Notes September 29

• Elizabeth had qualities that made her look like an exceptional politician, just as she was on the inside. This aided her in her quest to reform England. If people saw her as a ruler, then she could lead them without much more effort. 
• Elizabeth had troubles growing up, and she could have very well died. 
• It was rumored that Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour were having affairs when she was only fourteen and that she was pregnant with his child. This was an act of treason and she could have been killed as soon as the king gave the rule.
• Elizabeth, when she was ruler, went against all that women had been taught at the time. 
• She was taught the art of rhetoric by Roger Ascham and she looked men in the eye when she talked to them. While this seemed odd, it gave her massive power when she ruled. 
• But Elizabeth lacked the one thing she needed to make her Protestant reign successful: an heir. 
• She needed a husband, both for an heir, and because people had thought that if she did not, she would become sick. 
• Robert Dudley was a contestant to be Elizabeth's husband. 
• No one ever saw them exhibit relationship type actions, as Dudley was still married. 
• It was assumed that Dudley killed his wife when she was found at the bottom of a staircase. Elizabeth hid Dudley away until he was cleared or accused, and it was the latter. 
• Mary Stewart was the Queen of Scotland, but she was also called Mary I, not to be confused with Mary I of England. 
• Mary and Elizabeth were cousins
• Elizabeth was told to be illegitimate and not an heir to the throne, and the throne was to be passed on to Mary. 
• Mary lusted after a man, David Ritzyo who turned out to be quite a buffoon and a drunk. He could not help with her plans to rule in the slightest. 
• A group of people fled to Mary's room in a tower, and stabbed him. The murderers turned towards Mary's belly. She was not scared though, she knew that her baby would be born. 
• The baby was born, James VI of Scotland. 
• Bothwell, a well known land owner, rigged explosives under Dudley's sleeping chambers and Dudley was killed. 
• Death followed Mary everywhere, and Bothwell offered himself to be the man. He made his wish known, and he executed a plan, and she had no choice but to marry him. She lost everything because of this, her physical appearance, her health, and her nice life. 
• Her husband fled, claiming to be going for reinforcements, but he was never seen again. 
• Mary was disheveled and she was portrayed as a mermaid, a prostitute. 
• She forsook her throne and passed it to her son, James. 
• Mary was jailed for ten months, and then she charmed her jailer. She escaped prison and fled across the border. 
• Mary, when she arrived in England, scared Elizabeth. Elizabeth thought she was there to take the throne. 
• She was hazed by Elizabeth, and she would not even give her proper clothing. 
• Once Elizabeth discovered that Mary did not want the English throne, offered to help her regain the Scottish throne. Then she thought that she should not "rock the boat" and had her cousin incarcerated. 
• The North was Catholic and the South was Protestant, a religious war had begun.