Elizabeth I

Third years

Module: (ETC) 

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I was queen of England from 1558 until she died in 1603. Her reign was called the Elizabethan Age, a very exciting and glorious period in English history, in which England became an important world power.

She was born near London in 1533. Her father was Henry VIII and her mother Anne Boleyn, the second of the king’s six wives. When Elizabeth was 3 years old her mother was beheaded because she was accused of having a relationship with someone else. Elizabeth had an elder half sister Mary, and a younger half-brother Edward.

King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church because the pope would not let him divorce his first wife. Henry then founded the Church of England and made his country protestant.

Although Henry cared very little about Elizabeth during her childhood she received a good education and was taught well in history and philosophy. She learned many languages, including French, Italian and Latin.

When Henry died in 1547 his only son, Edward, became king but the boy king died six years later. Mary became queen and made England a Catholic country again. She didn’t like Elizabeth and thought that she was plotting against her. She sent her half-sister to prison in the Tower of London for two months. When she was released, she had to live in the countryside. Mary died in 1558 and Elizabeth succeeded her.

Elizabeth quickly consolidated power and returned the country to Protestantism, passing the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. She ruled the country ably and initiated an era of economic prosperity. In international affairs, Elizabeth manipulated the princes of Europe, using the prospect of marriage to her (and thus joint control over England) as a bargaining tool, preferring the power that came with perpetual eligibility. She ultimately never married at all.

Because Elizabeth was both husband-less and childless, conspiracies against her increased. The first plot aimed to replace her with Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic member of the Stuart line. In 1586, Mary was executed. Following her beheading, Philip II of Spain, launched his supposedly invincible Spanish Armada to fetch his armies fighting in the Netherlands and transport them to England. The Armada was defeated by the skillful manoeuvres of the English fleet, and was further debilitated by stormy weather (known as the "Protestant Wind").

By the 1590s, Elizabeth was in her 60s and her most trusted advisors were slowly dying. From the next generation of nobility, she selected Leicester's stepson, Robert Devereux (Earl of Essex) as her favoured servant and companion. She sent Essex to Ireland to command her army, but when he disobeyed orders and failed to complete his objectives, Elizabeth banished him from her presence. Essex then foolishly tried to raise a rebellion, but the elderly Elizabeth quickly had the young traitor captured Essex and was executed in 1601.

Note. Adapted from English Online. Elizabeth I- Last Monarch of Tudors. [Online] available from:

https://www.english-online.at/history/elizabeth-i/elizabeth-i-tudor-monarch.htm

[accessed: 19^th November 2020].

Note. Adapted from Pouvelle, J. et al (2003) Repères de Civilisation Grande-Bretagne Etats- Unis. Paris: ellipses