on one person’s life (100). Another source claims that “the people hoped their young queen would soon marry a strong man who would guide her” (renaissance 1). Elizabeth did not want religious controversy to gain momentum in her country; she did not marry because a conflict of ideals that the people would express, regardless of her choice for husband, could start a civil war. Elizabeth knew that she should not crush the hopes of any suitor because she believed that she could use the suitors to fit her needs and help her when times of trouble engrossed her country (Levine 100-101). Levine even notes “of two things we can be sure: Elizabeth enjoyed being courted, and she milked every courtship for it political profit. Weir states that “Elizabeth told her friend… ‘I will never marry.’ Some writers suggest that the events of her childhood led her to equate marriage with death” (13). Many suitors visited the queen in hopes of becoming her husband. Philip II of Spain courted Elizabeth and he eventually asked her to marry him. Elizabeth knew that rejecting his invitation would harm the peace negotiations between England and Spain. As a wise, young queen, instead of refusing the offer outright, she made excuses to prolong the time that she would give the king an answer. As she ran out of excuses to use on Philip, she had to give him an answer. However, using her crafty intellect, she convinced Philip that the benefits that their two countries would gain from marriage would not exceed the benefits that the alliance of their two countries could provide. Feria tried to convince her that she had made a mistake, but after a clever turn on the situation, she claimed that it was Philip’s fault for not giving her enough time to reach a decision. After her death, people still remembered Queen Elizabeth as the ‘Virgin Queen’ (Neale 71). Religious issues also endangered...
