This Week in YouTube March 21
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Hey friends, welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast. This is the weekly highlight reel of videos that I have put out on YouTube. So in case you don't know, you can go over to YouTube and watch all my videos. The channel is History and Coffee, and you can just search for my name as well, Heather Tesco, History and Coffee, and you will get it. And you can subscribe there. Thank you to the many people who already subscribe. And then what I've started doing is

weekly highlight reels of some of the videos that have gone out on YouTube that would be of interest to the podcast listeners as well. So thanks for listening. And you can also, like I said, go over and join me on YouTube history and coffee and search for Heather. And there I am. So let's get right into it.

Elizabethan conspiracy theories and Tudor conspiracy theories. Today, we're talking about whether or not Elizabeth had secret children and maybe whether one of them was Shakespeare. So I geek out on conspiracy theories. Like I'm I love reading a good conspiracy theory and thinking about it and evaluating it.

And there are a lot of Tudor conspiracy theories. And so I decided to like make like a little mini series. Once a week, I'm going to like break down one of these conspiracy theories about the Tudors and the Elizabethans. I just said the word conspiracy theories like six times in a row. And now it sounds really weird in my head. You know that when you say a word too often and it starts to sound like weird, like, did I say that right? So anyway.

That's what we're going to talk about today. All right. What if I told you that Queen Elizabeth I, history's virgin queen, was secretly a mother? That she had not just one, but multiple secret children hidden away in noble families, and that one of them was, drumroll, Francis Bacon. You know.

This theory has been floating around for centuries and it just won't die. The idea that Elizabeth I secretly had children, particularly that she gave birth to Francis Bacon, is one of the wilder Tudor conspiracy theories. And like any good conspiracy theory, it takes a few historical facts, twists them beyond recognition, and somehow even drags Shakespeare into the mess.

So today, let's break it down. Where did the theory come from? Why is it absolutely redonkulous? And more importantly, who actually believes it?

Like many bizarre theories, this one can be traced back to a group who call themselves the Baconians. Yes, that's an actual term. They're the ones who believe that Sir Francis Bacon, not William Shakespeare, wrote all of Shakespeare's works. So Baconians, I have to say, as we're moving along talking about this, every time I say Baconians, it reminds me, like, it makes me think of, like, a group of, like,

very proper like Etonians or something like very proper, like young men getting to get together to discuss the merits of bacon and like comparing turkey bacon to like other bacons and like seasoning on bacon. So that's just what I imagine in my head when I say the word baconians, like they get together in this old hall and like it's all very formal and they're wearing little bow ties. They're like, oh, let's discuss the bacon.

That's what goes on in my head when I say the word Baconian. So some Baconians took it a step further. If Bacon was so brilliant, then surely he wasn't just the son of a minor noble. Surely his genius must come from somewhere royal, like Queen Elizabeth I.

The theory goes that Elizabeth and Robert Dudley had a secret child. This child was Francis Bacon. But to keep the whole Virgin Queen act, he was spirited away and raised in secret by Sir Nicholas Bacon and his wife. And that's just the start. Some versions of this theory claim that Elizabeth had multiple secret children. One particularly unhinged variant says that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was also her son, allegedly conceived when she was 14 and seduced by Thomas Seymour.

So it gets worse. There's an even more outlandish version of the theory that claims that Oxford had an incestuous relationship with Elizabeth, producing Henry Risley, the Earl of Southampton. At this point, this theory has completely eaten itself, folding in on its own nonsense like some kind of a renaissance soap opera.

The bottom line is, every version of this theory assumes that Elizabeth wasn't just secretly a mother. She was apparently a full-time medieval baby factory, popping out hidden children across the nobility while also ruling a kingdom and maintaining her reputation as the virgin queen. Not a small feat. So who actually believes this?

First, you have the conspiracy theorists, the ones who believe that history is just one big cover-up and the real story is always lurking beneath the surface. Then you have the anti-Stratfordians, the people who refuse to believe that Shakespeare, a middle-class guy from Stratford, actually wrote Shakespeare's plays. They latch onto Bacon, Oxford, or anyone else with noble blood as the real author because apparently only aristocrats were capable of writing great literature. I don't know.

Then, of course, there are the people who just love a good royal scandal and think that Elizabeth, being a secret mother, makes history all the juicier.

And finally, there's the Shakespeare with Someone Else Club, which never stops coming up with alternative authors for his plays. We're talking Mary Queen of Scots. Because we're not. James VI first, because he, of course, had time to write Hamlet in between ruling two countries. And even Cardinal Wolsey, who, let's just remind everybody, died in 1530, like decades before Shakespeare's career even started. Why not? So is there any evidence for the theory?

The big reveal is no. The so-called evidence comes from things like the Baconian ciphers, codes supposedly hidden in Shakespeare's works that reveal Francis Bacon was Elizabeth's son. You know, the kind of thing that requires reading between the lines so hard that you forget there are actual lines. No contemporary sources mention Elizabeth having children. No letters, no legal documents, no financial records, no whispers from ambassadors, nothing.

