Mary of Scots is a tragic figure-was Elizabeth of England the same?
While the tragic story of Elizabeth I condemning the beloved Scottish Queen tugs at our heartstrings; the emotionally broken Queen of England may have felt she could not show mercy.
We have to know something about Elizabeth's formative years, to understand the years of her reign, as Elizabeth I.
Her father, King Henry the VIII maligned and divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Outdoing himself with the second, Anne Boleyn, the mother to tiny three year old Elizabeth; she was beheaded.
Elizabeth must have considered his third wife, Jane Seymour, lucky when she died. His fourth wife, Anne of Cleaves, wasn't as pretty as Henry said her painting made him believe, and so he annulled that marriage!
Fifth, and not done yet, Henry married Anne Boleyn's cousin, Katherine Howard. She proved unfaithful to him, and with perhaps a bit of reluctance, if not love, Henry signed for her beheading. Finally, he married a very spirited and smart woman, Katherine Parr, who only narrowly escaped Katherine and Anne's fate by appealing to Henry in his favorite place-his self absorption. And lucky for her, Henry bought it.
So the childhood that Elizabeth experienced taught her one thing. Family ties meant nothing.
On the other hand, Mary, Queen of Scots, was a pampered, well taught, and dare we say it-a little thin in the common sense area. She was raised amidst the glitter and gilding of France's luxurious surroundings, and made to feel that her smallest acts deserved all merit.
So when Mary came to Scotland, she was anxious and feeling a bit lonely. In her mind, the most natural thing in the world was to reach out to family when she needed help. And since she'd managed to antagonize most of the nobles of Scotland, she turned to Elizabeth.
Poor Elizabeth, who could not have believed for one minute that her family wanted a friendship, must have immediately run to her advisors. What was this upstart Queen doing? What did she want?
It didn't take long before the rumors were flying of plots to kill Elizabeth. The woman who sat on the throne because her murderous father died prematurely, could only base her decision off of past experience, she would have been foolish to ignore the threat.
On the other hand, for Mary, what really caused her death was that she believed family stuck together, that all people were innately good.
Most women have the innate sense about the person they converse with. A simple meeting might have prevented the ultimate ending of this relationship. But there was no meeting, maybe by chance, maybe by design.
Elizabeth had kept Mary locked up for many years, trying to avoid becoming the person her father was, by condemning this member of the royal family. Yet, when traitorous rumors, and Mary's desperate acts for self preservation were known, Elizabeth had no choice, in her mind. That decision brought Mary and a signed petition for her beheading to Northampton, England. There she prayed, and fasted for deliverance and mercy, for herself and Elizabeth. She died quietly and nobly.
Conversely, Elizabeth spent a quiet day in solitude and thought.
So the question remains of why did this have to happen? In the end, it can only be that sometimes we look at life from our own perpective, rather than broadening our view. Sometimes the judgement we make will be a somber mistake.
There is a lesson to be learned from these two. Sometimes, we need to face our enemy, and if we are lucky, that enemy could be replaced by a friend.
While the tragic story of Elizabeth I condemning the beloved Scottish Queen tugs at our heartstrings; the emotionally broken Queen of England may have felt she could not show mercy. We have to know something about Elizabeth's formative years, to understand the years of her reign, as Elizabeth I.
Her father, King Henry the VIII maligned and divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Outdoing himself with the second, Anne Boleyn, the mother to tiny three year old Elizabeth; she was beheaded.
Elizabeth must have considered his third wife, Jane Seymour, lucky when she died. His fourth wife, Anne of Cleaves, wasn't as pretty as Henry said her painting made him believe, and so he annulled that marriage!
Fifth, and not done yet, Henry married Anne Boleyn's cousin, Katherine Howard. She proved unfaithful to him, and with perhaps a bit of reluctance, if not love, Henry signed for her beheading. Finally, he married a very spirited and smart woman, Katherine Parr, who only narrowly escaped Katherine and Anne's fate by appealing to Henry in his favorite place-his self absorption. And lucky for her, Henry bought it.
So the childhood that Elizabeth experienced taught her one thing. Family ties meant nothing.
On the other hand, Mary, Queen of Scots, was a pampered, well taught, and dare we say it-a little thin in the common sense area. She was raised amidst the glitter and gilding of France's luxurious surroundings, and made to feel that her smallest acts deserved all merit.
So when Mary came to Scotland, she was anxious and feeling a bit lonely. In her mind, the most natural thing in the world was to reach out to family when she needed help. And since she'd managed to antagonize most of the nobles of Scotland, she turned to Elizabeth.
Poor Elizabeth, who could not have believed for one minute that her family wanted a friendship, must have immediately run to her advisors. What was this upstart Queen doing? What did she want?
It didn't take long before the rumors were flying of plots to kill Elizabeth. The woman who sat on the throne because her murderous father died prematurely, could only base her decision off of past experience, she would have been foolish to ignore the threat.
On the other hand, for Mary, what really caused her death was that she believed family stuck together, that all people were innately good.
Most women have the innate sense about the person they converse with. A simple meeting might have prevented the ultimate ending of this relationship. But there was no meeting, maybe by chance, maybe by design.
Elizabeth had kept Mary locked up for many years, trying to avoid becoming the person her father was, by condemning this member of the royal family. Yet, when traitorous rumors, and Mary's desperate acts for self preservation were known, Elizabeth had no choice, in her mind. That decision brought Mary and a signed petition for her beheading to Northampton, England. There she prayed, and fasted for deliverance and mercy, for herself and Elizabeth. She died quietly and nobly.
Conversely, Elizabeth spent a quiet day in solitude and thought.
So the question remains of why did this have to happen? In the end, it can only be that sometimes we look at life from our own perpective, rather than broadening our view. Sometimes the judgement we make will be a somber mistake.
There is a lesson to be learned from these two. Sometimes, we need to face our enemy, and if we are lucky, that enemy could be replaced by a friend.
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