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Elizabeth I of England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Monarchs of Great Britain


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                             Elizabeth I
   Queen of England and Ireland
      Reign    17 November 1558 - 24 March 1603
   Coronation  15 January 1559
   Predecessor Queen Mary I
    Successor  King James I, also known as King James VI of Scotland
   Royal House Tudor
     Father    King Henry VIII
     Mother    Anne Boleyn, 1st Marchioness of Pembroke
      Born     7 September 1533
               Palace of Placentia
      Died     24 March 1603
               Richmond Palace
     Burial    Westminster Abbey

   Elizabeth I ( 7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England,
   Queen of France ( in name only), and Queen of Ireland from 17 November
   1558 until her death. She is sometimes referred to as The Virgin Queen,
   as she never married, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, and was
   immortalized by Edmund Spenser as the Faerie Queene. Elizabeth I was
   the sixth and final monarch of the Tudor dynasty (Henry VII, Henry
   VIII, her half-brother Edward VI, her cousin Jane, and her half-sister
   Mary I). She reigned for 45 years, during a period marked by increases
   in English power and influence worldwide and great religious turmoil
   within England.

   Elizabeth's reign is referred to as the Elizabethan era or the Golden
   Age of Elizabeth. Playwrights William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe,
   and Ben Jonson all flourished during this era; Francis Drake became the
   first Englishman to circumnavigate (travel around) the globe; Francis
   Bacon laid out his philosophical and political views; and English
   colonisation of North America took place under Sir Walter Raleigh and
   Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Elizabeth was a short-tempered and sometimes
   indecisive ruler. A favourite motto for her was video et taceo ("I see
   and keep silent") . This last quality, viewed with impatience by her
   counsellors, often saved her from political and marital misalliances.
   Like her father Henry VIII, she was a writer and poet. She granted
   Royal Charters to several famous organisations, including Trinity
   College, Dublin (its official name is the College of the Holy and
   Undivided Trinity of Elizabeth near Dublin) in 1592 and the British
   East India Company (1600).

   In nearly forty-five years, only nine peerage dignities, one earldom
   and seven baronies in the Peerage of England, and one barony in the
   Peerage of Ireland, were created. She also reduced the number of Privy
   Counsellors from thirty-nine to nineteen, and later to fourteen.

   The Commonwealth of Virginia, a former English colony in North America
   and one of the United States of America's original 13 states, was named
   after Elizabeth I, the " Virgin Queen".

Early life

   Elizabeth was the only surviving child of King Henry VIII of England by
   his second wife, Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke. The couple were
   secretly married sometime between the winter of 1532 and late January
   of 1533. In later life Elizabeth reported to the Venetian ambassador
   that she had been told it was the earlier date, possibly in November.
   Elizabeth was born in the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, on
   September 7, 1533. Upon her birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive
   to the throne of England despite having an older half sister, Mary,
   this was because Henry annulled his marriage to first wife, the Spanish
   princess Catherine of Aragon, Mary was not considered to be a
   legitimate heir.

   Henry would have preferred a son to ensure the Tudor succession, but
   Queen Anne failed to produce a male heir. She suffered at least two
   more miscarriages, one in 1534 and again at the beginning of 1536. The
   King enjoyed a string of affairs, one of which involved a young woman
   named Elizabeth Blount, known as Bessie, daughter of a knight, Sir John
   Blount of Shropshire. In 1519, Bessie became the mother of a male
   bastard, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, also named
   Earl of Nottingham. While he acknowledged Fitzroy, the king didn't put
   the boy into the official lineage. It is believed the king thought to
   do so would anger his subjects. Fitzroy died of consumption in 1536 at
   the age of seventeen.

   Historians debate the exact reason why Anne fell from power, but it is
   generally agreed that she was innocent of the charges against her, and
   that her death was orchestrated by her political rivals. Anne was
   arrested on 2nd May 1536 and imprisoned. Seventeen days later, she was
   executed on charges of treason, incest with her younger brother, George
   Boleyn, and witchcraft. Elizabeth, then three years old, was declared
   illegitimate and lost the title of Princess. She also lost the money
   and gifts her mother had routinely showered upon her. After Anne's
   death, she was addressed as Lady Elizabeth and lived separately from
   her father as he married his succession of wives. In 1537, her father's
   third wife, Jane Seymour gave birth to a son, Prince Edward, who became
   the official heir to the throne under the Act of Succession 1544.

   Elizabeth's first governess was Lady Margaret Bryan, a baroness whom
   Elizabeth called "Muggie". At the age of four, Elizabeth acquired a new
   governess, Katherine Champernowne, whom she often referred to as "Kat".
   Champernowne developed a close relationship with Elizabeth and remained
   her confidante and good friend for life. Matthew Parker, her mother's
   favourite priest, took a special interest in Elizabeth's well-being,
   particularly because a fearful Anne had entrusted her daughter's
   spiritual welfare to Parker before her death. Parker later became
   Elizabeth's first Archbishop of Canterbury after she became queen in
   1558. One companion, to whom she referred with affection throughout her
   life, was the Irishman Thomas Butler, later 3rd Earl of Ormonde (d.
   1615).
   Princess Elizabeth, age 13 in 1546, thought to have been painted by
   Levina Teerlinc
   Enlarge
   Princess Elizabeth, age 13 in 1546, thought to have been painted by
   Levina Teerlinc

   In terms of personality, Elizabeth was resourceful, determined, and
   exceedingly intelligent. She loved learning for its own sake. Like her
   mother and father, she was flirtatious and charismatic.

