BLOG: A Queen's Great Compromise

1brookallen
May 21
5 min read

So far this year, half of my reads have been historical fiction regarding English topics. In fact, they've been parts of series. I'm currently finished with the first two Sharon Kay Penman Plantagenet books and am now reading the second Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Novels, upon which the famed television series THE LAST KINGDOM was based. I'm really enjoying my English binge!

For those of you who love historical fiction series with British accents, I have a treat for you this week. Award-winning novelist Janet Wertman has recently completed the first of a series on Elizabeth I, entitled NOTHING PROVED.

Wertman has a passion for Tudor history, and her research is impeccable. I'd like to welcome her to Brook's Journal this week and sincerely hope she'll be a frequent guest, as I admire her work a great deal. Below you'll find a beautifully written blog post that explains what the heart of this novel is about.. the faith of a great Queen--England's FIRST Elizabeth.

Read ON, everyone!

A QUEEN'S GREAT COMPROMISE

By Janet Wertman

Nothing Proved is the story of how a young woman escaped deadly traps to become one of history’s most iconic rulers. The lessons Elizabeth learned during this time colored the rest of her life – and religion was an important part of this. While the details will emerge in books two and three, I do believe her great Religious Compromise represented her own beliefs and I had numerous chances in this book to show how she likely got there.

At her core, Elizabeth was Protestant. She had to be: the very Church of England was created so that Henry VIII could legally wed Anne Boleyn, so that their son (ahem) could inherit the throne. The schism was a long time in the making, but Henry finally broke from a pope who was allowing personal politics to influence his decisions. For the rest of his reign, Henry worked hard to steer the middle course between conservatives and reformists –and this model of a church able to satisfy all Englishmen imprinted on Elizabeth during her formative years.

When Edward VI came to the throne, reform accelerated. Suddenly the philosophy of a direct relationship with God was joined by the visceral changes that jettisoning “superstition” entailed. I had Elizabeth secretly share some of the widespread public discomfort: I showed her jarred by the whitewashing of so many beautiful churches, saddened by the loss of the music – though still comforted by the philosophical underpinnings of the changes.

Then Mary came to the throne, and forced the country back to Catholicism. We know that Elizabeth did not go willingly at the start, we have the stories of her faking stomach ailments during the Masses she was forced to attend. But once Mary established the stakes of refusal, Elizabeth had to submit, and convincingly. The grand gestures she used to demonstrate her faith have come down to us: how she asked Mary to send her the proper ritual items with which to celebrate Mass, how she swore to her innocence on the sacrament. I also took this opportunity to include a signal that would have been more personal and therefore more persuasive: I had Elizabeth and Philip share their love for religious music (this also helped to establish the foundation of their relationship, which will come up more in later books).

Now, this submission was a double-edged sword: Catholics viewed Elizabeth as illegitimate, which would make her ineligible to inherit the throne. We are lucky to have the Venetian Ambassador’s description of her defense to that claim – and her pride in her mother despite the world’s calumny (the full letter is amazing: he analyzed Mary as well):

“She is proud and haughty, as although she knows that she was born of such a mother, she nevertheless does not consider herself of inferior degree to the Queen, whom she equals in self-esteem; nor does she believe herself less legitimate than her Majesty, alleging in her own favor that her mother would never cohabit with the King unless by way of marriage, with the authority of the Church, and the intervention of the Primate of England; so that even if deceived, having as a subject acted with good faith, the fact cannot have invalidated her mother’s marriage, nor her own birth, she having been born under that same faith;”

(https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol6/pp1041-1095 )

This exchange came late in Mary’s reign, when the increasing public resentment of Mary’s religious changes had translated into greater public approval for Elizabeth. On Mary’s death, Elizabeth brought the country back together, removing the extremes with her grand compromise – which was essentially a return to Henry’s church. This natural progression was a demonstration of how she valued consensus. I believe it was also a reflection of her own deeper beliefs.

ALL ABOUT THE BOOK

Danger lined her path, but destiny led her to glory…

Elizabeth Tudor learned resilience young. Declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother Anne Boleyn, she bore her precarious position with unshakable grace. But upon the death of her father, King Henry VIII, the vulnerable fourteen-year-old must learn to navigate a world of shifting loyalties, power plays, and betrayal.

After narrowly escaping entanglement in Thomas Seymour’s treason, Elizabeth rebuilds her reputation as the perfect Protestant princess – which puts her in mortal danger when her half-sister Mary becomes Queen and imposes Catholicism on a reluctant land. Elizabeth escapes execution, clawing her way from a Tower cell to exoneration. But even a semblance of favor comes with attempts to exclude her from the throne or steal her rights to it through a forced marriage.

Elizabeth must outwit her enemies time and again to prove herself worthy of power. The making of one of history’s most iconic monarchs is a gripping tale of survival, fortune, and triumph.

ALL ABOUT JANET

By day, Janet Wertman is a freelance grantwriter for impactful nonprofits. By night, she writes critically acclaimed, character-driven historical fiction – indulging a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she was eight years old and her parents let her stay up late to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.

Her Seymour Saga trilogy (Jane the Quene, The Path to Somerset, The Boy King) took her deep into one of the era’s central families – and now her follow-up Regina series explores Elizabeth’s journey from bastard to icon.