I went to London and visited the National Portrait Gallery as they has an Elizabethan exhibition going on. I love London, I have dreams of moving to and working there after I leave university. I love how vibrant and beautiful the city is, I also love the buildings and when we got off the train, we had a little walk around photographing some architecture before heading to the gallery. I also really love and admire galleries, I like how you can just walk round and find yourself lost in a painting or photograph.
We were given a task to find an image from the exhibition that we find visually engaging and find symbolic references within the portrait and talk about what the image says to the sitter. I walked round and looked at all the portraits and images in the gallery.
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia
Elizabeth was born in Scotland in 1596 and was the eldest daughter of James VI of Scots and the granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots. in 1605, she was meant to replace her father on the throne after Gunpowder Plotters planned to kill him. She was known for her beautiful golden hair. Her father tried to set up several husbands for her, almost all the men he picked were Protestant princes and the man she ended up marrying was Frederick V who was the leader of a group of Protestant rulers in Germany and they married on 14th February 1613. There's a short poem describing how the couple are linked to two phoenixes 'Whose love and courage never shall decline, but make the whole year through, thy day, O Valentine.' In November 1619, the married couple became king and queen of Bohemia as she was then known as the Winter Queen but after only a year, the Emperor Ferdinand II who was a Catholic banned them from Bohemia and seized the Palatinate. After Fredrick's death in 1632, Elizabeth flew to England where her nephew Charles II had taken over the throne. She passed away a year later, aged 65 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Sir Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis was born in 1532. He studied all over the world including England, France and Italy. In 1562, when he was aged around 30, he became a Member of Parliament and he got recognised for his talent and in 1568, he started working for the most powerful non-royal in England. He was used to spy on foreigners in London who might seem like a threat to Queen Elizabeth. From 1570 to 1573, he served as an ambassador in the French Court, his main job was to organise the marriage between Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou. He was knighted in 1577. Francis continued to work to arrange the marriage between Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou after he was sent away from England, but he failed. He had other plans to move Scotland away from her and her involvement with France and to move the King of Scotland towards London, this could have been tricky for him as James VI was the king of Scotland and England had imprisoned his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. It was Sir Francis that discovered the information that got Mary, Queen of Scots trialled and found guilty and executed. On April 6th, 1590 Sir Francis passed away as a loyal servant to the Queen.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley was born on 24th June 1532, he was the fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and Jane Guildford. He married his first wife at the young age of eighteen and he has been accused of murdering her so he could marry Queen Elizabeth. He helped his dad to help give Lady Jane Grey the throne in July 1553, because of this he was sentenced to death but was pardoned in October 1554. Queen Mary's husband, Philip II of Spain helped him with finances but his big fortunes started when Elizabeth made him her Master of the Horse. Everyone claimed that Elizabeth loved Dudley and continued to do so even after they ended but this was not the truth as she loved no one at all. Dudley's wife, Lady Amy died very suddenly in 1560 and it was treated as suspicious and involved Lord Robert and also the Queen. There had been talk that there had been secret flirting happening between the Queen and her Master of the Horse. She named him Protector of the Realm if she were to ever die, he set out to marry the Queen by any means necessary and told the Spanish ambassadors that he wold bring England back to being Catholic if Philip would help him to marry her. In 1571, he ended up marrying a widow after years of waiting and realising that Elizabeth wouldn't marry him and seven years later, married another one and ended up becoming the step dad to Robert Devereux who was Elizabeth's last favourite. He married Lady Lettice Knollys who was Queen Elizabeth's cousin and she was furious with him but eventually forgave him. The two remained close and he passed away in 1588.
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I was born on 7th September 1533. She was the Queen of England and Ireland from 17th November 1558 until she died. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn and was considered to be the greatest monarch in English history. She became Queen at the young age of 25 and was the third Queen to rule England in her own right after her cousin Lady Jane Grey and her half-sister Mary I. She was known as The Virgin Queen after her purity and as she was childless, she was the last monarch of the Tudor Dynasty. She was known famously for her virginity and it became a cult in which portraits, literature and other forms of art were produced representing this. Her reign was known as the Elizabethan era which was very famous for creating new means of art such as poetry and plays. William Shakespeare created many plays including Queen Elizabeth. At the end of her reign, she became less popular due to economic and military problems in the country. She has been linked to several men during her lifetime but after getting her heart broken from one, she decided she would become faithful to her country and people and focus on them rather than marriage or children. She is known for symbolism, especially in her portraits. She liked to show meaning through her photos by wearing a necklace with a design on or patterns in her dress. On 24th March 1603, Elizabeth passed away and James VI of Scotland was named James I of England.