   Henry VIII died in 1547 and was succeeded by Edward VI. Catherine Parr,
   Henry's last wife, married Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of
   Sudeley, Edward VI's uncle, and took Elizabeth into her household. It
   is believed that Seymour made advances towards Elizabeth while she
   lived in his household. There, Elizabeth received her education under
   Roger Ascham. She came to speak and read six languages: her native
   English, as well as French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Latin. Under
   the influence of Catherine Parr and Ascham, Elizabeth was raised a
   Protestant.

   As long as her Protestant half-brother remained on the throne,
   Elizabeth's own position remained secure. In 1553, however, Edward died
   at the age of fifteen, after suffering ill health from birth. He had
   left a will which purported to supersede his father's will.
   Disregarding the Act of Succession 1544, it excluded both Mary and
   Elizabeth from succeeding to the throne and declared Lady Jane Grey,
   ward of Thomas Seymour, to be his heiress. A plot was formed by Thomas
   and John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland who married his son,
   Guilford Dudley to Jane. Lady Jane ascended the throne, but was deposed
   less than two weeks later. Armed with popular support, Mary rode
   triumphantly into London, her half-sister Elizabeth at her side.

   Mary I contracted a marriage with Prince Philip of Spain (later King
   Philip II), seeking to strengthen the Catholic influence in England.
   Wyatt's Rebellion in 1554 sought to prevent Mary from marrying Philip,
   and after its failure, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London
   for her alleged involvement in it. There were demands for Elizabeth's
   execution, but few Englishmen wished to put a member of the popular
   Tudor dynasty to death. The Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardiner wanted to
   remove Elizabeth from the line of succession, but neither Mary nor
   Parliament would allow it. After two months in the Tower, Elizabeth was
   released on the same day her mother was executed eighteen years
   earlier. She was then put under house arrest under the guard of Sir
   Henry Bedingfield.

   Following a moderate start to her reign, the Catholic Mary opted for a
   hard line against Protestants, whom she regarded as heretics and a
   threat to her authority. In the ensuing persecution she came to be
   known as " Bloody Mary". She urged Elizabeth to change to the Roman
   Catholic faith, but the princess, instead of converting, kept up a
   skilful show of allegiance to suit her own conscience and ambitions. By
   the end of that year, when Mary was falsely rumoured to be pregnant,
   Elizabeth was allowed to return to court at Philip's behest. He worried
   that his wife might die in childbirth, in which case he preferred Lady
   Elizabeth, under his tutelage, to succeed rather than her next-closest
   relative, Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary had grown up in the French court
   and was betrothed to the French Dauphin and, being heavily influenced
   by the French, although she was Catholic, Philip did not desire her to
   grasp the English crown.

Early reign


                                     Monarchical Styles of
                      Queen Elizabeth I
                      Reference style:   Her Majesty
                      Spoken style:      Your Majesty
                      Alternative style: Her/Your Grace, Her/Your Highness

   This portrait "The Coronation of Elizabeth" was used as the basis for
   the photography and costume of Cate Blanchett during the coronation
   scene in the film Elizabeth, 1998. This is a copy of a now lost
   original, this copy attrib. Nicholas Hilliard
   Enlarge
   This portrait "The Coronation of Elizabeth" was used as the basis for
   the photography and costume of Cate Blanchett during the coronation
   scene in the film Elizabeth, 1998. This is a copy of a now lost
   original, this copy attrib. Nicholas Hilliard

   In November 1558, upon Queen Mary's death, Elizabeth ascended the
   throne. She was far more popular than Mary, and it is said that after
   the death of her half-sister the people rejoiced in the streets. Legend
   has it Elizabeth was sitting beneath an oak tree reading the Greek
   Bible at Hatfield when she was informed of her succession to the
   throne. As it was November and winter, it was unlikely Elizabeth would
   have been quietly reading but perhaps enjoying a brisk walk. A
   manservant approached to her and breathlessly said, "Your Majesty . .
   .". Elizabeth quoted Psalm 118 in response: "This is the Lord's doing,
   and it is marvellous in our eyes".

   During her procession to the Tower of London, she was welcomed
   wholeheartedly by the common people, who performed plays and read
   poetry exclaiming her beauty and intelligence. Elizabeth's coronation
   was on 15 January 1559. She was 25 years old. There was no Archbishop
   of Canterbury at the time; Reginald Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic
   holder of the office, had died shortly after Mary I. Since the senior
   bishops declined to participate in the coronation because Elizabeth was
   illegitimate under both canon law and statute and because she was a
   Protestant, the relatively unknown Owen Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle
   crowned her. The communion was celebrated not by Oglethorpe, but by the
   Queen's personal chaplain, to avoid the usage of the Roman rites.
   Elizabeth I's coronation was the last one during which the Latin
   service was used; future coronations except for that of George I used
   the English service. She later persuaded her mother's chaplain, Matthew
   Parker, to become Archbishop.

