Elizabethan England c1568–1603 (incl. historic environment)

Interpretation A is largely convincing because its main claim, that Mary was dangerous as a figurehead rather than through her own actions¹, is supported by the events after 1568. Mary had a strong claim to the English throne as the great-granddaughter of Henry VII², and many Catholics regarded Elizabeth as illegitimate. Within a year of her arrival, the Revolt of the Northern Earls (1569)³ aimed to free Mary and marry her to the Duke of Norfolk, which shows how quickly discontented Catholics rallied around her. In 1570 the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis excommunicated Elizabeth and released Catholics from obedience to her, which made Mary an even more obvious alternative queen.

The claim that 'plot followed plot' is also convincing. The Ridolfi Plot (1571) planned a Spanish-backed invasion to put Mary on the throne; the Throckmorton Plot (1583) involved the Duke of Guise and the Spanish ambassador, Mendoza, who was expelled; and in the Babington Plot (1586) Mary herself wrote approving a plan to assassinate Elizabeth⁴. Every one of these plots was built around Mary, as the interpretation says.

The final claim, that the ministers saw the danger before Elizabeth, is convincing too. Walsingham's spy network uncovered Throckmorton and then trapped Mary by reading her coded letters during the Babington Plot. Elizabeth's councillors drew up the Bond of Association in 1584, and Parliament passed the Act for the Preservation of the Queen's Safety in 1585 so that anyone who benefited from a plot could be executed. Elizabeth, however, hesitated for months⁵ before signing Mary's death warrant and later claimed it had been sent without her consent, after Mary was executed at Fotheringhay in February 1587.

However, the interpretation is less convincing⁶ in calling Mary the 'most dangerous person' in the kingdom. None of the plots came close to success, Mary was kept under close guard throughout, and the more serious threat by the 1580s was Philip II of Spain, whose Armada sailed in 1588. Overall, Interpretation A is convincing about the kind of threat Mary posed⁷, as a focus for Catholic plots, even if it slightly exaggerates how close that threat came to toppling Elizabeth.

A study of Hardwick Hall largely supports the statement, because almost every feature of the house was designed to impress. However, Bess of Hardwick did not want to show off for its own sake: her display of wealth served her wider aim¹ of establishing her family as one of the leading dynasties in England.

The design of the house shows wealth very clearly. Hardwick was built between 1590 and 1597 for Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, known as Bess of Hardwick, probably to designs by Robert Smythson. Its walls are dominated by huge windows, which led to the rhyme 'Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall'². Glass was very expensive in the 1590s, so the windows announced her wealth to anyone approaching. The house stands on a hilltop, and its six towers carry her initials, 'ES', in large stone letters³ on the skyline, so her ownership could be seen for miles. Inside, the rooms become grander as you climb⁴: the most impressive, the High Great Chamber and the Long Gallery, are on the second floor, decorated with tapestries, a painted plaster frieze and portraits. This shows status being displayed to important visitors.

This fits the wider context of Elizabethan England. The gentry and nobility were growing in wealth and confidence, and great 'prodigy houses' such as Burghley House and Longleat were built partly to show off and partly in the hope of entertaining Elizabeth on her royal progresses⁵. A house was one of the clearest ways to demonstrate that a family belonged at the top of society, and Bess, who had risen from a minor gentry family through four marriages, had a lot to prove.

However, the house also had other purposes. It was a comfortable family home: Bess had separated from her fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and after his death in 1590 she had the money to build a modern house next to her Old Hall. Its symmetrical design and large windows reflected the Renaissance fashion for light and order, not only wealth. It was also used for practical purposes such as running her estates and providing hospitality, which was expected of great landowners. Most importantly, Hardwick had a dynastic purpose⁶. Bess's granddaughter, Arbella Stuart, who had a claim to the English throne, lived with her, and the state rooms were fit to receive a future monarch. The portraits in the Long Gallery, including royal ones, placed Bess's family alongside the great families of England.

In conclusion, Hardwick Hall strongly supports the statement that it was built to display wealth and power, since its glass, height, initials and state rooms were all designed to impress. But display was a means rather than an end⁷: Bess wanted her wealth to be seen because she was building up the status of her family for the future, and possibly preparing for Arbella to become queen. So the statement is mostly right, as long as 'power' is understood to include the power of her dynasty.