All language subtitles for Elizabeth 102 - The Virgin Queen

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'It is 1559.

'England has a newly-crowned queen.

'Elizabeth has overcome extraordinary
obstacles to gain the crown.

'But her struggle isn't over.

'There's one thing about her
that will lead to scandal...

'that will compromise her power...

'threaten her security...

'and demand a terrible personal sacrifice.

'She is a woman.

'Elizabeth inherited a part

'that was traditionally
played by two people -

'king and queen, male and female.'

A king was supposed to be
strong-willed and assertive,

a decisive leader in war and peace.

The queen, on the other hand,
embodied softer, more feminine virtues.

She was to be pious,
merciful and charitable

but above all, she was
a royal breeding machine.

It was her duty
to get pregnant early and often.

So for Elizabeth to succeed

she'd to do something extraordinary,
unnatural even -

she'd to be a royal hermaphrodite.

To rule like a man and a king

and to bear children
like a queen and a woman.

'Elizabeth would have to fight to survive

'and in a man's world
she would need men to help her do it.

'Her first task as queen
was to establish her own court.

'Her council, who would be in charge of
the everyday running of the country

'and her household staff
who would look after her'.

'The old regime was Catholic,
the new was largely Protestant,

'though a few
favoured Catholics survived.

'Some councillors were old hands
who had served under her father

'but the top job went to a younger man,

'William Cecil, who became
her secretary of state.

'He was 38, serious, brilliant
with an instinctive grasp of politics

'and a fierce loyalty to the Queen.

'In a flamboyant age,
he dressed in black and he rode a mule

'because it was modest
and good for his gout.

'There were also surprises
in the new household.

'As Master of the Horse, the man
responsible for the Queen's safety,

'Elizabeth appointed
the son of a traitor duke.

'Robert Dudley's father
had been executed for his treachery

'and the family remained
tainted by the crime.

'Known disparagingly as "the Gypsy"

'because of his dark looks
charm and cunning,

'Dudley's appointment raised
more than a few eyebrows at court.

'Elizabeth and Dudley were the same age
and had known each other in childhood.'

They may also have met
in less happy circumstances

here in the Tower where they were
both imprisoned early in Mary's reign.

Elizabeth was in fear of death.

Dudley had already seen
his father, his brother

and his sister-in-law executed

and he was under
sentence of death himself.

It was this common experience
of imprisonment and imminent death

that lay at the basis of that unbreakable,
instinctive bond of sympathy

that joined the Queen and her favourite.

'Elizabeth's choice of Cecil
was about politics and duty.

'Her choice of Dudley
was about pleasure and desire.

'Elizabeth had inherited from her sister
Mary a nation that was bankrupt,

'militarily weak
and hemmed in by enemies.

'In the parlance of the time, the country
was a bone between two dogs -

'France and Spain.

'England needed friends.

'The obvious way to achieve it
was an alliance through marriage.

'The Queen must marry...

'and soon.

'Parliament petitioned the Queen

'asking her to pledge herself
to a suitable international marriage.

'Three days later,
she gave her response.'

Now that the public care of
governing the kingdom is laid upon me,

to draw upon me
also the cares of marriage

may seem a point of inconsiderate folly.

Yea, to satisfy you,

I have already joined myself
in marriage to an husband,

namely the Kingdom of England.

And for me it shall be a full satisfaction.

If, when I shall let my last breath,

it may be engraven
upon my marble tomb,

"Here lieth Elizabeth

"which reigned a virgin

"and died a virgin."

(Starkey) 'But the Queen
wasn't behaving like a virgin,

'as the Spanish ambassador
insinuatingly observed.'

(Reader) "During the last few days,

"Lord Robert has come
so much into favour

"that he does whatever
he likes with affairs.

"It is even said that Her Majesty
visits him in his chamber day and night."

(Starkey) 'By the end of April,
the ambassador reported

'that the Queen was in love with Robert
and wouldn't let him leave her side.

