Customer Reviews

Biography - Elizabeth I: Virgin Queen (A&E DVD Archives)

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After being pleasantly surprised with the A&E biography of her notorious father, Henry VIII, I decided to view the companion biography of Elizabeth I. What I cannot understand is that they devoted around two hours to Henry's biography and only around one hour to Elizabeth's; this coming from the fact that her reign and life were far more illustrious than the Henry's. I just don't know how you sum of the 45 year reign and 69 year old life of England's greatest monarch in about an hour's time.

For a much better biography, if you have the time and you want to know more, view "Elizabeth R" starring Glenda Jackson. This made for television mini series on different episodes of her life is far superior. If you don't really care that much, but you want her entire life summed up in three sentences, than view this A&E biography.

Although there were some good moments in this biography, I was disappointed by the negative light in which it portrayed the Queen. Queen Elizabeth is certainly not without faults, but one of the "historians" who narrated this biography asserted that Queen Elizabeth did nothing to advance the role of England in the world. He asserts that the wealth and status of England after her reign was in spite of her, not because of her. Furthermore, this particular historian, asserts his strong belief that Queen Elizabeth had a duty to her country to marry and produce an heir to the thrown. In my opinion, this belief is what colors his view of the great Queen. His lack of understanding of Queen Elizabeth's difficult decision to remain unmarried is a disappointing display of his masoginistic attitude towards the role of women in leadership. The History Channel does a much better biography on Queen Elizabeth. If this is any indication as to the quality of the work done by A&E, I will not be eager to buy other biographies.

Only a few decades ago, in western society women were considered the weaker sex, considered incapable of managing anything larger than a household. However, that has not been true down through history, as some very capable women directly ruled countries. Elizabeth I of England was one such woman, and during her reign, England usurped Spain as the supreme maritime power in the world. Early in the century, the Spanish king ruled over Spain, the low countries and nearly all of the new world, holdings that required a powerful navy. However, the epic defeat of the Spanish armada that attacked England changed the balance of naval power towards England, a position that it did not relinquish for four centuries. This change took place while Elizabeth occupied the throne and the country was forever changed. Unfortunately, very little of the power struggles between nations is mentioned.
From the tape, you learn her origins as a child of King Henry the Eighth, considered illegitimate early in life, pushed aside and often on the verge of being banished or executed as a potential rival for the throne. It was here where she learned her skills as a court diplomat, taking great care to avoid offending those looking for a reason to eliminate her. Yet she survived and finally gained the throne, which she held for over four decades. These skills served her well while she ruled, as she played many different factions off with a combination of charm and cunning.
She was a vivacious woman, very physically active and also an involved ruler, considering herself to be appointed by God to her position as ruler of England. Not one to allow her orders to be questioned, she would have someone executed if they betrayed her, although she did so with great reluctance. Unfortunately for England and her legacy, she ultimately fell victim to the occupational disease that all long-term monarchs suffered from. Namely, a fear of change that grew as she got older. This led her to avoid making some major decisions that left the country in a poorer state than it could have been. She waited until she was literally on her deathbed to state who she wanted to succeed her.
Queen Elizabeth the first of England is a role model of how powerful women have existed throughout history, capable of leading countries in peace and in war. Choosing to remain single, she balanced many different forces throughout her life. From this tape, I learned many things about her that I did not know, most of which were personal. If that is what you are interested in, then you will enjoy the tape. If you prefer more information about how she practiced the art of statecraft, then you need to look elsewhere.

These historians need to get their facts straight and down to the truth in order to do their job properly. Queen Liz The First, was and will always be one of the great leaders who had ruled upon this earth. Unlike other politicians, she put aside her personal life to serve the lives of the English people. It's upsetting to have these "so-called" historians and The A&E Network (whose programs I usually admire) not indulging more of the correct facts about her and The Tudor Lineage. All I can say is...please read up more on her history before speaking and putting together a biography that's biased and not slopped hurredly together. There are much better films out there...few, but there are some. Not worth the $.

Being an Elizabeth fan I bought this video and was both informed and disappointed by it. Though it has plenty of talking heads and lots of rich camerawork, there is something lacking about the show-perhaps it needs to be longer or discuss Elizabeth's motivations more. Sort of reminds me of something you'd see on Lifetime.

Enjoyable and lively survey of the life of the great Virgin Queen. It is too bad this is out of print. I hope they will re-issue it.

I use this in my classroom. It shows some of the controversies and scandals leading up to and during Elizabeth I's reign. A lot of these are things you don't read about in the textbooks. My main complaint is that it paints a very critical portrait of the queen. Even though I don't agree with the opinions expressed, I use it to counter my own opinions. I speak very favorably of Queen Elizabeth and then I tell my students that the video shows another view.

Though informative, I was disappointed with this Biography. For the most part, it was a good, overall view of Elizabeth's life. Unfortunately, the biography also contained historical inaccuracies and opinions or speculations of certain historians presented as facts. For instance, the video mentioned the Lady Jane Grey's marriage to John Dudley's oldest son Guildford. Actually, there were three other Dudley boys older than Guildford. And while this is a trivial fact, I wouldn't expect to find even such small, easily correctable inaccuracies in a historical biography. The things that bothered me the most though were the assumptions and opinions about certain areas of Elizabeth's life that were presented as fact. Personally, I think Elizabeth was one of the most fascinating and brilliant monarchs that perhaps the world has ever had. At times this biography depicted her as an indecisive, weak woman and turned many of her greatest and most intelligent accomplishments into either pure luck or success on the part of her advisors. This biography claims near the end that Elizabeth at her death had done nothing about the problems that had plagued England when she came to the thrown, which is completely untrue. She brought more peace, prosperity, and religious freedom to the people of England than they had ever known, and I think she deserves the credit she earned for that. So while good facts are presented, take this video with a grain of salt.