0:00:05 > 0:00:08Of all the monarchs that have ruled our nation,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11there is one woman whose legacy
0:00:11 > 0:00:15inspires intrigue and debate to this day.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20To some, she was our first modern leader -
0:00:20 > 0:00:27a feminist icon, a tolerant queen.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31To others, she was a ruthless sovereign,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34relentless in her pursuit of power.
0:00:34 > 0:00:40Her image evokes admiration, wonder and mystery.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45She is Queen Elizabeth I.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51It's over 450 years since Elizabeth took the throne
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and yet she still fascinates us.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58She is the Virgin Queen, a woman married to her nation.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02She's a portrait of power, of composure, of determination.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Her influence has never fallen out of fashion.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Elizabeth ruled for 45 years.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16At the time, she was the longest reigning monarch in English history.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Since her death,
0:01:18 > 0:01:24historians have interrogated every detail of her life and reign.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29In recent years, documentary television -
0:01:29 > 0:01:32and, in particular, the history series Timewatch -
0:01:32 > 0:01:36has played a key role, exploring the truths,
0:01:36 > 0:01:41the myths and the changing faces of Elizabeth's legacy.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44In this programme,
0:01:44 > 0:01:49I'll strip away the mystique of our most famous queen
0:01:49 > 0:01:54and, using the BBC archive, I'll uncover who she really was,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57how she maintained her power
0:01:57 > 0:02:02and why an entire era of history belongs to Elizabeth.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16Elizabeth I led her nation through a monumental time in our history.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20She inherited a country in religious and political turmoil,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23plagued with uncertainty,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and yet her reign would foresee an age of exploration
0:02:27 > 0:02:30and discovery, of burgeoning imperialism
0:02:30 > 0:02:35and it would even help foster the rise of the English language.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41From the earliest years of the BBC,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44as Queen Elizabeth II began her own reign,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48the shadow of Elizabeth I loomed large.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55On this day not quite 400 years ago,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58the first Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne of England.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02In a week's time, our own Queen, Elizabeth II,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05leaves for her visit as Queen to her dominions overseas.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09To mark this double occasion at the end of Coronation year,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12we would like to proffer an evening's diversion.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16So, now, we ask you to imagine that, in 1596,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19the Elizabethans had a television service of their own
0:03:19 > 0:03:23and join us as we put back the clock.
0:03:28 > 0:03:29I bid you welcome.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Now, we take you to the courtyard of the Cross Keys Inn
0:03:32 > 0:03:33in the City of London.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36# We be players three
0:03:36 > 0:03:39# Pardonnez-moi Je vous compris... #
0:03:39 > 0:03:44It's easy to romanticise Elizabeth
0:03:44 > 0:03:47and the England she helped to create.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50She's become part of our national narrative,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53but it could have turned out very differently.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Elizabeth Tudor was an unlikely candidate for Queen.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Born of the union between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09whose marriage was annulled shortly after,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12many saw Elizabeth as illegitimate.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16She was also only third in line to the crown,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20but, when her half-brother Edward and her half-sister Mary died,
0:04:20 > 0:04:26Elizabeth was thrust into power and history.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33The new queen embraced her power and, as historian Simon Schama found,
0:04:33 > 0:04:38basked in her new role, even if the odds were stacked against her.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42A cherished tradition has it
0:04:42 > 0:04:45that when Elizabeth heard the news that she was to become queen
0:04:45 > 0:04:50on November 17th, 1558, she was seated beneath an ancient oak tree.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Her first words were from Psalm 118 -
0:04:53 > 0:04:57"A Domino factum est mirabile in oculis nostris" -
0:04:57 > 0:05:02"This is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes."
0:05:04 > 0:05:07She was right - it was marvellous.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09In fact, it was little short of being a miracle
0:05:09 > 0:05:12that she had made it to that day alive.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Tudor royal politics were a bloody affair, especially for Tudor women.
0:05:18 > 0:05:19DOOR SLAMS
0:05:19 > 0:05:21She'd been only two, after all,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24when her mother, Anne Boleyn, had gone to the scaffold.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Her sin - in Henry's mind, at least -
0:05:27 > 0:05:30being her failure to produce a son.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34It must have been a body possessed by others, by the Devil,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36an unclean piece of flesh.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38It had to be cut away.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46So Elizabeth would never be free from suspicion.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50Out of her dark Boleyn eyes, she watched herself being watched.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56When her Catholic half-sister Mary came to the throne,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Elizabeth found herself in even deeper trouble.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02In fact, she found herself in the Tower
0:06:02 > 0:06:06when a Protestant plot to get rid of Mary backfired.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Elizabeth managed to talk herself out of being charged with treason,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13but she remained under close surveillance.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Danger only turned to deliverance five years later
0:06:17 > 0:06:20when Queen Mary died childless.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26So, here she was, Elizabeth, under the oak,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28about to be the Protestant queen.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32She had survived...just.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34But she must have been full of dark knowledge
0:06:34 > 0:06:38and experience about how difficult it was all going to be.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Her mother had been killed for producing just a daughter
0:06:42 > 0:06:46and a stillborn and her sister Mary's womb had produced nothing
0:06:46 > 0:06:49but the tumour that had killed her.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51So, however dazzling Elizabeth looked,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54however clever she was, she has got to have known
0:06:54 > 0:07:00how rough the road was going to be for a ruler of the wrong sex.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Elizabeth would go on to prove
0:07:05 > 0:07:09she could rule as a woman in a man's world.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Many historians have tended to regard Elizabeth
0:07:12 > 0:07:14almost as an honorary man.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17She was regarded as someone who was unusually,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21perhaps even unnaturally, masculine in the way she operated,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24she didn't allow herself to be swayed by emotions
0:07:24 > 0:07:28or pity in the way that women were praised for doing.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33In the past, she was seen as an exceptional woman -
0:07:33 > 0:07:39a woman who had suppressed her natural feminine instincts
0:07:39 > 0:07:44in order to be able to rule so, in a way, she was like a man in drag.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48However, the way that gender historians
0:07:48 > 0:07:53and mainstream historians now look at Elizabeth is to appreciate
0:07:53 > 0:07:57that this is really a very sexist way of looking at the queen.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01England, of course, at the time is a deeply patriarchal society.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Men are there to govern, to rule.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Women are believed to be led by their emotions, not by reason.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11They are seen to be the weaker sex.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15They're also seen to be sexually voracious, in fact,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and the sense that women need to marry
0:08:17 > 0:08:21because otherwise they would just be promiscuous.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Chastity is everything.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Women need to be married and they need a male partner
0:08:28 > 0:08:31so that's the sort of broader expectation.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Of course, Elizabeth would never marry,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40giving rise to her legend as the Virgin Queen.
