Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I ruled England for 44 years with relative stability and prosperity, a period known as the Elizabethan era. During her reign, she earned the nicknames Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess, and Gloriana. What did she do to earn these nicknames, how did she become Queen in the first place, what challenges did she face, and what was her legacy? Read on to find out.

Elizabeth I’s Early Years and Siblings

Elizabeth I was born at Greenwich Palace on 7 September 1533 to King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. She got her name from her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard.

Fig. 1 - Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, parents to Elizabeth

Since Henry divorced his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, Elizabeth’s half-sister Mary became illegitimate. As a result, Elizabeth became heir presumptive at birth, which meant she would inherit the throne unless an heir apparent were born. The heir apparent was usually a boy who was first in the line to the throne and could not be replaced unless he died.

Elizabeth did not remain heir for long. On 19 May 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded, and Elizabeth became illegitimate with the end of her marriage to Henry VIII. In 1537, her half-brother Edward was born to Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, and he became heir apparent.

Elizabeth I Portraits

Let us take a look at some of the portraits of Elizabeth I

Fig. 2 - Portrait of a young Princess Elizabeth

When Henry VIII died in 1547, Edward VI became King at the age of nine. What happened to Elizabeth at this point?

• She lived with her stepmother Katherine Parr, who married Thomas Seymour.

• Seymour acted flirtatiously with Princess Elizabeth, who was fourteen at the time, and this inappropriate behaviour eventually led to Elizabeth being sent away.

• Thomas Seymour was incredibly jealous of his brother Edward, who was made King Edward VI’s Lord Protector.

• He was arrested for treason and accused of plotting to marry Elizabeth to rule the kingdom after the death of Katherine Parr. Elizabeth was cleared of all charges, but Thomas Seymour was not so lucky and was beheaded.

Edward VI died in 1553, aged 15 and named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor. She only ruled as Queen for nine days before she gave up the throne to Mary I. Mary and Elizabeth were close for a time, but this changed as Mary was a devout Catholic and Elizabeth a Protestant.

Mary I died on 17 November 1558, and Elizabeth became Queen at age 25.

Elizabeth’s reign was eventful and saw a lot of change in England. She tackled the issue of religion, oversaw an era of global exploration and trade, and faced threats from Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Armada.

Upon becoming Queen, Elizabeth immediately began to form her government. She reduced the size of the Privy Council considerably, partly to get rid of the Catholic members and partly to make it more efficient.

Queen Elizabeth I and Religion

Ever since Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII had left the Catholic Church in 1534 and founded the Church of England, religion began to cause many problems in England with a divide between Catholics and protestants. The religious policies of her siblings had intensified this turmoil, especially as Mary I reversed the country’s religious policy, prosecuting protestants and reviving Catholicism.

Elizabeth aimed to end this religious upheaval through what is known as the Elizabethan Religious Settlement – a collective name for the policies she passed on the issue of religion. Let’s look at some of the critical elements of the Religious Settlement below.

• The 1559 Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth Supreme Governor of the Church of England – those who worked in the church had to take an oath of supremacy. It prohibited any foreign leadership of the church, and not recognising Elizabeth as Supreme Governor was treason.

• The 1559 Act of Uniformity laid the foundations of Elizabethan church services. Everyone was expected to attend Anglican services once a week or be fined one shilling, equivalent to three days of wages.

• The Act of Uniformity restored Edward VI’s 1552 Book of Common Prayer but with a few revisions to appease Catholics, such as removing a prayer against the Pope.

• The 1559 Royal Injunctions Act reinforced the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, banning ‘superstition’ from religious services and requiring clergymen to report recusants – those who refused to attend church services.

• The Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563, finalised in 1571, laid down the doctrines of the Church of England. They were quite ambiguous to allow for people of different Christian faiths but were against many aspects of Catholicism.

So, was the Religious Settlement a success?

Mary Stuart, or Mary, Queen of Scots, had always been an issue for Elizabeth. Mary was the granddaughter of Henry VIII’s elder sister, Margaret Tudor, and she was Catholic. Many English Catholics considered Mary to be the rightful heir to the English throne.

Fig. 3 - Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots

Queen Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy

The Elizabethan era saw a shift in the way England interacted with the world concerning trade and exploration.

Trade in the Elizabethan Era

Until the 15th century, luxury goods such as spices and silk were transported from China to England via land routes. Things changed when long(er) sea journeys became possible in the 15th century. Elizabethan adventurers changed English trade enormously as they discovered sea routes that opened up new markets.

