Elizabeth I: Evil or Genius?

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Elizabeth I is often celebrated as one of the greatest English monarchs - but should she be? From her commanding portraits and grand speeches to her brutal suppression of dissent and controversial decisions, we explore whether Elizabeth’s legacy is one of power and stability or one marked by bloodshed and negligence.

Renowned historian Anna Whitelock joins us to delve into the duality of Elizabeth’s reign.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore and Matthew Wilson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody, welcome to the podcast.
0:07.2	Elizabeth I, she regularly tops those poles as the greatest English monarch,
0:12.1	but should she be there?
0:13.9	She projected power and beauty through grand speeches and art,
0:19.4	and she was charismatic and she obviously had a bit of a cool head.
0:23.0	But underneath all that, she was unafraid to silence and suppress and oppress and spill a lot of
0:31.8	blood to protect her crown and expand her realm. Was that just what was required for a dangerous age? Or was she a cold
0:40.9	and calculating monarch who deepened the divisions of that time and created a whole host of new ones?
0:48.2	What should we think about Elizabeth I? It's such a difficult one. And here to help us get into
0:53.7	the murky details. Anna Whitelock, historian, author and professor of the first. It's such a difficult one. And here to help us get into the murky details.
0:54.5	Anna Whitlock, historian, author and professor of the history of monarchy at City University of London.
1:02.4	Let's get into it.
1:09.9	Anna Wylock, good to see you.
1:11.4	Dan Snow, good to see you.
1:12.3	Let's just cut to the chase here.
1:13.9	Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth Tudor, overrated.
1:16.6	Absolutely.
1:17.7	Really?
1:18.4	I think so.
1:19.2	I know, I can hear...
1:20.9	I know Helen Castor's on-tech speed dial straight away.
1:24.1	I think so. I just want to suggest for a second that the whole idea of Elizabeth I first,
	...

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