618. Elizabeth I: The Shadow of the Tower (Part 3)
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Of Queen Mary this truly may be affirmed, and left in story for a perpetual memorial or epitaph for all kings and queens that shall succeed her, to be noted, that before her never was read in story of any king or queen of England, under whom, in time of peace, by hanging, beheading, burning and prisoning, so much Christian blood So many Englishmen's lives were spilled within this realm, as under the said Queen Mary for the space of four years was to be seen. And I beseech the Lord, never may be seen hereafter. So that was the Tudor number one bestseller, the thrillingly titled Acts and Monuments of These Latter and Perilous Days Touching Matters of the Church. And it was by an unusually forensic and judicious historian, John Fox, a man of Lincolnshire, hence the accent.
And that book went down in English history as Fox's Book of Martyrs, one of the foundational texts you might argue, of English national identity. It was published in 1563, five years after the death of the character he's talking about, Mary Tudor. And Tom, in that passage, John Fox is describing the depredations, crimes, and horrors of her reign. A reign so drenched in blood that to this day, and I remember this when we did it at school when I was about 10, she is still known as Bloody Mary. And he's not just talking about Mary, is he? He's talking about the subject of our series, which is Elizabeth, because Elizabeth is the yin to Mary's yang. Well, or is she?
Or do they actually have more in common, perhaps, than is conventionally assumed? We will be finding out in this episode. But specifically, that passage comes in an entire segment that is focused on Elizabeth and what Fox sees as the miracle of that enables Elizabeth to survive the reign of Bloody Mary, her half-sister. And Fox thinks that, obviously, Elizabeth is absolutely brilliant because Fox's writing is Protestant, Elizabeth is Protestant. But just as he thinks Elizabeth is brilliant, he thinks Mary is an absolute shocker, the worst ruler ever on the English throne. So he casts Mary as this terrifying Papist tyrant, and Elizabeth as a Protestant deliverer. He says that Mary was inflamed with zeal, not for God, but for idolatry, whereas Elizabeth is a restorer of the gospel.
He describes how Mary filled England with smoke from the burning of God's saints, whereas Elizabeth, when she comes to the throne, is all about the advancement of learning and godliness.
And he's not exaggerating the differences, is he? So just to remind people, we ended last time with the death of Edward VI, their brother. So he'd been an ultra-Protestant, a kind of evangelical reformer. So we are in 1553. And now we are going to find out what happens. Edward wanted his Protestant relative, Lady Jane Grey, to succeed him. But Mary is, of course, the obvious person, more beloved of the English people.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–16:50
2
What role did John Fox's writings play in shaping perceptions of Mary?
16:50–20:52
3
How did Elizabeth survive under Mary Tudor's reign?
20:52–27:16
4
Why did Edward VI choose Lady Jane Grey over Elizabeth and Mary?
27:16–43:39
5
How did Elizabeth's relationships with her siblings influence her fate?
43:39–1:10:24
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Rest Is History
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