Hello Sixth Formers
I found a couple of brief online articles outlining the extent of Elizabeth I's spy network and some of the conspiracy theories around the death of Christopher Marlowe which I thought you might like to see.
I've also attached the portrait of Elizabeth I was talking about. It's called the Rainbow Portrait and it was made around the time of Elizabeth's high popularity just after the Spanish Armada when she was in her sixties. It portrays Elizabeth as a young woman, the ideal "Gloriana", in a dress covered with eyes and ears, representing her spy network and that she sees and hears everything that happens in her kingdom. She also wears an embroidered snake on her arm, the symbol of wisdom and cunning, and pearls at her neck, a symbol of virginity. In her hand she holds a rainbow, the symbol of peace and next to it in Latin it says "there is no rainbow without the sun", the "sun" being a metaphor for Elizabeth herself in it's traditional symbolic relationship with monarchy (sometimes even God, though that is a more medieval interpretation).
Have a good weekend,
Ms Bryce
Elizabeth's spies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/spying_01.shtml
The death of Christopher Marlowe: http://mentalfloss.com/article/80556/mysterious-death-christopher-marlowe
