7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603
Gloriana; The Virgin Queen; Good Queen Bess
Elizabeth I was a remarkable woman living in a remarkable age. Beautiful, brilliant, and as tough as nails, she survived and indeed thrived, ruling in an era when most women were little more than chattel. The fifth and last monarch of the Tudor Dynasty and the only queen who actually ruled England.
Born to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who her father had executed for failing to give him a male heir, Elizabeth’s early life was filled with danger. Growing up an unwanted daughter of an insane father who was destroying England’s ties to the Catholic Church and engaging in a civil war so that he could legally marry another woman (several other women, as it turned out), Elizabeth had to use all of her wits to survive. Elizabeth received an excellent education at the hands of various tutors, including the great scholars of the day. She was an outstanding student, and could speak five languages fluently.
When Henry VIII died, the throne passed to his young son, Edward VI. At fifteen Elizabeth was implicated in a plot to overthrow him. She came close to being executed, surviving only because she was able to convince her skeptical interrogators that she knew nothing of the plot.
When Edward VI died in 1553, Elizabeth’s older sister Mary assumed the throne. An ardent Catholic, Mary I was quite unpopular with a number of Protestant noblemen, who attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow her in 1554, Once again Elizabeth was implicated, but once again she talked her way out of execution. Mary I died in 1558, and at last Elizabeth was Queen.
Elizabeth was an extraordinary ruler. She established the Protestant Church as the official Church of England. However, she attempted to stem the persecution of Catholics in England – at least as much as was possible when the Catholic nobility were actively plotting her demise. She also restored the debased currency of England, a step crucially necessary to restore the nation’s flagging finances.
Elizabeth used all of the tools available to her to achieve her goals. She carefully crafted an image for herself as the “Virgin Queen,” greatly increasing popularity. She received countless offers of marriage from nobility and indeed from kings across Europe. But she accepted none of them, instead using her unmarried state to control her friends and foes alike; if one faction got too strong, she could drive them back into line by suggesting that she was considering marrying someone from an opposing faction.
Elizabeth was a great patron of the arts, particularly music and literature. She made England a centre of culture, where great artists like William Shakespeare flourished. During her reign the first English playhouse was built, followed shortly by others including Shakespeare’s Globe. And in 1574 weekday performances were made legal. An admirer of poetry, Elizabeth wrote a number of noteworthy poems herself.
Militarily, Catholic Spain was England’s greatest threat. Spain was the great continental power of the day, and its leader, King Philip, had upon more than one occasion expressed the intent of invading England. In 1588, building a huge armada to conquer the upstart nation. Elizabeth quickly organized the country’s navy to fend off the fleet, and by a combination of superior tactics, ship design, and some foul weather at just the right moment, they defeated the Spanish foe. England was not to be seriously threatened with invasion for about 400 years.
During Elizabeth’s reign England, France, Spain, and the Dutch all set up colonies in the New World. Elizabeth employed a large number of privateers to attack foreign ships and colonies, as did most other nations. Spain and its New World wealth remained the privateers’ favourite targets.
Overall, with the exception of her lucky triumph over the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth was not a successful war leader. She oversaw various half-baked military incursions into Ireland, France and the Netherlands, none of which redounded to her credit.
Elizabeth died in 1603, having ruled 45 years. Although in her later years military and economic reversals had dimmed her luster to the point that many in England were relieved that she finally passed on, history acknowledges that she left her country in a much better state than when she came to power. Her great skills were an unerring survival instinct and flair for self-promotion, personal charisma, and toughness matching that of the strongest rulers in history. No better words can serve to describe her than her own: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.”
A quote by Pope Sixtus V
“She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, By all.”
Poem by Queen Elizabeth I
The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy,
And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine annoy;
For falsehood now doth flow, and subjects’ faith doth ebb,
Which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web.
But clouds of joy untried do cloak aspiring minds,
Which turn to rain of late repent by changed course of winds.
The top of hope supposed, the root of rue shall be,
And fruitless all their grafted guile, as shortly ye shall see.
The dazzled eyes with pride, which great ambition blinds,
shall be unsealed by worthy wights whose foresight falsehood finds.
The daughter of debate that discord aye doth sow
Shall reap no gain where former rule still peace hath taught to know.
No foreign banished wight shall anchor in this port;
Our realm brooks not seditious sects, let them elsewhere resort.
My rusty sword through rest shall first his edge employ
To poll their tops that seek such change or gape for future joy.
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