Династия Тюдоров (essay the house of Tudor) — страница 8

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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.