentlymarried her.

As for suitorsfrom abroad,

Catholic and such - - .....a marriage Wouldhave made Eliza-beth extremelyunpopular, ashappened to her half-sister Mary. ArchdukeCharles of Austria would not renounce hisCatholicism and the effeminate PrinceHenry of Anjou was "obstinately papistical:Even the Pope murmured ’Tis a pity Eliza-beth and I cannot marrv, our childrenwould have ruled the world’. Elizabethwould have none of them. She had devel-oped a hking for the consummate power ofbeing Queen of England and did not wantto share this privilege with anyone elseparticularly a husband.

LEFTAn unknown artist’s coIourful portrayal of QueenElizabeth energetically dancing La Volta witb herlong-time favourite Robert Dudley, the great love ofher life. The painting hangs m Penshurst Place ~ncethe home of the charismatic courtier, Sir Philip Sidney.

the care of English Heritage.

ABOVE LEFTThis impressive ~ )rrra~r of Robert Dudle~ Earlof Leicester, which is attributed to Steven vanter Meu]en c. 1655, ~s now part of the WallaceCollection in London

Fhe Earl of Leicester’s last letter to the Queen. wr~r-~en the week bq¢ore his death in 1588. shortly afterthe defeat of the Armada. The Queen kept the letterin a casket at her bedside. It is currently preserved inthe Public Records Office in Ke~

THE LITTLE FROG

The only man who camenear to marrying the

Queen was Hercnles-Francois, Duke of

Mencon and youngerbrother of Henry ofAnjou. Despite his

several shortcomings,she was entranced.

calling him ’my littlefrog’ and praising hischarm, wit and politi-

cal astuteness.Marriage negotiations

were conducted atWarwick Castle - but

to no avail.

EA-CAPTAINS AND DVENTURERS

~[ s a seafaring nation, England had appeared remarkablyreluctant to discover new horizons and it was the Spanishand Portuguese who had led the way across the oceans. All

of this was to change in Elizabethan England as wave after wave ofsea captahas sailed away to seek out the unknown world or findrich pickings on the Spanish Main. Many of these adventurers,such as Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh, Richard Grenville, JohnHawkins and Francis Drake, were West Country men.

Gilbert, Raleigh’s half-brother, inspired Martin Frobisher’s threeattempts, between 1576 and 1578- to discover an alternative routeto China via the North-West Passage. Gilbert claimed Newfound-land for the Queen in 1583 bur perished on the voyage homewhen his small ship Squirrel disappeared beneath the storm-tossed Atlantic. In 1585 Raleigh was responsible for establishingthe first English settlement in the Americas. named Virginia inhonour of the Queen. A series of voyages by Hawldns and Draketo the Caribbean. undertaken between 1562 and 1584, effectivelychallenged the long-standing Spanish monopoly of the NewWorld and ultimately led to war.

Most of these sea-captains died with their sea-on and were buried at sea. Grenville met an--~’~~r<~boots

heroic death when hopelessly outnumbered by aSpanish fleet offthe Azores in 1591 andFrobisher was mortally wounded when fightingthe Spaniards offthe French coast in 1594. BothDrake and Hawkins died of dysentery in !596while on yet another expedition to theCaribbean; Drake’s body lies in a lead coffin inthe warm waters off Panama: ’The trumpetssound in doleful manner echoing out theirlamentation for so great a loss andall the canon in the fleet discharged:

SirMartinFrobisher. whoreachedLabrador anddiscoveredFrobisher Bayin his searchfor the North-Wesl Passage,was laterknighted for hisservices againstNeArmada.

Bd~OVE

A contemporary drawing byHulsius shows Drake’s shzpGolden Hind capmrlng aSpanish treasure galleon offthe coast of South America.

LEFTElizabethan shipwrights atwork. an illustration from amanual in shipbuilding byMe.hew Baker, one of theQueen’s shipwrights a¢ theroyal dockj ard at Chathamin Kent.

14

Go!,TheBerl

DRAKE’S JOURNEY

In September 1580 a small weather-beaten ship,laden with Spanish treasure, finally dropped

anchor in Plymouth Sound after an epic three-yearvoyage around the world. Era~acis Drake’s unique

journey of discovery on Golden Hind gained him aknighthood and made h~ rich and Nmous. Itwas a remarkable navigation~ feat ~at estab-lished England as a major maritime power.