0:08:41 > 0:08:47In recent times, this defining trait has helped to build her modern image.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Elizabeth is part of the fabric of our nation,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54her personality integral to British history.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58But what is it about this queen that makes her so relevant
0:08:58 > 0:09:03in the 21st century? Why does she still resonate today?
0:09:07 > 0:09:10These questions were examined by Michael Portillo,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15when he championed Elizabeth for the series Great Britons.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22To understand Elizabeth, forget for a moment those very dated,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27formal portraits and think instead of a woman far ahead of her time,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31possessing qualities that we might think of as very modern.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37These modern traits are seen through her work in Parliament
0:09:37 > 0:09:40and, for Portillo, her political prowess
0:09:40 > 0:09:43still has relevance for women today.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Maybe Parliament believed that Elizabeth,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49a mere woman in a man's world, could be bullied.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54They were so wrong. She used every tactic.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01She flattered, she agreed, she changed her mind,
0:10:01 > 0:10:07she lost her temper. She was a nightmare, but she was brilliant.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10She stubbornly refused to bow to the establishment
0:10:10 > 0:10:13or accept its conventional wisdom.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17It was a formidable display of iron will by a leader
0:10:17 > 0:10:21bent on getting her own way and on doing what she got was right.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24For 45 years, she held out against them.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29She went to her grave having never surrendered.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41I think many women today can see Elizabeth as a role model.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45Of course, she acquired the throne by an accident of birth,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47but she held on to it because of her skills.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51She had enough of the vigorous virtues of a man
0:10:51 > 0:10:55to gain the respect of men, but the reason they adored her
0:10:55 > 0:10:57was that she knew how to exercise power
0:10:57 > 0:11:00without compromising her femininity.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04It's complicated, I think.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07I think it's very easy just to sort of see Elizabeth
0:11:07 > 0:11:10as a stereotypical feminist pin-up,
0:11:10 > 0:11:16but I think there's a more kind of complicated picture than that.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20I mean, the caricature is she didn't need a man,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24she didn't marry and she just proved that women could have it all,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27but, actually, I'm not sure that that's totally the case.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33I think Elizabeth can be considered a role model for leaders
0:11:33 > 0:11:38because she displayed some essential qualities for leadership.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41She had charisma, she took advice,
0:11:41 > 0:11:47she made decisions after learning the facts and listening to advice.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51She had a wonderful oratorical skill.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55There are many ways in which she was a very fine leader.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57I don't think she's a role model for women
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and the reason she's not is because she accepted
0:12:00 > 0:12:03the patriarchal assumptions of her own day.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08Elizabeth succeeds in life as a woman in a period
0:12:08 > 0:12:11in which that is particularly difficult to do.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16She is very strong, she is very capable and she is a success
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and, if women want to take that as a role model,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21then I think they should be free to do so.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30However we view her relevance today, there is no question
0:12:30 > 0:12:36that modern Britain is still captivated by her life and times -
0:12:36 > 0:12:38from grand Tudor architecture
0:12:38 > 0:12:42to the glamour and glitz of the Royal Court.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44We go to great lengths to understand
0:12:44 > 0:12:50and even recreate what we believe it was like to be an Elizabethan.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55It's Tuesday in Totnes and the Rev Kenneth Dafforn is doing it.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17It's Tuesday in Totnes and Mrs Vicky Foster is doing it.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30It's Tuesday in Totnes and just about everybody is doing it -
0:13:30 > 0:13:34the housewife, the vicar and even the Post Office clerks.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Once a week, Totnes lives in the past.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41There are about 400 people who call themselves the Totnes Elizabethans
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and they have a way of giving the town a remarkable distinction.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Every Tuesday, they go about their normal business,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50but in an engagingly barmy way.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Well, I've always enjoyed history
0:13:54 > 0:13:57and this is a chance to go back into history
0:13:57 > 0:14:01and live in the past for a whole day.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Do you find it easy to persuade lots of other people in the town
0:14:16 > 0:14:18to dress up like this?
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Well, at first, they're very hesitant,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24but, once in costume, it's very difficult to get them out of it.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27We love it, everybody loves dressing up, obviously.
0:14:27 > 0:14:28We are all kiddies at heart.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Are the other people prepared to be commoners
0:14:31 > 0:14:33or do they all want to be Anne Boleyn,
0:14:33 > 0:14:34Anna, Queen of Spain, celebrities?
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Unfortunately, human nature being what it is,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39everybody sees themselves, obviously,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41as Queen Elizabeth and royalty,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45so we have an awfully difficult time, but I would love to see it -
0:14:45 > 0:14:49the whole town as it would have been in Elizabethan times.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00Tuesday stays Elizabethan right through to the dance in the evening.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03There can be no doubt that it's a shot in the arm for the town
0:15:03 > 0:15:07and it's getting through to the most unexpected people.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12It's easy to look back with nostalgia,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16but the reality is life in 16th-century England
0:15:16 > 0:15:20was nothing like contemporary Britain.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Well, there you are - if you can't beat them, join them.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32It was often dangerous and deeply divided.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Queen Elizabeth ruled during a tempestuous time
0:15:37 > 0:15:39of religious conflict.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44The Protestant Reformation had taken root just decades before her reign
0:15:44 > 0:15:48and still Catholic Spain dominated Europe.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Elizabeth would hold on
0:15:50 > 0:15:54to her childhood convictions as a Protestant.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00Having inherited the throne from the Catholic Queen Mary,
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Elizabeth faced a dilemma -
0:16:02 > 0:16:06should she continue a relationship with Rome or return England
0:16:06 > 0:16:11to the Protestantism of her father Henry VIII?
