Hello, and a warm welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett, and I'll be guiding you through this unit, which is looking at why Elizabeth I has been represented so differently.

Our first lesson in the unit is Elizabeth I and the succession, and why she was called the Virgin Queen.

By the end of today's lesson, we are gonna be able to explain why Elizabeth never married.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms, and today's key terms are succession, suitor, and propaganda.

The succession is the process of inheriting a title such as becoming a king or a queen.

A suitor is somebody who pursues a relationship with somebody in an attempt to marry them.

And propaganda is communication, for instance paintings, which is used to influence or persuade people of a certain idea.

We need to be using these and be feel comfortable using these terms throughout today's lesson.

The lesson today is gonna be split into three different sections, and our first section, what problems did Elizabeth face upon a succession, starts now.

Let's get going.

In 1558, Elizabeth became Queen of England as a 25 year old with absolutely no experience of how to rule.

Over the previous 11 years, England had been ruled by three different rulers, all of whom followed different religions and expected the people of England to follow their religions alongside them.

The government was incredibly low on money, and foreign powers were looking over England, such as Spain and France, and wondering whether this is the opportunity that they're waiting for to invade.

By themselves, these would be tough problems for anybody to face when they first became ruler, but Elizabeth faced additional problems. First and foremost, she was female.

Now, in and of itself, that's not a problem.

However, England and Europe at the time was, by our standards, an incredibly sexist place.

Many people believe that Elizabeth was unfit to rule purely because she was female.

Men, on the other hand, were born to rule.

They were trained from a young age on how to rule, they could lead troops into battle, they received more respect from their subjects and from foreign rulers.

Women, and royal women in particular, had one job, and that was to get married and have children, ideally male children so they can continue the family line.

It didn't help either that there had been previous female rulers of England; most recently, Elizabeth's sister, Mary I, who became known as Bloody Mary.

She was known as Bloody Mary because of the number of people that she killed in a particularly horrific way.

As a result, for some people, Mary was proof that women were not fit to rule.

Okay, let's just check our understanding first of all, then.

So, true or false: Elizabeth I was the first female ruler of England.

If you've answered false, you are correct, but let's justify that answer now as well.

Had there been female rulers before her, including her sister Bloody Mary, or had every queen before Elizabeth shared power equally with their husband, the king? Choose your justification now.

Okay, if you chose A, congratulations; you are correct.

There had been female rulers before Elizabeth.

There had been her sister, who was not a popular ruler amongst most people of England.

Right, let's move on then to our first task.

So, I've got a table in front of you now.

What I'd like you to do is think about the four problems that Elizabeth faced when she became Queen of England, and I want you to explain why those problems were considered to be a problem.

I've done the first one for you just to help you out.

So, the first issue Elizabeth faced was that she was a female ruler, and this was considered a problem because women were seen as less able than men.

People at home and abroad wouldn't respect her as much.

You now need to look at the other issues I've got on the table here, such as Bloody Mary was queen before her.

She was not trained to be queen, and there was religious confusion at this point in time.

Pause the video now and have a go at completing this table.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's go through some of these answers now then.

Now, there's a variety of ways you could have answered these questions, but these are the answers that I've got, and hopefully yours are somewhat similar to mine.

So, the issue of the fact that Bloody Mary was queen before Elizabeth was considered a problem because Mary was an unpopular ruler, and she reinforced the idea that some people felt that women shouldn't rule.

The other issue that Elizabeth was not trained to be a queen was a problem 'cause Elizabeth had no experience, and this therefore could make the country weak.

The issue of religious confusion was a problem because the country was divided.

Some people follow one religion, other people followed another, and this could potentially lead to uprisings or maybe even a civil war.

Okay then, let's look at our next section of this lesson, which is: Who should Elizabeth marry? For many people, the answer to all of Elizabeth's problems was a really simple one: just get married.

If she did that, a man can rule the country for her; they've had more training; they've had more experience on how to rule so the country won't be as weak; they can lead troops into battle so if any other foreign power does invade, England has got a strong ruler who can fight them off; and then Elizabeth can focus on the important job of a royal woman, which is to have a baby, ideally a male baby so that the family name can be continued.

There were plenty of people at this point in time, plenty of suitors, that Elizabeth could have chosen to marry, and we're gonna look at a few of them in just a moment.

But first of all, let's make sure we fully understand why Elizabeth should get married, according to some people.

So, choose two of the reasons that are listed below.