'But the Queen's closeness
to Dudley disturbed her courtiers.

'As a colleague,
they could put up with him.

'As a potential king, he was intolerable.'

(Woman) I think William
was very worried about Dudley.

He saw him as a huge threat

both to national prosperity,
if he married the Queen

and also to his position at court.

He was the one man
that he was fussed about.

'And I suspect there was
a certain amount of jealousy.

'He adored the Queen and there was this
guy he considered to be lightweight

'coming between him and her.

'He certainly did not
want them to get married.'

(Starkey) 'Cecil stepped up
the pressure

'for the Queen to marry
a European prince.

'There was no shortage of candidates.'

King Philip?

'King Philip of Spain, Catholic
and widower of Elizabeth's sister Mary.'

Charles IX?

He is 16!

'Charles IX of France
Catholic and a mere sickly boy.'

Charles of Austria?

'The Archduke Charles, the most
promising candidate but still a Catholic.'

Erik of Sweden?

No...my Lord.

'Elizabeth was playing hard to get

'for reasons that were political
as well as personal.

'She'd seen the problems

'created by her sister's disastrous
marriage to Philip of Spain

'and she was determined to avoid them.'

But actually,
that was easier said than done.

If she married a foreigner,

how could England avoid
the disastrous foreign entanglements

which had led to the loss of Calais?

And if she married a Catholic, and
almost all her suitors were Catholics

how would Protestant England
cope with a Catholic king?

And finally, and above all,

how could she be happy if she married
a man that she'd never seen?

Sometimes she must have reflected
it was safer to follow her own inclination

and not marry at all.

(# Choral anthem)

'Elizabeth faced
her second major challenge.

'She was a Protestant queen in a country
that was still officially Catholic.

'Her sister had stamped Catholicism
on England with extraordinary violence,

'burning at the stake over 300
Protestant men, women and children.

'Elizabeth had finally got Parliament

'to agree to restore
Protestantism in England.

'Mary's Catholic bishops
had fought her all the way

'and when they were
ordered to swear an oath

'accepting the Queen
as head of the new Church

'all but one of them refused.

'Her response was swift.

'On 20th May 1560
Thomas Watson, Bishop of Lincoln,

'was sent to the Tower.

'In the following weeks, many more
bishops were arrested as well.'

As well as the ex-bishops,

the surviving Catholic members
of Mary's council were also arrested.

But Elizabeth, unlike her sister Mary,
didn't try to force them to convert.

It wasn't her business, she said
to make windows into men's souls.

Elizabeth was subtler.

She insisted only on outward conformity.

'They had to acknowledge
her supremacy

'and they were allowed
to celebrate Mass only privately.

'The result deprived Catholicism
of the publicity of martyrdom.

'Instead, it reduced it
to something furtive,

'to be allowed, Elizabeth hoped,
slowly to wither away.

'Whilst Catholicism
was forced underground,

'England's new religion
was given a bold public face.'

This is the rood screen.

Rood means cross

and originally an image
of Christ hanging on the cross

stood in the centre of the screen

with the Virgin Mary on one side
and St John on the other.

Under Elizabeth
these images were torn' down

because they were seen
as being idolatrous.

They were replaced with this painted,
gigantic version of the royal arms.

Queen Elizabeth, the arms say, is God's
direct representative here on earth.

Church and state are one.

'And when the congregation
knelt to pray,

'they worshipped not only God
but also the English nation

'as embodied in its Virgin Queen.

'But the Virgin Queen's relationship
with Robert Dudley

'was by now a national scandal.

'Both court and public
were appalled at his arrogance,

'offended by his brashness
and suspicious of his motives.

'And there was another thing.

'He was married.

'Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart,
was rumoured to be very ill.

'Gossip claimed that Dudley
was simply waiting for her to die

'so that he could marry the Queen.

'Cecil was close to despair

'and confided in
the Spanish ambassador.'

(Reader) "I met Cecil who said that
the Queen was going on so strangely

"that he was about
to withdraw from her service.