0:16:11 > 0:16:12She appeared to do both,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15re-establishing the Church of England,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18yet not outlawing the Catholic faith.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23For this balancing act, she would be revered as a tolerant queen.
0:16:26 > 0:16:32However, as Timewatch found in 1984, despite her outward tolerance,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Catholicism was treated with suspicion.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39In Elizabethan England, outlawed Roman Catholic priests
0:16:39 > 0:16:42were constantly on the run from government intelligence agents.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47Catholic priests were forced to travel secretly around England,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50chased by government mercenaries known as pursuivants.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Families like the Huddlestons at Sawston Hall,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56which built priest holes in which to hide them,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58were subject to constant raids.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09It looks very small.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14There were usually three priests in hiding in this hole
0:17:14 > 0:17:18and they may have to be there for quite a long time
0:17:18 > 0:17:21because the pursuivants kept returning over and over again.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24- So, how long might they have to stay there?- Oh, weeks.- Weeks?
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Sometimes, they were really practically starving.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31In the past, individuals, particularly in the United States,
0:17:31 > 0:17:32have thought of reds under the bed
0:17:32 > 0:17:34and I think in the late Elizabethan period,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37there really is that kind of fear of a Jesuit under every bed,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40a pair of Catholic plotters in every closet
0:17:40 > 0:17:42and a Spanish Armada round every headland
0:17:42 > 0:17:46so the kind of obsessive fear of international conspiracy is there.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51There's the whole world of Smiley's People and espionage
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and high politics and double agents and double-crossing
0:17:54 > 0:17:57and a desperate sense of insecurity.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02This insecurity would eventually lead to an unprecedented definition
0:18:02 > 0:18:05of treason by which not just doing something,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08but merely being something constituted treachery.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Nowadays, we tend to think of traitor simply as those
0:18:12 > 0:18:15who sell secrets or give secrets to a foreign power,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18but here we have a situation in which simply
0:18:18 > 0:18:23to fall into the category, to be a priest or to have a priest,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25to know a priest, to be involved with a priest,
0:18:25 > 0:18:26is treated as treason.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28It's a very, very different situation.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32So sceptical was the government even now about Catholic loyalty
0:18:32 > 0:18:35that it invented "the bloody questions",
0:18:35 > 0:18:37put to Catholics under torture.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40The most important was, "If the Pope invaded England,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43"who would you support - the Pope or the Queen?"
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Many Catholics, loyal to both and so unable to answer
0:18:46 > 0:18:50the impossible question, went to their death.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52So, do you think, looking back,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54that those who were killed as Catholics
0:18:54 > 0:18:57were martyrs or were some of them traitors?
0:18:59 > 0:19:00I think they were martyrs
0:19:00 > 0:19:05insofar as they died for a cause which they could have repudiated.
0:19:05 > 0:19:06They could have apostatised.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11They were given the choice and they chose death for their principles.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15From the government's point of view, of course, they were traitors,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17but the government has invented a new treason.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19It's changed the rules.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23When she first came to the throne, Queen Elizabeth had hoped
0:19:23 > 0:19:27that Catholicism would die of spiritual malnutrition.
0:19:27 > 0:19:28By the end of her reign,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31every Catholic had become an enemy of the state.
0:19:31 > 0:19:32Two years before her death,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36approached with a final plea for toleration, she replied,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39"if I grant this liberty to Catholics, I lay at their feet
0:19:39 > 0:19:42"my honour, my crown and my life."
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Treason was forced upon 16th-century Catholics.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Today, treason is a matter of choice.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56Elizabeth's reputation for tolerance appears to have been overstated.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02So there was a sense of Elizabeth as moderate, peace-loving,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05very much against religious extremism
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and a lot of this was seen in very much direct contrast
0:20:08 > 0:20:11to, of course, her sister Mary, Bloody Mary,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14who, of course, oversaw the execution,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18the burning of almost 300 Protestants.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21However, what historians are increasingly acknowledging
0:20:21 > 0:20:25is of course that Elizabeth herself oversaw the execution
0:20:25 > 0:20:27of hundreds of Catholics, not by burning,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29but they were hung, drawn and quartered.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34This is a period, let's not forget, where, all around Europe,
0:20:34 > 0:20:35there are religious wars.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38France, for most of Elizabeth's reign,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43is plunged into 30-year-long civil religious war.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46The same can be said of the Netherlands.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49There are moments in Scotland and Ireland where the same is true,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52but it doesn't happen in England so I think, in general,
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Elizabeth has been seen as the woman
0:20:54 > 0:20:56who didn't want to make windows into men's souls,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01who wanted outward conformity, but was prepared to let people believe,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03within reason, what they wanted.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06What she really wanted was that everybody in her land
0:21:06 > 0:21:08would worship in the same way.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12This she wanted for political reasons -
0:21:12 > 0:21:15that she was the monarch over Protestants
0:21:15 > 0:21:18who were pursuing the same kinds of policies
0:21:18 > 0:21:22and accepting what she said as Supreme Governor of the Church
0:21:22 > 0:21:24was the way that they should worship.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Religious discord would last throughout Elizabeth's reign.
0:21:30 > 0:21:36It would also underpin her most famous power struggle.
0:21:36 > 0:21:42Few names conjure up as many connotations as Mary, Queen of Scots.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47A disappointed heir to the English throne, a French queen,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51a Scottish hero, a Catholic martyr.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56For 30 years, she would be Elizabeth's greatest rival
0:21:56 > 0:21:59and most acute threat to power.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05Elizabeth would eventually sign Mary's execution order.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Ever since, the facts of the story have become tangled in myth
0:22:09 > 0:22:15and legend with some stories constructed just hours
0:22:15 > 0:22:19before the beheading by Mary herself.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22"Carry this message for me
0:22:22 > 0:22:26"and tell my friends that I died a true woman to my religion
0:22:26 > 0:22:29"and like a true Scottish woman and a true Frenchwoman."
