1b.
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Civil War > What kind of king was Charles I? > Monarchs before Charles I > Source 1
The second Great Seal of Elizabeth I
(Catalogue ref: SC 13/N3)
This is the Great Seal of Elizabeth I. The main job of a seal was to seal up a document. The queen rolled or folded the document, poured hot wax on the join and then pushed this seal into the hot wax.
This stopped anyone from looking at the document except the person it was sent to. The seal also showed that the document really did come from the queen.
Elizabeth had a reputation as an outstanding ruler. This was partly because she was very good at propaganda (promoting her own viewpoint and reputation). However, she could also point to many real achievements.
For example, her forces defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. Elizabeth also got on reasonably well with her nobles and with Parliament. She had many arguments with them, but she was usually able to find a compromise, a middle way that everyone could accept.
The other job of the seal was to send very strong messages to people about the ruler. It was packed full of symbols.
You can see:
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a) Powerful b) Wise c) Foolish d) Weak e) Magnificent |
f) Strong g) Cruel h) Fair i) Caring |