And as for the theory about an elaborate Tudor cover-up, you'd think there'd be at least one credible shred of historical proof. But no. That's the thing about conspiracy theories for me, why I don't buy them. Because they require such a high level of competency and secrecy. So let's talk about evidence against the theory. The whole thing is completely ridiculous. Let's break it down why. First, Elizabeth's entire reputation was built around being the Virgin Queen.

She wasn't just unmarried, she made a whole political identity out of it. She spoke constantly about being wedded to her country, even in private. She insisted that she had never married or had children. The idea that she secretly had a child, or multiple children, would have destroyed her carefully crafted image. And yet, not a single shred of evidence suggests that this was ever a concern for her.

I mean, you could say, well, maybe she protested too much. And then that takes us to the logistics problem. Where exactly was she hiding all of these pregnancies? Have you seen the dresses? They were quite tight around the bodice. She was constantly surrounded by people, ladies in waiting, advisors, ambassadors, foreign visitors. Pregnancy isn't something you can hide when you're in a royal court filled with gossip and spies. Henry's wives couldn't sneeze without someone reporting on it.

If Elizabeth had ever been pregnant, someone would have noticed. I know there's some stuff where people say like, well, she was away and she was sick during some certain times that were, you know, maybe like nine months after having seen this person or that person. The amount of cover up that that would require, I just don't buy it. I mean, you might buy it and that's cool. You can do that. I'm not buying it.

And speaking of gossip, there wasn't any. The Tudors thrived on rumors and scandals. Ambassadors reported on everything from Elizabeth's appearance, Elizabeth's appearance, I can talk, to her flirtations with Robert Dudley. If there had been a secret child, foreign courts would have known about it and we'd have letters about it. But we don't. Then there's the biggest problem of all with this theory.

Francis Bacon already had parents. We know exactly who they were, Sir Nicholas Bacon and Anne Cook Bacon. There's no record of him being adopted or mysteriously appearing in the household. He wasn't found in a basket floating down the Thames. He was simply their son, and that was that. So I think that this theory is pretty much absurd on just about every level. The idea that Elizabeth had multiple secret sons...

One of them just magically happened to be Shakespeare. I don't know. That's just like that's like Melrose Place level stuff. Do you guys remember Melrose Melrose Place? I loved Melrose Place. I'm aging myself. It's a really good show. Well, it was a really bad show, but it was also a really good show anyway. So why do these theories persist?

First, people love a mystery, and if they can twist history into something more dramatic, they will. The idea that there are secret bloodlines, hidden heirs, cover-ups, it's just too tempting for some people to resist. Then there's the anti-Stratfordians, the people who have spent centuries trying to discredit Shakespeare's authorship.

They're so dedicated to making him someone else that they'll latch on to any theory, no matter how redonkulous, if it helps their case.

Because if Shakespeare was secretly a Tudor prince, then of course it means he was brilliant because like apparently commoners can't be talented writers. Then there's the fact that modern audiences are primed for conspiracy theories. Like there's the internet, there's YouTube, where we are right now. People around here love that stuff. I love it too, I have to say. I don't believe it, but I do love it. People love like the Dan Brown, that's who it was, right? Dan Brown, the Da Vinci Code, all that kind of stuff, like hidden messages, secret codes.

The idea that official history is wrong. But at the core of this, it's not even really about Elizabeth. It's about Shakespeare. The goal is to uncover some secret Tudor scandal to make Shakespeare into someone more acceptable, someone noble, someone rich, because people struggle with the idea that like a middle class guy from Stratford without a great education could have written some of the greatest works in the English language. So let's sum it up.

Did Elizabeth have a secret love child with Robert Dudley? No. Did she have multiple secret children, including one who was Shakespeare? Also no.

But did she have to deal with more wild rumors than most monarchs? Yes. And that's just one of the many ridiculous Tudor conspiracy theories out there. What is your favorite? Let me know. I would love to know what your favorite Tudor Elizabethan conspiracy theory is because I want to start covering them more because I think they're fun because I love them. So let me know in the comments which your favorite one is and maybe we'll do the next video on that.

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Today, we are going to be answering the question, which I know has been just burning in your brain, right? Which is, was Mary Tudor's marriage to Philip of Spain a success? Let's talk about it. I know like it's just been keeping you awake at night, right? Thinking about this. So let's talk about it and work it out and see what we think. When Mary I took the throne in 1553, she had a lot to prove. She was England's first queen regnant.

An anomaly in a world where ruling was, of course, considered a man's work. She had also fought tooth and nail to claim her crown, defeating the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne. But securing her rule was only step one. The real challenge would be producing an heir. Without one, her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth would inherit the throne, and all of Mary's efforts to restore Catholicism would be undone.

Enter Philip of Spain. Philip was the son of Emperor Charles V, the ruler of the vast Habsburg Empire, which stretched from Spain to the Americas, the Netherlands, and much of Central Europe. He was Catholic. He was royal. He was politically powerful. On paper, an ideal match for a queen determined to reinforce England's ties to Rome. But there was one problem. Almost nobody in England actually wanted this marriage to happen.