Thus, four new trading companies emerged:

Global Exploration in the Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan era was a time of global exploration for many countries. The Spanish and Portuguese empires were the first to colonise the New World of the Americas, followed by the Dutch, French, and English. The English had their sights set on North America, where no Europeans had yet colonised.

Let’s have a look at the progress made under Queen Elizabeth I.

The lost colony of Roanoke

Elizabeth I granted Sir Walter Raleigh the right to explore the New World. He led two expeditions and then sent a team to colonise Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina in 1585. The colonisation failed, but another attempt was made in 1587. The governor of this new colony John White returned to England to stock up on supplies and report on the colony’s progress but upon his return, the entire colony had vanished, which is why it is known as the lost colony of Roanoke.

The failure of the Roanoke Colony in the area that Raleigh named Virginia after Elizabeth (the Virgin Queen) ended colonisation attempts for nearly two decades. The colony pathed the way for future colonisation after Elizabeth’s death when the Virginia Colony flourished.

Fig. 4 - Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician during Elizabethan times.

Francis Drake’s key achievements included:

• Discovery of the Straits of Magellan, a sea route at the tip of South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

• Discovery of Tierra del Fuego, islands south of the Magellan Strait

• Discovery of America’s north coast; Drake sailed further than any other European before him and landed in what is now San Francisco, naming it Nova Albion (New England).

• He was the first person to sail around the globe.

Fig. 5 - Portrait of Sir Francis Drake

Queen Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada

The greatest threat during Elizabeth I’s reign was Spain.

Sir Francis Drake had undertaken major voyages against Spanish ports in the Caribbean in 1585 and 1586, and he made a successful raid on Cádiz (southwestern Spain) in 1587. With his raid on Cádiz, he destroyed a Spanish fleet of warships that were to attack England.

Nevertheless, on 12 July 1588, the Spanish Armada set sail from the Netherlands to England’s southeast coast with a great fleet of ships. Sir Francis Drake was second-in-command to Admiral Charles Howard, who commanded the English fleet against the Spanish.

Due to a combination of miscalculation, misfortune, bad weather, and an attack of English fire ships, on 29 July 1588, the Spanish Armada was defeated, and with it, the threat of Spain to England.

Before the English attack on the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth gave an impressive speech at Tilbury in 1588. A famous quote from this speech read:

Fig. 6 - Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I to commemorate defeating the Spanish Armada

Queen Elizabeth I’s Death and Succession

Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603. Her health declined in autumn 1602 when a series of friends’ deaths plunged her into a deep depression. She died without having any children, ending the 118 year Tudor reign.

So, who would succeed Elizabeth given she had no children? The government, directed by Robert Cecil, the son of Elizabeth’s senior adviser William Cecil, placed James Stuart, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne. James Stuart was already James VI King of Scotland, and on 24 March 1603, he also became James I, King of England and Ireland.

Fig. 7 - Portrait of King James VI of Scotland and I of England and Ireland

Elizabeth I’s Legacy and Accomplishments

• The Elizabethan Era is called the ‘Golden Age’, represented by the English Renaissance with poetry, literature, and music.

• Elizabeth thoroughly established the Church of England with the Religious Settlement, which helped shape today’s national identity.

• Many voyages and discoveries took place in the Elizabethan era.

• Several trading companies, such as the East India Company, were established.

• Under Elizabeth’s rule, England defeated the Spanish Armada.

• In 1586–87, Queen Elizabeth I paid Sir Francis Walsingham to set up England’s first counterintelligence network and a school to teach cypher-breaking and forgery, which was the forerunner of today’s intelligence services.

• In 1601, the Elizabethan Poor Law was introduced, requiring every parish to care for the ‘lame, impotent, old, and blind’. This law evolved and the modern welfare state of the 20th century replaced it.

The image of Elizabeth’s reign is one of triumph and success, hence why she was often called ‘Gloriana’ or ‘Good Queen Bess’.

Queen Elizabeth I Facts

• Elizabeth had a sweet tooth. She had a particular fondness for candied violets. The sugar cane eventually caused her teeth to turn black.

• Elizabeth spoke and read at least seven languages: English, Welsh, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and French.

• Elizabeth was somewhat Catholic. Not only did she sometimes wear a crucifix, but she was also Catholic during Mary I’s reign, at least outwardly.

• Elizabeth survived smallpox as a young woman. However, the scars on her face don’t ever show in portraits, which may be one of the reasons she always wore a lot of makeup.

• At the time of her death, Elizabeth I was 69 years old, making her the oldest monarch in English history at the time.