Elizabeth I as a Second Virgin Mary

Elizabethan poets and panegyrists found images of glorious, powerful virgins to exalt their queen in both classical literature – especially the Virgilian figure of Astraea – and Christian tradition. An examination of literature, drama, and the visual arts reveals substantial use of imagery traditionally used to describe the Virgin Mary: virgin mother, bride, and queen; the flower of the Tree of Jesse, merciful intercessor, walled garden, thornless rose. An Elizabethan cult imitated and replaced Marian devotion. This association and substitution provided Elizabethan propagandists and their audience with compelling ways to express, enhance, and justify the queen's authority and identity and her relations with her kingdom, her church, and the world beyond her realm.