   One of the most important concerns during Elizabeth's early reign was
   religion. She relied primarily on Sir William Cecil for advice on the
   matter. The Act of Uniformity 1559, which she passed shortly after
   ascending the throne, required the use of the Protestant Book of Common
   Prayer in church services. Communion with the Catholic Church had been
   reinstated under Mary I, but was ended by Elizabeth. The Queen assumed
   the title " Supreme Governor of the Church of England", rather than
   "Supreme Head", primarily because several bishops and many members of
   the public felt that a woman could not be the head of the Church.

   In addition, the Act of Supremacy 1559 was passed requiring public
   officials to take an oath acknowledging the Sovereign's control over
   the Church or face severe punishment. Many bishops were unwilling to
   conform to the Elizabethan religious policy. Those bishops were removed
   from the ecclesiastical bench and replaced by appointees who would
   agree with the Queen's decision. She also appointed an entirely new
   Privy Council, removing many Catholic counsellors in the process. Under
   Elizabeth, factionalism in the Council and conflicts at court were
   greatly diminished. Elizabeth's chief advisors were Sir William Cecil,
   as her Secretary of State, and Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of
   the Great Seal.

   Elizabeth ratified the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis established on April
   3, 1559, bringing peace with France. She adopted a principle of
   "England for the English". Her other realm, Ireland, never benefited
   from such a philosophy. The enforcement of English customs in Ireland
   proved unpopular with its inhabitants, as did the Queen's religious
   policies.
   Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester painted by Steven van der Meulen.
   Enlarge
   Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester painted by Steven van der Meulen.

   Soon after her accession, many questioned whom Elizabeth would marry.
   Her reason for never marrying is unclear. She may have felt repulsed by
   the mistreatment of Henry VIII's wives, her mother's death always in
   her mind, or perhaps psychologically scarred by her rumoured childhood
   relationship with Lord Thomas Seymour while in his household.
   Contemporary gossip was that she had suffered from a physical defect
   that she was afraid to reveal, perhaps scarring from smallpox. There
   were also rumours that she would only marry one man, Robert Dudley, 1st
   Earl of Leicester, with whom she was deeply in love and whom she
   appointed her Master of the Queen's Horse. However, her council refused
   to sanction the marriage because of his status and his family's
   participation in the Lady Jane Grey matter (and for the early part of
   her reign Dudley was already married to Amy Robsart who later died in
   somewhat suspicious circumstances, although Dudley was acquitted of any
   involvement in this). Some believe Elizabeth decided that if she could
   not have him, she would not marry at all. The most likely cause,
   however, was probably her reluctance to share the power of the Crown
   with another and her fear that a marriage with a foreigner would
   provoke the same hostility as that of her sister Mary's disastrous
   marriage to Philip II. She also did not want to risk making England a
   foreign vassal and possibly involving it in the unprofitable and
   unpopular wars that Mary's marriage had done, while marriage to a
   high-born Englishman would involve England in factional dispute at
   court. Given the unstable political situation, Elizabeth could have
   feared an armed struggle among aristocratic factions if she married
   someone not seen as equally favourable to all factions. What is known
   for certain is that marrying anyone would have cost Elizabeth large
   amounts of money and independence as all of the estates and incomes
   Elizabeth inherited from her father, Henry VIII, were only hers until
   she wed.

Conflict with France and Scotland

   The Queen found a dangerous rival in her cousin, the Catholic Mary
   Stuart, Queen of Scotland and wife of the French King Francis II. In
   1559, Mary had declared herself Queen of England with French support.
   In Scotland, Mary Stuart's mother, Mary of Guise attempted to cement
   French influence by providing for army fortification against English
   aggression. A group of Scottish lords allied to Elizabeth deposed Mary
   of Guise and, under pressure from the English, Mary's representatives
   signed the Treaty of Edinburgh, which led to the withdrawal of French
   troops. Though Mary vehemently refused to ratify the treaty, it had the
   desired effect, and French influence was greatly reduced in Scotland.

   Upon the death of her husband Francis II, Mary Stuart had returned to
   Scotland. In France, meanwhile, conflict between the Catholics and the
   Huguenots led to the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion. Elizabeth
   secretly gave aid to the Huguenots. She made peace with France in 1564;
   she agreed to give up her claims to the last English possession on the
   French mainland, Calais, after the defeat of an English expedition at
   Le Havre. Elizabeth, however, did not give up her claim to the French
   Crown, which had been maintained since the reign of Edward III during
   the period of the Hundred Years' War in the fourteenth century, and was
   not renounced until the reign of George III during the eighteenth
   century.