The English people were deeply suspicious of foreign consorts, and Philip, who was Spanish, barely spoke English, had a reputation for being cold and uncharismatic, was an especially unappealing choice. Worse, his father, Charles, was eager to use England as a pawn in the wider Spanish struggle against France and the Protestant rebels.

The English feared their country would become just another territory in Spain's growing empire, with Mary reduced to little more than a Habsburg puppet. Plus, of course, people were very, very afraid of the Spanish Inquisition, which, of course, nobody expects. Cue Monty Python.

I just had to put that in there. All right. The backlash was immediate and intense. Mary's Privy Council was deeply divided and even her most loyal supporters were hesitant. Parliament was uneasy and the general public was pretty outraged. In 1554, before Philip had even set foot in England, Wyatt's Rebellion erupted, a full-scale uprising against the marriage.

Thomas Wyatt led the charge, rallying Protestants, discontented nobles, and everyday Englishmen who feared being ruled by a Spanish king. Mary, to her credit, responded decisively. She rallied support with a powerful speech at the guild hall, which has often been seen as edictive.

an inspiration for Elizabeth I's speech during the Spanish Armada. This was actually a precursor. Elizabeth used a lot of the same language that Mary used in her Guildhall speech. It was a very powerful speech. The rebellion was crushed, but it did have consequences. Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guilford Dudley, who had been imprisoned since Mary's accession, and Mary had wanted to kind of go easy on Lady Jane Grey and recognize that

she had been a pawn in the rebellion, she was executed and so was Guilford Dudley. And Mary, who was once the underdog that people had supported against John Dudley's coup, was now seen as a queen who was willing to spill English blood for a Spanish alliance.

Still, Mary pressed on. Now, the marriage treaty was carefully worded to limit Philip's power. He would be called King of England, but only while Mary lived. He had no independent authority. England would not automatically be dragged into Spain's wars. It was a diplomatic effort to soothe England's fears, but it didn't change the underlying truth. Philip was not the man the English wanted. When Philip arrived in July of 1554, the mood was tense.

The wedding took place at Winchester Cathedral, and of course the ceremony itself was grand, but it was far from joyful. Mary was nearly a decade older than her new husband. She was actually deeply in love. Philip, though, or she at least fooled herself or made herself think she was deeply in love. But Philip was going through the motions. He was fulfilling a political duty rather than embracing a partnership. He found his new wife,

older and done boring and pious and politically ineffective so he was just kind of going through the motions and it didn't take long for the cracks to show now philip might have been king of england in name but he had no real power and he knew it he spent just over a year in england before finding an excuse to leave

by august of fifteen fifty five he was back in the low countries attending to his father's affairs mary left behind was devastated she wrote to him constantly pleading for his return meanwhile rumors swirled that she was pregnant twice but both times they were false alarms actually it's really tragic these false pregnancies

phantom pregnancies, whether they were the result of illness or stress or possibly wishful thinking. The absence of an heir was a crushing blow. There's actually been a lot of research done on what these phantom pregnancies could have been. I do really feel bad for Mary during this time. She wanted to be pregnant so badly and her stomach got big. She was missing her periods.

It might have been somehow related to some type of ovarian cancer or stomach cancer. Who knows? But either way, it would have been really embarrassing and a tragedy for her, really.

Now, Philip, for his part, he had no desire to stay in England. He only came back in 1567 because he needed Mary's support in Spain's ongoing war with France, and he wanted to try to make an heir, see if that was possible. Despite the marriage treaty clause that was supposed to keep England out of Spanish conflicts, Mary went ahead and agreed to this, and she said she would support Spain's ongoing war with France. Now, that decision would lead to perhaps the greatest humiliation of her reign.

In 1558, English forces lost Calais. This was the last remaining possession of England's in France. It had been captured, gosh, 200 years before as part of the Hundred Years' War. Its loss was devastating. Mary is said to have remarked that when she died, Calais would be found engraved on her heart.

England gained literally nothing from this war. Spain, though, made peace with France shortly thereafter without consulting Mary first. Philip got what he needed and he moved on. By the time Mary died later that year, the marriage had achieved absolutely zero of its intended goals. She had no heir. The alliance with Spain had made her deeply unpopular. Rather than cementing England's place in the Catholic world, the whole mess only fueled resentment towards Spanish influence.

Philip, ever pragmatic, barely mourned her. In fact, in a move that might have been the ultimate insult, he actually proposed marriage to Mary's successor, Elizabeth I, almost immediately. Now, Elizabeth naturally refused. And within a few decades, England and Spain would go from uneasy allies to bitter enemies, culminating, of course, in the Spanish Armada of 1588.

So was Mary's marriage to Philip a success? Absolutely zero. No, not it. It was not. It was a political gamble that backfired spectacularly. Instead of strengthening England, it deepened divisions, alienated her people and left her isolated in her final years. Mary had hoped for love, stability and Catholic air.

What she got instead was a distant husband, political disaster, and a legacy that was overshadowed by the Protestant queen who followed her. Thanks so much for listening to this week's YouTube highlights. Remember, you can go over and subscribe. History and Coffee, Heather Tesco, you will find me there. And we'll be back again next week with more highlights from what went out on YouTube throughout the week. Thanks so much. Have a great week.

Ah, genial. Ah.

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