Let me just say: I typed, but never posted this in October of 2010! At any rate, here it is:
Last year, when preparing for my mini-trip to England, I began reading Tudor history. Yeah, just jumped right in, and when it got a little thick - I'd rent some glammed-up Hollywood version of Tudor history or find a historical fiction novel to read... after a hiatus of sorts, I'm back and absolutely loving the era that I avoided like the black plague throughout college. Granted, there are tons of players, names that change with every royal appointment, or reassignment of land, but the intrigue, love affairs, posturing, and dare-devilry that spans GENERATIONS are intoxicating. Matt reminds me of the filth during those times...it's hard to forget that there wasn't indoor plumbing yet, men might take baths a few times a year and if a lady was lucky, they'd put on clean underwear afterward! I'd like to think there were more than a few who would "wash up" more frequently, but, as it is said, it was a different time.
And therein lies the anomaly of Queen Elizabeth I. While Queen Mary ruled for a period of time prior to Elizabeth's reign, the idea that a woman could rule without a King was paramount, as well as that the Queen's duty to her country was to bear a male heir. For forty years the question of a husband ebbed like the tide and as far a man ruling as consort...why would someone who loved power and attention so much as Elizabeth give up power to a man...who probably loved her more for her throne than for her womanly prowess. As it was, she had William Cecil and her favorite, Sir Robert Dudley, despite his tainted reputation, and for better or worse, her councilors.
The most interesting thing about Elizabeth, is that she had the education of a man of the times. She was intelligent, but more than that, she had a passion for learning that continued throughout her life. She was vain, prideful, arrogant, and witty; she could be ambiguous an procrastinate, almost to a fault. Although, it was the combination of all of these traits that helped her survive from the age of 3, when her mother was beheaded, to the time of her death following the Golden Age.
While always the center of the Court, I imagine that the Virgin Queen was lonely, despite her egomania, which was the result of so much attention. The ability to love and be loved, in the simplest form, was beyond her and while historians largely agree that she was in fact the Virgin Queen, it seems that Robert Dudley was the closest she had to emotional love. Despite his faults and his mercurial popularity in the Court, Elizabeth raised him up and with every fall, she took him back - her devotion, while bruised, was undaunted and spanned thirty years. Later in life, Sir Christopher Hatton won a spot in her heart and while Dudley was the bad-boy, Hatton devoted his life to her, never marrying and remaining celibate. Between these two men, admitted rivals for the Queen's attention who later became friends, Elizabeth, and her ego, were loved.
Interestingly, the Puritans of her Court gave rise to the extremist Puritans who would come to the New World and build a city upon the hill...my connection to Elizabeth and this time period, is not only the love of the attire, the chivalry, the ritual, and perceived excess of wealth (because everyone and their uncle was living beyond their means in actuality), but my ancestors received a charter from the Queen and came to Salem, Massachusetts in order to found a new colony. While I have yet to understand the full connection, this is a start. It is said that the best thing about studying new subject material is that you may learn something new about yourself. Without sounding too cliche, I believe it is true.
No comments:
Post a Comment