visits he sometimes tickled her or slapped her bottom; once he tried to
kiss her. Elizabeth giggled and seemed to enjoy his attention, but Kat
Ashley was disturbed by the Lord Admiral's behaviour, and the servants
began to gossip. Queen Katherine was aware of what was going on, but saw it
all as innocent romping. Once she even joined in the "joke," holding
Elizabeth in the garden while her husband cut off Elizabeth's dress.
Hoping to further deceive his wife, Seymour told her that he had seen
Elizabeth with her arms around a man's neck. Concerned, the queen
questioned Elizabeth, who cried and insisted it wasn't true. Now Katherine
began to suspect that her husband, not some mystery man, had been making
advances to her stepdaughter. She started watching the Lord Admiral more
carefully. One day Katherine went looking for him and Elizabeth and,
according to one account, "came suddenly upon them, where they were all
alone, he having her in his arms." Understandably upset, Katherine banished
Elizabeth from the Old Manor House.
A few months later Katherine died after childbirth and Seymour resumed
plotting to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth knew that she could not legally
marry without the permission of the king's council, and she refused to be
drawn into the Lord Admiral's schemes. In 1549 Seymour was arrested on
charges of conspiring to marry Elizabeth and take over the government. Kat
Ashley was also arrested, along with another of Elizabeth's employees, and
Elizabeth herself was closely interrogated. She kept her wits about her and
denied any involvement in Seymour's treasonous activities. In the end she
convinced the Council of her innocence, and her servants were released from
prison.
When Elizabeth heard that Seymour had been beheaded for his crimes she
supposedly said only, "This day died a man of much wit and very little
judgement." She had learned that she must keep her feelings to herself if
she hoped to survive.
Perilous years
Elizabeth continued to get along well with her brother, King Edward, but in
1553 Edward died. On his deathbed he was persuaded by the duke of
Northumberland to name Lady Jane Grey to succeed him. Lady Jane tried to
refuse the crown, but Northumberland (who was her father-in-law) proclaimed
her to be the new queen. Meanwhile, Henry VIII's daughter Mary was
proclaimed queen by her supporters. Northumberland surrendered to Mary's
forces. He and Jane Grey were imprisoned and later executed.
Queen Mary was determined to restore Catholicism as the country's official
religion. She pressured Elizabeth to convert. Elizabeth obediently attended
one Mass, but complained the whole time of feeling ill. Because this and
Elizabeth's popularity with the English people, Mary grew wary of her half
sister.
When Sir Thomas Wyatt led an uprising against Mary, the queen suspected
that Elizabeth was involved. Elizabeth was taken to London and confined at
Whitehall Palace. Eventually, although no evidence against her could be
found, she was sent to the Tower, where Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, Jane
Grey and so many others had awaited execution. When Elizabeth saw that she
was being brought into the Tower via the Traitor's Gate, she panicked and
begged to be brought through some other gate.
Told that she must enter this way, she cried, "Oh Lord, I never throught to
come in here as a prisoner . . . I come in as no traitor but as true a
woman to the Queen's Majesty as any as is now living; and thereon will I
take my death." She sat down on the stairs and refused to move. When told
that it wasn't healthy to sit in the rain, she replied tearfully, "It is
better sitting here than in a worse place!"
One of her servants started to sob and Elizabeth told him angrily that he
shouldn't cry, saying, "I thank God that I know my truth to be such that no
man can have cause to weep for me!" With that she continued into the Tower.
Despite her very reasonable fears, she was released from the Tower two
months later, on the eighteenth anniversary of her mother's death. She
remained a prisoner, however. In 1555 she was moved under heavy guard to
Hampton Court, where the queen was staying. Mary refused to see her, but
Mary's new husband Philip of Spain met with Elizabeth and fell under her
spell. At his encouragement Mary finally reconciled with Elizabeth.
Over 250 Protestants were burned at the stake during the reign of "Bloody
Mary," and Elizabeth's failure to truly convert to the Catholic faith put
her in constant danger, as did other people's conspiracies to overthrow
Mary and place Elizabeth on the throne.
Finally, on November 17, 1558, Mary died and Elizabeth's years of peril
came to an end. She was now the queen of England.