"He perceived the most manifest ruin
impending over the Queen

"through her intimacy with Lord Robert.

"He had made himself
master of the business of state

"and of the person of the Queen

"to the extreme injury of the realm,

"with the intention of marrying her.

"Last of all, he said there was
a conspiracy to kill Lord Robert's wife."

It is late on the afternoon

of 8th September 1560
at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire

the home of Lord Robert Dudley,
the Queen's favourite

and Amy Robsart,
his wife of five years' standing.

The house is unusually quiet

because the servants have been
given the day off to attend a local fair.

When they return,

they find Lady Dudley's body
at the foot of the staircase

dead and with her neck broken.

'Dudley's first reaction?
Fear for his reputation.

'He was right to fear.

'A major scandal erupts at court -

'Queen's favourite murders wife
to clear way to Queen's bed.

'Elizabeth, fearful for her reputation -

'she couldn't allow
the scandal to besmirch her.

'Reluctantly,
she banishes Dudley from court.

'The inquest exonerated Dudley by
returning a verdict of accidental death.

'But his enemies were confident
that his reputation was beyond repair,

'that he would never recover his all too
intimate relationship with the Queen.

'It is October 1562.

'Queen Elizabeth has lain unconscious
in a coma for the last 24 hours.

'Her physicians
have diagnosed smallpox

'and she's not expected to live.

'In a nearby room,
the Privy Council is in crisis.

'It is three years into the reign

'but Elizabeth has neither married
nor named a successor.

'If she dies, there will be
a constitutional crisis

'possibly a civil war.

'And a new threat
was waiting in the wings.

On 19th August 1561

a tall, striking-looking woman
stepped ashore at Leith, near Edinburgh.

It was Mary, Queen of Scots
returning to her kingdom.

There was a thick sea mist that morning.

Some later saw this as an evil omen

of the sorrow
the darkness and the impiety

which Mary's return
was to bring to Scotland.

'The 18-year-old Queen of Scots
had been brought up in France

'and she'd not seen Scotland
for 13 years.

'But even when
she was back in Scotland

'her sights were set
on another, greater kingdom -

'England.

'The Catholic Mary
was Elizabeth's cousin

'and had a very strong claim
to the English throne.

'She posed a double threat to Elizabeth.

'Protestantism was only
recently established and still vulnerable

'and with Elizabeth unmarried
childless and in poor health,

'the succession was dangerously open.

'But Elizabeth recovered
and for the moment the crisis was over.

'Her first words on
regaining consciousness

'were to command her council
to appoint a Lord Protector

'in the event of her death.

'His salary, she specified,
would be a staggering �20,000,

'more than was spent on the coronation.

'The man she named was Robert Dudley.

'The scandal of his wife's death
had died away

'and Dudley's reputation had recovered.

'Now he was back in favour
in spectacular style.'

Only three months after her illness
Elizabeth faced a fresh ordeal.

Parliament had been summoned
for January 1563

and everybody knew
that a reluctant queen

would be forced once more to confront
the issue of the succession.

The Parliament was opened
with a sermon

preached in Westminster Abbey

by Alexander Nowell,
the Dean of St Paul's.

And Nowell put into words
what most people only dared think.

(Man) "All the Queen's
most noble ancestors

"have commonly had
some issue to succeed them.

"But Her Majesty yet none.

"The want of your marriage and issue
is likely to prove a plague.

"If your parents had been of your mind,
where had you been then?

"Alack, what shall become of us?"

I reckon that's pretty straight talking.

It was a very small part of the sermon

but this was almost before
a state opening of Parliament.

Now I don't know if Dean Nowell
had been put up to it

by Elizabeth's political advisors

or whether he was
just speaking for himself

but I do think
he was taking a bit of a risk.

Nowell would not have been the first
churchman to be sent to the Tower.

He'd had a run-in
at St Paul's the year before

when he'd given
her a prayer book with pictures of saints

and she took exception to this.

This was a kind of idolatry
that she'd forbidden.

