Guest Author - Erin Caslavka

Imagine a 16th century ruler with a mass of unruly red hair perched upon a throne, weighing out matters of state while simultaneously holding at bay a bevy of ambitious men.

Now imagine that this steadfast ruler was a woman.

England’s Queen Elizabeth I was every bit as surprising as her gender. When her father died, her succession certainly wasn’t carved in stone: She had to succumb to the will of her half-sister, then do battle with her first cousin for control of the throne - which she eventually took and sat firmly upon for 40-plus years.

When Elizabeth was 65, Andre Hurault-sieur de Maisse was at the end of a long career spent living in England as the French Ambassador. In an account he subsequently wrote in 1597 entitled, “A Journal of all that was Accomplished by Monsieur de Maisse, Ambassador in England from King Henry IV to Queen Elizabeth,” (and translated by G.B. Harrison and R.A. Jones in 1931), the following words were used by M. de Maisse to describe his encounter with the living legend - who many consider one of the most notable rulers in history:

“I kissed the fringe of her robe and she embraced me with both hands. She looked at me kindly.

She was strangely attired in a dress of silver cloth, white and crimson, or silver “gauze” as they call it. This dress had slashed sleeves lined with red taffeta, and was girt about with other little sleeves that hung down to the ground, which she was forever twisting and untwisting. She kept the front of her dress open, and one could see the whole of her bosom, and passing low and often she would open the front of this robe with her hands as if she was too hot. The collar of the robe was very high, and the lining of the inner part all adorned with little pendants of rubies and pearls, very many, but quite small. She had also a chain of rubies and pearls around her neck.

On her head she wore a garland of the same material and beneath it a great reddish-colored wig, with a great number of spangles of gold and silver. Her bosom is somewhat wrinkled as well as one can see for the collar that she wears, but lower down her flesh is exceedingly white and delicate.

As for her face, it is and appears to be very aged. It is long and thin, and her teeth are yellow and unequal compared with what they were formerly. Many of them are missing so that one cannot understand her easily when she speaks quickly. Her figure is fair and tall and graceful in whatever she does; so far as may be she keeps her dignity, yet humbly and graciously withal.”

What a glorious glimpse this passage provides into history. Not only is it a firsthand account written by someone not British nor bound by national pride to taint his impressions, but it also illustrates how little (no matter the years that may have passed in between) human behavior has changed over the centuries: Women are still adorning themselves with fashionable attire and accessories, hoping to impress those around them. Cleavage is still being used as a focal point...and men are still noticing. So long before Janet Jackson had her “wardrobe malfunction,” women were exposing themselves hoping to thrill, entice, unnerve or seduce.

Public figures today still strive to make an impression; those who’ve been invited to “court” them are still passing judgment on their behavior; and they – in turn – still have to justify their “accomplishments” to their superiors.

So even though the observations of Monsieur de Maisse were made over 400 years ago, his revelations about life amongst the upper echelons of society (and basic human behavior) still ring true today.