0:22:35 > 0:22:41Mary would go down in history as a Scottish hero.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45But, as Timewatch discovered on the anniversary of her death,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50this portrayal does not necessarily match up with reality.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55On the 8th of February 1587,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded on this site.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01The crime for which she was executed
0:23:01 > 0:23:03was her involvement in plots
0:23:03 > 0:23:05against Queen Elizabeth I of England.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08As the executioner raised her severed head aloft,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12the Dean of Peterborough Cathedral shouted to the crowd of onlookers,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15"So perish all the Queen's enemies!"
0:23:15 > 0:23:19400 years later to the day, Fotheringhay Paris Church
0:23:19 > 0:23:22witnessed an event not seen here since the days
0:23:22 > 0:23:26of Tudor England - the celebration of a Roman Catholic Mass.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35# Take every care to preserve the unity of the spirit
0:23:35 > 0:23:38# By the peace that binds you together... #
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Peace be with you.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44- CONGREGATION:- And also with you.
0:23:44 > 0:23:51It is the death of a queen by execution 400 years ago
0:23:51 > 0:23:54which brings us together this afternoon.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56The extraordinary thing is that the junketing
0:23:56 > 0:23:58in both England and Scotland
0:23:58 > 0:24:02400 years after the execution has been massive.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05When the news of her execution
0:24:05 > 0:24:09actually reached Scotland in March 1587,
0:24:09 > 0:24:14when it had just happened, there were quiet,
0:24:14 > 0:24:15but audible sighs of relief
0:24:15 > 0:24:18and the one person who was around shouting revenge
0:24:18 > 0:24:21was told, very hastily, to shut up.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25The story that has emerged over the centuries
0:24:25 > 0:24:30is of a bitter rivalry between Elizabeth and Mary,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33but even this portrayal is contested history.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35I think the two of them
0:24:35 > 0:24:38fit into the characters that have been assigned to them very neatly.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Elizabeth is portrayed as the strong, shrewd, confident,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47rather ruthless, rather emotionless, rather masculine figure,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52whereas Mary is the romantic, beautiful, charming, hapless,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56doomed, martyr-to-be and they both fit very well
0:24:56 > 0:24:57into those categories,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00but neither of them is really completely accurate.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03They are polar opposites -
0:25:03 > 0:25:07that Elizabeth, on the one hand, is masculine
0:25:07 > 0:25:10and Mary, Queen of Scots is feminine,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14that Elizabeth was someone who was sophisticated and cultured
0:25:14 > 0:25:17and Mary, Queen of Scots was a bit dim,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21certainly made not very good political decisions
0:25:21 > 0:25:25and, at the same time, Mary, Queen of Scots somehow,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29over the centuries, has secured more and more sympathy.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32She's become a romantic heroine.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Yes, she may have murdered her husband,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38she may have been an adulteress, but she paid for it.
0:25:38 > 0:25:44From the time of, well, Mary's life and, of course, her execution,
0:25:44 > 0:25:49there were sort of two main ways in which Mary was represented -
0:25:49 > 0:25:57either traitor, cruel traitor, or tragic heroine figure
0:25:57 > 0:25:59and obviously that was dictated
0:25:59 > 0:26:01by what side of the religious divide you were.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Today, Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth
0:26:07 > 0:26:10lie under the same roof in Westminster Abbey.
0:26:12 > 0:26:18Although they never actually met, the two women are indelibly linked.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36History has its heroes and its villains.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39The struggle between Mary, Queen of Scots
0:26:39 > 0:26:43and Elizabeth would become iconic.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49But, as so often happens, their clash reflected a much broader story.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55England was a country deeply divided by religion.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59So the Protestant Queen Elizabeth was not just fending off
0:26:59 > 0:27:05a rival to the throne, she was the target for a Catholic uprising.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Up here in the north, Catholicism had not only not been rooted out,
0:27:12 > 0:27:17it actually fed on the burning resentment and fierce independence
0:27:17 > 0:27:21of the great aristocratic families who ran things around here.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25They'd been here for centuries and they were not about
0:27:25 > 0:27:28to be pushed around by a bunch of Tudor bureaucrats.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32They were not going to be told what was what in their government
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and their religion.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38So, for them, Mary Stuart was not just a successor.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43She was a replacement, as in IMMEDIATE replacement.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50So the Catholic north fought the Protestant south.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53For a while, it even looked as though the north might win.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57As the rebels swept through Lancashire, Yorkshire
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and Northumberland, it must have seemed
0:28:00 > 0:28:03that Catholic Britain had been reborn.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08Now, Elizabeth's government really knew what it was up against -
0:28:08 > 0:28:11the latest act in the endlessly drawn-out religious war
0:28:11 > 0:28:13that had begun when Henry VIII
0:28:13 > 0:28:17had made himself Supreme Head of the Church.
0:28:17 > 0:28:2012,000 troops were eventually mustered
0:28:20 > 0:28:23and a rebellion brutally crushed.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27DOOR SLAMS
0:28:27 > 0:28:31For Elizabeth, crushing the northern rebellion would signal
0:28:31 > 0:28:34a new era in her reign, one that would create
0:28:34 > 0:28:40the most lasting image of her legacy - the image of herself.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49Elizabeth was 20 years into her reign and suitors had come and gone,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52but there was always something the matter with them -
0:28:52 > 0:28:55too lowly, too Catholic, too stupid.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59And, besides, now her suitors had rivals -
0:28:59 > 0:29:03millions of Elizabeth's subjects, who had become jealously possessive
0:29:03 > 0:29:06and thought that the Queen was theirs alone.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13In the 1570s, they got her.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18The cult, the religion of Elizabeth was spectacularly created.
0:29:18 > 0:29:26# For how do I hold thee but by thy granting? #
0:29:26 > 0:29:31Her accession day became the greatest of national holidays -
0:29:31 > 0:29:35more sacred than all the heathen events on the papist calendar.
