Today's Birthday girl: Elizabeth Ist of England

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[yankeedame]

Elizabeth I

- Born: 7 September 1533
- Birthplace: Greenwich, England
- Died: 24 March 1603

Best Known As: "The Virgin Queen" of England, 1558-1603

The daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth succeeded Mary I in 1558. Dedicated to her position as ruler, Elizabeth fought off rivals (such as heir to the throne Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned for 19 years and executed in 1587) and expanded England's power overseas, eventually succeeding in defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588. Her nearly 45-year reign is considered one of England's high points: it featured luminaries such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake and William Shakespeare, and it was the birth of England's global expansion and colonization. Elizabeth never married (she was known as "the Virgin Queen") and her cousin, James I, ascended the English throne after her death.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

She doesn't look a day over 400.

[najida]

She's one of my favorite historical characters! Thanks for the post.

[Cecily]

I don't have cable or HBO, but I want to see this show with my main man Jeremy Irons.


http://www.hbo.com/films/elizabeth/index.html

[Slings and Arrows]

"Women do not have ages, only birthdays."
--Robert Heinlein

[SunkenCiv]

for your amusement and edification...

http://www.bisley-glos.net/history.htm#The%20Bisley%20Boy

Bisley’s most famous legend is that of The Bisley Boy which, if it is to be believed, means that Queen Elizabeth I was not as she - or he - seemed.

The story goes that in 1542, Henry VIII was on his way to a hunt at Berkeley, and left his 9 year-old daughter, Elizabeth, at Overcourt in Bisley (now a home, but once a royal hunting lodge), where she would be safe from the plague which was prevalent in those days.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth and her temporary guardians, the princess - according to the legend - died, but the courtiers, ever fearful of their royal master, devised a cunning plan.

A substitute for the princess had to be found before the king returned, but alas, no girl could be found who closely enough resembled the recently deceased Elizabeth. So they opted for Plan B - and found a red-headed boy in the village instead.

If the legend is to be believed, Master/Mistress Elizabeth must have been very convincing, as history tells us that Elizabeth went on to be a great queen, reigning for 45 years.

So what evidence is there to support the legend?

The starting place is with the Rev. Thomas Keble, the then vicar of Bisley, a man not known for his humour, who told his family that during renovations at Overcourt, he had found an old stone coffin containing the skeleton of a girl of about nine, dressed in Tudor clothing.

History also tells us that:

* Queen Elizabeth never married which, in an age when royal marriages were created for alliances, was very unusual

* She was completely bald, covering her shiny pate with wigs

*She had left explicit instructions that no post-mortem should be carried out on her body after her death

The Rev. Keble apparently had the remains reburied nearby, but no-one knows where, and no grave has ever been found.

So Princess Elizabeth's body may be lying at rest in Bisley, and Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, may indeed have had 'the heart of a man'.

Anyone wishing for a far more in-depth background to the legend should read 'Famous Imposters' by Bram Stoker, published by Sidgwick & Jackson (available at Stroud Library).

[SunkenCiv]

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[CholeraJoe]

My favorite author. "C'mon you apes! Do you want to live forever?"

[Xenalyte]

Mine too! I've always adored Gloriana. What an amazing story she lived . . . and for a royal family, you gotta admit the Tudors were some crazy-ass rednecks.

I remember my Moment of Historical Clarity in 1984, when I made the (astonishingly obvious) connection that Anne Boleyn was Elizabeth's mother, and Bloody Mary was her half-sister. I felt SO smart for having figured it out . . . and later, felt SO stupid for not reading that genealogical chart that's in EVERY SINGLE BOOK I OWN.

[najida]

My mother and I had one thing in common,
we ADORED British history, especially the monarches from
pre-Norman Invasion (god bless the long bow) right up to Prince William being a cutie patootie.

There was a saying that Elizabeth was the greatest King England ever had. ;)

[Xenalyte]

You've read Sharon Kay Penman's big ole historicals, yes? And Philippa Gregory (who frankly I don't care for as much as Penman)?

I concentrated on Tudor for the longest time, and only fairly recently branched out on either side chronologically. Eleanor of Aquitaine fascinates me, as does Marie Antoinette - and let's not even get into those wacky Plantagenets!

[najida]

I really don't like Phillipa Gregory....her endings are SO depressing (at least the books I read).

Elenor of Aquitaine is one of my favorites, and Marie Antionette simply because she's a "hometown" girl. And feel for and like reading about characters like Lady Jane Grey, Mary Queen of Scotts (and her poor dog!)

Barbara Tuchman is probably one of my favorite authors....A Distant Mirror I still pull out and read every so often.

And yes, for a few years, I hung out on Alt.royals

[Antoninus]

Best Known As: "The Virgin Queen" of England, 1558-1603

No, best known as "Persecutor of Catholics" in the best tradition of her degenerate pappy.

[linda_22003]

Not true! After all, it was called the "Elizabethan Age". :)

[linda_22003]

As her sister was toward Protestants. It took a few reigns for everything to shake out.

[bannie]

Bloody Mary, anyone?

[ZULU]

"Elizabeth never married (she was known as "the Virgin Queen") and her cousin, James I, ascended the English throne after her death."

James was the son of Mary Queen of Scots. He was also a homosexual who hated tobacco and sponsored the King James Bible and the first of the Stuarts in England. The Stuarts were the last functional Monarchical line in England.

One of the nicest things about Elizabeth is she didn't reproduce, which brought an end to the Tudors - one of the most tyrannical and obnoxious of royal lines - from its founder Henry VII - a liar and coward, to his son Henry VIII an egomaniacal polygamist and medieval Bluebeard, to Bloody Mary - a brutal religious fanatic to Elizabeth, probably the best of the bunch.

[SunkenCiv]

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