Comments on: This Queen hates marriage

By: hopkinshughes

hopkinshughes — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:20:18 +0000

Karin, Point by point: Henry’s only sister to live long had the same mental problems Henry did late in life, so that was not a result of syphilis or she was a free-spirit too. Similar mental problems can stem from a variety of sources. With Henry the acute paranoia that made life at Court during his later years a nightmare is one of the more consistent symptoms of general paresis, the mental breakdown that can accompany the final stages of syphilis. His children were not mentally retarded (which almost always happens when born with syphilis). Mental retardation does occur with inherited syphilis, but not "almost always." Inherited syphilis can exhibit a variety of symptoms all the way from no symptoms at all to the worst possible, including retardation. Again, the question is not whether or not Henry had it, or his daughter inherited it, it's whether or not she was afraid she might have it. And the treatment for syphilis, mercury, was never given to Henry, so his doctors didn’t think he had it… We can hardly take seriously what his doctors said for the record. That the King of England had syphilis would have been a closely held secret. Why would Elizabeth think her father had syphilis if nobody thought it?? What you mean is, nobody wrote about it––we have no way of knowing what they thought. And plenty have thought a great deal about it since, based on his symptoms as described. Pop history, of course, prefers to think of him as a great king, despite the evidence that he was a cruel and despicable tyrant, and towards the end, completely insane. Her reluctance towards marriage was probably a mix of factors, the one she wanted was not available, the one she needed political was not an option or didn’t exist, and maybe a fear to loose the power of freedom she had. All quite true. Her lovelife is not known but she probably (most certainly) did not have any children. Also true.

By: Karin

Karin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:50:17 +0000

Regarding syphilis:
Henry’s only sister to live long had the same mental problems Henry did late in life, so that was not a result of syphilis or she was a free-spirit too.
His children were not mentally retarded (which almost always happens when born with syphilis)
And the treatment for syphilis, mercury, was never given to Henry, so his doctors didn’t think he had it…
Why would Elizabeth think her father had syphilis if nobody thought it??
Her reluctance towards marriage was probably a mix of factors, the one she wanted was not available, the one she needed political was not an option or didn’t exist, and maybe a fear to loose the power of freedom she had.
Her lovelife is not known but she probably (most certainly) did not have any children.

By: hopkinshughes

hopkinshughes — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:07:52 +0000

Thanks, Earl. As a doctor your opinion is valuable. However, the point is not whether any of these members of Elizabeth’s family actually had syphilis, or whether she actually inherited it, it’s whether, based on their symptoms, she feared they might and so feared pregnancy. This makes her policy of remaining unmarried not only political, but deeply personal. But the ultimate point here with regard to the Royal changeling and other similar theories is whether or not her hatred of marriage was not only political but largely based, or certainly reinforced, by a personal fear of pregnancy. Pregnancy is dangerous for women at any time, and many women fear it, even today. Back then, without drugs or C sections, with the screams of their mothers, aunts and sisters ringing in their ears, and the frequent funerals that followed, you bet they feared it. For Elizabeth, this common fear was compounded exponentially by all the others unique to herself detailed here and in the linked pages. What you call the “nonsense” of her “protracted marriage negotiations” can be seen as, at least in part, in terms of the pleasure she got from approaching something that she dared never complete. She couldn’t have marriage, she couldn’t have sex, but at least she could feel desired as a woman for awhile. Is that really so perverse?

By: Earl

Earl — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:21:44 +0000

Stephanie,
This is very interesting, and I look forward to reading more from you on Elizabeth’s courtships and marriage prospects. Hume’s book is a wonderful sources that I have studied in regard her relationship with Alencon and Semier in the early 1580′s. Alcencon, too, was accused of being syphilitic by John Stubbs in his critical pamphlet that lost him his right hand. Shakespeare alludes to this in AMND. As for Henry VIII’s leg sores being due to syphilis, I think that is a real stretch medically. Chrinic draining leg sores in a man of Henry’s corpulence would most likely be statis ulcers – due to obesity, chronic inactivity, and genes. Elizabeth, IMO, certainly did not have congenital syphilis – she was far too bright, active and long-lived to have had that type of infection. Edward probably did have TB – it has been the #1 killer in the northern hemisphere for centuries, that is if you survived birth and the obligatory childhood illnesses. Was Elizabeth afraid of getting a venereal disease? Certainly this would be an issue if you were sleeping with multiple partners or operating under a French love potion and entertaining the Duke in his bedroom before breakfast (which she did with Alencon), but her main fear would have been pregnancy, as you pointed out, and this would have been sufficient in my mind to give her real pause. Her policy of 20 years of continual marital negotiations was key to preventing the Spanish from overrunning the Low Countires and the French from an alliance with Spain through a farcical romance that kept Alencon on tenderhooks until the little Duke succumned with a broken heart at the age of 29. I don’t think she ever intended to marry the French Duke, though she horrified Leicester and others by publically announcing that she would. No one knew her mind, not even Burghley. The nonsense of the protracted marriage negotiations, however, was her perfect, perverse policy.