0:29:35 > 0:29:43# The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting
0:29:43 > 0:29:47# And so my patent back... #
0:29:47 > 0:29:51Her image began to appear everywhere in allegorical pictures.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56Elizabeth as the sun who gave the rainbow its radiant hues.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01And even those on the inside that could plainly see
0:30:01 > 0:30:04the elaborate scaffolding from which this image was projected,
0:30:04 > 0:30:08who knew that the pale moonglow of the Queen's face
0:30:08 > 0:30:13was just pulverised egg shell, borax, alum and mill water,
0:30:13 > 0:30:18even these knowing types were still total captives to the cult.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23We see her in our mind's eye as this sort of terrifying figure
0:30:23 > 0:30:28with the white face and the red hair and all the rest of it.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30I think historians now are much more keen
0:30:30 > 0:30:33to look a bit more closely and see the wrinkles underneath the white
0:30:33 > 0:30:38and the rotting teeth and the ageing skin and all the rest of it
0:30:38 > 0:30:44and there's kind of a sort of grotesque, grisly fun to be had
0:30:44 > 0:30:46with seeing her as she really was, as it were.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51There is always this veneer of image around what Elizabeth says
0:30:51 > 0:30:53and what Elizabeth does.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55She is a great performer
0:30:55 > 0:30:59and, whether she is actually the performance
0:30:59 > 0:31:04or whether the performance is denying what she really is,
0:31:04 > 0:31:08historians can disagree about, I think, forever.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12We may never get to the bottom of the enigma
0:31:12 > 0:31:14that is the true character of Elizabeth.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21A more tangible legacy is her transformation of the British navy.
0:31:21 > 0:31:27Britain's reputation has been built on it being a naval powerhouse.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30As the saying goes, Britannia rules the waves.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33But, at the start of Elizabeth's reign,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36it was not yet an imposing maritime nation.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40The new queen was determined to change this.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Her vision was of a navy that would compete around the globe
0:31:44 > 0:31:47as master of the seas.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55The British Navy would gain fame and glory under Elizabeth
0:31:55 > 0:31:59and yet few physical legacies of it would survive.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03A discovery off the coast of Alderney would help to change this.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07It's a window in time
0:32:07 > 0:32:10and it's exactly the same as it was on the day that it went down.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15Nobody has seen it above water for the last 400 and whatever years.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Are they all right? What's wrong?
0:32:18 > 0:32:24It would prove to be the first Elizabethan warship ever found.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30A wreck as important to Elizabethan maritime studies
0:32:30 > 0:32:34as the Mary Rose is to the reign of Henry VIII.
0:32:36 > 0:32:41The BBC was there to chronicle every moment of the discovery -
0:32:41 > 0:32:45from the process of raising the massive wooden rudder
0:32:45 > 0:32:51to the final dating of the mystery ship.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53By November, the rudder had arrived
0:32:53 > 0:32:57at the York Archaeological Trust for conservation.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59It had been cleaned up, revealing the pintles
0:32:59 > 0:33:03which attached it to the hull and a slot for the tiller arm.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16This is not desecration.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Conservator Ian Panter had to halve the five metre long rudder
0:33:20 > 0:33:23so it could fit into the conservation tank.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29After a year of treatment, the wood will be stuck together again,
0:33:29 > 0:33:32leaving an imperceptible seam.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37At the same time, the wood was analysed by Cathy Groves.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41The wood that came last week...
0:33:41 > 0:33:44Cathy and her colleague Jennifer Hillam
0:33:44 > 0:33:46are dendrochronologists.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48They are sent samples of wood from all over Britain
0:33:48 > 0:33:51to determine their age and origin.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Are they all meant to be the same phase, or...?
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Yes, it's the same structure.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Most people know that when you actually look at a tree
0:33:59 > 0:34:02by counting its rings, you can actually tell
0:34:02 > 0:34:04how long that tree lived for.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06But what we are interested in
0:34:06 > 0:34:08is actually not how long it lived for,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10but when it was living.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15- That's it!- Wahey!
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Now, whereas normally we would compare it
0:34:22 > 0:34:24against the British Isles database,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27we're actually going to have to compare it
0:34:27 > 0:34:29with a European-wide database
0:34:29 > 0:34:33and the reason we have to do that is because it's a boat.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38It doesn't necessarily come from Alderney where it was found.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40It may have come from anywhere within Europe,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42possibly even further afield.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Let's hope this has got more rings than the rudder.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47Keep your fingers crossed.
0:34:49 > 0:34:54Among the artefacts from the wreck, a gun port cover was found.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56It was sent to Cathy and Jenny.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58Let's see what we've actually got.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00That looks a bit more promising.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04It appears to have over 100 rings
0:35:04 > 0:35:09so the origins and a date for the wreck may finally be revealed.
0:35:09 > 0:35:10Yeah, I think that's about right.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24We have a date for the dendrochronology,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28which puts the date that the timber was cut at 1575.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43This timber has also been identified as being English,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45grown in the south-east of England,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48which means we have an English ship
0:35:48 > 0:35:52and a ship from the reign of Elizabeth I.
0:35:52 > 0:35:53Cheers!
0:35:55 > 0:35:59The Alderney wreck would reveal unique artefacts
0:35:59 > 0:36:02from one of Elizabeth's greatest accomplishments -
0:36:02 > 0:36:05building a powerful British Navy.
0:36:05 > 0:36:11And, in 16th-century Europe, a strong navy was essential
0:36:11 > 0:36:15if you had ambitions to create an empire.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21It's hard to imagine, but when Elizabeth took the throne,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23barely half a century had passed
0:36:23 > 0:36:27since Christopher Columbus had crossed the Atlantic.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30In England, the push for new discoveries
0:36:30 > 0:36:34would create legends of men like Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39Their exploits would all be made in the name of their Queen,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42putting Elizabeth at the heart of the enterprise.
0:36:42 > 0:36:48America would become our most famous colony,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53a conquest that would live large in the history of British imperialism.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55On an April evening 400 years ago,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58two small ships set sail from Plymouth for the Americas
0:36:58 > 0:37:02and thus began, as the history books used to say, the British Empire.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09In 1984, Timewatch visited the earliest American colony
0:37:09 > 0:37:14in Virginia to examine the myths surrounding its origins
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and how its history is told in the United States.
