The Truth Behind the Golden Age of Elizabeth I
How the Virgin Queen Deceived Her Enemies
Nov 9, 2009
The Tudors were experts at publicity and propaganda, but none was better at it than the last and most clever of the dynasty, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth’s first problem on becoming Queen in 1558 was the poor, ill-equipped and vulnerable nature of her realm. There was, too, the ever-present threat of Spanish or French invasion and the Catholic conspiracies that endangered the Elizabeth’s very survival
The Glorious Image of the Virgin Queen
Elizabeth’s chief defense lay in her wits, her gambler’s instinct and above all, her talent for creating a cult of personality. First of all, Elizabeth secured her position within her realm by creating a glorious public image that transcended the Protestant-Catholic divide among her subjects and appealed directly to English patriotism
To underline the royal glory, the Queen had to be visible and in an age of slow communications, that meant undertaking royal progresses. These progresses resembled travelling theatre, and every summer in the early years of her reign saw Elizabeth moving in spectacular procession through the major towns and cities of England.
The centrepiece of the show was Elizabeth herself. A slight, slim but splendid figure almost submerged in the jewels, brocade and ornaments of her dress, she was more like a living icon than a human being. In addition, Elizabeth appeared almost ethereal with her face painted stark white and her mountainous red-haired wig
Elizabeth Dazzles as Faerie Queene and Gloriana
It was a brilliant performance in which Elizabeth enjoyed back-up of the highest order. Poets, playwrights, the creators of water pageants and masques at court propagandists, pamphleteers and ballad-makes all conspired to intensify the image of Elizabeth as Gloriana or the Faerie Queene of Edmund Spenser’s lyrical poem
Artists, too, promoted Elizabeth in all her bejewelled glamor, surrounded by a glittering court full of lusty, handsome young men whose dauntless deeds she inspired
The Face Behind Elizabeth’s Mask
Yet behind this outward show, the Virgin Queen lived dangerously. Against Spain and France, her principal rivals, Elizabeth relied on guile and confusion. She exploited Franco-Spanish enmity, hinting at aid for one against the other, never committing herself, but always holding out hope to keep her enemies guessing
Elizabeth also exploited the fact that, as a woman, she was expected to be indecisive. She took care to conceal her devious mind and keen political instinct and instead acted the part of a female who offered hope and then backtracked, gave half a promise, then denied it and persistently avoided - or appeared to avoid - making up her mind. This was how Elizabeth kept her many suitors living in hopes for years, even though she never intended to marry any of them
It also explained why Elizabeth omitted to name King James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, as her successor until the very last moment, when she was dying in 1603. If, before then, she had named a Catholic heir, she risked alienating her Protestant subjects. The other, Protestant, choice, would inevitably lead to the French or Spanish invasion Elizabeth feared
Elizabeth and England’s Future
By this and other duplicitous means, the Virgin Queen kept her reign and her realm intact for forty-five years, converting the vulnerable kingdom she inherited into a state with a very promising future. By 1603, the realm Elizabeth preserved against great odds was already on its way to later prestige as a prime world power, with a rich and growing overseas trade and a respectable standing among European states which had once despised both England and its fiesty and intrepid queen
Sources
Loades, David, Elizabeth I: The Golden Reign of Gloriana (English Monarch: Treasures from the National Archives) (Epsom, Surrey, UK, PRO Publications Ltd. 2003) ISBN-10: 1903365430. ISBN-13: 978-1903365434
Spenser, Edmund, Roche, Thomas P, O’Donnell, C. Patrick, The Faerie Queene (Penguin Classics) London, UK: Longman (Imprint of Pearson Education) 2007. ISBN-10: 1040422072 ISBN-13: 978-0140422078
Strong, Roy, The Cult of Elizabeth: Elizabethan Portraiture and Pageantry. (London, UK, Pimlico, 1999) ISBN-10: 07122664815 ISBN-13: 978-0712664813
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