So, he was playing with fire a bit
but, clearly,

he was prepared to nail his colours
to this particular mast.

(Starkey) 'Nowell's tough words
set the tone for Parliament.

'But again, the Queen
hedged and obfuscated.

'For her, marriage
was simply not on the cards.

'Mary, though,
showed no such reluctance

'and was entertaining the suits
of several European Catholics.

'An alliance between Scotland
and one of England's enemies

'could spell disaster.

'So Elizabeth requested
diplomatic talks with the Scots.

'For nine days she entertained
Mary's ambassador, Sir James Melville.'

(Melville) "She desired to know whether
my queen's hair or hers was best

"and which of the two was fairest.

"I said she was
the fairest queen in England

"and mine the fairest queen in Scotland.

"She inquired which of them
was of highest stature.

"I said, 'My queen.'
"'Then she is too high,' sayeth she,

"'for I, myself, am neither
too high nor too low.'"

(Starkey) 'There was a final round
in this game of diplomacy.

'Elizabeth offered an English candidate
for the hand of the Queen of Scots -

'Lord Robert Dudley.'

(Melville) "Her Majesty called him
her brother and best friend

"whom she could have married

"had she ever minded
to have taken a husband.

"But being determined
to end her life in virginity,

"she wished that the Queen
her sister might marry him."

(Starkey) 'But did Elizabeth
really intend to give the man she'd loved

'to Mary, Queen of Scots?'

Robert Dudley, who should have known,
took her intentions seriously enough

to do everything he could
to scupper the scheme.

But there was a lot
to be said for it politically.

It would have solved
the problem of Dudley.

He wouldn't have become
king of England

but he would have become
king as consort of Mary.

And it would've solved
the problem of Mary.

She'd have been safely married
to an Englishman

and away from a foreigner
and the alliance

that the English so feared
for their northern neighbour.

And it would have solved
the problem of the succession -

any children would be recognised
as heirs to the English throne.

But the scheme did fail.

Not because of Elizabeth

but because of Mary's contempt
for the man that she called

"Elizabeth's horse keeper".

'Mary had her own ideas about love.

'Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley,

'was 18, tall, handsome
and a fine lute player.

'Mary described him as the lustiest
and best proportioned long lad

'she had ever seen.

'When he fell ill, she nursed him.

'They fell in love.

'It was a whirlwind romance

'and four months later, in the Chapel
Royal at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh,

'they were married.'

(Bells tolling)

'The effect on Elizabeth was dramatic.

'Within a few days,
it was reported that she and Robert

'had become inseparable again.

'If the young Queen of Scots
could marry for love,

'why couldn't England's queen
do the same?

'But the return of the rumour of marriage
brought new and fierce resistance.

'The Duke of Norfolk
the most powerful noble in the land,

'was the Queen's closet male relative

'and was bitterly opposed
to the prospective match.

'Norfolk had always resented
the rise to power of the upstart Dudley.

'A resentment intensified
by his own failure to gain high office.

'He became the focus
of the anti-Dudley camp.

'Their rivalry split the court.

'Dudley's side took to
wearing purple ribbons...

'and Norfolk's, yellow.

'The two factions roamed
the corridors of power, armed and angry.

'The Queen intervened
to slap both sides down.

'When Dudley objected to the Queen's
flirtation with a young, pretty courtier,

'she lashed him with her tongue
loud enough for the whole court to hear.'

"I will have here
but one mistress and no master."

(Starkey) 'Norfolk,
too, found himself in disgrace.

'At a Privy Council meeting,

'he raised the matter
of marriage and the succession.

'She flew into a rage, calling him a traitor

'and adding that
she would not name a successor

'as she had no wish to be "buried alive".

'For good measure, she also threatened
to have the Duke arrested.

'But her tough words
could not resolve the tensions at court.

'Behind the bickering
lay the real problem - the succession.

'Until Elizabeth married
and produced an heir,

'the crisis would never go away.

