Skip to main content

Focus on Tudor Life: Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I is the second daughter of King Henry VIII.

As a princess, she doesn't think woman is a weaker sex, she said: "I know that I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, bu I have the heart and stomach of a king..."

After she succeeded Queen Marry, who is her elder sister, the successor of King Edward VI, the son of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth always maintained high standards at her court. She even refused to employ anybody who was ugly - a young man was once denied employment because he had a front tooth missing. Elizabeth hated being disobeyed. Her ladies-in-waiting were expected to ask her permission before they married. Nobody was allowed to sit while she stood, and anyone addressing the Queen had to do so on bend knee.

Even though England was not a rich country, Elizabeth insisted that her coronation appear grand and extravagant. She wanted to show people that she was the rightful heir to the throne.

Elizabeth never married. When Elizabeth was a teenager, she said: "I will never marry!" As reigning Queen, she was under enormous pressure to find a husband and have children. but she said: "I am already bound unto a husband, which is the kingdom of England."

Elizabeth loved poem and court drama, the court became famous for promoting the theatre. Plays by William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were performed before the Queen. Shakespeare believed to  have written The Merry Wives of Windsor and Twelfth Night especially for her.

Most summers Elizabeth went on a grand tour of her royal palaces and the homes of her courtiers.  Elizabeth visited her favourite Robert Dudely, she stayed for ten days and was treated to torch-lit dinners, music and fireworks. It is said that when Elizabeth told Dudley that she couldn't see the new gardens from her bedroom, he had a garden built overnight under the Queen's window.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nightsoil men

In Victorian time, building were often put up before water and sewage pipes were laid down so a single tap or pump might have to serve hundreds of people. Toilet waste was carried away by 'nightsoil men'.  Some seeped into the water supply and rivers became polluted by factory and human waste. In 1858, the Thames in London became so smelly that the year was known as 'the year of the Great Stink'!
Post a Comment
Read more

The Indian Mutiny

British rulers were shaken to the core by the Indian Mutiny of 1857. The spark which lit the fuse of the rebellion was when cartridges were given to Indian troops which were coated in grease, made from cow or pig fat. These cartridges had to be prepared for firing by being bitten at one end. The cow is a sacred animal to the Hindus and the pig is regarded as unclean by Muslims, so no one was happy. Indian troops refused to bite the cartridges. Their British officers hanged a few. The troops rioted. They killed their officers, ransacked Delhi, and massacred British men, women and children. For a long time it looked as if the British might be defeated. The rebellion was about more than just biting cartridges. It was a revolt against taxation and the laws of the East India Company, which ruled India for Britain. After the mutiny, the British were a lot more careful about how they governed India. When the news of the mutiny reached England, crowds bayed for blood and Victoria was hor...
Post a Comment
Read more

Panic or panick

There is only one spelling for panic ; the verb is inflected 'panic, panics, panicked, and panicking’. The form panick is used for progressive tense, past tense and past participle. We don't write panick today, though English speakers from a few hundred years ago might have (in the same way they might have written musick). When the alternate spelling “panick” is used for the past participle: "I panicked last night at the disco." When it’s use for progressive tense: “Invariably, when markets are panicking, they sell the stocks quickly.” It's the rule for root words ending in "c" is that you have to add “k”, so the spelling is related with the pronunciation. If we don't add the <k>, it looks as if the <c> has to be pronounced /s/. If the "k" was not there, “panicing” would look like the word which is supposed to be pronounced as if it is ended in "sing," while “paniced” would be pronounced like “panised”. The same ...
1 comment
Read more