Elizabeth and the 1559 Religious Settlement

   Signature of Elizabeth I of England
   Enlarge
   Signature of Elizabeth I of England

   Catholicism had been restored under Mary I, but Elizabeth herself was a
   Protestant, and thus was keen to create a Protestant Church. Parliament
   was summoned in 1559 to consider the Reformation Bill and create a new
   Church. The Reformation Bill defined the Communion as a consubstantial
   celebration as opposed to a transubstantial celebration, included abuse
   of the Pope in the litany, and ordered that ministers should not wear
   the surplice or other Catholic vestments. It allowed ministers to
   marry, banned images from churches, and confirmed Elizabeth as Supreme
   Head of the Church of England. The Bill met massive resistance in the
   House of Lords, as Catholic bishops as well as the lay peers voted
   against it. They butchered much of the Bill, changed the litany to
   allow for a transubstantial belief in the Communion and refused to
   grant Elizabeth the title of Supreme Head of the Church.

   Parliament was prorogued over Easter, and when it resumed, the
   government entered two new bills into the Houses — the Act of Supremacy
   and the Act of Uniformity. The Bill of Supremacy confirmed Elizabeth as
   Supreme Governor of the Church of England, as opposed to the Supreme
   Head. Supreme Governor was a suitably equivocal phrasing that made
   Elizabeth head of the church without ever saying she was, important
   because in the sixteenth century, it was felt that women could not rule
   a church.

   The Bill of Uniformity was more cautious than the initial Reformation
   Bill. It revoked the harsh laws against Catholics, removed the abuse of
   the Pope from the litany and kept the wording that allowed for both
   consubstantial and transubstantial belief in the Communion.

   After Parliament was dismissed, Elizabeth, along with William Cecil,
   drafted what are known as the Royal Injunctions. These were additions
   to the Settlement, and largely stressed continuity with the Catholic
   past — ministers were ordered to wear the surplice. Wafers, as opposed
   to ordinary baker's bread, were to be used as the bread at Communion.
   There had been opposition to the Settlement in the shires, which for
   the most part were largely Catholic, so the changes were made in order
   to allow for acceptance to the Settlement.

   Elizabeth never changed the Religious Settlement despite Protestant
   pressure (previously thought to originate from the Puritan choir) to do
   so and it is in fact the 1559 Settlement that forms much of the basis
   of today's Church of England.

Plots and rebellions

   At the end of 1562, Elizabeth fell ill with smallpox, but later
   recovered. In 1563, alarmed by the Queen's near-fatal illness,
   Parliament asked that she marry or nominate an heir to prevent civil
   war upon her death. She refused to do either, and in April, she
   prorogued Parliament. Parliament did not reconvene until Elizabeth
   needed its assent to raise taxes in 1566. The House of Commons
   threatened to withhold funds until the Queen agreed to provide for the
   succession. On 19 October 1566, Sir Robert Bell boldly pursued
   Elizabeth for the royal answer despite her command to leave it alone;
   in her own words "Mr. Bell with his complices must needs prefer their
   speeches to the upper house to have you my lords, consent with them,
   whereby you were seduced, and of simplicity did assent unto it."
   Mary Queen of Scots
   Enlarge
   Mary Queen of Scots

   Different lines of succession were considered during Elizabeth's reign.
   One possible line was that of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII's elder
   sister, which led to Mary I, Queen of Scots. The alternative line
   descended from Henry VIII's younger sister, Mary Tudor, Duchess of
   Suffolk; the heir in this line would be the Lady Catherine Grey, Lady
   Jane Grey's sister. An even more distant possible successor was Henry
   Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, who could claim descent only from
   Edward III, who reigned during the fourteenth century. Each possible
   heir had his or her disadvantages: Mary I was a Catholic, Lady
   Catherine Grey had married without the Queen's consent and the Puritan
   Lord Huntingdon was unwilling to accept the Crown.

   Mary, Queen of Scots, had to suffer her own troubles in Scotland.
   Elizabeth had suggested that if she married the Protestant Robert
   Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, then Elizabeth would "proceed to the
   inquisition of her right and title to be our next cousin and heir."
   Mary chose her own course, and in 1565 married a Catholic, who also had
   a claim to the English throne, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Lord Darnley
   was murdered in 1567 after the couple had become estranged. Darnley was
   a heavy drinker and had approved the murder of Mary's secretary David
   Rizzio, with whom he wrongly suspected her of having an affair. Mary
   then married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely
   believed to be responsible for Darnley's murder. Scottish nobles then
   rebelled, imprisoning Mary and forcing her to abdicate in favour of her
   infant son, who consequently became James VI.

   In 1568, the last viable English heir to the throne, Catherine Grey,
   died. She had left two sons, but they were deemed illegitimate, owing
   to the absence of any living witnesses to the marriage, or to any
   clergy who could attest to having performed it. Her heiress was her
   sister, the Lady Mary Grey, a hunchbacked dwarf. Elizabeth was once
   again forced to consider a Scottish successor, from the line of her
   father's sister, Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots. Mary I, however, was
   unpopular in Scotland, where she had been imprisoned. She later escaped
   from her prison and fled to England, where she was captured by English
   forces. Elizabeth was faced with a conundrum: sending her back to the
   Scottish nobles was deemed too cruel; sending her to France would put a
   powerful pawn in the hands of the French king; forcibly restoring her
   to the Scottish throne may have been seen as an heroic gesture, but
   would cause too much conflict with the Scots; and imprisoning her in
   England would allow her to participate in plots against the Queen.
   Elizabeth chose the last option: Mary was kept confined for eighteen
   years, much of it in Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor in the
   custody of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his redoubtable
   wife Bess of Hardwick.
   Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
   Enlarge
   Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