'While Elizabeth fought
to hold the men of her court together,

'Mary enjoyed a female triumph.

'On 19th June 1566 in a tiny room
in the castle at Edinburgh,

'Mary fulfilled her duty
as a woman and as a queen.

'She had a child.'

Her labour was long and hard

but the baby was healthy
and it was a boy.

They christened him James.

Scotland now had an heir
and Mary, Queen of Scots a son.

When the English ambassador
saw the baby a few days later

he reported that he was
likely to prove a goodly prince.

'The news was
far from goodly for Elizabeth.

(Man) "She burst out
to some of her ladies

"that the Queen of Scots
was mother of a fair son

"while she was but of barren stock."

(Starkey) 'But Mary's triumph
did not last.

'The initial euphoria
of marriage had faded

'as Darnley's true nature emerged.

'He was violent, an arrogant drunk,

'a lout with all the makings
of a psychopath.

'Darnley had become
insanely jealous of David Rizzio,

'Mary's Italian secretary,

'whom he suspected of having
an affair with the Queen.'

A group of Protestant
Scottish lords also hated Rizzio

because he was a Catholic
and the Queen's favourite.

So the two groups of Rizzio's enemies
came together

and signed a contract to murder him.

On the night of 9th March 1566

the conspirators burst in here,
the Queen's smallest chamber

where they found Rizzio
having a t�te-�-t�te with the Queen.

He was dragged outside
and stabbed 57 times.

The conspirators thoughtfully
left Darnley's dagger

sticking in Rizzio's belly.

'Less than a year later,
Darnley himself was dead.

'The house where he was staying
was blown up.

'Darnley was found
strangled in the orchard.'

Everything suggested
that the man responsible for the crime

was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell,

who was one of
Mary's leading supporters.

Still worse, the finger of suspicion
also pointed at Mary herself.

'And, as Elizabeth told her bluntly,

'her behaviour was making
a bad situation worse.'

"Madam, my ears
have been so astounded

"and my heart so frightened

"to hear of the horrible murder of
your former husband, our mutual cousin,

"that I have scarcely spirit to write.

"Yet I cannot conceal
that I grieve more for you than for him."

(Starkey) 'But there was still
worse to come.

'Mary was abducted,
taken by force to Dunbar and raped.

'The perpetrator was James Hepburn,
the Earl of Bothwell.

'Two weeks later, they were married.'

"Madam, how could a worse choice
be made for your honour

"than in such haste to marry a subject
who, besides other notorious lacks

"public fame has charged with
the murder of your late husband?"

(Starkey) 'Within a few weeks,
Mary paid a terrible price for her folly.

'A large party of the Scottish nobility

rose up in arms
against their scandalous queen.

'The two sides joined in battle

'but Mary's troops melted away
without striking a blow.

'Even her husband Bothwell
negotiated a safe conduct for himself

'from the field of battle.

'Mary was defeated and abandoned.

'Mary was brought as a prisoner here,

'to the island fortress of Lochleven
where she miscarried of twins.'

Then, broken in body and mind, under
the immediate threat of physical force,

she was compelled to abdicate
in favour of her one-year-old son James.

She was never to see him again.

'Mary had married unwisely,
for love and for lust

'and as a consequence she had lost
her crown, her son and her liberty.

'Perhaps after all there was wisdom
in living and ruling alone.'

(Elizabeth) "To be led from the place
of arraignment to the Tower of London

"and thence to the gallows at Tyburn.

"And there to be hanged
and being half-dead

"to be cut down and the bowels
to be taken out of the belly

"and thrown into the fire.

"And the head to be cut off

"and the body to be divided
into four parts

"and the head and four quarters to be
set up and disposed at our pleasure.

"Which manner of execution
is due to every person

"that committeth treason.

"Given under our signet
at our palace of Westminster,

"Elizabeth R."

'For the Tudors
treason was the worst of crimes

'which deserved
the worst of punishments.'

Elizabeth had personal experience
of its terrors

because she'd been imprisoned in the
Tower on charges of treason herself.

