For financial reasons Elizabeth needed to recall the prorogued parliament of 1563 in October. With no result of her promise to marry, since her negotiations with the Archduke Charles had stalled, she faced pressure from both Houses to settle the succession. On 5 November 1566 she snapped back in a famous speech that concluded ‘it is monstrous that the feet should direct the head’. She also declared, ‘I thank God I am indeed endued [endowed] with such qualities that if I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat, I were able to live in any place in Christendom’. Mary would also use this trope from the Italian poet Boccaccio the following year.
Simon Adams, ‘Two Queens in One Isle (1560-8)’. In Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens by Susan Doran (ed.)
Who wants to read Boccaccio? :)
