Elizabeth I

To begin with, I must say, that speaking about Great Britain we should remember that the Crown always plays a very important role in the history of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In the history of Britain there were certain kings and queens whose names are specially remembered in the country and are well-known in the whole world. One of them is Elizabeth I, one of the best-loved English monarchs.

Elizabeth was born on the 7th of September in 1533 at Greenwich Palace.

Her birth was a big disappointment to his father, Henry VIII, who had turned his world upside down, divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragon broke with the Catholic Church so that he could marry again. He wanted to have a son, who would secure the Tudor line on the throne.

Elizabeth was not three years old when her mother, Anne Boleyn was executed, so much was the king disappointed by her failure to give him a son.

Soon after her mother’ s execution the girl was proclaimed illegitimate.

Life at the court of her father influenced a young Lady

Princes’ world-view. Her father, the king married four more times and had one more of his wives beheaded.

It was after that second execution, Elizabeth

evidenced when an eight year old girl declared “I’ll never

marry.” At that time nobody knew that

she would stay true to her promise.

During the reign of her half-sister Mary I (Bloody Mary) Elizabeth’s life was in danger. Mary was a Catholic queen in a protestant country and the existence of a protestant heir, Elizabeth, was a constant worry to Marry, who was justly hated by her people.

Thus Elizabeth was firstly imprisoned in the Tower then at Woodstock, but Mary never got the courage to have her half-sister executed.

At the age of twenty-five Elizabeth became the Queen of England to the great delight of the people. Her destiny and all actions were based on the fact that she was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn – of the father who was a great king and national leader, and the mother who represented a real Protestant, the revolutionary movement of the century.

As a monarch Elizabeth inherited a very troublesome country. That is why the age of Elizabeth is remembered as one of the great development.

Elizabeth made her first task the settlement of England’s religious affairs. As a result, a new prayer book, similar to the previous one, was adopted hoping that Catholics might in time come to prefer the national Anglican Church service to Latin mass.

Subsequently, according to a new Church doctrine people had to go to church on Sundays by law and were fined if they stayed away. Rebellion against the Crown was regarded as a sin against God.

Consequently, unlike politically dangerous forms of Protestantism in Europe, Elizabeth managed to make the Church a part of the state machine.

She wanted to stop religious struggle. Therefore, she tried to gradually spread Protestant religion, without offending the Catholics too much. However, the struggle between Catholics and Protestants continued and endangered Elizabeth’s position. But some Catholic nobles wished to remove Elizabeth and replace her with the queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart, because she was Catholic.

Mary Stuart the queen of Scots was a granddaughter of Henry VII by his daughter Margaret.

She was the heir to the English throne because she was Elizabeth’s closest relation. Mary had powerful enemies in Scotland.

Elizabeth kept Mary in the Tower of London as a prisoner for nearly twenty years. During that time several Catholic plots were discovered, which aimed at making Mary queen of England. Finally Elizabeth had to agree to Mary’s execution in 1587.

As a matter of fact, Elizabeth’s reign is known not only for its longevity, but as the Golden Age of Britain. To be more exact, the Queen reined almost 45years.

Besides she turned the poor and weak country into a great world power expending its influence overseas. In fact, Elizabeth, as well as her father and grandfather, considered trade the most important foreign policy and encouraged merchant expansion. Subsequently, England had established wide commercial contacts with all non-Catholic nations, including Russia. As far as I know, Russian timber was brought to Britain for the construction of ships which could confront Spanish fleet, as Spain did not allow England to trade in the sea.

So that Elizabeth thought it profitable to allow her “sea dogs” who were traders as well as pirates and adventurers to attack Spanish ships returning from America loaded with silver and gold. The treasure was shared with the Queen, who thus could increase her income and save people from high taxes. Her share in robbing enabled Elizabeth’s government to start a vast building program and the half-timbered style of building flourished in her time.

Besides some social measures were instituted which made masters responsible for the welfare and education of their apprentices and obliged the parishes to provide for the sick and unemployed, to look after the poor who couldn’t help themselves. Many Grammar schools, hospitals and alms-houses to look after the aged were founded, as well as professorship at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

However the peak of the country’s development was reached in 1588. In addition Elizabeth helped the Dutch Protestants. Besides, at that time, the Netherlands was part of the Spanish Empire, and King Phillip II of Spain was trying to suppress the Protestant rebellion there.

King Phillip II of Spain sent his army there. Elizabeth did the same. As a result Philip had to fight with England. He built a huge fleet of ships, which became known as the Spanish Armada. England was in danger. The two fleets were fighting for six days, and on August 9, 1588, the Armada was defeated. Only half the ships of the Armada returned to Spain. It was a great victory for England.

As far as I know, when news of the Armada reached England, in spite of the great danger, Elizabeth went to review her troops and addressed them in one of her most famous speeches. She spoke to the crews of the ships that were going to do battle with the Armada. She won their hearts by saying that she was ready “…to live or die amongst you… for my God, and for my Kingdom, and for my people… I know I am a week woman but I have the heart of a King – and a King of England too!”

It was under Elizabeth that England finally freed itself from the threat of invasion from Spain as she defeated the Spanish Armada. She also suppressed the rebellion in Ireland. That contributed to the growth of English prestige at home and abroad.

Driving back the Spanish Armada helped establishing England as "Queen of the Seas" through her defeating Spain, and helping the economy of England to prosper.

It was the time of English Renaissance. Thanks to printing an interest in art and literature spread far beyond the court. There was a wonderful harvest of art, music, poetry and most importantly of theatre.

I must say that Elizabeth’s reign was one of the greatest periods of English literature. Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were only a few of many writers who created the great works at the time.

In the theatres that sprang up just outside London plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ben Jonson were performed. William Shakespeare dominated the theatre.

Elizabeth’s court became of centre culture for English musicians, poets, scientists and artists. Moreover the English were proud of their country and their queen.

Elizabeth had won the hearts of the people and she returned that love. Since, her great skills made people forget the fact that she was a woman. They saw her as a strong and effective leader because of the great changes for the better of all her people. Queen Elizabeth changed the way we now look at woman leaders. Besides, as a leader, Elizabeth had strengths in many different areas. Her good education and memory helped in ruling the country.

In March, 1603 Elizabeth died.

She never married and was childless.

At the end when she could no longer speak, she made a sign that James , the son of Mary Stuart should succeed her.