When she became queen she hoped
that the moderation of her rule

would make treason and its
terrible penalties a forgotten memory.

But a decade after her accession
these hopes were fading.

Catholicism hadn't
withered away as she'd hoped.

The nobility were no longer content
simply with honour and dignity.

Instead, some of them wanted real power

which Elizabeth
was reluctant to give them.

And above all
there were the unsolved questions

of the succession and her marriage.

It was a combustible mixture
that needed only a spark to set it alight.

'In May 1568 Mary escaped
from her island prison.

'Thousands of troops
flocked to join her standard.

'But once again
she was defeated in battle.

'This time the defeat was final.

'She escaped from the field of battle
but she was now alone and desperate.

'She fled to the only place

'that might offer her safety, protection
and even support -

'England.

'Elizabeth dispatched
one of her councillors to Carlisle

'to convey Mary to a place of refuge
and to treat her with all honour

'as befitted her status as a queen.

'In reality, she was a prisoner.

'Mary's arrival in England
was a disaster for Elizabeth.

'Until now, the Queen had kept
Catholicism under control.

'But Mary gave English Catholics,
especially those in the north,

'a figurehead round whom
they could rally and even rebel.

'The north of England
had been the scene

'of the biggest rebellion
against Henry VIII.

'Now insurrection was brewing again.

'The population
had remained largely Catholic

'and felt little loyalty to the
Protestant Queen far away in London.

'The northern earls were Catholic too.

'They had been prepared
to put up with Elizabeth

'providing she left them alone.

'But slowly, the government was
nibbling away at their independence.

'The earls looked to Norfolk
for leadership.

'Norfolk was not a natural rebel

'but he too was aggrieved
and disaffected - ripe for rebellion.'

In June 1568 Mary's envoy
approached the Duke of Norfolk

with an extraordinary suggestion.

He proposed the Duke should
marry Mary, Queen of Scots

and retake Scotland.

Norfolk would then
exchange a ducal coronet

for the Royal Crown of Scotland

whilst their children would be
the natural heirs of England also.

Attractive but dangerous.

Norfolk had in his pocket
a commission from Elizabeth

which said that anybody marrying Mary
would be adjudged a traitor.

And Norfolk himself
was convinced of Mary's guilt

as a murderer and an adulterer.

But ambition brings strange bedfellows.

'Rumours of this dangerous
conversation reached Elizabeth

'and she summoned Norfolk to court.

'But her cousin denied the charge.

'She gave him two more chances
to come clean.

'Twice more came denial.

'His denials roused her suspicions.

'This was more than
just a covert marriage plan,

'it was a plot to overthrow her.

'Norfolk suddenly left
the Queen's summer progress

'and returned here to the Charrterhouse
his London residence.'

He agreed to join in a plot

hatched by the Earls of Westmoreland
and Northumberland.

The earls would raise the north
liberate Mary, Queen of Scots

and bring about her marriage to Norfolk.

All the north, Northumberland boasted
would rebel at his command.

'Thomas Percy,
the Earl of Northumberland

'had his own reasons for rebellion.

'It was partly about religion - the Percys
had remained staunchly Catholic -

'but at heart it was about power.

'Northumberland thought
he had a right to share in power.

'Elizabeth was prepared
to share power with no one.'

Thomas was really driven
to rebellion by Elizabeth

and Cecil in particular.

Cecil didn't like the power
of the Percys in the north.

The fact that they were Catholic as well -

and a lot of the people
in this area were Catholic -

meant that there was
a power base in the north,

close to Scotland
close to Mary, Queen of Scots

that presented
a serious problem to the crown.

Thomas could have had an easy life.

He was wealthy enough
to maintain his life

he loved country pursuits,

he had a wonderful wife
he had four beautiful children.

He risked everything, basically.

(Starkey) 'But the risk
was too much for Norfolk.

'He wrote to Northumberland
begging him to cancel the rising.

'But it was too late.

'Midnight on November 9th 1569.

