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Queens, Feuds and Faith

Art That Made Us Series 1
Episode 3 of 8

During the reign of Elizabeth I, Protestants and Catholics use art, language and new technology to wage a battle for power in the British Isles, creating surprising and often radical works.

In the 16th century, the British Isles experienced a religious revolution, as the kingdoms of England and then Scotland turned Protestant. Artists and experts today reveal how, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Protestants and Catholics used art, language and new technology to wage a battle for power in the Isles, creating surprising and often radical works.

Author Stephanie Merritt reassesses John Foxe’s grisly Book of Martyrs as a work of history and nationalist propaganda, with passages performed by actress Morfydd Clark, and we meet the indefatigable William Morgan, who undertook the ten-year task of translating and publishing the Bible in Welsh in 1588.

We discover how England’s emblem was the queen herself, with textiles artist James Merry exploring the mysterious Bacton Altar Cloth, now believed to be a fragment of one of Elizabeth’s power dresses seen in one of her many portraits. Elizabeth’s court swirls with religious intrigue, and the Ora Singers perform the daring, subversive Mass for Four Voices, a Catholic work created by William Byrd, a composer of the Royal Chapel and favourite of Elizabeth.

The queen also had a dangerous rival in Mary Queen of Scots. Jewellery designer Shaun Leane examines how Mary promoted her brand through jewels and fine Scottish gold work, while artist Alice Kettle assesses Mary’s embroideries and the coded messages in them that would contribute to her downfall. As Elizabeth expands exploration and empire in the 1590s, theatre, an explosive entertainment for the people, fed off the stories of distant lands coming back to the Isles. Artist Phoebe Boswell analyses Shakespeare’s attitude to race in his play Othello, supported by performances from actor Martins Imhangbe.

Available now

59 minutes

Last on

Tue 7 Nov 2023 02:35
±«Óãtv Four

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Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Jon Hopkins

    Open Eye Signal

  • 00:08

    Bălănescu Quartet

    Want Me

  • 00:10

    Sugababes

    Overload

  • 00:13

    Brian Eno

    Lux 3

  • 00:13

    Poppy Ackroyd

    Light

  • 00:15

    Murcof

    Mes

  • 00:22

    Mouth Music

    Martin Martin Hits The Beach

  • 00:23

    Nils Frahm

    Unter

  • 00:25

    David Holmes

    The Ballad Of Sarah And Jack

  • 00:26

    Air

    Decollage

  • 00:27

    Mogwai

    It Would Have Happened Anyway

  • 00:31

    Murcof

    Mir

  • 00:33

    Agnes Obel

    Red Virgin Soil

  • 00:35

    Ghostpoet

    12 Deaf (feat. Dave Okumu)

  • 00:41

    Cabaret Voltaire

    Double Vision

  • 00:42

    Treorchy Male Choir

    Diolch I Ti Yr Hollalluog Dduw

  • 00:44

    Four Tet

    10 Midi

  • 00:45

    Wolf Alice

    Silk

  • 00:48

    Monika Martin

    Es Gibt Wieder Einen Morgen

  • 00:49

    Cliff Richard

    Field of Love

Credits

Narrator David Threlfall
Director Russell Barnes
Producer Isabel Sutton
Series Producer Melanie Fall
Executive Producer Russell Barnes
Executive Producer Denys Blakeway
Production Company ClearStory Ltd

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