Elizabeth I: Then and Now exhibition material

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This article offers a descriptive list of items included in the Elizabeth I: Then and Now exhibition.


Introduction

Her red hair, white face and ruff are almost as familiar as his bald head and beard, making Elizabeth I and Shakespeare two of the most recognizable figures from English history. Elizabeth ruled during most of Shakespeare's lifetime, and the Folgers began collecting materials about her as they focused on Shakespeare. The collection on English history has continued to expand with the Folger itself, making it today the largest repository of items by and about Elizabeth I in the United States.

Born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, Elizabeth received the education of a prince. She knew five languages and was a talented musician, dancer and horsewoman. The dangers that surrounded Elizabeth during the reign of her Catholic sister Mary only served to make her politically savvy at an early age. When Mary died in November 1558, Elizabeth was prepared to take on the responsibility of the throne at the age of twenty-five. She was crowned in January 1559, and it is there that our exhibition opens.

Elizabeth Enthroned

The handcolored engraving shows Elizabeth enthroned. We know that she wore three different costumes for her coronation day, two of them inherited from her sister Mary. One of these had a mantle and gown made of cloth of gold, the mantle trimmed with ermine. Robert Glover, who wrote this book, was Somerset Herald and one of the great English genealogists.

The Plimpton "Sieve" Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, 1579

This magnificent portrait by George Gower, Sergeant Painter to the Queen, belongs to the early group of "Sieve" portraits where Elizabeth wears a red gown. The portraits take their name from the sieve she holds in her left hand, recalling the Roman Vestal virgin who carried water in a sieve, thus proving her virginity. In this painting, the globe on the left with the Italian motto "I see everything and much is lacking," appears to refer to Elizabeth's imperial mission as her explorers sailed out to new lands. On the right is her coat of arms with a quotation beneath from Petrarch, indicating that the Virgin Queen is beyond the woes of lovers.

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Court Life

Elizabeth's life at court was both religious and secular. She spent time in private devotions, and heard services in her chapel, with magnificent singing by a choir of men and boys. She loved music, as well as dancing, horseback riding and hunting. In addition, she watched others perform acrobatics, masques, tourneys, fencing, and wrestling. Many of the plays she saw were performed by boy students from the schools of St. Paul's, Westminster, and the Chapel. The queen and some of her courtiers also sponsored acting companies. In the 1590s, late in her reign, a new talent appeared on the London scene: William Shakespeare.

The "Bishop's Bible"

The Folger owns the actual copy of the Bishops' Bible given to Queen Elizabeth by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury in October 1568. Bound in red velvet, with silver-gilt bosses decorated Tudor roses, the Bible would have been used in her chapel. On the title page is an engraving of a youthful Elizabeth with flowing hair. With Faith and Charity on each side, she becomes emblematic of Hope. Inside is a handcolored portrait of Sir Robert Dudley, her favorite.

I.B. Book of Prayers

This little book, made the year that Shakespeare was born, may have been used by a gentleman at Elizabeth's court for private prayer. It contains prayers for the queen and for the court. The identity of I (or J) B is still a mystery.

Lute

Elizabeth was known as a talented lutenist, and may have played an instrument similar to this period piece. In 1585 she received a box of lute strings for a New Year's gift from "Francisco", probably one of her musicians.

Merry Wives of Windsor

This is the second play by Shakespeare known definitely to have been performed before the queen, as noted on the title page (the first was Love's Labour's Lost). The tradition that Shakespeare wrote Merry Wives at her request because she liked Falstaff has no foundation, but the play does seem to have been written for the Feast of the Garter, celebrated at Westminster in 1597. Mistress Quickly, disguised as Queen of the Faeries (and thus humorously as the queen herself) gives directions near the end of the play to

Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out.
Strew good luck . . . on every sacred room.

Windsor, of course, was one of Elizabeth's own castles.

Hoefnagel, Visit to Nonsuch

Elizabeth's court traveled with her when she went around the country on her progresses. This colored engraving shows her arriving at Nonsuch in a plumed coach, as she must have done on many of her visits. The palace was built by her father, Henry VIII. In August 1559, during her first summer as queen, the earl of Arundel entertained Elizabeth at Nonsuch. He arranged for magnificent banquets, as well as a masque, music of drums and flutes, and other festivities that kept the party going until 3AM.

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Elizabeth's Wardrobe

Queen Elizabeth's self-fashioning literally involved the use of "fashion."

She dressed to be seen; her rich clothes and jewels made a statement about her power as a female ruler and about the stability and strength of her nation. Their impact was noted especially by foreign visitors to court. From Germans we hear of her "red robe interwoven with gold thread," and her "pure white satin, gold-embroidered" gown. From a Frenchman, report of "a chain of rubies and pearls about her neck," and pearl bracelets, "six or seven rows of them."