Should Elizabeth get married so that she could produce a child and make sure her family remained in power? Should she get married so a man could run the country instead of a woman? Should she get married so she didn't feel left out when her friends got married? Or should she get married so that a rich man could make her even more wealthy? Choose two of these now, and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, if you chose A and B, congratulations! That is correct.

These are the main reasons why many people felt that Elizabeth should get married.

Let's have a look at some of the potential suitors that Elizabeth could have chosen.

Elizabeth effectively had two main options.

She could choose to marry an Englishman, or she could choose to marry a foreigner.

And there were pros and cons for each.

Let's look at the English suitors first of all.

Conversely, we are gonna start at the end.

One of the last suitors that Elizabeth could have chosen to marry her was a man called Robert Devereux, who was the second Earl of Essex.

He's the man on the screen in front of you now.

Robert Devereux was an interesting choice because he and Elizabeth had a very close and a very fiery relationship.

He was young, he was handsome, he was brave, he was charming, he was a pretty good military commander, and he was a Protestant, just like Elizabeth, as well as being incredibly rich.

These are all really, really good reasons to marry somebody.

However, he was also reckless.

He didn't really think through his actions.

He was an incredibly spoiled man.

He believed that he was owed a lot more than what he was actually given.

And also, he was engaged in a pretty petty rivalry with other members of Elizabeth's courts.

So, this means that if Elizabeth had chosen to marry Robert Devereux, then her courts, and by extension her country, could have been split into two; it would make ruling England very difficult.

Another one of Elizabeth's English suitors that she could have chosen was this man on the screen right here: Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester.

Just like Devereux, Dudley was very, very rich.

He was Protestant.

He was actually a very strict Protestant.

And he was a very capable advisor to Elizabeth.

He's actually one of Elizabeth's closest advisors throughout her whole reign.

Dudley and Elizabeth had been childhood friends, and there were lots of rumours circulating that Elizabeth was actually in love with Dudley.

This made him a very strong candidate to be potentially the next king of England.

However, Dudley was married, or rather he was married until his wife one day was found mysteriously dead at the bottom of a stairwell.

Now, we don't know exactly whether it is true it was an accident, or as the rumours at the time suggested that Dudley had something to do with her murder.

But regardless, the fact that there was a little bit of uncertainty regarding the death of his wife meant that Elizabeth could not marry Dudley.

The relationship would've been frowned upon extremely harshly by other English people.

Another major con against both Devereux and Dudley was the fact that although they were English, neither of them were of royal blood, which meant that if Elizabeth had chosen to marry either of these two men, she would've been, from her opinion, marrying beneath her; marrying men who are not worthy of her.

In order to marry somebody of an equal standing to her, in order to marry somebody who was also a royal, Elizabeth would have to look abroad.

One of the potential candidates for looking abroad was this man on the screen right here, William of Orange, also known as William the Silent.

William of Orange ruled in the Spanish Netherlands.

He was Protestant and he owned large parts of what we, nowadays, would call the Netherlands; so a very, very rich man as well.

However, he was at war with Spain, who also controlled parts of the Spanish Netherlands and other parts of Northern Europe as well.

So, if Elizabeth had decided to marry William of Orange, as some of her court were advising her to do so, it would've mean almost certainly that she would've been dragged into a war with Spain, who was the most powerful country in the Europe, and arguably the world, at that point in time.

Having said that, she could have chosen to marry the King of Spain, this man on the screen right here, Philip II.

Philip II would've been an an interesting choice to be Elizabeth's Suiter because, as I said before, he was the ruler of Spain, which was the most powerful country in Europe, and arguably the world, at this point in time, which would've given England a lot of security from other countries.

However, Philip was a Catholic, which was a different religion to Elizabeth.

He almost certainly would've tried to pressure Elizabeth to become Catholic and therefore make England Catholic as well, which would've been a very unpopular move amongst a lot of her subjects.

He potentially could have also tried to include England into the ever-growing Spanish empire.

And as well as that, Philip had previously been married to Elizabeth's sister Mary I.

What I would like you to do, first of all, is check your understanding.

So, first and foremost, out of these three men on the screen here, who was Elizabeth rumoured to have been in love with? Was it, A: Devereux; B: Robert Dudley; or C: King Philip II of Spain.

Make your choice now.

If you chose B, congratulations; that is correct.

It is Robert Dudley that Elizabeth was rumoured to have been in love with.

Okay, let's move on and let's think about how we're gonna apply the knowledge we've just learned.