Gloriana
Elizabeth's advisors urged the twenty-five-year old queen to quickly marry
some foreign prince and produce heirs so that the throne would not pass to
Henry VIII's great-niece, Mary Stuart, the queen of Scotland. Elizabeth
stood by her early decision never to marry. (One of the many proposals she
rejected was from Mary's widower, Philip of Spain.)
Elizabeth had a romantic nature, and may already have been in love her
childhood friend, Robert Dudley, whom she later made the Earl of Leicester.
Although Elizabeth was a hard-working monarch, like her father she had a
great appetite for entertainment. She enjoyed archery, dancing, hunting,
riding, and tennis. Whatever she did, Leicester was usually nearby. He was
given a bedroom near hers, and rumours about the nature of their
relationship were rampant.
Leicester had a wife named Amy. In 1559, while Leicester was at court, Amy
fell down the staircase of her country home, broke her neck, and died. She
had been alone in the house at the time of her accident, and it was
whispered that she had been murdered so that Elizabeth and Leicester could
marry. But Elizabeth did not marry Leicester. Twenty years later he
infuriated the queen by secretly marrying her cousin Lettice Knollys, but
Elizabeth forgave him, and he remained her favourite until his death.
Elizabeth was glorified by poets and artists as Gloriana, the Virgin Queen.
With the help of fine clothes, jewels and cosmetics, the vain queen
maintained a glamorous image despite her advancing age. In her mid-fifties
she fell in love with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of Lettice
Knollys. Essex was in his early twenties, good-looking, and extremely
arrogant. Although he reigned as the queen's favourite for many years, he
did not always show Elizabeth the deference she demanded. Once, when
Elizabeth slapped him during an argument, Essex threatened to draw his
sword on her. Elizabeth sent him to Ireland to quell a rebellion; while
there, Essex ignored the queen's orders and pursued his own agenda. When he
defied her by returning to England without permission, Elizabeth placed him
under house arrest. After his release Essex attempted to lead an uprising
against the queen, and the heartbroken Elizabeth had no choice but to
sentence him to death. Essex was executed in 1601.
Two years later Elizabeth became very ill. Perhaps she did not want to live
without Essex; when her doctors offered her medicine, she refused to take
it. She died on March 24, 1603 at the age of 69.
CONCLUSION
During this period from 1485 to 1603, England developed into one of the
leading European colonial powers, with men such as Sir Walter Raleigh
taking part in the conquest of the New World. Nearer to home, campaigns in
Ireland brought the country under strict English control. Culturally and
socially, the Tudor period saw many changes. The Tudor court played a
prominent part in the cultural Renaissance taking place in Europe,
nurturing all-round individuals such as William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser
and Cardinal Wolsey. The Tudor period also saw the turbulence of two
changes of official religion, resulting in the martyrdom of many innocent
believers of both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The fear of Roman
Catholicism induced by the Reformation was to last for several centuries
and to play an influential role in the history of the Succession.
THE LIST OF LITERATURE:
1. I. I. Burova. The Monarchs of England. «Норинт». Москва. 1997.
2. Джордж Маколей Тревельян. История Англии: от Чосера до крорлевы
Виктории. «Русич». Смоленск. 2001.
3. Официальный сайт Букингемского дворца: www.royal.gov.uk.
4. Сайт, посвященный истрии королевских династий мира: www.royalty.nu.
EXTRACT
«The house of Tudor»
INTRODUCTION. I decided to write this essay, because, I am really
interested in English history. The five sovereigns of the Tudor dynasty are
among the most well-known figures in Royal history. Of Welsh origin, Henry
VII succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of
Lancaster and York to found the highly successful Tudor house. He was
succeeded by Henry VIII, who is famous for his six wives. This dynasty
ruled in Britain for 118 eventful years. Henry VIII was followed to the
throne by his children Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. (Another Tudor
descendant, Jane Grey, was put on the throne after Edward VI's death but
was overthrown after only nine days.) They increased the influence of the
monarchy, established the Church of England, and made England a world
power. When Elizabeth I died in 1603, the Tudor dynasty ended. But the