Van de Passe engraving of Elizabeth

The drawing which served as model for this late engraving probably dates from ca.1592-95. The queen wears a wide French farthingale, made of silk decorated with a trellis design of a light woven fabric, caught up on rosettes by jeweled buttons. The over-sleeves are lined with an embroidered fabric. A wired veil trimmed with lace rises behind her elaborate ruff. She wears a jeweled girdle or belt, and pearls nestle in her hair and hang in ropes from her neck. The engraving was made after Elizabeth's death, and Roy Strong calls it "the most influential portrait ever produced of her."

Elizabeth Wingfield Autograph letter, signed, to Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury

The queen received many rich gifts of clothing from her courtiers at New Years. In this letter, Elizabeth Wingfield reports to the Countess of Shrewsbury that her gift of a light blue satin cloak embroidered with pansies was a big hit: "her majesty never liked any thing you gave her so well." The detail below shows this quotation on the first line.

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Foreign Affairs

When Elizabeth visited her army at Tilbury during the Spanish Armada crisis in 1588, she said to them: "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king . . . and take foul scorn that Parma or any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm." No one did invade during Elizabeth's tenure. The Spanish failed in 1588 and the French were busy with their own internal religious wars during much of Elizabeth's reign. Politics and religion were bound together. Elizabeth attempted to keep Catholic Spanish and French influence from growing too large, while supporting the Protestants in France and the Netherlands. But she never wanted to throw too much money at these endeavors and used her various marriage negotiations as levers towards balancing the powers.

Henri IV of France

Henri IV of France was a Protestant who turned Catholic to resolve the religious conflict in France. Initially, Elizabeth treated him like a son, sending him advice and gifts. The letter on display is written in French in her own hand. She warns him to be valorous "For as to my son, if I had had one, I would rather have seen him dead than a coward"—but careful of his person. He must remember that he is not "a private soldier but. . . a great prince." Henri's most important act was the Edict of Nantes (1598), establishing religious toleration in France.

Armada Medal

In 1580 Spain conquered Portugal, and shortly thereafter the Spanish were implicated in two plots against the life of Elizabeth. Spain was also involved in conflicts with Protestants in the Netherlands. Elizabeth countered by allowing her sea pirates to prey on Spanish shipping and by offering some support to the Protestants. Philip retaliated by organizing a flotilla of 150 ships with 26,000 men, which sailed from Lisbon in 1588, bound for England. Fortunately, foul weather and faster, more modern English ships foiled the whole enterprise. The English were jubilant and the Netherlands were so delighted by the Spanish defeat that they issued their own celebratory medal. It shows the Armada ships dashed against rocks.

Map of Irish Cities

Elizabeth's government treated Ireland almost like a foreign country, as a territory to be conquered and ruled. During her reign, a number of English emigrated, hoping to get rich quick. The Old English, who had been in Ireland for centuries, had their own ways of working with the Gaelic chieftains and did not always appreciate these "New English."

This handcolored map shows four Irish cities: Galway, Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. The cities were ancient patrician towns, set up by the Anglo-Normans and fortified by the so-called "old" English in Ireland. On the sides of the map are figures showing three social classes among the Irish: an Irish gentleman and lady, Irish city dwellers, and the rural Irish, wrapped in rough cloaks.

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Leicester and Essex

Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1532-1588) and his stepson, Robert Devereux, earl of Essex (1567-1601) were two favorites of Elizabeth. Both men were handsome, physically fit, and intelligent.

Elizabeth knew Leicester from the time they were children, and of all her suitors, he came closest to being the husband she might have had. When he died in 1588, she took his impetuous, headstrong stepson under her wing.

Essex was more a soldier than a courtier, and finally his impatience with Elizabeth's regime cost him his life.

Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, Autograph letter, signed, to Queen Elizabeth I

Leicester wrote this personal letter from the camp at Tilbury while the English troops were waiting for the Spanish Armada. Twice he puts little eye-brows over the o's in "moost" and he signs the letter, "your most faythfull & most obedient ["eyes" symbol] R. Leycester," intimate reminders of the queen's nickname for him, her "Eyes." A month later he died from a fever at the age of fifty-five, and Elizabeth was grief-stricken.

Collection of writings relating to the trial of the earl of Essex, 1601

Essex's popularity and the scandal of his execution are indicated by the numerous accounts that survive in manuscript. He had offended the queen by negotiating privately with Tyrone in Ireland, but his more serious offense was to promote an uprising in London by which he hoped to unseat the queen. The uprising never materialized, but he was tried for treason and beheaded on February 15, 1601. This manuscript includes an account of his trial and execution. As Essex came to the scaffold, wearing "a black velvet gown & a suit of black Satin. . . he earnestly desired [th]e people to pray for him."

items included

  • Robert Dudley. Autograph letter signed from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Tilbury, to Queen Elizabeth I. Manuscript, [August 3, 1588]. X.c.126. LUNA Digital Image.
  • Francis ap Rice. Collection of writings relating to the trial of the earl of Essex. Manuscript, 1601. V.a.164.

The Scottish Connection

Elizabeth as Ruler

Elizabeth's Funeral

Afterlife, Then and Now