So, once again, we've got another table up on the screen here, and I'd like you to complete this table, think about the pros and cons of each of Elizabeth's suitors.

And not only that I want you to think about what was good and what was bad about each of these suitors for Elizabeth, I also want you to make a decision about who you think she should have married.

Now, if you don't think she should marry, that's absolutely fine.

Just for the purpose of this task, who do you think was the best choice out of these four? Whichever decision you make is fine, as long as you justify it.

So, make sure you explain why you think whatever it is that you think.

I'll give you a few minutes to do this, so pause the video now, and I'll see you again once you completed that.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you got on well with that task.

There's a variety of different pros and cons for each of these men, but I've got a few examples I'm gonna put on the screen now, and hopefully your answers are either the same or similar to what I've got here.

So, let's start with the English suitors, first of all.

Let's think about Robert Devereux.

So, pros, the things that are going for him is that he is rich; he was brave; and he was Protestant, he was the same religion as Elizabeth.

Going against him, though, was the fact that he was reckless, he didn't really think through his decisions; he would create a divided court, which could potentially mean that England itself was divided; and he was not of royal blood, so Elizabeth would be marrying beneath her.

If you move on and think about Robert Dudley in terms of his pros, he's also rich; he was also Protestant; and he was a childhood friend of Elizabeth.

They definitely would've got along.

It would've been a happy marriage in that respect.

However, going against him was the fact that he might actually be a murderer.

Yeah, not sure that that's necessarily the best image for the Queen of England to marry a murderer.

He was also not of royal blood either.

Thinking about the foreign rulers, Prince William of Orange, first of all, what's he got going for him? Well, once again, he's rich; he is of royal blood; and he's the same religion as Elizabeth, he is Protestant.

However, going against him, he would drag England into war against Spain.

She could have married King Philip II of Spain.

He was ridiculously rich; he was certainly royal; and he was incredibly powerful as well.

However, he was Catholic; and there's a pretty good possibility that he would've dragged England into becoming part of the Spanish empire, whether Elizabeth would've wanted that or not.

In terms of who could you choose as the best choice to be Elizabeth's king of England, again, it doesn't really matter which one you choose, as long as you can justify.

As an example, I've chosen Prince William Orange because they could fight together against Spain.

Whether that's a good idea or not is beyond the point at this point in time, but it's just an example answer that you could have chosen.

Okay, let's move on then and look at our final part of today's lesson, which is Elizabeth as the Virgin Queen.

So, Elizabeth played a really, really clever game throughout most of her reign with regards to her suitors.

The four men we've looked at were kept guessing.

Will they marry? Will she marry them? Won't she marry them? There were other suitors, as well, who were kept guessing as well.

And this whole time that Elizabeth were keeping these men guessing, she was using that time to consolidate her position; that means that she was using that time to make herself secure; she was gaining experience as a ruler; she was strengthening her position.

Foreign rulers didn't want to invade England, because Elizabeth might want to marry them.

English people didn't rise up in rebellion against England because she might want to marry one of those as well.

Really, really clever game from Elizabeth.

As the years went on, however, it became increasingly clear that Elizabeth was not gonna marry any of them, and instead she had set herself up as this image as the Virgin Queen.

Elizabeth never got married, she never had children, and instead, in her own words, she was married to England.

Elizabeth used really clever examples of propaganda to also secure her position.

So, an example we've got on the board right now is portraits; a really famous portrait called the Armada Portrait.

Portraits we used to keep Elizabeth looking young and beautiful, even in her later years.

Elizabeth was also incredibly intelligent and able to make really passionate speeches, an example of which I've got on the board right there, an example from a really famous speech called the Tilbury Speech.

And these speeches gave the impression that Elizabeth would willingly sacrifice herself for her people and for her country.

Both portraits and speeches maintain a really, really positive image of Elizabeth; they're really good examples of how she used propaganda to also secure her position.

So, let's think about checking this understanding, first of all now.

So, how did propaganda help Elizabeth rule England? Did it, A: make people laugh and forget about any problems they might have, so it made people were less likely to rebel; did it, B: make people think she was almost god-like so they worried less about a future without her; or did it, C: make people think about how badly other countries were doing and grateful for Elizabeth's rule in England? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose B, then congratulations.

That's exactly the reason why Elizabeth used propaganda.

This whole idea that, even when she was in her late sixties, she still appeared young and beautiful obviously is not natural, but that wasn't what Elizabeth was going for.

She was beyond natural.

