Who wrote Elizabeth I's most scathing letters?(www.smithsonianmag.com)
31 pointsby benbreen5 hours ago2 comments
  • dsjoerg4 hours ago
    The podcast "The Rest is History" did a series in the past year on Elizabeth I. Highly recommended, and their take is highly compatible with this research take -- Elizabeth seems to have been quite masterful and deliberate both in her choice of what she would communicate, and in composing and marshalling her team.
    • sherr3 hours ago
      Yes, that podcast series is excellent. Elizabeth was lucky in having an excellent team of people working for her. Their lives depended on keeping her alive of course. They were also lucky that she didn't inherit her father's habit of decapitating the most able ministers.
      • roughly3 hours ago
        Any time you see a female monarch who's in power for half a century, it's worth looking into, because you're gonna see a beautiful story about how to wield power. When you can't rely on being able to physically overpower your opponents directly - when "I'm the biggest guy in the room, so fuck you" isn't in your toolkit - anyone who gets and keeps power does so by some really, really sharp tactics.

        (and yeah, napoleon, et al, but those are in the same vein - short guy runs the world, probably an interesting story there too.)

        • hnfong3 hours ago
          At the level of monarchs, personal physical strength rarely matters regardless of gender anyway. Occasionally it is useful to be able to overpower an adversary in a fight, but that's only either when you risk being assassinated, or you want to assassinate somebody else. Other than those situations, it's just political games all the way. (And like another commenter says, it's usually not "beautiful")
          • roughly32 minutes ago
            Sure, but who does the physical violence, and why isn't that guy in charge? That's the question - all power comes from the barrel of a gun, so why's the person in charge walking around unarmed?

            Elizabeth ruled England for 50 years and is remembered fondly for building a global empire (by the English, don't get me wrong), and she was a woman. Yes, it's all relationships, that's the point.

            • malfist15 minutes ago
              Thats absurd. Physical prowess may help influce others to follow you but outside small tribe level interpersonal relationships simply being the strongest person or best swordsman is hardly the required quality of a leader.

              The strongest guy isn't in charge of the kingdom because the queen has an army.

        • Danox2 hours ago
          Napoleon was hardly short for his time, that was just English propaganda. Most of the human world today, 5’6-5’8 still represents most of the male population I’m only 6’-4 and most of the male population, even at that relatively tall height, don’t come close, and when I meet someone that is close in height or even taller it’s still a shock.
        • techjamie3 hours ago
          Napoleon was actually average height for the time period and locality. Claims he was especially short were English propaganda that got accepted and survived to the modern day. He was actually 5'6 (168cm).
          • xp842 hours ago
            That’s funny, because the increase in stature for males in the modern day has resulted in 5’6” being “short king” territory today (no pun intended)

            So it’s simultaneously true that he was “only 5’6”” and false that he was short for his time.

        • dboreham2 hours ago
          This is all covered quite well in the documentary "Blackadder II".
        • sherr3 hours ago
          Her half-sister's story wasn't so beautiful ...
          • kitd3 hours ago
            She wasn't in power very long though.
            • mrwh2 hours ago
              And then Elizabeth had the example of Bloody Mary to avoid (not least of which: to not marry is better than to marry badly). "I have no desire to make windows into men's souls" is one of the wiser things any English monarch has ever said.
  • K0balt3 hours ago
    Back in the day when a strongly worded letter actually carried some weight….
    • advisedwang3 hours ago
      I suspect the author having the authority to execute people on a whim may have contributed somewhat
      • K0balt2 hours ago
        I always try to insinuate this possibility in mine, but it doesn’t seem to work the same.
        • twic2 hours ago
          Have you tried being Queen of England by grace of God?
          • KerrAvonan hour ago
            Yes, but I married a racist German and my sons all ended up being emotionally stunted perverts. Maybe I'll try a different God next time.