Queen Mary I
Mary I was born on 18th February 1516 and was the child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Her life changed when he divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn (Elizabeth's mother). This marriage was considered illegal as Catherine had previously been married to his dead brother, this resulted in Henry's involvement with Rome and the Church of England to break. After Anne Boleyn gave birth to Elizabeth, Mary was forbidden to see her mother and was denied her title of princess anymore. When Anne Boleyn was killed, Mary thought she could fix her relationship with her father but she didn't associate him as the head of the church any longer. She finally agreed to reconnect with her father and after going to court, she was given the name as heir to the throne after her younger brother Edward who was born in 1537. Edward VI became king in 1547 under the protection of the Duke of Northumberland who was Protestant, Mary was a Catholic and when they found out that Edward was dying, Northumberland made his daughter in law, Lady Jane Grey take the throne instead of Mary. After Edward passed away in 1553, Jane was briefly made Queen but Mary had become popular and had made a promise then once she was Queen, she would make the country Catholic again and also marry Philip II of Spain but neither of these decisions were popular as Philip was Spanish and therefore couldn't be trusted and many people in the country had now taken an interest in the Protestant church. In 1554, she stopped a rebellion which was led by Sir Thomas Wyatt and she also married Philip. Mary passed away in 1558, childless and her hopes for a Catholic England also passed away with her.
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn was born on 28th May 1533, she was the second wife of Henry VIII and Queen of England from 1533 to 1536. She was raised and educated in the Netherlands and France and was a maid of honour to Claude of France. She returned to England in 1522 and planned on marrying her Irish cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond but the plans were cancelled and became a maid of honour to Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon. Around 1526, Henry attempted to seduce Anne but she refused to become his mistress like her sister Mary previously had been. It became one of Henry's desires to divorce Catherine so that he could marry Anne but Pope Clement VII would not give permission for the divorce and so the breaking of the power of the Catholic Church of England started. On 23rd May 1533, Thomas Cranmer gave permission for the divorce to happen and five days later, he made Henry's and Anne's marriage valid. Anne was made Queen of England on 1st June 1533 and on 7th September she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed that it wasn't a son, but he loved Elizabeth regardless. Anne went on to have three miscarriages and never produced Henry a son and by March 1536, he was trying to seduce Jane Seymour. In April 1536, Henry had Anne investigated for high treason and on May 2nd, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, she was tried before a jury of peers, including her uncle Thomas Howard, she was found guilty on 15th May and was beheaded four days later. Her convictions included adultery, incest and witchcraft. She has been named as the most influential and important Queen that England has ever had because she was the reason why Henry stopped his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and also became separated and independent from Rome.
King Henry VIII
Henry was born on 28th June 1491. His older brother Arthur died in 1502 and he became heir to the English throne and when his father, Henry VII passed away in 1509, he became King Henry VIII at the young age of 18. During his first few years of ruling, he relied on Thomas Wolsey to basically rule for him and by 1515 he made him Lord Chancellor, which is the highest role in government. He is most famously known for his six marriages and also for his separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. He always wanted a son so he could give England a male heir because he thought a daughter would be unable to provide and carry on Tudor power. Henry attended the ceremony of his brother's wedding to Catherine of Aragon when he was 10 years old, but the marriage only lasted 4 months before Arthur passed away. Permission was needed for Henry to marry to Catherine as this was his dead brother's wife but permission was given from the Pope and he married her on 11th June 1509. Catherine gave birth to their first child, a son whom they named Henry after his dad in January 1511. Unfortunately, the child passed away 2 months later and this was the first of many unsuccessful births the couple would receive. To try to make himself feel better, Henry went to war against France. The only surviving child the couple had was a girl, Princess Mary who was born in 1516. By 1520, Catherine was in her forties and Henry was desperate for a son. Henry was only the second monarch from the Tudors ruling and they didn't believe that it was strong enough yet to let a woman rule the country. By this point, Henry loved Anne Boleyn and he tried to get permission from the Pope so he could divorce Catherine, the Pope wouldn't agree to this so Henry had to get permission from Thomas Cranmer. In 1532, Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury and in May 1533, he gave permission for the divorce and one week later Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen. He wanted to receive an heir from his second marriage but instead received another daughter, Princess Elizabeth. He executed Anne on charges of treason on 1536. His third marriage was to Jane Seymour who finally gave him a son, Edward VI. Jane died 12 days after giving birth. His fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves was the reason for the downfall of Thomas Cromwell as he had proved to everyone that he was an effective minister because of his efforts to let divorce happen but he was called for dismissal in 1536 and although he had previously been made Earl of Essex in 1540, he was arrested and executed three months later. Henry went on to have two more marriages to Katherine Howard who was executed for adultery in 1542 and Catherine Parr who was his last surviving wife that stayed with him until he died in 1547. None of them produced any children so he made sure his male heir, Edward was Protestant and not Catholic because he wanted the country to become more firmly established. After Cromwell was executed, there was no other minister for the last seven years of Henry's reign so he turned to France one more time. He couldn't manage to build an army of 40,000 men and so his plan to capture France failed. As he became older, he started to become very obese and his health got worse and he passed away in 1547, leaving Catherine Parr a widow and his son Edward VI the King to the throne.
Sources:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/marriage-winter-queen
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-england/sir-francis-walsingham/
http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/leicester.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/queen-elizabeth-i/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mary_i_queen.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn
http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueensofengland/thetudors/henryviii.aspx
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