Elizabeth I of England
Queen of Great Britain, Good Queen Bless, The Virgin Queen
Life/Fun Facts
Birth: September 7th, 15433 in Greenwich, England
Death: March 24th, 1603 in Surrey, England
Dates of Reign: November 1558 - 1403
Marriage: decided not to marry
Family
Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn
father and step-mother (Henry VIII's 2nd wife)
Mary Tudor
half-sister
Edward VI
brother
Approach to Government
- Elizabeth I was a diplomat.
- She wanted to bring stability to the nation caused by political and religious disagreement.
- She also wanted to contribute to the strong growth of the international trading interests of England.
Policies
Diplomat
- Elizabeth I was the supreme governor of the Church of England.
- In 1559, she passed the First Parliament because the question of the church's nature needed to be settled.
Parliament (July 1st):
- It declared Elizabeth I and Mary Tudor illegitimate
- It said the issue should pass to Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife.
- It symbolized strong victory of the Puritans.
Spanish Armada
last straw: Mary Tudor's death
- In July 1558, a navy fleet sailed to England under the declaration of Phillip II for war.
- Chaos begun, and the Spanish were chased by the English to the northern British Isles.
- Sea storms killed many during the chase.
- The English were constantly winning the battle.
- The entire war lasted fifteen years. Elizabeth I's death seemed to end the Spanish Armada.
Sir Francis Drake
- Sir Francis Drake "co-led" the English Spanish Armada navy along with Martin Frobisher and Hawkins under the command of Lord Charles Howard of Effingham. The three "sidekicks" were known as the "sea dogs."
- He aimed for the Spanish Armada to last nine days.
- He took personal action in April 1587 in Cadiz when he captured a part of the enemy, even though this action only slightly affected the war.
- His life after the Spanish Armada was uneventful. He joined the Parliament.
Compromise Between Protestants & Catholics
Charges against the Roman Catholic Church appeared in Europe.
- Martin Luther's reform movement was growing in Germnay.
- Huldrych Zwingli, a preist from Switzerland, challenged the law that priests could not marry.
- Zwingli also called a seperation of state and church.
Protestant Activity & Calvinism
- John Calvin, a reformer from France, started "predestination," or a belief where an elite group of people were decided to go to Heaven before birth in Geneva.
- Calvin's followers helped him spread his religion throughout Europe, especially in France, where Calvinists were known as Huguenots, and England, where Puritanism sprouted.
Radical Protestantism was a way for peasants and nobles to abandon the laws and monarchs of the Roman Catholic Church.
Achievements
- Elizabeth I traded with and raided Spanish America.
- She also increased the number of shipbuilding seafarers from 15,000 to 50,000 during the war with Spain.
- Additionally, she exported raw wool from London to Antwerp, which made up at least ninety percent of English trade.
England During the 1500s
When Elizabeth I was in reign, this is what her country was like. It was much different than what it is in modern day.