#odnb

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

On 27 December 1552 he [Robert Dudley] was appointed keeper of Somerset Place, where he and his wife lived for the remaining months of Edward’s reign. At the same time Princess Elizabeth begrudgingly agreed to exchange Durham Place for Somerset Place; although she never resided there before Edward’s death, the coincidence is intriguing.

Adams, Simon. "Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588), courtier and magnate." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[elizabethan-memes]

Petition to rename the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography to British History fan wiki

[oupacademic]

May 24th marked Queen Victoria's 200th birthday! To honour the United Kingdom's second longest reigning monarch, we are dedicating six days to six facts about one of our favourite queens.

Day 2. Victoria helped to extend the right to vote – but not to women

While we may not think that the Royal Family nowadays has much say in domestic policy, there continues to be much debate about Queen Victoria’s influence, particularly during the Third Reform Act of 1884. Scholars now suggest that the royal services in securing the passage of the bill were more important than previously thought – so important, in fact, that the royal mediation may well have been decisive in the passing of the Bill. Though it did not allow all residents to vote (most notably women), it helped to increase the size of the electorate considerably.

Image provided by Wikimedia Commons

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

Antonia Fraser seized the opportunity thus presented and produced a detailed and highly sympathetic biography in 1969 which has enjoyed both a wide general readership and a high reputation among scholars ever since. (..) ... the commanding position enjoyed by Fraser's biography among general readers has permitted sympathy with Mary's tragedy to flourish unchecked. Fraser's own conclusions were generally judicious, but were so presented as to allow the emergence of a popular Mary–Elizabeth story that unequivocally favoured Mary. This was noticeable, for instance, in the film Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), with its Schiller-inspired meetings between the two queens. A jealous Elizabeth tricked Mary into an unsuitable marriage; she imprisoned her unjustly; she (or her scheming ministers) framed her deceitfully over the Babington plot; she executed her although lacking jurisdiction to do so.  But one can respect Mary and even regret her execution while still recognizing that this is mostly unfair to Elizabeth. She did not want the Darnley marriage. The evidence of Mary's plotting, however obtained, was genuine—and if Mary's plots had succeeded she would have become queen of England and Elizabeth would have been killed. This is also relevant to the legalities of Mary's captivity; freeing her would have harmed English political interests. Mary was well aware of the rules of the political game in which she was engaged, and in claiming that Elizabeth had no jurisdiction over her, she was playing another card in that game. (..) Elizabeth won, but by the rules of the game she won fairly.

Goodare, Julian. 2007 "Mary [Mary Stewart] (1542–1587), queen of Scots." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

I don’t actually think that it’s guaranteed that Mary would have become queen of England in case of Elizabeth’s assassination but here for once we have a Mary sympathetic historian calling out injustice done to Elizabeth by Mary’s sympathizers. I wonder what he thinks about the Shit movie - after all many things that he lists here, especially “scheming ministers“ part and “scheming sidekick Burghley” (not mentioned in this quote but mentioned in the article), apply to it as well.

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

In early 1571 Mary wrote to the banker and papal agent Roberto Ridolfi denouncing the French and soliciting Spanish aid. She also wrote to France seeking aid, and to Elizabeth assuring her that her hopes of the English succession rested on the queen. She was thus pursuing not two but three incompatible policies. But her most significant line of action concerned what came to be known as the Ridolfi plot. This called simultaneously for an uprising of English Catholics, the release of Mary, and an invasion of England by the Spanish army in the Netherlands. Elizabeth would be arrested by Norfolk, who would marry Mary and place her on the English throne. The scheme was grandiosely and incompetently co-ordinated by Ridolfi with the support of Mary's ambassador, Leslie. Mary gave her full approval in March 1571.

Goodare, J.  (2007, May 24). Mary [Mary Stewart] (1542–1587), queen of Scots. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

“In January 1548 William Grindal, tutor to Princess Elizabeth and Ascham’s dear friend, died of plague. Ascham comforted Elizabeth in a letter of 22 January 1548 and recommended a kinsman of Grindal as replacement. Elizabeth, despite the opposition of her stepmother Katherine Parr and of Thomas Seymour, insisted that the vacant tutor’s place go to Ascham. She had her way and Ascham immediately joined the household at Chelsea. He contrived a classical and Christian curriculum for the princess that was designed to equip her for a leading role in the state. In the morning they studied Greek (the New Testament as well as classical authors, such as Sophocles, Isocrates, and Demosthenes), and in the afternoon Cicero and Livy and the early fathers such as St Cyprian. With her he pioneered his method of teaching languages by double translation, which he was to make famous in The Scholemaster. He also taught calligraphy to Elizabeth, her brother, Edward, and Henry and Charles Brandon; it is possible that Lady Jane Grey shared this instruction. A letter of this time to Kate Astley (or Ashley), Elizabeth’s governess, presages Ascham’s later views on the need to approach the education of the precocious with care: ‘The younger, the more tender; the quicker, the easier to break… and so her grace… by little and little, may be increased in learning’ (Ascham, Works, 1.86). (..)

Ascham maintained his connection with Elizabeth throughout her sister’s reign. (..) Ascham studied with her and, as he recounted to Sturm, was amazed by her erudition, linguistic skills, and political understanding.”

O'Day, Rosemary. "Ascham, Roger (1514/15–1568), author and royal tutor." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 

[oupacademic]

Happy birthday to Discworld author, Terry Pratchett! 

[oupacademic]

Today marks Queen Victoria's 200th birthday! To honour the United Kingdom's second longest reigning monarch, we are dedicating the next six days to six facts about one of our favourite queens.

Day 1. There were concerns over Victoria’s sanity during her reign

Following her husband Albert’s death, there were concerns that Victoria would suffer from madness as King George III – who was considered insane – was her grandfather. These concerns were likely based not just on medical history but also sexism. Suggestions of insanity were used to contain the perceived dangers of a young woman on the throne who was without a husband, and these claims tailed off once the queen passed menopause.

Image provided by Wikimedia Commons