Biography
We continued to read the next two chapters of Elizabeth I: The People’s Queen:
We learnt that Edward never actually got to rule England as a man, dying of Tuberculosis in 1553. Lady Jane Grey ruled after him for just nine days before Edward’s half sister Mary became England’s very first Queen Regnant, meaning she ruled in her own right. Five years later she was dead, having died in childbirth. Finally, Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth I.
It is my goal each week to share a couple of fiction books the children have read pertaining to Tudor England. Last week I shared the ones about Henry VIII and his brother Arthur. This week the books are about Lady Jane Grey focusing on her nine day monarchy and her execution and the time Princess Elizabeth spent in the tower:
Catholic v Protestant
Mary, Elizabeth’s sister, was a staunch Catholic whilst Elizabeth was very much her father’s daughter and a protestant. The reformation, which began in 1517 when Martin Luther wrote his Ninety Five Theses, was still alive and well in Europe during the short reign of Mary I. The reformation describes the protests against the perceived corruption coming from Rome inside the Catholic church and the resultant doctrinal separation of the Protestants from the Catholics. It was Luther’s goal not to start a revolution but to merely begin a discussion about the selling of indulgences (a commoner would pay the church for forgiveness for their sins). We will be revisiting this further in the coming weeks but for now we had a short chat about why the reformation happened during this particular period in history (The papacy was perceived as corrupt; monasticism and scholastic theology had declined; mysticism was capturing the attention of many; there was a revival of the Greek and Roman classics and therefore humanism; explorers were discovering the new world and the printing press had been invented).
This week we have been reading through ‘Inside the Reformation’. This book is similar to the Eye Witness series, chock full of great information:
We will be covering the reformation each week alongside Elizabeth I. During our morning meeting I have been reading out a few of Luther’s 95 thesis and chatting about each one.
Make a Banner
Symbols were very important during the 1500s. Not very many people were able to read in the Elizabethan times so symbols displayed information which the average person would understand, such as the red cross of St George (England), harps (Ireland) and the white cross of St Andrew (Scotland). Banners were also flown to advertise plays in theaters which tended to change each day:
“Each play-house advanceth his flagge in the aire, whither quickly at the waving thereof are summoned whole troops of men, women, and children”
(An excerpt from the Curtain-Drawer of the World, 1612)
We will be spending the summer holidays immersed in Shakespeare, so I thought it would be kind of cool to make a couple of banners related to Shakespeare, rather than a royal one.
We used a thick cotton and acrylic paints, sketching the picture we wanted on in pencil and then colouring it in using the acrylics. Acrylics are fabulous for painting on thick cotton (I used canvas) and in the UK cost practically nothing at the works (I got 24 colours for just £3):
First I photocopied some mask pictures and we free hand drew them onto the canvas using a charcoal pencil:
The girls took one each and began painting them:
I think they turned out better than we could have imagined and we have decided to make a couple more depicting Midsummer’s Night Dream and Romeo and Juliette. Here they are almost finished (we just need to attach them to a hanger:
Tower of London
Princess Elizabeth was sent to the tower of London in 1555 when she was suspected to be in collaboration with Sir Thomas Wyatt in plotting against her sister, Queen Mary. Whilst Wyatt lost his head, no evidence could be found against Elizabeth so she was released to a new home in Woodstock to live under house arrest.
Each week I want the children to be looking at some primary evidence. Last week we studied and translated a letter written by Elizabeth herself. This week I found a download about artifacts found in the Tower of London during fairly recent excavations. I printed a copy for everyone and we spent some time studying it, paying particular attention to what the excavators were able to tell from their findings.
Make a Pomander
Elizabethan houses really weren’t big on hygiene. Vermin, such as rats and fleas, covered the floors which inevitably meant their fecal matter would also be present. Anything which made their homes smell a bit sweeter was welcomed and pomanders were one way of doing this. Pomanders are traditionally whole citrus fruits decorated with whole cloves and other spices, dried with a ribbon to hang it up by. Of course we had to try our hand at them:
Once finished we popped them in the oven overnight and we awoke the next morning to a really lovely smelling home!
Elizabethan Dress Up
We had a really great time creating the whole coronation caboodle that a budding Princess would need.
First up was making her cloak a bit more regal by adding fir and gold:
C12 also made a sceptre from a stick, foil and other bits and pieces:
Meanwhile, L12 made an orb by attaching two plastic bowls together, covering in foil and decorating:
And finally she also made a gold crown:
Coronation
The girls thought it would be fun to dress up like Queen Elizabeth I did for her coronation:
Elizabethan Food: Old fashioned Rice Pudding
We used this recipe and made a very simple rice pudding:
This was so delicious. We cooked it in the slow cooker and it made a really nice bedtime snack. We added cinnamon spice and some honey as a sweetener.
We are all enjoying this term so much and I can’t believe we only have three weeks left!