0:37:19 > 0:37:20In the town of Manteo,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23they've carved a statue of Sir Walter Raleigh
0:37:23 > 0:37:25with chainsaws out of local timber.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27It overlooks a civic developments being carried out
0:37:27 > 0:37:32in his honour for here, 400 years ago, the English first settled.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35The town commemorates the leading personalities
0:37:35 > 0:37:37of the Elizabethan court.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41Its citizens are even preparing a pageant
0:37:41 > 0:37:43which re-enacts the occasion when Sir Walter Raleigh,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45seeking royal patronage for his great enterprise,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48approached the throne of England.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50It is but a simple thing I request, Your Majesty -
0:37:50 > 0:37:54- to save my colony of Virginia. - Simple?
0:37:54 > 0:37:55The people of Manteo,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57in celebrating the foundation of their nation,
0:37:57 > 0:38:00are perpetuating the myth that Raleigh brought English culture
0:38:00 > 0:38:04to America and took away in exchange tobacco and potatoes.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06It's Sir Walter Raleigh! Three cheers for Sir Walter!
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Hip, hip, hooray!
0:38:09 > 0:38:11But Raleigh never went to America
0:38:11 > 0:38:15and the settlements that he organised there failed to take root.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20Friends, pioneers of a nation soon to be!
0:38:20 > 0:38:25So, what did colonisation mean to Raleigh and his contemporaries?
0:38:27 > 0:38:28How close to reality
0:38:28 > 0:38:33is the Elizabethan expansionism celebrated here today?
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Certainly, in the Victorian era,
0:38:35 > 0:38:41it was seen as one of the great features of the Elizabethan period.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Everybody had as their heroes Walter Raleigh or Francis Drake,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50even Martin Frobisher, and these men were seen as gallant,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53derring-do figures who had the support of the queen
0:38:53 > 0:38:57and really laid down the foundations of the British Empire.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Now, we see things very differently indeed.
0:39:00 > 0:39:06First of all, with post-colonial theory, we begin to look anew
0:39:06 > 0:39:08at the way that these figures
0:39:08 > 0:39:12approached foreign lands and foreign peoples.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Timewatch would continue the story,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20examining documents from the Virginia colony,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23records that laid bare the attitudes of the time.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32In June, they approached the American coastline.
0:39:32 > 0:39:33With smaller boats,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36they found an island on which to establish themselves.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41It was called Roanoke. At first, the settlers were enthusiastic.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47"It is the goodliest and most pleasing territory of the world
0:39:47 > 0:39:50"for the continent is of huge and unknown greatness
0:39:50 > 0:39:55"and very well peopled and towned, though savagely,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58"and the climate so wholesome."
0:39:58 > 0:40:00For a while, the Indians were friendly,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03but the settlers depended on them for food as their own seeds
0:40:03 > 0:40:04had been lost or had rotted
0:40:04 > 0:40:08and the Indians began to resent the persistent English demands.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11This led to tension and, finally, to violence.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14"The 15th, we came to Secotan
0:40:14 > 0:40:18"and were well entertained there of the savages.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22"The 16th, we returned thence to demand a silver cup,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25"which one of the savages had stolen from us
0:40:25 > 0:40:28"and, not receiving it according to his promise,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31"we burnt and spoiled their corn and town.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33"All the people being fled."
0:40:33 > 0:40:37I think historians have increasingly focused
0:40:37 > 0:40:41on what Elizabethan exploration meant,
0:40:41 > 0:40:43and really perhaps focus much more
0:40:43 > 0:40:49on Elizabethan exploitation and that profit meant plunder,
0:40:49 > 0:40:51that meant pillaging,
0:40:51 > 0:40:55that meant ill-treatment of native lands and the natives.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00There's an effort to take the point of view of the oppressed,
0:41:00 > 0:41:04if you like, and not simply the oppressors,
0:41:04 > 0:41:09to take the point of view of not just the winners of history,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12as it were, but the losers as well.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17Elizabethan imperialism would transform
0:41:17 > 0:41:21and often devastate the lives of indigenous people abroad.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26But there are also changes at home.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30Elizabeth presided over incredible changes in Britain.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35Under her leadership, the country transformed itself
0:41:35 > 0:41:40into an economic power, spurred on by international trade and commerce.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45Along with wealth, the population grew and, with it,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47the merchant class.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50Suddenly, it was possible to move up in the world
0:41:50 > 0:41:54and the Elizabethans grabbed the opportunity like never before.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Historian Ian Mortimer gave us a snapshot of this new world,
0:42:01 > 0:42:06highlighting the urban changes wrought on Elizabethan England,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10epitomised by an unexpected invention.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14In towns like Stratford, a revolution is taking place.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16It transforms the lives of ordinary people
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and changes the face of every street in the land.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21It's not a scientific discovery.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23It's not a political development.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26It is, in fact, the humble chimney.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29The arrival of the chimney is just the beginning
0:42:29 > 0:42:32of what becomes a wholesale change in living standards.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Driving this innovation is the availability of cheap bricks.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Mass manufacture means they are now affordable for the many,
0:42:45 > 0:42:46not just the few.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Chimneys were previously found in castles and grand houses,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57but never in the homes of ordinary people.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Thanks to the humble chimney,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01you can now live in a state-of-the-art,
0:43:01 > 0:43:02two-storey townhouse
0:43:02 > 0:43:06and not an unfashionable single-storey medieval home.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12Essential, if you want to show you're on the way up.