   In 1569, Elizabeth faced a major uprising, known as the Northern
   Rebellion, instigated by Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, Charles
   Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland and Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of
   Northumberland. Pope Pius V aided the Catholic Rebellion by
   excommunicating Elizabeth and declaring her deposed in a papal bull.
   The Bull of Deposition, Regnans in Excelsis, was only issued in 1570,
   arriving after the Rebellion had been put down. After the Bull of
   Deposition was issued, however, Elizabeth chose not to continue her
   policy of religious tolerance. She instead began the persecution of her
   religious enemies, giving impetus to various conspiracies to remove her
   from the throne. She also permitted the Church of England to take a
   more explicitly Protestant line by allowing Parliament to pass the
   largely Calvinist 39 Articles in 1571 which acted as a declaration of
   Church of England faith.

   Elizabeth then found a new enemy in her brother-in-law, Philip II, King
   of Spain. After Philip had launched a surprise attack on the English
   privateers Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkins in 1568, Elizabeth
   assented to the detention of a Spanish treasure ship in 1569. Philip
   was already involved in putting down a rebellion in the Spanish
   Netherlands, and could not afford to declare war on England.

   Philip II participated in some conspiracies to remove Elizabeth, albeit
   reluctantly. The 4th Duke of Norfolk was also involved in the first of
   these plots, the Ridolfi Plot of 1571. After the Catholic Ridolfi Plot
   was discovered (much to Elizabeth's shock) and foiled, the Duke of
   Norfolk was executed and Mary lost the little liberty she had
   remaining. Spain, which had been friendly to England since Philip's
   marriage to Elizabeth's predecessor, ceased to be on cordial terms.

   In 1571, Sir William Cecil was created Baron Burghley; a wise and
   humorous man, who always advised caution in international relations, he
   had been Elizabeth's chief advisor from the earliest days, and he
   remained so until his death in 1598. In 1572, Burghley was raised to
   the powerful position of Lord High Treasurer; his post as Secretary of
   State was taken up by the head of Elizabeth's spy network, Sir Francis
   Walsingham.

   Also in 1572, Elizabeth made an alliance with France. The St
   Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which thousands of French Protestants
   (Huguenots) were killed, strained the alliance but did not break it.
   Elizabeth even began marriage negotiations with Henry, Duke of Anjou
   (later King Henry III of France and of Poland), and afterwards with his
   younger brother François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon. During the
   latter's visit in 1581, it is said that Elizabeth "drew off a ring from
   her finger and put it upon the Duke of Anjou's upon certain conditions
   betwixt them two". The Spanish Ambassador reported that she actually
   declared that the Duke of Anjou would be her husband. However, Anjou,
   who was reportedly scarred and hunch-backed, returned to France and
   died in 1584 before he could be married.

Conflict with Spain and Ireland

   In 1579, the Second Desmond Rebellion began in Ireland with the arrival
   of an invasion force funded by Pope Gregory XIII; but by 1583, the
   rebellion had been put down after a brutal campaign waged by fire,
   sword and famine, in which a large part of the population of the then
   County Desmond, the north-western part of the province of Munster died;
   chilling, albeit approving, observations on the campaign are set out in
   A View of the Present State of Ireland by the poet, Edmund Spenser
   (first licensed for publication in 1633, four decades after it was
   written).

   Also in 1580, Philip II annexed Portugal, and with the Portuguese
   throne came the command of the high seas. After the assassination of
   the Dutch Stadholder William I, England began to side openly with the
   United Provinces of the Netherlands, who were at the time rebelling
   against Spanish rule. This, together with economic conflict with Spain
   and English piracy against Spanish colonies (which included an English
   alliance with Islamic Morocco), led to the outbreak of the
   Anglo-Spanish War in 1585 and in 1586 the Spanish ambassador was
   expelled from England for his participation in conspiracies against
   Elizabeth. Fearing such conspiracies, Parliament had passed the Act of
   Association 1584, under which anyone associated with a plot to murder
   the Sovereign would be excluded from the line of succession. However, a
   further scheme against Elizabeth, the Babington Plot, was revealed by
   Sir Francis Walsingham, who headed the English spy network. Having put
   the court on full proof of the charge, Mary Stuart was convicted of
   complicity in the plot on foot of disputed evidence and executed at
   Fotheringhay Castle on February 8, 1587.
   Portrait of Elizabeth made to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish
   Armada (1588), depicted in the background. Elizabeth's international
   power is symbolized by the hand resting on the globe.
   Enlarge
   Portrait of Elizabeth made to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish
   Armada (1588), depicted in the background. Elizabeth's international
   power is symbolized by the hand resting on the globe.

