Post a Comment        E-mail To A Friend        Join The List

Guy Fawkes Lecture: Elizabeth's Reign More Iron Than Gold

by Helen Bennett, Rachel Neno
11/26/2007

The elderly Catalonian man fiddled with a laser pen as he consciously enunciated in English, standing in front of a projected map of 16th century Europe.

Dr. Henry Kamen, the imperial historian of the higher council for scientific research in Barcelona, spoke to an audience of 80 people Wednesday afternoon for the annual Guy Fawkes Lecture put on by the British and Irish Studies Program.

His lecture, sponsored by the English department and Franklin College of Arts & Sciences and titled ‘Elizabeth I – The Not-So-Golden Age,’ focused on setting the facts straight about the newly released movie, Elizabeth I: The Golden Age.

So how accurate was the new movie “Elizabeth: The Golden Age?” According to Dr. Henry Kamen, it wasn’t at all. “Everything is wrong, but it’s enjoyable,” said the European historian to a crowd of over 100 students and faculty members on November 7 in Park Hall.

Dr. Kamen gave his own historical portrayal of the 16th century reign of Elizabeth I, one filled with wars and power struggles with Spain, and the simultaneous invasions of Ireland and Scotland by the British. He continued the speech comparing King Philip of Spain to Elizabeth I. In the movie Philip was seen as tyrannical and repressive, when in historical reality, those were characteristics of Elizabeth.

“You name it, he lost his head,” Kamen said.

He referred to Elizabeth I’s reign as more of an Iron Age than one of Gold.

“[It was] a time for frauds and tricksters,” he said.

Although the movie depicts an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth, in reality there was never any threat made on her life.

Dr. Kamen said that the only potential threat to Elizabeth was her sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, who spent most of her life in France.

“Her total life was a disaster,” he said. “From start to finish.” For example, the end of the movie showed that England was in a time of peace and prosperity when in reality Kamen claims England was in a time of poverty and war at the end of Elizabeth I’s reign.

At one point Mary had rights to the throne of Scotland, France, and England, a potential threat to Elizabeth and King Philip II of Spain.

He ended the lecture describing how the movie left out all of the other British Isles that played a large part in 16th century history, not once mentioning Wales or Ireland, and barely mentioning Scotland. Kamen saw this as “nakedly and chauvinistically English.”

“To make a successful movie, the truth should never stand in your way,” Kamen joked.

Name
Email
URL
Body
Are you human?