0:43:17 > 0:43:18And, bear in mind,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21that Elizabethan England is on average two degrees colder
0:43:21 > 0:43:26than you're used to, with very cold snaps in the 1570s and the 1590s.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29So a chimney means your stay will be a lot more comfortable,
0:43:29 > 0:43:32especially if you want to have a bedchamber of your own,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35rather than sleep in the hall with everyone else.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Across the land, medieval houses are being redeveloped,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45not outwards but skywards.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50So, you see,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53adding value to your home isn't just a 21st-century obsession.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06In 1558, a chimney is the way to keep up with the Joneses.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11But, in 1598, it's glass that is the ultimate status symbol.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14From now on, moderately wealthy gentleman can afford
0:44:14 > 0:44:18to flood their houses with natural light. But it's still expensive.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20You may have glass at the front of your house to show off
0:44:20 > 0:44:23and still make do with shutters at the back.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26In Stratford, old buildings are being converted
0:44:26 > 0:44:28or demolished everywhere you look.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33It seems as if almost everyone is moving into the town
0:44:33 > 0:44:35and, in fact, many are.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Stratford's population grows from 1,500
0:44:39 > 0:44:42to over 2,000 during Elizabeth's reign.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50And, once you've outgrown a town like Stratford,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52there's only one place to head for.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56It's the epicentre of change in Elizabeth's England
0:44:56 > 0:45:00and it's the next rung on your ladder to fame and glory...
0:45:02 > 0:45:03..the city of London.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09London's population would grow from 70,000
0:45:09 > 0:45:14to over 200,000 during Elizabeth's reign.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17It would become the third-largest city in Europe.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21The momentum seemed to be unstoppable.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23But trouble was brewing.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27For over 30 years,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31Queen Elizabeth had kept Britain out of war in Europe.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34But, as the end of the 16th century approached,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37a conflict was about to explode.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40It would create one of her greatest legacies,
0:45:40 > 0:45:42one that still inspires today.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48In 1588, Spain was on the warpath.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53It assembled an invasion fleet off the coast of Belgium,
0:45:53 > 0:45:57intending to conquer London.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Elizabeth's England faced its biggest crisis.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08As so often in our history since, England was ill-prepared.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11A makeshift army was scratched together at Tilbury
0:46:11 > 0:46:16on the Thames Estuary. On paper, there were no match for the Spanish.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Everything might hinge on morale.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33Elizabeth would go amongst her soldiers
0:46:33 > 0:46:36and use the full force of her charisma and majesty
0:46:36 > 0:46:38to rouse the troops.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Often before, she'd used speeches to carry her through
0:46:41 > 0:46:43the great moments of political crisis,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47but addressing that ramshackle English army
0:46:47 > 0:46:50required of her an eloquence never heard before
0:46:50 > 0:46:53and the performance of a lifetime.
0:46:58 > 0:47:03At England's darkest hour, as invasion loomed,
0:47:03 > 0:47:07Elizabeth's brilliant oratory became her country's strongest weapon.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11Here at Tilbury, she originated the rhetoric
0:47:11 > 0:47:13of the plucky English underdog
0:47:13 > 0:47:18and appealed to stoicism, self-sacrifice and glory.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23She said, "I am come among you as you see at this time
0:47:23 > 0:47:26"not for my recreation and disport,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28"but being resolved in the midst
0:47:28 > 0:47:32"and the heat of battle to live and die amongst you all.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36"To lay down for my God and for my kingdom
0:47:36 > 0:47:42"and for my people my honour and my blood, even in the dust."
0:47:42 > 0:47:48She went on, "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52"but I have the heart and the stomach of a king
0:47:52 > 0:47:55"and a king of England, too,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00"and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain or any prince of Europe
0:48:00 > 0:48:03"should dare to invade the borders of my realm,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07"to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10"I myself will take up arms.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14"I myself shall be your general, your judge
0:48:14 > 0:48:18"and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field."
0:48:19 > 0:48:24Against the odds, Britain would defeat the Spanish,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27inspired by their Queen.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30The Armada speech is so powerful
0:48:30 > 0:48:38because Elizabeth is represented as a vulnerable woman
0:48:38 > 0:48:43who is in danger, but who is going to show great bravery
0:48:43 > 0:48:46because of her position as queen.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50Most of the monarchs who we remember as being truly great
0:48:50 > 0:48:53were warriors and were victorious in war.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56That's one of the few things that Elizabeth,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59as a female monarch, simply can't do.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02She can't go to the battlefield and command troops,
0:49:02 > 0:49:07but the Tilbury speech enables her to take on that persona
0:49:07 > 0:49:09and fit into her reputation
0:49:09 > 0:49:13that role as being a successful military leader.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16I think that's tremendously important for her reputation.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Elizabeth's speech at Tilbury will be forever linked
0:49:23 > 0:49:26with her military success.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Defeating the Spanish Armada is, without doubt,
0:49:30 > 0:49:32one of Britain's greatest victories.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36An invasion had been crushed, the Armada scattered,
0:49:36 > 0:49:40and all under the inspiration of Elizabeth herself.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45This has become part of our national story,
0:49:45 > 0:49:50one that would still capture the imagination four centuries later.
0:49:51 > 0:49:57As for the Spanish Armada, things were about to get even worse.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00As it fled, storms wrecked many of the ships.
0:50:00 > 0:50:06In 1968, the BBC captured the extraordinary discovery
0:50:06 > 0:50:09of one of these ships off the Northern Irish coast.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Cannonballs were everywhere.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18We found most of the sizes corresponding to the 50 guns
0:50:18 > 0:50:21we know were under Girona.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25One must understand that the site has been subjected
0:50:25 > 0:50:28to tremendous gales for nearly four centuries
0:50:28 > 0:50:30and all parts of the ship and its cargo
0:50:30 > 0:50:35have been scattered from the main site of the wreck in all directions
0:50:35 > 0:50:38with the result that now the gold and the silver,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40as most metal objects,
0:50:40 > 0:50:44have finally found their way to the deepest crevices.
0:50:44 > 0:50:51We must dig under the boulders and see what's underneath.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55We found over 400 gold coins over two seasons
0:50:55 > 0:51:00and we are very pleased that most of them were of different types.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05We have gold coins from all the kings of Spain.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12Many coins from Naples, for the galleass Girona
0:51:12 > 0:51:15was from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18Some coins from Portugal.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22But, of course, more than finding coins,
0:51:22 > 0:51:27what makes us very happy was to find some personal objects.