'Churches all over the north
rang their bells backwards.

'It was a signal for the rebellion to begin.'

On 10th November
the rebel earls entered Durham

and broke open the doors
of this great cathedral.

And here they performed
an act of calculated defiance -

they tore up and burned
the Protestant bibles and prayer books,

the symbols of the new religion.

And they celebrated
the central mystery of the old

by attending a Catholic Mass.

They had crosses on their armour and
they carried the badge and the banner

of the five wounds of Christ.

It looked like a holy war, a crusade.

'The loss of Durham was a catastrophe.

'The city was a fortress
to stop an invasion from Scotland.

'Now it had fallen to the rebels
and could be turned against the Queen.

'Elizabeth was paying a heavy price for
her mishandling of the northern earls.

'By bullying them,
like her father at his worst

'she had pushed them over the edge.

'Their goal was obvious -
to rescue Mary from captivity.

'Mary was imprisoned
at Tutbury in Staffordshire.

'If they managed to reach her,
they would hold not only half of England,

'they would have an alternative queen.

'Elizabeth acted decisively.

'She had her cousin moved
further south to Coventry,

'well inside the Protestant heartland
and beyond the rebels' reach.

'She also ordered the rapid deployment
of an armed force to the north

'to intercept the marauders.

'The rebel earls had advanced
south confidently,

'expecting that other
noblemen would join them.'

So when they heard that the southern
lords were marching against them

with royal troops in overwhelming
numbers, they were taken off guard.

They decided to retreat
to fight on their own territory.

But the retreat knocked the stuffing
out of the rebellion

their troops melted away
and the earls fled towards Scotland.

Elizabeth was exultant.

By behaving like her father
she'd helped to provoke the rebellion.

Now she actually outdid him

in the savagery with which
she punished the rebels.

"Spare no offenders.
We are in nothing moved to spare them.

"The bodies to remain
till they fall to pieces where they hang."

(Starkey) '700 men were put to death,
including the Earl of Northumberland.

'No village was without
at least one execution.

'Lands were seized

'and distributed amongst Elizabeth's
Protestant supporters.

'The north of England
would never be the same again.

'Norfolk was arrested

'but there wasn't enough evidence
to execute him for treason.

'But, whilst under house arrest
he became involved in a new plot

'masterminded by
the Italian banker Ridolfi.

'The conspirators were careless.

'English spies
captured incriminating letters

'and the plotters were rounded up.

'It was more than enough
to seal Norfolk's fate.

'But the Queen could not bring herself
to execute England's only duke,

'her closet male relative.

'Three times she signed,
the execution warrant

'three times she called it back
and destroyed it.

'For five months she procrastinated.

'She was staving off the inevitable.'

(Elizabeth) "Thomas, Duke of Norfolk,

"late of Kenninghall
in the county of Norfolk...

(Voices overlapping)

"...led to the Tower of London
and his head to be cut off...

"..and his body to be divided
into four parts...

"..his head and four quarters
to be set up and disposed...

"..and his head to be cut off...

"which manner of execution
is due to every person

"that committeth treason.

"Yet we, being moved
to pity of our Grace,

"are pleased to change
such manner of execution.

"To cause only that his head
be smitten from his body

"at the Tower Hill
the accustomed place of execution.

"Given under our signet
at our palace of Westminster,

"the thirteenth year
of our reign, Elizabeth R."

(Starkey) 'On the morning
of 2nd June 1572

'Norfolk was led to the scaffold.'

Fastidious to the last

he rearranged the straw,
knelt down, stretched out his neck

and then as the crowd murmured

"Lord Jesu have mercy on thy soul,"

the executioner cut off his head
with a single stroke.

'Elizabeth had reigned for 14 years.

'She had beaten off rebellion

'she had resisted the pressure to marry

'and she had survived alone.

'But Mary and religion
had divided her country

'and her Catholic enemies abroad
were marshalling their forces.

'Elizabeth and her Protestant people
would be plunged into war.'

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