   In her will, Mary had left Philip her claim to the English throne;
   under force of the threat from Elizabeth's policies in the Netherlands
   and the East Atlantic, Philip set out his plans for an invasion of
   England. In April 1587, Sir Francis Drake burned part of the Spanish
   fleet at Cádiz, delaying Philip's plans. In July 1588, the Spanish
   Armada, a grand fleet of 130 ships bearing over 30,000 men, set sail in
   the expectation of conveying a Spanish invasion force under the command
   of the Duke of Parma across the English Channel from the Netherlands.
   Elizabeth encouraged her troops with a notable speech, known as the
   Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, in which she famously declared, "I
   know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the
   heart and stomach of a King, and of a King of England too! And I think
   it foul scorn that Spain or Parma or any prince of Europe should dare
   invade the borders of my realm". Thus the legend of Good Queen Bess was
   born.

   The Spanish attempt was defeated by the English fleet under Charles
   Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham and Drake, aided by bad weather.
   The Armada was forced to return to Spain, with appalling losses on the
   North and West coasts of Ireland. The victory tremendously increased
   Elizabeth's popularity, but it proved far from decisive, and an
   ambitious strike against Spain in the following year (the English
   Armada) ended in complete failure. The war continued in the
   Netherlands, where the Dutch Estates were seeking independence from
   Spain. The English government also involved itself in the conflict in
   France, where the throne was claimed by a Protestant heir, Henry of
   Navarre (later Henry IV of France). Elizabeth sent 20,000 troops and
   subsidies of over £300,000 to Henry, and 8,000 troops and subsidies of
   over £1,000,000 to the Dutch.

   English privateers continued to attack Spanish treasure ships from the
   Americas. The most famous privateers included Sir John Hawkins and Sir
   Martin Frobisher. In 1595 and 1596, a disastrous expedition on the
   Spanish Main led to the deaths of the ageing Hawkins and Drake. Also in
   1595, Spanish troops under the command of Don Carlos de Amesquita
   landed in Cornwall, where they routed a large English militia and
   burned some villages, before celebrating a mass and retiring in the
   face of a naval force led by Sir Walter Raleigh.

   In 1596, England finally withdrew from France, with Henry IV firmly in
   control. He had assumed the throne (by agreeing to convert to
   catholicism), commenting that, "Paris is worth a mass". The Holy
   League, which opposed him, had been demolished, and Elizabeth's
   diplomacy was beset with a new set of problems. At the same time, the
   Spanish had landed a considerable force of tercios in Brittany, which
   expelled the English forces that were present and presented a new front
   in the war, with an added threat of invasion across the channel.
   Elizabeth sent a further 2,000 troops to France after the Spanish took
   Calais. Then she authorised an attack on the Azores in 1597, but the
   attempt was a disastrous failure. Further battles continued until 1598,
   when France and Spain finally made peace. The Anglo-Spanish War reached
   a stalemate after Philip II died later in the year. In part because of
   the war, Raleigh and Gilbert's overseas colonisation attempts came to
   nothing, and the English settlement of North America was stalled, until
   James I negotiated peace in the Treaty of London, 1604.

Later years

   Portrait by unknown c.18th century
   Enlarge
   Portrait by unknown c.18th century

   In 1598, Elizabeth's chief advisor, Lord Burghley, died. His political
   mantle was inherited by his son, Robert Cecil, who had previously
   become Secretary of State in 1590. Elizabeth became somewhat unpopular
   because of her practice of granting royal monopolies; the abolition of
   which Parliament continued to demand. In her famous "Golden Speech",
   Elizabeth promised reforms. Shortly thereafter, twelve royal monopolies
   were ended by royal proclamation; further sanctions could be sought in
   the courts of common law. These reforms, however, were only
   superficial; the practice of deriving funds from the grants of
   monopolies continued.

   At the same time as England was fighting Spain, it also faced a
   rebellion in Ireland, known as the Nine Years War. The chief executor
   of Crown authority in the North of Ireland, Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of
   Tyrone, was declared a traitor in 1595. Seeking to avoid further war,
   Elizabeth made a series of truces with the earl; but during this
   period, Spain attempted two further armada expeditions against Northern
   Europe, although both failed owing to adverse weather conditions. In
   1598, O'Neill offered a truce, while benefiting from Spanish aid in the
   form of arms and training; upon expiry of the truce, the English
   suffered their worst defeat in Ireland at the Battle of the Yellow
   Ford.

   In 1599, one of the leading members of the navy, Robert Devereux, 2nd
   Earl of Essex, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and given
   command of the largest army ever sent to Ireland, in an attempt to
   defeat the rebels. Essex's campaign was soon dissipated, and after a
   private parley with O'Neill — in which the latter sat on horseback in
   the middle of a river — it became clear that victory was out of reach.
   In 1600, Essex returned to England without the Queen's permission,
   where he was punished by the loss of all political offices and of the
   trade monopolies, which were his principal income.

   The succession to the throne had been the ultimate political concern in
   England since Mary Stuart's arrival in Scotland in the 1560s, and by
   the end of the century there was only one question in the minds of
   Elizabeth's advisors: who next? It is in this context that the
   behaviour of Essex is best explained. In 1601, he led a revolt against
   the Queen, but popular support was curiously lacking, and the former
   darling of the masses was executed.

   Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, a bookish man who liked to wrap
   himself up in scarves, was sent to Ireland to replace Essex. With
   ruthless intent, Mountjoy attempted to blockade O'Neill's troops and
   starve his people into submission; the campaign effectively cast the
   English strategy of the earlier Desmond Rebellion (1580-83) into a
   larger theatre, with proportionately greater casualties. In 1601, the
   Spanish sent over 3,000 troops to aid the Irish, with the justification
   that their intervention countered Elizabeth's previous aid to the Dutch
   rebels in the campaign against Spanish rule. After a devastating winter
   siege, Mountjoy defeated both the Spanish and the Irish forces at the
   Battle of Kinsale; O'Neill surrendered a few days after Elizabeth's
   death in 1603, although the fact of her death was concealed from the
   supplicant rebel with great skill and irony on Mountjoy's part.

   During her last ailment, the Queen is reported to have declared that
   she had sent "wolves, not shepherds, to govern Ireland, for they have
   left me nothing to govern over but ashes and carcasses" (The Sayings of
   Queen Elizabeth (1925)). Elizabeth's successor promoted Mountjoy to the
   office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, an office in which he showed
   skill and moderation, until his early death in 1605.

Death

   Fictional portrayal of Elizabeth handing the throne of England to King
   James VI of Scotland
   Enlarge
   Fictional portrayal of Elizabeth handing the throne of England to King
   James VI of Scotland

   Elizabeth I fell ill in February 1603, suffering from frailty and
   insomnia. After a period of distressing reflection, she died on March
   24 at Richmond Palace, aged sixty-nine, the oldest English sovereign
   ever to have reigned; the mark was not surpassed until George II, who
   died in his seventy-seventh year in 1760. Elizabeth was buried in
   Westminster Abbey, immediately next to her half-sister Mary I. The
   Latin inscription on their tomb translates to Partners both in Throne
   and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of
   one resurrection.

   The will of Henry VIII declared that Elizabeth was to be succeeded by
   the descendants of his younger sister, Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk,
   rather than by the Scottish descendants of his elder sister, Margaret
   Tudor. If the will were upheld, then Elizabeth would have been
   succeeded by Lady Anne Stanley. If, however, the rules of male
   primogeniture were upheld, the successor would be James VI, King of
   Scotland. Still other claimants were possible. They included Edward
   Seymour, Lord Beauchamp of Hache (the illegitimate son of the Lady
   Catherine Grey) and William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby (Lady Anne
   Stanley's uncle).

   It is sometimes claimed that Elizabeth named James her heir on her
   deathbed. According to one story, when asked whom she would name her
   heir, she replied, "Who could that be but my cousin Scotland?"
   According to another, she said, "Who but a King could succeed a Queen?"
   Finally, a third legend suggests that she remained silent until her
   death. There is no evidence to prove any of these tales. In any event,
   none of the alternative heirs pressed their claims to the throne. James
   VI was proclaimed King of England as James I a few hours after
   Elizabeth's death. James I's proclamation broke precedent because it
   was issued not by the new sovereign himself but by a Council of
   Accession, as James was in Scotland at the time. Accession Councils,
   rather than new sovereigns, continue to issue proclamations in modern
   practice.

Legacy

   Statue of Elizabeth I at the Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West London
   Enlarge
   Statue of Elizabeth I at the Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West London

   Elizabeth proved to be one of the most popular monarchs in English or
   British history. She placed seventh in the 100 Greatest Britons poll,
   which was conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2002,
   outranking all other British monarchs. In 2005, in the History Channel
   documentary Britain's Greatest Monarch, a group of historians and
   commentators analysed twelve British monarchs and gave them overall
   marks out of 60 for greatness (they were marked out of 10 in six
   categories, such as military prowess and legacy). Elizabeth I was the
   winner, with 48 points.

   Many historians, however, have taken a far more dispassionate view of
   Elizabeth's reign. Though England achieved military victories,
   Elizabeth was far less pivotal than other monarchs such as Henry V.
   Elizabeth has also been criticised for her problems in Ireland.

   Elizabeth was a successful monarch, helping steady the nation even
   after inheriting an enormous national debt from her sister Mary. Under
   her, England managed to avoid a crippling Spanish invasion. Elizabeth
   was also able to prevent the outbreak of a religious or civil war on
   English soil. Elizabeth's Accession Day of November each year was
   celebrated for many years after her death by Pope-burning processions.
   Her achievements, however, were greatly magnified after her death. She
   was depicted in later years as a great defender of Protestantism in
   Europe. In reality, however, she often wavered before coming to the aid
   of her Protestant allies. As Sir Walter said in relation to her foreign
   policy, "Her Majesty did all by halves".

   Many artists glorified Elizabeth I and masked her age in their
   portraits. Elizabeth was often painted in rich and stylised gowns.
   Elizabeth is often shown holding a sieve, a symbol of virginity.

