Spotlight: Elizabeth I

Names: Elizabeth Tudor / Elizabeth I / Virgin Queen / Gloriana / Good Queen Bess

Titles: Lady Elizabeth / Princess / Queen of England, Ireland and France / Supreme Governor of the Church of England

Dates: 7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603

 Spouse: None

Children: None

Parents: Henry VIII 1491-1547 & Anne Boleyn 1501-1536

Siblings: Edward VI 1537-1553 & Mary I 1518-1558 (half-siblings)

Noble Connections: Elizabeth’s father was Henry VIII, her siblings were Edward VI and Mary I. Her grandfather was the Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde, and her great-uncle was the Duke of Norfolk. Her mother was the Marquess of Pembroke in her own right.

Events of their Lifetime: Essex rebellion 1601, Wyatt’s rebellion 1554, Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-7, reigns of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey and Mary I, defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588, execution of Mary Queen of Scots 1567.

Controversy: Elizabeth’s role in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Did she want to? Was it her decision? Elizabeth’s feelings about her mother, Anne Boleyn, and her father’s role in her mother’s death – did she feel that her father was responsible for her mother’s death?

Works of Fiction:
George, Margaret, Elizabeth I (2011)
Gregory, Philippa, The Virgin’s Lover (2004)
Harper, Karen, The Queen’s Governess (2010)
Irwin, Margaret, Young Bess (1994)
Irwin, Margaret, Elizabeth, Captive Princess (1948)
Irwin, Margaret, Elizabeth and the Princess of Spain (1953)
Plaidy, Jean, Queen of this Realm (1984)
Scott, Walter, Kenilworth (1821)
Shakespeare, William, King Henry VIII (1623)
Weir, Alison, The Lady Elizabeth (2008)
Weir, Alison, The Marriage Game (2014)

Portrayals on Screen:
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth, 1998, directed by Shekhar Kapur
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, 2007, directed by Shekhar Kapur
Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love, 1998, directed by John Madden
Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth R, 1971, 6 episodes
Helen Mirren, Elizabeth I, 2005, 2 episodes
Laiorse Murray, The Tudors, 2010, 8 episodes

Further Reading:
Archer, Abigail, Elizabeth I (2014)
Berry, Philippa, Of Chastity and Power: Elizabethan Literature and the Unmarried Queen (1989)
Bingham, Jane, Elizabeth I (2008)
Black, J.B., The Reign of Elizabeth 1558-1603 (1959)
Clifford, Esther, ‘Marriage of True Minds’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 15 (1984)
Doran, Susan, Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy (2000)
Doran, Susan, Monarchy and Matrimony: the Courtships of Elizabeth I (1995)
Doran, Susan, Queen Elizabeth I (2003)
Doran, Susan, The Myth of Elizabeth (2003)
Dunn, Jane, Elizabeth and Mary (2003)
Green, Janet M., ”I My Self’ Queen Elizabeth I’s Oration at Tilbury Camp’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 28 (1997)
Gristwood, Sarah, Elizabeth and Leicester (2007)
Guy, John, The Reign of Elizabeth I (1995)
Haigh, Christopher, Elizabeth I (1988)
Haigh, Christopher, The Reign of Elizabeth I (1984)
Hibbert, Christopher, The Virgin Queen (1990)
Jenkins, Elizabeth, Elizabeth the Great (1958)
Jones, Philippa, Elizabeth: Virgin Queen? (2010)
Levin, Carole, The Reign of Elizabeth (2002)
Loades, David, Elizabeth I (2003)
MacCaffrey, Wallace T., Elizabeth I (1993)
MacCaffrey, Wallace, Elizabeth I (1993)
McLaren, Anne, ‘Gender, Religion and Early Modern Nationalism: Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and the Genesis of English Anti-Catholicism’, American Historical Review, 107 (2002)
Mumby, F.A., The Girlhood of Queen Elizabeth (1906)
Neale, J.E., Queen Elizabeth I (1934)
Palliser, D.A., The Age of Elizabeth (1983)
Plowden, Alison, Elizabeth I (2004)
Plowden, Alison, The Young Elizabeth (1971)
Plowden, Alison, Two Queens in One Isle: the Deadly Relationship of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots (1984)
Read, Conyers, Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth (1965)
Rex, Richard, Elizabeth: Fortune’s Bastard? (2003)
Ridley, Jasper, Elizabeth I (1987)
Skidmore, Christopher, Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart (2010)
Somerset, Anne, Elizabeth I (1991)
Starkey, David, Elizabeth (2000)
Strickland, Agnes, The Life of Queen Elizabeth (1906)
Strong, Roy, Gloriana (1987)
Strong, Roy, The Cult of Elizabeth (1977)
Taylor-Smither, Larissa J., ‘Elizabeth I a Psychological Profile’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 15 (1984)
Waddington, Ramond B., ‘Elizabeth I and the Order of the Garter’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 24 (1993)
Weir, Alison, Elizabeth the Queen (1996)
Whitelock, Anna, The Queen’s Bed: an Intimate History of Elizabeth’s Court (2012)
Williams, Neville, The Life and Times of Elizabeth I (1972)

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