#and I definitely agree that they obscured Elizabeth's agency and complexity | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wonder-worker · 29 days

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"Those who commented on [Elizabeth of York's] beauty often praised her ability and virtue, too. Bernard André was especially effusive about her “praiseworthy and commendable acts … while she was still a girl.” At her coronation banquet, the Garter King of Arms beseeched God to “send your Grace to live in honor and virtue,” and apparently the Almighty was listening. The Chronicles of London referred to her as “the noble and vertuous Quene Elizabeth.” Polydore Vergil praised her as a “most choice woman” and “a woman intelligent above all others, and equally beautiful.” In 1498, the Sub-Prior of Santa Cruz, Fray Johannes de Matienzo, wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella that she was a “very noble woman,” and much beloved. Shortly after her death in 1503, the Venetian ambassador, Alvise Mocenigo, described her as “a very handsome woman of great ability” and “in conduct very able.”

-William B. Robison, "The Sexualization of a “Noble and Vertuous Quene”: Elizabeth of York, 1466-1503"

#elizabeth of york #historicwomendaily #tudors #english history #my post #Obviously these descriptions were to some degree conventional #and I definitely agree that they obscured Elizabeth's agency and complexity #But I also do think they indicate the regard her subjects had for her and how genuinely well-loved she seems to have been #also:#It was not only Elizabeth who was described in such a way but also several other members of her family - particularly her siblings #Her brother Edward V was praised for his 'gentle wit' (rather than in martial terms)#Her illegitimate half-brother Arthur was described as 'the gentlest heart living'; 'virtuous and lovely'; etc #And what to say about her father who after committing regicide and fratricide was still described as being of a 'gentle nature'#(Not getting into her mother's descriptions right now because that's a whole other can of worms I don't want to open)#so that does add credence to the descriptions of Elizabeth as well

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