The season finale of Becoming Elizabeth sees us fast-forwarding two months from the end of the last episode, where we saw Edward coughing up blood. The king appears to be dying, there’s a power struggle between Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the former Lord Protector, and his successor, John Dudley, but also between Edward’s half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and then, wham bam, Edward is standing there: “Surprise, I’m alive, and you’re all in big trouble! One of you in huge trouble!” That about covers it!

But is any of that true? Well, let me, historian and best-selling author Claire Ridgway, enlighten you…

If you’ve been following my weekly videos on the Starz series “Becoming Elizabeth”, you’ll have realised that I’ve been rather disappointed in its central theme. I don’t feel it’s shown viewers what shaped Elizabeth in her youth, what made her the woman and queen she became. It’s been frustrating.

It’s made me all the more determined to ensure that my online event “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen” does Elizabeth I justice. I want to peel back the many layers that have built up over the centuries and look at Elizabeth I’s life, her reign, what shaped her, who she relied on, her achievements, her relationships (both personal and diplomatic), and the many myths that surround her.

Read more…

If you’ve been following my weekly videos on the Starz series “Becoming Elizabeth”, you’ll have realised that I’ve been rather disappointed in its central theme. I don’t feel it’s shown viewers what shaped Elizabeth in her youth, what made her the woman and queen she became. It’s been frustrating.

It’s made me all the more determined to ensure that my online event “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen” does Elizabeth I justice. I want to peel back the many layers that have built up over the centuries and look at Elizabeth I’s life, her reign, what shaped her, who she relied on, her achievements, her relationships (both personal and diplomatic), and the many myths that surround her.

I can’t do that alone, so I’m joined by Christine Hartweg, Dr Elizabeth Norton, Dr Owen Emmerson, Dr Tracy Borman, Dr Estelle Paranque, Dr Elizabeth Goldring and Dr Linda Porter for talks and live Q&A sessions on Elizabeth I.

You can find out more and register at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

Don’t forget to register before 31st to receive an advance digital copy of my forthcoming book “On This Day in Tudor History II”!

Episode 7 of Becoming Elizabeth, “To laugh, to lie, to flatter, to face”, was yet another action packed episode.

We had an awful burning, John Dudley as a very different Lord Protector to Somerset, Somerset being released, Gardiner being attacked and arrested, Spain hatching a plot to help Mary escape, the king organising a match for Elizabeth, the king finally being allowed money and fun, Lady Jane Grey calling Elizabeth a whore, Robert Dudley professing his love for Elizabeth, and the king becoming ill … phew! Lots of storylines.

But is any of this true?

Join me, historian and author Claire Ridgway, as I look at the real history behind Becoming Elizabeth…

Link to video on Joan Bocher – https://youtu.be/hEF4mgSfWeg

Do join my online Elizabeth I event – full details can be found at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

Becoming Elizabeth” has been a mixed bag when it comes to historical accuracy, with the timeline being all over the place, and people featured who shouldn’t be there or in the position they’re in, but one of the main oddities for me is the omission of people who had key roles in the events featured, or whose inclusion would have added even more drama.

Stay tuned while I take you through a few of them.

Links:

• William Paget – https://youtu.be/pYDC9IOgsh4</li>
• 13 things you probably didn’t know about Thomas Cranmer – https://youtu.be/hsz09DoX9oU</li>
• Anne Stanhope – Did Anne Stanhope, Edward Seymour’s wife, really have scandalous affairs? – Tudor Fan Q&A – https://youtu.be/ex2q9kL-2Nc</li>

In episode 6 of “Becoming Elizabeth”, “What cannot be cured”, we saw Thomas Seymour pay the ultimate price for his recklessness and ambition, Elizabeth betray her former lover, the royal council plot against the Lord Protector, John Dudley come to the fore, and Robert Dudley meet an opinionated and intriguing young woman…

Yes, another jam-packed, and rather disturbing episode, but just how much of it really happened?

Join me, historian and author Claire Ridgway, as I look at the main storylines of this week’s “Becoming Elizabeth” and sort fact from fiction.

My online event “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen” doesn’t start properly until 7th September, but participants can enjoy two events this week:

• On Friday (22nd July), we have a zoom group discussion call on episode 6 of Becoming Elizabeth. It was a jam-packed episode so there will be lots to discuss, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to talk Tudor with other Tudor history lovers.
• Then on Saturday (23rd July), we have a Q&A session in our chatroom with Christine Hartweg, author of “Amy Robsart: A Life and Its End”, about Amy Robsart, her marriage to Robert Dudley, and her controversial death. I interviewed Christine about Amy for our event and participants have access to that video interview. Christine is such an expert on Amy and also the Dudley family, and it’s always a pleasure to pick her brains. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Christine’s views on the cause of Amy’s death.

It’s not too late to register, so do consider joining me, Christine, Dr Tracy Borman, Dr Linda Porter, Dr Estelle Paranque, Dr Elizabeth Goldring, Dr Elizabeth Norton and Dr Owen Emmerson for a 10-day online event where you’ll learn more about the iconic Queen Elizabeth I, and uncover the facts behind series and movies like Becoming Elizabeth and the Cate Blanchett films. Find out more at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

Further reading and resources:

• By God’s Bones: Medieval Swear Words
• Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing by Melissa Mohr
• The earliest use of the F-word discovered
• “Damn your blood”: Swearing in early modern English
• ‘I AM THE F***ING KING’
• Sermons by Hugh Latimer, sometime Bishop of Worcester, Martyr, 1555, PP. 160-163 – https://archive.org/details/sermonsbyhughlat01lati/page/160/mode/2up
• The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor by Elizabeth Norton
• Elizabeth: Apprenticeship by David Starkey
• Edward VI: The Lost King of England
• ‘Spain: March 1551, 21-31’, in Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 10, 1550-1552, ed. Royall Tyler (London, 1914), pp. 248-250. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol10/pp248-250 [accessed 24 October 2017].
• ed. Nichols, John Gough (1857) Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth: Edited from His Autograph Manuscripts, with historical notes, and a biographical memoir, Volume I, p. ccxxv. Read online at https://archive.org/stream/literaryremains00clubgoog#page/n255/mode/2up.
• Journal, in Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth: Edited from His Autograph Manuscripts, with historical notes, and a biographical memoir, Volume 2, p. 309 – https://archive.org/stream/cu31924091758312#page/n115/mode/2up

This week’s episode, Necessity compels me to plague you, was jam-packed!

