The Reign of Elizabeth 1

It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir, however despite numerous courtships she never did. She was eventually succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, James VI of Scotland. She had earlier been responsible for the imprisonment and execution of James's mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. After the pope declared her illegitimate in and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers' secret service.

Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the major powers of France and Spain.

She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. By the mids, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. England's defeat of the Spanish Armada in associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history.

As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.

Elizabeth's reign became known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama , led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe , and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, [5] who enjoyed more than her share of luck.

Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity.

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Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. After the short reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Her mother was Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn. At birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. Her older half-sister, Mary , had lost her position as a legitimate heir when Henry annulled his marriage to Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon , to marry Anne, with the intent to sire a male heir and ensure the Tudor succession.

1. Position under Edward VI and Mary.
2. Predigten durch ein Jahr (German Edition).
3. Tudor Queen?
4. The reign of Elizabeth;
5. THE GHOSTS OF FURNACE MOUNTAIN;

Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May , [10] four months after Catherine of Aragon's death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession. From his birth, Edward was undisputed heir apparent to the throne. Elizabeth was placed in his household and carried the chrisom , or baptismal cloth, at his christening. Elizabeth's first governess or Lady Mistress , Margaret Bryan , wrote that she was "as toward a child and as gentle of conditions as ever I knew any in my life".

Champernowne taught Elizabeth four languages: French, Flemish , Italian and Spanish. Under Grindal, a talented and skilful tutor, she also progressed in French and Greek. By the time her formal education ended in , Elizabeth was one of the best educated women of her generation. The Venetian ambassador stated in that she "possessed [these] languages so thoroughly that each appeared to be her native tongue". The couple took Elizabeth into their household at Chelsea. There Elizabeth experienced an emotional crisis that some historians believe affected her for the rest of her life.

These included entering her bedroom in his nightgown, tickling her and slapping her on the buttocks. Parr, rather than confront her husband over his inappropriate activities, joined in. Twice she accompanied him in tickling Elizabeth, and once held her while he cut her black gown "into a thousand pieces. However, Thomas Seymour continued scheming to control the royal family and tried to have himself appointed the governor of the King's person.

Elizabeth, living at Hatfield House , would admit nothing.

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Her stubbornness exasperated her interrogator, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, who reported, "I do see it in her face that she is guilty". Edward VI died on 6 July , aged Jane was proclaimed queen by the Privy Council, but her support quickly crumbled, and she was deposed after nine days. On 3 August , Mary rode triumphantly into London, with Elizabeth at her side. The show of solidarity between the sisters did not last long. Mary, a devout Catholic, was determined to crush the Protestant faith in which Elizabeth had been educated, and she ordered that everyone attend Catholic Mass; Elizabeth had to outwardly conform.

Mary's initial popularity ebbed away in when she announced plans to marry Philip of Spain , the son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and an active Catholic. In January and February , Wyatt's rebellion broke out; it was soon suppressed. Elizabeth fervently protested her innocence. Mary's closest confidant, Charles V's ambassador Simon Renard , argued that her throne would never be safe while Elizabeth lived; and the Chancellor, Stephen Gardiner , worked to have Elizabeth put on trial. Instead, on 22 May, Elizabeth was moved from the Tower to Woodstock , where she was to spend almost a year under house arrest in the charge of Sir Henry Bedingfield.

Crowds cheered her all along the way. On 17 April , Elizabeth was recalled to court to attend the final stages of Mary's apparent pregnancy. If Mary and her child died, Elizabeth would become queen. If, on the other hand, Mary gave birth to a healthy child, Elizabeth's chances of becoming queen would recede sharply. When it became clear that Mary was not pregnant, no one believed any longer that she could have a child. King Philip, who ascended the Spanish throne in , acknowledged the new political reality and cultivated his sister-in-law. She was a better ally than the chief alternative, Mary, Queen of Scots , who had grown up in France and was betrothed to the Dauphin of France.

By October , Elizabeth was already making plans for her government. On 6 November, Mary recognised Elizabeth as her heir. Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25, and declared her intentions to her Council and other peers who had come to Hatfield to swear allegiance. The speech contains the first record of her adoption of the mediaeval political theology of the sovereign's "two bodies": My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering I am God's creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me.

And as I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body politic to govern, so shall I desire you all I mean to direct all my actions by good advice and counsel. As her triumphal progress wound through the city on the eve of the coronation ceremony , she was welcomed wholeheartedly by the citizens and greeted by orations and pageants, most with a strong Protestant flavour. Elizabeth's open and gracious responses endeared her to the spectators, who were "wonderfully ravished".

She was then presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of organs, fifes, trumpets, drums, and bells. Elizabeth's personal religious convictions have been much debated by scholars. She was a Protestant, but kept Catholic symbols such as the crucifix , and downplayed the role of sermons in defiance of a key Protestant belief. In terms of public policy she favoured pragmatism in dealing with religious matters. The question of her legitimacy was a key concern: For this reason alone, it was never in serious doubt that Elizabeth would embrace Protestantism. Elizabeth and her advisers perceived the threat of a Catholic crusade against heretical England.