RIGHTOn the lid of Drake’s sea-chest, which is madeof cypress wood,is a paintingof his ship,Golden Hind,The chest is inBerkeley Castle,Gloucestershire.

ABOVE’The famous voyage of SirFrancis Drake begun in theyear of our Lord i577’noted Richard Hakluyt inhis Principal Na~lgations,

Voyages, Tr affiquesand Discoveries ofthe English Nation,wri~en at the end ofthe I6th century.

tin~r, who

~r Bay~rch

t for hisagainstada.

ng byshipga~oyf

r, bythetheham

LEFTAfter his circumnavigation of

the globe, Drake was knightedwith this sword.

Raleigh’s tobaccopouch and pipe.

It was Raleighwho introducedtobacco andthe potato to

England from theAmericas in the !6thcentupz Elizabethwas much amusedby his pipe and isreputed to have had the

occasional puff herseIfl

LEFTSir Walter Raleigh, portrayed here with his sonWar, possessed rather more style than substance;his dazzling reputation invariably outshone hisrather lacklustre achievements.

BRAKE AND THE [RMADA

g n the manner of most great military encounters, the famous victoryof the English fleet over the Spanish Armada in 1588 was achievedby the side that possessed superior leadershil~ and tactics coupled

with better preparation, decisiveness and, most importantly, an abilityto avoid costl- mistakes.

Elizabeth had shrewdly appointed Lord Howard of Effingham as herLord High Admiral, Drake as Vice-Admiral and Hawkins as Rear Admi-ral. Howard was widely respected for his seamanship and was the oneman capable of controlling the swashbuckling buccaneers who made uphis fleet. Conversely Philip II of Spain’s choice of the Duke of MedinaSidonia as ’Captain General of the Ocean Seas’ was a serious error. Hepossessed no maritime experience or leadership qualities and, moreover,suffered from acute seasickness

Hawkins, as Navy Treasurer- had modernized the English ships so thatthey were quicker and more manoeuvrable than the huge, lumbering

Spanish galleons, which were ideal for longvoyages but hopelessly unsuited to the confined

waters of the English Channel. Furthermore-the traditional Spanish tactics of going along-

side their adversaries and boarding them withheavily armed soldiers were frustrated bv thenimbler English ships steering clear andbombarding the enemy with cannon fire.

Most importantly the English werein home waters and. unlike theSpanish, had an intimate lmowl-

edge of the complex tides,currents and winds.

When the Armada arrivedoff the Cornish coasr,

Today Drake’s statue standsproudly on Plymouth Hoeand every summer a prominentmember of tbe royal familyattends a celebration ArmadaDinner in the Officers’ Mess

at HMS Drake.Plymoutb, thelargest naval basein ~vestern Europe.

Drak~ plays bowls onP~ mouth Hoe while theEnglish fleet lies inPl),mouth Sound, as theArmada approaches

Howard’s fleet was at Plymouth,trapped by unfavourable windand tide while revictuallingafter a foray lnro the Western

Approaches, and Medina spurneda marvellous opportunity ro

destroy the English at anchor. Thiscould have been a satisfying revenge forthe famous singeing of the King’s beard’,when Drake set twenty Spanish galleonsablaze at Cadiz in 1587,

Phe English were able to creep out atnightfall on the ebb tide, get ro windwardof the Armada and engage the followingdav. There was no single decisive battle.Instead there was a series of inconclusiverunning skirmishes as the Armada waftedmajestically up the Channel to rendezvouswith the Duke of Parma’s army at CalaisHere Medina committed another fatalmistake by anchoring, enabling Drake tosend in fireships. The confused Spaniardsfled home vta Scotland and Ireland,suffering terrible losses from the savagestorms and treacherous coastlines. TheEnglish did not lose a single ship.

ABOVE LEFTThou.ght to have been created at the time of thefamous sea-ba~Ie, this graphic portrayaI of thedefeatoftheSpanishArmadaisnowheld~ theNational Maritime Museum at Greenwich

INSET

Nicholas Hilliard’s miniature of Sir Francis Drakenow in the National Portrait Gallery, depicts him ina characteristic cocksure mood.

P~GHTDrake’scompass anddial, the tools,his trade, are alsoin the NationalMaritimeMuseum.

