Elizabeth I

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 Died
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Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603)

Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch - was born at Greenwich on 7 September
1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Her
early life was full of uncertainties, and her chances of succeeding to the
throne seemed very slight once her half-brother Edward was born in 1537. She was
then third in line behind her Roman Catholic half-sister, Princess Mary. Roman
Catholics, indeed, always considered her illegitimate and she only narrowly
escaped execution in the wake of a failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554.

Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister's death in November
1558. She was very well-educated (fluent in six languages), and had inherited
intelligence, determination and shrewdness from both parents.

Her
45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English
history. During it a secure Church of England was established. Its doctrines
were laid down in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism.

Elizabeth herself refused to 'make
windows into men's souls ... there is only one Jesus Christ and all the rest is
a dispute over trifles'; she asked for outward uniformity.

Most of her
subjects accepted the compromise as the basis of their faith, and her church
settlement probably saved England from religious wars like those which France
suffered in the second half of the 16th century.

Although autocratic and capricious, Elizabeth had astute political judgement
and chose her ministers well; these included Burghley (Secretary of State),
Hatton (Lord Chancellor) and Walsingham (in charge of intelligence and also a
Secretary of State).

Overall, Elizabeth's administration consisted of
some 600 officials administering the great offices of state, and a similar
number dealing with the Crown lands (which funded the administrative costs).
Social and economic regulation and law and order remained in the hands of the
sheriffs at local level, supported by unpaid justices of the
peace.

Elizabeth's reign also saw many brave voyages of discovery,
including those of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert,
particularly to the Americas. These expeditions prepared England for an age of
colonisation and trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognised by
establishing the East India Company in 1600.

The arts flourished during Elizabeth's reign. Country houses such as Longleat
and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high point,
theatres thrived - the Queen attended the first performance of Shakespeare's 'A
Midsummer Night's Dream'. Composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Tallis
worked in Elizabeth's court and at the Chapel Royal, St. James's
Palace.

The image of Elizabeth's reign is one of triumph and success. The
Queen herself was often called 'Gloriana', 'Good Queen Bess' and 'The Virgin
Queen'.

Investing in expensive clothes and jewellery (to look the part,
like all contemporary sovereigns), she cultivated this image by touring the
country in regional visits known as 'progresses', often riding on horseback
rather than by carriage. Elizabeth made at least 25 progresses during her reign.

However, Elizabeth's reign was one of considerable danger and difficulty for
many, with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France
through Scotland. Much of northern England was in rebellion in 1569-70. A papal
bull of 1570 specifically released Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance,
and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots against her life
were discovered.

One such plot involved Mary, Queen of Scots, who had
fled to England in 1568 after her second husband's murder and her subsequent
marriage to a man believed to have been involved in his murder.

As a
likely successor to Elizabeth, Mary spent 19 years as Elizabeth's prisoner
because Mary was the focus for rebellion and possible assassination plots, such
as the Babington Plot of 1586.

Mary was also a temptation for potential
invaders such as Philip II. In a letter of 1586 to Mary, Elizabeth wrote, 'You
have planned ... to take my life and ruin my kingdom ... I never proceeded so
harshly against you.' Despite Elizabeth's reluctance to take drastic action, on
the insistence of Parliament and her advisers, Mary was tried, found guilty and
executed in 1587.

In 1588, aided by bad weather, the English navy scored a great victory over
the Spanish invasion fleet of around 130 ships - the 'Armada'. The Armada was
intended to overthrow the Queen and re-establish Roman Catholicism by conquest,
as Philip II believed he had a claim to the English throne through his marriage
to Mary.

During Elizabeth's long reign, the nation also suffered from
high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside,
during the 1590s. The war against Spain was not very successful after the Armada
had been beaten and, together with other campaigns, it was very costly.

Though she kept a tight rein on government expenditure, Elizabeth left
large debts to her successor. Wars during Elizabeth's reign are estimated to
have cost over £5 million (at the prices of the time) which Crown revenues could
not match - in 1588, for example, Elizabeth's total annual revenue amounted to
some £392,000.

Despite the combination of financial strains and
prolonged war after 1588, Parliament was not summoned more often. There were
only 16 sittings of the Commons during Elizabeth's reign, five of which were in
the period 1588-1601. Although Elizabeth freely used her power to veto
legislation, she avoided confrontation and did not attempt to define
Parliament's constitutional position and rights.

Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would
have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her
sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could
have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage
prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies.

However,
the 'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal
happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, 'married'.

Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called 'Golden Speech'
of 1601 when she told MPs: 'There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price,
which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.' She seems to have been very
popular with the vast majority of her subjects.

Overall, Elizabeth's always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive leadership
brought successes during a period of great danger both at home and abroad. She
died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, having become a legend in her
lifetime. The date of her accession was a national holiday for two hundred
years.