bess

in the documentaries, elizabeth the first is always depicted as the fervid ginger, a great ruler who ruled england with great conviction. she has never married and described by history writers as "handsome." during her reign the virgin queen has drawn up the punishment for high treason : to be hanged, drawn and quartered. mary queen of scots, elizabeth's niece, cousin once removed was one such recipient of the elizabethan brand of execution. reports showed she wasn't quartered, just beheaded. a threat to queen bess's throne, mary is described as one of the most beautiful and statuesque women of her period. but she was a bit kooky, who fell in and out of love, imprisoned and decollated. a sad fate for such a pretty girl. queen bess grieved mary's death, but both were just products of an era when the penalty for high treason was decapitation, blood relations or not.