SHAKESPEARE IN STRATFORD

~ illiam Shakespeare, ~,he third child of John and Mary Shal~e-BELOWspeare, and England s greatest literary genius, was born inDetails of Shakespeare’s

christening are inscribed~ Stratford on 23 April 1564. He was christened three days in the registry book whichlater in Holy Trinity Church, on the banks of the River Avon. Before is now kept in the tol~nhe became bankrupt. William’s father had been a prosperous merchant~’ecord office close to theand city alderman and. on his death, William inherited the family house where he was bornhouse- which still stands in Henley Street, not far from the presen~Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Fhe young Shakespeare is thought to have attendedthe local grammar school, ye~, unlike his fellowElizabethan playwrights, Christopher Marlowe,Edmund Spenser and [ohn Fletcher, he did not studyar university. This may well have been to his advan-cage because much of their work now appearsacademic and mannered by comparison. Instead,Shakespeare probably helped in his father’s businesswhile indulging in the usual pursuits of country lads.

As a teenager Shakespeare became romanticall-r involved with anShakespeare’s monumentolder woman from the nearby village of Shottery and she became in Holy Trinit) Church,pregnant. Thus, in 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway whoStratford. ,/as erected onwas eight years his senior. Ironically the wife of the man destined tothe ~all of the chancelwrite such outstanding literature was illiterate, like most women ofa few years after his deathher time. The couple subsequently had three children, and Susanna,on 23 April 1616, aged

52 rears, supposedly aftertke eldest daughter, later married John Hall, a successful local doctor,a heaw drinking, spree" Their house, known as Hall’s Croft. and the thatched cottage wherewithfellowplaywright

[ Anne Hathaway was born can still be seen today. Ben Jonson.

dch

RIGHT~hahespeare’s grave is also in Holy Trinity Churchand he reputedly devised the inscription on ir prwrto his death.

During the late 1580s an evemoccurred that was to transformthis seemingly provincial lad intothe man who- in a few shortyears, created the extraordinaryrange of drama, comedy, tragedyand poetry that so captivatedEiizabethan audiences and whichestablished a literary reputationthat flourishes on an interna-tional scale more than fourcenturies later. A travelling groupof actors, possibly The Earl ofLeicester~s Men- arrived inStratford on a summer ~our.Shakespeare became involvedwith the company and, whenthey returned to London, heaccompanied them en route rofame and fortune. ’There is a tidein the affairs of men. which, takena~ the flood, leads on to fortune.’Shakespeare took that tide.

Charlecote, 6 kilometres (4 miles) eastof Stratford, was the home of SirThomas Lucy, where Queen Elizabethwas once entertained. There is anamusing tale of Shakespeare beingcaught poaching deer at CharIecote~a misfortune common enough to youngfellows fallen into ill company’,

SHAKESPEARE IN [,ONDON

d[~ hakespeare ,arrived in the capital just after~ the Armada s defeat, the heady atmosphere~ inspiring him to create more than threedozen major plays in barely two decades. His outputwas prodigious: Henry ~ Much Ado About Nothingand Tulius Caesar were all conceived in a single year.His imagination knew no bounds, his works rang-ing from the riotous comedy of Twelfth Nightto theshimmering imagery of The Tempest and the sinistersense of impending doom in Macbeth.

Late-16th-century theatre was a flourishing ar[form and was staged in the open air on the southbank of the Thames- outside the jurisdiction of aPuritan-dominated City of London. In those days,the stage projected out into a mainly standing audi-ence while seating was confined to naxrow tieredgalleries around the perimeter. Only principalactors wore costume and there were no femaleperformers. There were no curtains or props either,and music and sound effects were minimal. Shake-speare’s first play, HenW VL Part 1, staged at theRose theatre in 1599 was an insram success. Thestrength of his story lines and the power of his versehad universal appeal, as they do today, and this andhis subsequent plays provedequally popular with the man inthe street as with the nobility. S H A K E S P E A R E S

Shakespeare joined lamesBurbage, leading impresario ofthe day, at his Shoreditchtheatre, working alongsideChristopher Marlowe as bothwriter and actor. When Burbagedied. his sons inherited thetheatre. Richard Burbage. alsoan outstanding actor, built theGlobe, with Shakespeare aspart-owner.

In 1603, the year that theQueen died. Shakespeare wroteAli’s Well That Ends Welland his company, The LordChamlSerlain’s Men, wasrenamed ’The King’s Men’.The curtain had descendedon the Elizabethan stage.

COMEDIESHISTORIES=TRAGEDIES.

2O

ABOVE7~1e Globe ~heatre.