Elizabeth therefore sought a Protestant solution that would not offend Catholics too greatly while addressing the desires of English Protestants; she would not tolerate the more radical Puritans though, who were pushing for far-reaching reforms. The House of Commons backed the proposals strongly, but the bill of supremacy met opposition in the House of Lords , particularly from the bishops. Elizabeth was fortunate that many bishoprics were vacant at the time, including the Archbishopric of Canterbury. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was forced to accept the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England rather than the more contentious title of Supreme Head , which many thought unacceptable for a woman to bear.

The new Act of Supremacy became law on 8 May All public officials were to swear an oath of loyalty to the monarch as the supreme governor or risk disqualification from office; the heresy laws were repealed, to avoid a repeat of the persecution of dissenters practised by Mary. At the same time, a new Act of Uniformity was passed, which made attendance at church and the use of an adapted version of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory, though the penalties for recusancy , or failure to attend and conform, were not extreme. From the start of Elizabeth's reign, it was expected that she would marry and the question arose to whom.

Although she received many offers for her hand, she never married and was childless; the reasons for this are not clear. Historians have speculated that Thomas Seymour had put her off sexual relationships. Her last courtship was with Francis, Duke of Anjou , 22 years her junior. While risking possible loss of power like her sister, who played into the hands of King Philip II of Spain , marriage offered the chance of an heir. In the spring of , it became evident that Elizabeth was in love with her childhood friend Robert Dudley.

However, William Cecil, Nicholas Throckmorton , and some conservative peers made their disapproval unmistakably clear. Among other marriage candidates being considered for the queen, Robert Dudley continued to be regarded as a possible candidate for nearly another decade. He finally remarried in , to which the queen reacted with repeated scenes of displeasure and lifelong hatred towards his wife, Lettice Knollys. After Elizabeth's own death, a note from him was found among her most personal belongings, marked "his last letter" in her handwriting.

Marriage negotiations constituted a key element in Elizabeth's foreign policy.

Edward and Mary 1of2

In , Elizabeth told an imperial envoy: They urged the queen to marry or nominate an heir, to prevent a civil war upon her death. She refused to do either. In April she prorogued the Parliament, which did not reconvene until she needed its support to raise taxes in Having promised to marry previously, she told an unruly House:. I will never break the word of a prince spoken in public place, for my honour's sake. And therefore I say again, I will marry as soon as I can conveniently, if God take not him away with whom I mind to marry, or myself, or else some other great let happen.

By , senior figures in the government privately accepted that Elizabeth would never marry or name a successor. William Cecil was already seeking solutions to the succession problem. Elizabeth's unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin or a goddess or both, not as a normal woman. Ultimately, Elizabeth would insist she was married to her kingdom and subjects, under divine protection. In , she spoke of "all my husbands, my good people". Elizabeth's first policy toward Scotland was to oppose the French presence there.

Mary boasted being "the nearest kinswoman she hath". In Elizabeth proposed her own suitor, Robert Dudley, as a husband for Mary, without asking either of the two people concerned. Both proved unenthusiastic, [90] and in Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley , who carried his own claim to the English throne.

Elizabeth I of England

The marriage was the first of a series of errors of judgement by Mary that handed the victory to the Scottish Protestants and to Elizabeth. Darnley quickly became unpopular and was murdered in February by conspirators almost certainly led by James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. Shortly afterwards, on 15 May , Mary married Bothwell, arousing suspicions that she had been party to the murder of her husband. Elizabeth confronted Mary about the marriage, writing to her:.

How could a worse choice be made for your honour than in such haste to marry such a subject, who besides other and notorious lacks, public fame has charged with the murder of your late husband, besides the touching of yourself also in some part, though we trust in that behalf falsely. These events led rapidly to Mary's defeat and imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle.

The Scottish lords forced her to abdicate in favour of her son James VI , who had been born in June James was taken to Stirling Castle to be raised as a Protestant. Mary escaped from Loch Leven in but after another defeat fled across the border into England, where she had once been assured of support from Elizabeth. Elizabeth's first instinct was to restore her fellow monarch; but she and her council instead chose to play safe. Rather than risk returning Mary to Scotland with an English army or sending her to France and the Catholic enemies of England, they detained her in England, where she was imprisoned for the next nineteen years.

Mary was soon the focus for rebellion. In there was a major Catholic rising in the North ; the goal was to free Mary, marry her to Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk , and put her on the English throne. Elizabeth helped create a Church of England that, although Protestant, allowed some of the old Catholic traditions to continue.

Elizabeth chose an able set of administrators to aid her during her rule, including William Cecil, Lord Burghley as her Secretary of State and Sir Francis Walsingham, in charge of intelligence. Elizabeth's reign also saw England significantly expand its trade overseas and in Sir Francis Drake became the first Englishman to successfully circumnavigate the earth. The queen was also keen to be seen by her subjects.

However, trouble was never far away. Many Catholic plots centred on putting Mary on the English throne. Despite the discovery of conspiracies and plots centred on Mary, Elizabeth showed caution and was reluctant to act against her. However, in Walsingham uncovered the Babington plot which implicated Mary directly in a conspiracy to overthrow Elizabeth.

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