Editing Elizabeth I (section)

===Virginity===
Elizabeth's unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity related to [[Perpetual virginity of Mary|that of the Virgin Mary]]. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin, a goddess, or both, not as a normal woman.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=King |first=John N. |date=1990 |title=Queen Elizabeth I: Representations of the Virgin Queen |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=30–74 |doi=10.2307/2861792 |jstor=2861792 |s2cid=164188105}}</ref> At first, only Elizabeth made a virtue of her ostensible virginity: in 1559, she told the Commons, "And, in the end, this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin".<ref name="Hh">Haigh, 23.</ref> Later on, poets and writers took up the theme and developed an [[iconography]] that exalted Elizabeth. Public tributes to the Virgin by 1578 acted as a coded assertion of opposition to the queen's marriage negotiations with the Duke of Alençon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Doran |first=Susan |date=1995 |title=Juno versus Diana: The Treatment of Elizabeth I's Marriage in Plays and Entertainments, 1561–1581 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=257–274 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00019427 |jstor=2639984 |s2cid=55555610}}</ref> Ultimately, Elizabeth would insist she was married to her kingdom and subjects, under divine protection. In 1599, she spoke of "all my husbands, my good people".<ref>Haigh, 24.</ref>

[[File:Procession Portrait of Elizabeth I.jpg|thumb|250px|''The Procession Picture'', c. 1600, showing Elizabeth I borne along by her courtiers]]

This claim of virginity was not universally accepted. Catholics accused Elizabeth of engaging in "filthy lust" that symbolically defiled the nation along with her body.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 February 2019 |title=Elizabeth I Was Likely Anything But a Virgin Queen |url=https://www.realclearhistory.com/2019/02/04/elizabeth_i_was_likely_anything_but_a_virgin_queen_10097.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001181000/https://www.realclearhistory.com/2019/02/04/elizabeth_i_was_likely_anything_but_a_virgin_queen_10097.html |archive-date=1 October 2020 |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref> [[Henry IV of France]] said that one of the great questions of Europe was "whether Queen Elizabeth was a maid or no".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gristwood |first=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=va6kKyjQOMYC&dq=%22whether+Queen+Elizabeth+was+a+maid+or+no%22&pg=PA125 |title=Elizabeth and Leicester |year=2008 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-1431-1449-9 |access-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126124137/https://books.google.com/books?id=va6kKyjQOMYC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22whether+Queen+Elizabeth+was+a+maid+or+no%22 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

A central issue, when it comes to the question of Elizabeth's virginity, was whether the Queen ever consummated her love affair with Robert Dudley. In 1559, she had Dudley's bedchambers moved next to her own apartments. In 1561, she was mysteriously bedridden with an illness that caused her body to swell.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Dudley: Queen Elizabeth I's great love |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/robert-dudley-queen-elizabeth-is-great-love |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808120644/https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/robert-dudley-queen-elizabeth-is-great-love |archive-date=8 August 2020 |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgess |first=Steve |title=Famous Past Lives |date=2011 |publisher=John Hunt |isbn=978-1-8469-4494-9 |quote=Could it be that when Elizabeth was confined to bed in 1561 (at the time when her love affair with Dudley was at its height) with a mysterious illness she was in fact pregnant?[...] The Spanish ambassador reported that she had a swelling of the abdomen...}}</ref>

In 1587, a young man calling himself [[Arthur Dudley]] was arrested on the coast of Spain under suspicion of being a spy.<ref name="simancas"/> The man claimed to be the illegitimate son of Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, with his age being consistent with birth during the 1561 illness.<ref name="levin1">{{Cite book |last=Levin |first=Carole |title=The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power |date=1994 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3252-3 |pages=81–82}}</ref> He was taken to [[Madrid]] for investigation, where he was examined by [[Francis Englefield]], a Catholic aristocrat exiled to Spain and secretary to King Philip II.<ref name="simancas">{{Cite web |title=British History Online: Simancas: June 1587, 16-30 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol4/pp101-118 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927080610/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol4/pp101-118 |archive-date=27 September 2020 |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref> Three letters exist today describing the interview, detailing what Arthur proclaimed to be the story of his life, from birth in the royal palace to the time of his arrival in Spain.<ref name="simancas"/> However, this failed to convince the Spaniards: Englefield admitted to King Philip that Arthur's "claim at present amounts to nothing", but suggested that "he should not be allowed to get away, but [...] kept very secure."<ref name=levin1/> The King agreed, and Arthur was never heard from again.<ref name="levin2">{{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Carole |date=2 December 2004 |title=All the Queen's Children: Elizabeth I and the Meanings of Motherhood |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/erc/30/1/article-p57_5.xml |url-status=live |journal=Explorations in Renaissance Culture |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=57–76 |doi=10.1163/23526963-90000274 |issn=2352-6963 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819042547/https://brill.com/view/journals/erc/30/1/article-p57_5.xml |archive-date=19 August 2021 |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref> Modern scholarship dismisses the story's basic premise as "impossible",<ref name=levin1/> and asserts that Elizabeth's life was so closely observed by contemporaries that she could not have hidden a pregnancy.<ref name=levin2/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rozett |first=Martha |title=Constructing a World: Shakespeare's England and the New Historical Fiction |date=2003 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-5551-7 |page=129}}</ref>