:lustered with the Swan,Hope and Rose, lay inan area crammed withtaverns, gambling dens,~rothels, bear-baitingand cockfighting pits-all on land owned by theBishop of Southwark!

LEFIThe first folio edition ofShakespeare’s plays wasprinted in NovemberI623, seven yearshis death, and containsrhree dozen of his plays.The engraving on thefrontispiece is thoughtbe based on a likeness ofhim in the Iast few yearsof his life.

withdens

% the

~_~_.._~T.~_~ _ ~ ~SHAKESPEARE’S FELLOW DRAMATISTSChristopher Marlowe’s Edward II, Tamburlaine theGreat and The Tragicall

~dca~ I--Ii~or "~’ History of Doctor

. ~e a,ndUcamd theg of greet power ~d~ ~o~0~ ~,¢’~ ~ ~ poetry ~d h~s prema-

r CI’ ~w~ .’ ~ ture death, ~uppose~yin an East End tavernbrawl was a major lossto English drama. Benlonsom another lea&

~g dr~atist, wasa dose companion

of Shakespeare,al~ough he wasmore ~t¢~ectual~d less pro~fic. Elizabeth was an avid supk ~_rrer of the theatre and

particularly of Shakespeare, who pur on manyprivate readings and performances ~br the Queenand her court- her favouril~ play supposedl) beingThe Merry, Wives of Windsor

ion of

bet

plays.the

{ LORIANALEFTThe ’Armada’ por~rauby George Go~a,er is oneof the world’s most~mportanl historicalpamungs and now hangsin the Long Gallen, atWoburn Abbey, Bedjord-shire, the family seat ofthe Duke of Bedford.Woburn was or~ginollvthe home of the 2nd Earlof Bedford, a prominenrmember oy Ellzabeth ’sPriv,~ Council and god-father of Franci~ Drake

BELOWThe bronze sculpture.A Royal Game zs zn theTare Gallery and depwrsElizabeth and Philip ofSpain playing chess withmodel sh~ps.

~heresounding defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 madeEngland a world-class p~wer and ele, vated Elizabeth touniversal acclaim as the Sun Queen. The following year the

first three volumes of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene were published,in which Elizabeth was portrayed as GIoriana. All Europe flocked topay homage m the Queen while the nation basked in a new sense ofpride and purpose, a feeling of greatness and glory, as Englandbecame a land of achievemem and oppormmry in the rapidly expand-ing world of the 16th century.

Central to all this was the Queen, and George Gower’s strildng’Armada" portrait sums up her achievements. This iconographicneo-medieval portrait depicts Elizabeth magnificently dressed in aheavil’~ embroidered- velvet and satin gown, with huge puffedsleeves, lace ruff and cascades of pearls. Her hand rests imperiouslyon the globe, immaculately manicured fingernails pointing symboli-cally at Virginia while, behind her well-coiffured head, the Spanishfleet sails towards its doom. It brilliantly captures the euphoria of theQueen and her kingdom after the defeat of a powerful enemy, whichsaved the country from invasion.

Although the war with Spain continued, Elizabeth and her nationwere no longer in peril. The victory over the Spanish Armada hadbeen their finest hour. The Queen was to live a further 15 years but itwas the Armada defeat that represented the high point of her reignand established her reputation as one of Europe’s greatest monarchs.

bes

hangs

Iford-~t of

t Earl

h’sgod-

n the

with

The Long Gallery st Woburn. Ironically,the ’Armada’porrrmr ts positionedbeside a portrait of Elizabeth’sadversary, PhiliF II, and oppositeme of the ill fated Earl of Essex

ABOVEThe Faerie Queene waswritten L EdmundSpenseras a tribute to Elizabeth,

The gold ’Dangers Averted’medal by Nicholas Hilliardcelebrates the defeat of theArmada.

THE EARL OF ESSEX

Robert Devereux. 2rid Earl of Essex.was stepson of Robert Dudley, Earl of

Leicester. and last in a long line ofhandsome young men who became

Elizabeth’s favourites, thereby attractingthe animosity of Raleigh and RobertCecil. Impossibly arrogant and over-

ambitious. Essex was suspected of treasonafter leading an ill-conceived and foolishdemonstration against the Queen and was

tried and sentenced to death. He was executedat the Tower of London in February 1601.

this ring to Elizabeth, who had given it to him. asa sign that he needed help. The ring never arrived