   In the arts, Gioacchino Antonio Rossini wrote his first Neapolitan
   opera on the subject of Elizabeth I, Elisabetta, regina d'Inghiliterra,
   in 1814-15, ultimately based on a three-volume Gothic romance novel,
   The Recess, by Sophia Lee. Benjamin Britten wrote an opera, Gloriana,
   about the relationship between Elizabeth and Lord Essex, composed for
   the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Henry
   Purcell wrote a 1692 semi-opera adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer
   Night's Dream called The Fairy Queen, named to honour Elizabeth, one of
   whose nicknames was the Faere Queene. The instrument called the
   virginal was not named after Elizabeth, as it was known before her
   time. Queen Elizabeth Hall, opened in 1967 as part of the South Bank
   Centre arts complex in London, is named after Elizabeth II.

   There have been many novels written about Elizabeth. They include:
   Legacy by Susan Kay, I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles, The Virgin's Lover
   and The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, Queen of This Realm by Jean
   Plaidy, and Virgin: Prelude to the Throne by Robin Maxwell. Elizabeth's
   story is spliced with her mother's in Maxwell's book The Secret Diary
   of Anne Boleyn. Maxwell also writes of a fictional child Elizabeth and
   Dudley had in The Queen's Bastard. In the early 1950's, Margaret Irwin
   produced a trilogy based on Elizabeth's youth: Young Bess, Elizabeth,
   Captive Princess and Elizabeth and the Prince of Spain.

   In children's and young adults' fiction, Elizabeth's story is told in
   Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor, a book in the Royal
   Diaries series published by Scholastic, and also in Beware, Princess
   Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer.

   Elizabeth's own writings, which were considerable, were collected and
   published by the University of Chicago Press as Elizabeth I: Collected
   Works.

Popular culture

   Notable portrayals of Queen Elizabeth in film and television have been
   plentiful; in fact, she is the most filmed British monarch. Those who
   have made an impression in the role of Elizabeth in the last 100 years,
   have included:

Film classics

     * French actress Sarah Bernhardt in Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth
       (1912)
     * Florence Eldridge in Mary of Scotland (1936)
     * Flora Robson in Fire Over England (1937), The Lion Has Wings (1939)
       and The Sea Hawk (1940)
     * Bette Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and
       The Virgin Queen (1955).
     * Jean Simmons in Young Bess (1953).

Contemporary films

     * Quentin Crisp portrayed Elizabeth I in the 1993 film Orlando.
       Although he found the role taxing, he won acclaim for his
       performance.
     * Cate Blanchett received an Academy Award nomination for Best
       Actress for her performance in the 1998 film Elizabeth. Its sequel,
       Elizabeth: The Golden Age, began filming in April 2006.
     * Judi Dench won an Academy Award in 1998 for her supporting
       performance as the Virgin Queen in the popular Shakespeare in Love,
       a performance of only eleven minutes (among the shortest ever to
       win an Oscar). 1998 became the first year in which two actors were
       nominated for playing the same role in different films.

Television

   Image:Helen duke.jpg
   Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I
     * Glenda Jackson portrayed Elizabeth I in the BBC drama series
       Elizabeth R in 1971, and the 1972 historical film Mary Queen of
       Scots.
     * Miranda Richardson gave a comic interpretation of Elizabeth (known
       as Queenie) in the second season (Blackadder II) of the 1980s BBC
       situation comedy Blackadder as well as in the feature-length
       millennium special Blackadder: Back and Forth.
     * Anne-Marie Duff portrayed the Queen in the BBC's lavish and
       expensive production The Virgin Queen (2005), featuring
       state-of-the-art makeup to show the Queen's journey through life.
     * Helen Mirren portrayed Elizabeth I in the two-part HBO/ Channel 4
       drama Elizabeth I in 2005/06. The drama focused on her
       relationships with the Earl of Leicester, portrayed by Jeremy
       Irons, and the Earl of Essex, played by Hugh Dancy.

Style and arms

   Like her predecessors since Henry VIII, Elizabeth used the style
   "Majesty", as well as "Highness" and "Grace". "Majesty", which Henry
   VIII first used on a consistent basis, did not become exclusive until
   the reign of Elizabeth's successor, James I.

   Elizabeth I used the official style "Elizabeth, by the Grace of God,
   Queen of England, France and Ireland, Fidei defensor, etc.". Whilst
   most of the style matched the styles of her predecessors, Elizabeth I
   was the first to use "etc.". It was inserted into the style with a view
   to restoring the phrase "of the Church of England and also of Ireland
   in Earth Supreme Head", which had been added by Henry VIII but later
   removed by Mary I. The supremacy phrase was never actually restored,
   and "etc." remained in the style, to be removed only in 1801.

   She has been retroactively known as Queen Elizabeth I since the
   accession of Elizabeth II in 1952. Prior to that time she was referred
   to as Queen Elizabeth.

   Elizabeth's arms were the same as those used by Henry IV: Quarterly,
   Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant
   guardant in pale Or (for England). Whilst her Tudor predecessors had
   used a gold lion and a red dragon as heraldic supporters, Elizabeth
   used a gold lion and a gold dragon. Elizabeth adopted one of her
   mother's mottoes, Semper Eadem ("Always the Same") and also her
   mother's emblem as her emblem (The eagle on top of a tree trunk).

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