Elizabeth I

The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, she was declared illegitimate just before the

execution of her mother in 1536, but in 1544 Parliament reestablished her in the succession

after her half brother, Edward (later Edward VI), and her half sister, Mary (later Mary I).

Elizabeth was well educated by a series of tutors, most notably Roger Ascham.

In 1553 she supported the claims of Mary I over Lady Jane Grey. After Mary was crowned,

Elizabeth was careful to avoid implication in the plot of the younger Sir Thomas Wyatt (1554).

Nevertheless, since Elizabeth's potential succession to the throne inevitably furnished a

rallying point for discontented Protestants, she was imprisoned. She later regained a measure

of freedom through outward conformity to Roman Catholicism.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

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Reign

When Elizabeth succeeded her sister to the throne in 1558, religious strife, a huge government

debt, and failures in the war with France had brought England's fortunes to a low ebb.

Elizabeth came to the throne with the Tudor concept of strong rule and the realization that

effective rule depended upon popular support. She was able to select and work well with the

most competent of counselors. Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley) was appointed immediately,

and Sir Francis Walsingham in 1573.

At her death 45 years later, England had passed through one of the greatest periods of its

historyÐ'--a period that produced William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Francis Bacon,

Walter Raleigh, Martin Frobisher, Francis Drake, and other notable figures in literature and

exploration; a period that saw England, united as a nation, become a major European power

with a great navy; a period in which English commerce and industry prospered and English

colonization was begun.

Although Elizabeth has been accused, with some justice, of being vain, fickle, vacillating,

prejudiced, and miserly, she was nonetheless exceedingly successful as a queen. Endowed with

immense personal courage and a keen awareness of her responsibility as a ruler, she

commanded throughout her reign the unwavering respect and allegiance of her subjects.

Domestic Developments

One of Elizabeth's first acts was to reestablish Protestantism (see England, Church of) through

the acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (1559). The measures against Roman Catholics (see

Penal Laws) grew harsher over the course of her reign, particularly after the rebellion of the

Catholic earls of Northumberland and Westmorland (1569), Elizabeth's excommunication by

the pope (1570), and the coming of the Jesuit missionaries (1580). But the persecution of the

Catholics was due, at least in part, to a series of plots to murder Elizabeth and seat the

Catholic Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. English Puritans, like the Catholics, objected to

the Established Church, and a severe law against conventicles (unauthorized religious

assemblies) in 1593 kept the separatist movement underground for the time.

At the beginning of her reign, Elizabeth's government enacted needed currency reforms and

took steps to mend English credit abroad. Other legislation of the reign dealt with new social

and economic developmentsÐ'--the Statute of Apprentices (1563) to stabilize labor conditions;

the poor laws (1563Ð'-1601) to attempt some remedy of widespread poverty; and various acts to

encourage agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing.

Foreign Affairs and the Spanish War

Elizabeth had many suitors, including King Philip II of Spain; Francis, duke of AlenÐ"§on and

Anjou; and her own favorite, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. For a combination of personal

and political reasons, she was reluctant to choose a husband and remained unmarried,

although she often used the lure of marriage as a weapon of diplomacy. Elizabeth engaged in a

long series of diplomatic maneuvers against England's old enemy, France, and the new enemy,

Spain, but for 30 years she managed to keep the country at peace.

In 1559 she concluded a treaty ending her sister's unfortunate war with France and refused

the marriage offer of Philip of Spain. The next year the Treaty of Edinburgh initiated a policy

toward Scotland, successful in the long run, of supporting the Protestant lords against the

Catholic party. By lending unofficial aid to French Huguenots she managed for some time to

harass France and Spain without involving England