The Story of Mankind [107]
and possessions of her merry islands.
In this she was most ably assisted by a number of men who
gathered around her throne and made the Elizabethan age a
period of such importance that you ought to study it in detail
in one of the special books of which I shall tell you in the
bibliography at the end of this volume.
Elizabeth, however, did not feel entirely safe upon her
throne. She had a rival and a very dangerous one. Mary,
of the house of Stuart, daughter of a French duchess and a
Scottish father, widow of king Francis II of France and
daughter-in-law of Catherine of Medici (who had organised
the murders of Saint Bartholomew's night), was the mother of
a little boy who was afterwards to become the first Stuart king
of England. She was an ardent Catholic and a willing friend
to those who were the enemies of Elizabeth. Her own lack
of political ability and the violent methods which she employed
to punish her Calvinistic subjects, caused a revolution in Scotland
and forced Mary to take refuge on English territory. For
eighteen years she remained in England, plotting forever and
a day against the woman who had given her shelter and who
was at last obliged to follow the advice of her trusted councilors
``to cutte off the Scottish Queen's heade.''
The head was duly ``cutte off'' in the year 1587 and caused
a war with Spain. But the combined navies of England and
Holland defeated Philip's Invincible Armada, as we have already
seen, and the blow which had been meant to destroy the
power of the two great anti-Catholic leaders was turned into a
profitable business adventure.
For now at last, after many years of hesitation, the English
as well as the Dutch thought it their good right to invade
the Indies and America and avenge the ills which their Protes-
tent brethren had suffered at the hands of the Spaniards. The
English had been among the earliest successors of Columbus.
British ships, commanded by the Venetian pilot Giovanni Caboto
(or Cabot), had been the first to discover and explore the
northern American continent in 1496. Labrador and Newfoundland
were of little importance as a possible colony. But
the banks of Newfoundland offered a rich reward to the
English fishing fleet. A year later, in 1497, the same Cabot
had explored the coast of Florida.
Then had come the busy years of Henry VII and Henry
VIII when there had been no money for foreign explorations.
But under Elizabeth, with the country at peace and Mary
Stuart in prison, the sailors could leave their harbour without
fear for the fate of those whom they left behind. While Elizabeth
was still a child, Willoughby had ventured to sail past the
North Cape and one of his captains, Richard Chancellor, pushing
further eastward in his quest of a possible road to the Indies,
had reached Archangel, Russia, where he had established
diplomatic and commercial relations with the mysterious rulers
of this distant Muscovite Empire. During the first years of
Elizabeth's rule this voyage had been followed up by many
others. Merchant adventurers, working for the benefit of a
``joint stock Company'' had laid the foundations of trading
companies which in later centuries were to become colonies.
Half pirate, half diplomat, willing to stake everything on a
single lucky voyage, smugglers of everything that could be
loaded into the hold of a vessel, dealers in men and merchandise
with equal indifference to everything except their profit, the
sailors of Elizabeth had carried the English flag and the fame
of their Virgin Queen to the four corners of the Seven Seas.
Meanwhile William Shakespeare kept her Majesty amused at
home, and the best brains and the best wit of England co-operated
with the queen in her attempt to change the feudal inheritance
of Henry VIII into a modern national state.
In the year 1603 the old lady died at the age of seventy.
Her cousin, the great-grandson
In this she was most ably assisted by a number of men who
gathered around her throne and made the Elizabethan age a
period of such importance that you ought to study it in detail
in one of the special books of which I shall tell you in the
bibliography at the end of this volume.
Elizabeth, however, did not feel entirely safe upon her
throne. She had a rival and a very dangerous one. Mary,
of the house of Stuart, daughter of a French duchess and a
Scottish father, widow of king Francis II of France and
daughter-in-law of Catherine of Medici (who had organised
the murders of Saint Bartholomew's night), was the mother of
a little boy who was afterwards to become the first Stuart king
of England. She was an ardent Catholic and a willing friend
to those who were the enemies of Elizabeth. Her own lack
of political ability and the violent methods which she employed
to punish her Calvinistic subjects, caused a revolution in Scotland
and forced Mary to take refuge on English territory. For
eighteen years she remained in England, plotting forever and
a day against the woman who had given her shelter and who
was at last obliged to follow the advice of her trusted councilors
``to cutte off the Scottish Queen's heade.''
The head was duly ``cutte off'' in the year 1587 and caused
a war with Spain. But the combined navies of England and
Holland defeated Philip's Invincible Armada, as we have already
seen, and the blow which had been meant to destroy the
power of the two great anti-Catholic leaders was turned into a
profitable business adventure.
For now at last, after many years of hesitation, the English
as well as the Dutch thought it their good right to invade
the Indies and America and avenge the ills which their Protes-
tent brethren had suffered at the hands of the Spaniards. The
English had been among the earliest successors of Columbus.
British ships, commanded by the Venetian pilot Giovanni Caboto
(or Cabot), had been the first to discover and explore the
northern American continent in 1496. Labrador and Newfoundland
were of little importance as a possible colony. But
the banks of Newfoundland offered a rich reward to the
English fishing fleet. A year later, in 1497, the same Cabot
had explored the coast of Florida.
Then had come the busy years of Henry VII and Henry
VIII when there had been no money for foreign explorations.
But under Elizabeth, with the country at peace and Mary
Stuart in prison, the sailors could leave their harbour without
fear for the fate of those whom they left behind. While Elizabeth
was still a child, Willoughby had ventured to sail past the
North Cape and one of his captains, Richard Chancellor, pushing
further eastward in his quest of a possible road to the Indies,
had reached Archangel, Russia, where he had established
diplomatic and commercial relations with the mysterious rulers
of this distant Muscovite Empire. During the first years of
Elizabeth's rule this voyage had been followed up by many
others. Merchant adventurers, working for the benefit of a
``joint stock Company'' had laid the foundations of trading
companies which in later centuries were to become colonies.
Half pirate, half diplomat, willing to stake everything on a
single lucky voyage, smugglers of everything that could be
loaded into the hold of a vessel, dealers in men and merchandise
with equal indifference to everything except their profit, the
sailors of Elizabeth had carried the English flag and the fame
of their Virgin Queen to the four corners of the Seven Seas.
Meanwhile William Shakespeare kept her Majesty amused at
home, and the best brains and the best wit of England co-operated
with the queen in her attempt to change the feudal inheritance
of Henry VIII into a modern national state.
In the year 1603 the old lady died at the age of seventy.
Her cousin, the great-grandson