She was beyond human, according to a lot of her subjects, or that's at least the image she wanted to project.

There was, however, concern about what would happen when Elizabeth died, amongst her closest advisors.

The reality was, though, is that even though Elizabeth never really addressed the problem herself; she didn't like to talk and she didn't like to think probably about what would happen when she died; other people did.

And the reality is, is that actually, the succession after Elizabeth passed off very, very smoothly, because Elizabeth's advisors were secretly communicating with the man on the screen in front of you.

He's King James VI of Scotland, who was Elizabeth's cousin at this point in time.

He was Elizabeth's closest blood relative.

And when Elizabeth died in 1603, there's a very smooth succession from Elizabeth to King James VI of Scotland.

He became King James I of England.

Elizabeth had been Queen of England for 45 years.

When she first became Queen, nobody really had a lot of respect for her.

Nobody really had a lot of time for her.

Nobody thought she would do a particularly good job.

She would very quickly get married, and that'll be it.

She would be the wife, she'll be the queen of the real ruler of England.

However, through the clever use of playing off suiters against each other, through the clever use of propaganda, Elizabeth established her own position, she maintained her own position, and she made England a secure and stable country throughout her reign.

So, let's just consolidate our knowledge for the last time here.

Is it true or false that Elizabeth arranged for her cousin, king James VI of Scotland, to become king of England after her? Make your choice now.

If you chose false, then that is correct.

Elizabeth did not arrange for King James VI of Scotland to become king of England.

But let's justify the answer then.

So, is it because Elizabeth wanted to bring England and Scotland closer together, or is it because Elizabeth's advisers organised a succession behind her back? Make your choice now.

And if you chose B, then once again, you are correct.

It was Elizabeth's advisors that made that choice for her.

There is some evidence to suggest that Elizabeth was aware of the situation that her advisors were talking to James, but she didn't actually make it clear that she was aware of that.

I think she was quite happy just to not really think about it herself.

Okay, our final task for today.

So, I want to write a balanced argument here.

So, the question is, do you think that Elizabeth made the right decision not to marry? There's no right or wrong answer here.

It genuinely doesn't matter what your opinion is; you can't be wrong.

That only thing that matters is that you are able to justify your opinion.

Can you give evidence to support what you think? That's what I'm really looking for with this task.

In order to do that, though, I want you to make it clear that you understand both sides of the argument.

So, that's why it's gonna be a balanced argument.

I want you to provide me with evidence to suggest that Elizabeth should have gotten married, and then evidence to suggest that, no, Elizabeth was right not to get married, and then tell me what it is that you actually think.

And most importantly, why do you think that? Pause the video now.

Have a go at writing this paragraph, and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you've got on pretty well with that task now.

I've written a balanced answer, as well, and hopefully yours looks somewhat similar to mine; well, I say that.

there's loads of different evidence you could provide for both sides, but hopefully it follows the same structure as mine.

So, in terms of this particular question, do you think that Elizabeth made the right decision not to marry? I said, well, it could be argued that Elizabeth was wrong not to marry.

Remaining single meant that Elizabeth never had children, which meant that when she died, the Tudor family would be gone and England might descend into civil war.

So, you can see there that I've given some evidence to say why I think it's wrong, and I've also explained the evidence as well.

So, I've made it really clear to anybody who doesn't know what we're talking about exactly why that is a problem.

On the other side, I've also said, however, in some ways, she was right not to marry; as if she had married, she would've had to give her power to her husband, the king, and let him rule England instead of her.

So, once again, I've given some evidence to support that point of view.

In terms of my final opinion, again, it doesn't matter what you've chosen; the only thing that matters is that you can justify your opinion.

And as an example, I've said that Elizabeth made the right decision not to marry as she proved that she was more than capable of ruling by herself.

And her cousin, James Stuart, the King of Scotland, was able to rule England after her.

So, I've justified my opinion there.

I could have said the other side and given justification as well.

This is just an example.

Okay, so to summarise this lesson then.

So, Elizabeth faced many problems when she became Queen, many of them because she was a woman in a man's world.

Many people wanted and expected Elizabeth to marry, but she chose not to, as no suiter was right for her, and she didn't want to give up her power.

And Elizabeth was a successful ruler, in part, due to her clever use of propaganda, carefully crafting her image as the Virgin Queen.

Thank you very much for going through this lesson with me.

I hope you've enjoyed yourself.

I hope you've learned something.

And I hope to see you again for the next few lessons in this unit.

Bye-bye.