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Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I Anne Boleyn gave birth to Elizabeth I on September 7, 1533. Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, had Anne executed before Elizabeth reached the age of three. Some believe that he had this done because Anne did not produce a male heir to the throne (Weir 12-13). After the death of Elizabeth’s stepsister, Mary, Elizabeth won the claim to the throne. When Elizabeth came to power, many problems plagued her island country. During Elizabeth’s reign, many problems arose, but using her intellectual ability, she maneuvered her small country through the times of hardship. The first step in navigating her country through times of trouble laid in the foundation of her education as a child. According to Weir, Katherine Parr, Elizabeth’s stepmother, and Henry greatly affected the progress of Elizabeth’s education; they both demanded that Elizabeth experience the highest quality of learning. Roger Ascham, a Cambridge scholar and convert to the Protestant faith, educated Elizabeth (12-13). Elizabeth always quested for knowledge; one of her teachers commented that “her perseverance is equal to that of a man, and her memory long keeps what it quickly picks” (renaissance 1). Today, we know that a woman’s intelligence equals, if not exceeds, that of a man, but in the time that her teacher made this comment, it truly expressed a great respect for her intellect. In the age that Elizabeth lived, a royal marriage always affected politics and the economy; therefore she had to make a thoughtful decision on whether or not to marry, and if she did choose to marry, who would become her husband. Two outcomes of marriage existed in Elizabeth’s era; England would experience a growth in foreign relations, and the marriage could produce an heir to the throne. According to Levine, most people wanted Elizabeth to marry because they thought that the future of the crown and of the country was too important to risk 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 the possibility of peace for England during Queen Elizabeth’s sovereignty. Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s father, ruled England in a Roman Catholic way. When Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, he asked the pope to annul his marriage to his first wife. The pope refused, and as a result, Henry split from the Roman Catholic Church and became the head of the Anglican Church. When Henry died, Mary, Elizabeth’s half-sister, inherited the throne. She re-established Catholicism as the official religion. Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded the throne (renaissance). As a new person in power, the religious question became the first issue in her rule. Some claimed that she had atheistic beliefs because she did not conform completely to Protestantism or Catholicism (Weir 55). Elizabeth’s first action as leader of England was her proclamation forbidding preaching and the temporary stoppage of the reformation of the Anglican Church until she could determine what ideals she would embrace in her new Church of England. She ordered the assembly of Parliament, and the Parliament instated two acts, the act of supremacy and the act of uniformity. The history of Elizabeth’s religious past contained many influences towards Protestantism as well as Catholicism. Elizabeth’s mother, Anne, embraced the Protestant faith, therefore it seemed that Elizabeth would also become a follower of the Protestant religion. However, under Mary’s rule, Elizabeth openly practiced the Catholic faith. Elizabeth would want to retain the friendship with Spain, and keeping Catholicism might assist in that process (Levine 68). “All she wanted from her subjects was loyalty to herself and the state and conformity to the laws governing religion” (Weir 59). Elizabeth states many times that she would not examine or interrogate nor would she stand for any or the said probing of any person with respect to their religious values or beliefs. Another source, Levine, states that Elizabeth cared only about outward conformity and not what an individual believed (76). The idea of having one church in England inevitably would mean aggravating the Catholics or the Protestants (Levine 73). In the queen’s opinion “there is only one Jesus Christ, the rest is a dispute over trifles” (Weir 54). The idea of one church that the queen called for would inevitably cause conflict with and opposition from the Catholics and Protestants. Catholics in the north stirred up a rebellion against the Queen after the capture and detainment of Mary Stuart. Elizabeth’s armed forces quickly put down this rebellion. After this uprising, the Queen felt the need to justify her policies for the past ten years; she did so by issuing a statement describing her reasoning for her religious indecision. She reiterated that a person’s belief in a certain religion made no difference. She did stress that she wanted conformity because that was the only way to maintain order. She quoted a Greek prince’s idea of people’s roles in society, “That king to be in most surety that so ruled over his subjects, as a father over the children,” to restate her demand for outward conformity about religion (Levine 73-74). The queen again faced a challenge when Philip II of Spain decided to launch his Invincible Armada. One of the occurrences that led to Philip’s decision to release his Armada was the English piracy of Spanish ships. Spain and Portugal claimed a monopoly on the new world colonies. The English, who wanted to take advantage of trade in the new colonies, broke through the blockades set up by the Spanish, and later, the English looted Spanish ships (renaissance). In his old, audacious age, Philip decided that he would use his forces against Elizabeth and her heretical ways. He readied his navy for a crusade against Elizabeth (Erickson 366). Many thought that the Queen could be bullied into submission of the throne. Elizabeth knew that many people perceived her in this manner, and she knew that Philip would try to use his Armada to try to take over England and bring back Catholic rule. She, in anticipation, put her naval fleet on standby (Weir 387-388). Elizabeth had the English navy fully prepared by June. Unfortunately, supporting the navy and all of its men put a great strain on the economy, and the common people had to pay inflated taxes (Erickson 368). In preparation for the coming attempt of invasion by the Spaniards, Elizabeth had priests and anyone who tried to assist a priest detained (Erickson 367). On July 19, 1588, the English first sited the “Invincible Armada” in the distance. Even though the Spanish Armada set sail with 130 ships and 30,000 men, her majesty responded in a calm fashion. Her knowledge that she had prepared the navy to the greatest of her ability gave her this peace of mind. Her fleet consisted of smaller, quicker, and more maneuverable ships that would later prove to be superior to the bulky oversized ships of the Spanish Armada (Weir 389-390). One scholar claimed that Elizabeth’s plan on how to attack and defend against the Armada “was a campaign of genius, without flaw” (Neale 304). The Spaniards’ strategy consisted of a rendezvous with Parma in the Netherlands. They planned to combine forces, and together, they would defeat the English resistance. The English discovered this planned attempt, and their mission became the prevention of this union. The English fleet successfully accomplished their mission by chasing the Invincible Armada far northward until exhausted their supplies and gunpowder. The English captains did become frustrated because they didn’t have the ability to completely obliterate the Spanish Armada. The question of the Armada’s return lingered because of the failed eradication of the Spanish fleet (Erickson 376). The Spanish Armada did not return, and if the defeat they suffered was not bad enough, a storm caught the Spanish on their way home. The raging waters swallowed many ships and men, and they never saw dry land again. Many stories circulated about dead animals that had washed up on shore. Geoffrey Fenton, secretary for Ireland, commented that he had never seen so many dead corpses as he did when he walked along the Irish shoreline after the Armada’s defeat (Erickson 376-377). Elizabeth died at the age of sixty-nine still known as the ‘Virgin Queen.’ Her reign, though plagued with conflicts that threatened to rip her small country apart, ended with her country having a strong and secure economy. Near the end of Elizabeth’s reign and stretching past the time of her death, England experienced a great literary period, which people now refer to as the Elizabethan age. Bibliography: Works Cited Erickson, Carolly. The First Elizabeth. New York: Summit Books, 1983. Levine, Joseph M. Elizabeth I. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1969. Neale, J. E. Queen Elizabeth I. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1957. “Queen Elizabeth I.” Renaissance Faire. January 2001. Weir, Alison. The Life of Elizabeth I. New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.

Word Count: 1717

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