Thomas Seymour stalks Elizabeth and manages to wheedle out of her an agreement to marriage, Lord Protector Somerset makes a secret deal behind the king’s back, a rebellion breaks out, Thomas Seymour shoots a dog, Elizabeth has a night of celebration, Robert Dudley gets beaten up, and Elizabeth and Kat Ashley are arrested. Phew!

But did all of this really happen in 1549?

Join me, historian and author Claire Ridgway, as I look at the real history behind Becoming Elizabeth…

Click here for Becoming Elizabeth book recommendations.

Want to know even more about the real Elizabeth I and the history behind “Becoming Elizabeth”? Join me and 7 other historians for the “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen” online event – https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

I hope that the Starz series “Becoming Elizabeth” is making viewers hungry to know more about the real historical people and events featured in the show. To help with this, I have made this list of books I’d recommend for learning more about Elizabeth I, Catherine Parr, Mary I, Edward VI, the Seymours, and Lady Jane Grey.

The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor by Elizabeth Norton
Elizabeth: Apprenticeship by David Starkey
Elizabeth I by Anne Somerset
Katherine the Queen by Linda Porter
Catherine Parr: Wife, widow, mother, survivor, the story of the last queen of Henry VIII by Elizabeth Norton
Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love by Susan James
Mary Tudor, the First Queen by Linda Porter
Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen by Anna Whitelock
Edward VI: The Lost King of England by Chris Skidmore
Tudor King in All but Name: The Life of Edward Seymour by Margaret Scard
The Seymours of Wolf Hall: A Tudor Family Story by David Loades
Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery by Eric Ives
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen by Leanda de Lisle

This week’s episode of Becoming Elizabeth, Lighten our Darkness, had us thinking that Elizabeth might just be pregnant, saw the end of Queen Catherine Parr, and should, I feel, have been called Becoming Mary.

Let me share with you the history behind this week’s episode and my views on how things played out, as we say goodbye to Catherine Parr, see Elizabeth becoming independent and a new Elizabeth, and watch Mary reacting to the violence aimed at her beloved church, a violence caused by her own half-brother Edward IV’s religious policies. Oh, and I point out a Tudor character who is sadly missing from the series.

If you love talking Tudor, particularly about Elizabeth I, then you’ll want to be a part of my Elizabeth I online event which features 8 experts and lots of Tudor talk. Find out all the details and register at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/. One historian talk has already gone live and we’re thoroughly enjoying our zoom discussions. Do come and join us!

I’m getting really excited about “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen”, the online event I’m running. I believe it’s going to bring this iconic queen and her reign to life, and will be the perfect way to learn about the real history behind series like “Becoming Elizabeth”.

The Elizabeth I event officially starts on 7th September 2022 and runs for 10 days, but I couldn’t wait until then! I’ve organised weekly discussions on each episode of “Becoming Elizabeth” with event participants, and our third one takes place later today via Zoom. It’s wonderful to talk Tudor.

And today our first historian talk, a bonus talk, went live on the website. I was able to interview Christine Hartweg, author of “Amy Robsart: A Life and Its End” about Amy Robsart, the wife of Robert Dudley, Elizabeth’s favourite. Her death in September 1560 caused a scandal and is still surrounded by controversy today. Christine is an expert on Amy and Robert Dudley so it was really interesting to explore Amy’s life and death with her. Christine will be doing a live Q&A on this topic on Saturday 23rd July in our private chatroom.

AND, I’ve just added an 8th historian to the event! Dr Elizabeth Norton, author of “The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor” and a biography of Catherine Parr, among other books, will be joining us to talk about the Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour scandal. After watching “Becoming Elizabeth”, I really wanted to look at what happened between Elizabeth and her stepmother Catherine Parr’s new husband in 1547 and 1548. This time in Elizabeth’s life had a huge impact on her.

Do join me, Elizabeth Norton, Linda Porter, Tracy Borman, Owen Emmerson, Christine Hartweg, Estelle Paranque and Elizabeth Goldring for “Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen”. It’s completely online and open internationally.

Register at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

In this week’s episode of “Becoming Elizabeth”, episode 3 “Either Learn or Be Silent”, things come to a head between Thomas Seymour and Elizabeth, but is historian Claire Ridgway still angry, or has she calmed down? How does she feel about the Elizabeth and Seymour storyline and just how close was this episode to history?

I look at what history tells us about Seymour’s behaviour with Elizabeth, including the dress-slashing scenes, as well as looking at the timeline of events, the Mary/Elizabeth letter storyline, Elizabeth’s 15th birthday, Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, the Greys, Edward VI and Lord Protector Somerset, Pedro de Negro and Catherine Parr’s feelings about her pregnancy. Phew!

The link to Susan Higginbotham’s article on Frances Grey – https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-maligned-frances-grey-guest-post-by-susan-higginbotham/
The link to Miranda Kaufmann’s article on Pedro de Negro – http://www.mirandakaufmann.com/pedro-negro.html