0:51:27 > 0:51:34Objects that we could link to somebody who actually died there.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38Suddenly, someone came and touched me on the shoulder
0:51:38 > 0:51:41and I turned back and there was Louis looking at me
0:51:41 > 0:51:44with a large smile with three rows of gold chain
0:51:44 > 0:51:47round his black beard and we played with the chain,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50there were about three yards of chain
0:51:50 > 0:51:52and we could really imagine the poor rich man
0:51:52 > 0:51:57having the chain around his neck and going headfirst to the bottom.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01It was in excellent condition, completely unscratched,
0:52:01 > 0:52:06just like the ones which you see in the paintings of the time.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09You've had two spectacularly successful seasons here,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12the sort of haul that most divers
0:52:12 > 0:52:14dream about all their lives and never achieve.
0:52:14 > 0:52:19But who actually owns all this stuff that you've brought out of the sea?
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Nobody, presently.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25And nobody will until a court makes a decision
0:52:25 > 0:52:32or until I can reach an agreement with the Board of Trade officials.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35- How long will that take? - Years, probably.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43Today, these treasures are hosted in the Ulster Museum in Belfast,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47a testament to one of Britain's greatest victories
0:52:47 > 0:52:50and one of Elizabeth's finest moments.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00Perhaps the most lasting legacy of Elizabeth I
0:53:00 > 0:53:04is something so mundane that most of us take it for granted -
0:53:04 > 0:53:06our language.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08During her reign,
0:53:08 > 0:53:12English would begin its ascent to becoming a global language
0:53:12 > 0:53:15and it was also under Elizabeth
0:53:15 > 0:53:20that our most famous writer picks up his pen - William Shakespeare.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32Queen Elizabeth I and her successor, James,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35reigned for about 70 years.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38During that time, the English language reached heights
0:53:38 > 0:53:43that have inspired us ever since and even contemporaries marvelled at.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47For the English, that was a time of national triumph.
0:53:47 > 0:53:52They were as proud of their words as they were of defying the Pope
0:53:52 > 0:53:54or defeating the Spanish Armada.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57The self-confident English vernacular
0:53:57 > 0:54:01borrowed a staggering total of 12,000 new words
0:54:01 > 0:54:04and there was one writer whose work
0:54:04 > 0:54:08lies at the heart of the Elizabethan miracle,
0:54:08 > 0:54:10whom Johnson singled out
0:54:10 > 0:54:14for what he called his mastery of the diction of common life
0:54:14 > 0:54:17or, as we'd put it, everyday speech.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20Of course, that was William Shakespeare.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25The closest we can come to the sound of Shakespeare's own speech
0:54:25 > 0:54:28is in the little villages around Stratford itself.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33The cider drinkers of Elmley Castle in neighbouring Worcestershire
0:54:33 > 0:54:38still speak English in a way that Shakespeare himself would recognise.
0:54:38 > 0:54:39Two, Tom.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41- WEST COUNTRY ACCENT: - I used to take cider
0:54:41 > 0:54:42or home-made wine to school
0:54:42 > 0:54:48when I was five years of age, so that's 54 years ago, that is.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50- WEST COUNTRY ACCENT:- I shall have five this morning, I hope,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52and three pints of beer tonight
0:54:52 > 0:54:56and a pint of cider with my supper and then to bed.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59And I don't catch a cold.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12Bear in mind that cider drinking will kill you. It definitely will.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15It killed my father, cider drinking did.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17It took 84 years to do it, though.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20- What's it like?- Very good.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26As we'll see, it was the speech of people like these
0:55:26 > 0:55:29that went with the Elizabethan seafarers to America.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37The strong voices of these fishermen
0:55:37 > 0:55:41sound like the English of the West Country - Dorset, Devon or Cornwall.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47- ACCENT WITH WEST COUNTRY INFLUENCE: - It's four o'clock in the morning
0:55:47 > 0:55:50to eight o'clock at night, six days a week.
0:55:50 > 0:55:58Rain, snow, ice, wind - it doesn't make any difference, we have to go.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00We're like the mailman, I guess.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06In fact, this is America's Chesapeake Bay
0:56:06 > 0:56:10and these are the descendants of some of the first settlers
0:56:10 > 0:56:12to venture across the Atlantic.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16They all say I talk slow so I'm aware of that
0:56:16 > 0:56:20and that's the way I am, I can't help it.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24In the coming centuries,
0:56:24 > 0:56:28the English language would be carried around the globe.
0:56:34 > 0:56:40Over 450 years ago, Elizabeth Tudor took to the throne.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45In the 45 years that followed,
0:56:45 > 0:56:51she would create a legacy that even today we're obsessed with.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54I don't think Elizabeth ever has fallen out of fashion.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57There has been a continual fascination with her
0:56:57 > 0:57:00and, in some ways, it is a little hard to pin down
0:57:00 > 0:57:01why that should be so,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04why the Tudors have so possessed our imagination.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09Her legacy is her image.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Historians now are much more interested in her image
0:57:13 > 0:57:15than in the realities of the reign.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Not only her image at the time,
0:57:18 > 0:57:23but the way in which her image has been interpreted in later periods.
0:57:23 > 0:57:29She is an iconic figure and that's something that had a great legacy.
0:57:32 > 0:57:37Elizabeth continues to fascinate. She's this kind of enigma.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40So much is known about Elizabeth, but also
0:57:40 > 0:57:44so much is not known about Elizabeth and that will remain the case.
0:57:44 > 0:57:5021st-century Britain is still captivated by Elizabeth -
0:57:50 > 0:57:55her image, her struggle for power, the drama of her reign.
0:57:56 > 0:58:02Historians have debated her influence, exposed her flaws
0:58:02 > 0:58:06and revealed the myths of her era.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11But what can never be disputed is her staying power
0:58:11 > 0:58:14and her impact on our country.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17Perhaps the greatest legacy of all
0:58:17 > 0:58:21is the part she played in creating Britain as we know it today -
0:58:21 > 0:58:25helping to forge our identity as a nation.