Queen Elizabeth I of England:

Glorious Major Contributor of the Renaissance and Reformation

Eras

Crystal Weissenberger

HIS 4466 Renaissance & Reformation

Troy University

October 6, 2004

Queen Elizabeth I of England:

Glorious Major Contributor of the Renaissance and Reformation

Eras

Crystal Weissenberger

Elizabeth Tudor was born on September 7, 1533, at Greenwich

Palace. She was the second daughter of King Henry VIII of

England, and the only surviving child of his second wife, Anne

Boleyn. Her father was so disappointed in the birth of his second

daughter that he cancelled all the pageantry that he had arranged

in his anticipation of his heir’s arrival. Anne had been the

reason for Henry’s break from the Holy Roman Catholic Church –

the Church would not let him set aside his first wife, Catherine

of Aragon, in order to marry Anne who was instrumental in first

bringing Protestantism to England. She convinced Henry that he

should be the leader of the new Church of England. Henry soon

tired of Anne as she failed to bring to term any more live issue.

He would have Elizabeth’s mother beheaded on charges of

witchcraft and adultery when Elizabeth was barely two years old.1

1 The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). (2006, August 10). The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Retrieved September 25, 2014, from

4

Elizabeth would vindicate her mother’s death by reinstating

Protestantism and becoming England’s greatest ruler. She would

become a female who dominated not only her home country in

political and religious reform, but she would also be successful

in the international realm as well. “Tall, red-haired, and

temperamental, she was to become every inch a queen, dominating

and unpredictable, using both royal anger and gentleness. Her

single guiding principle seems to have been an utter devotion to

her country and its interests.”2 Queen Elizabeth I of England

ushered in a “Golden Age” of prosperity for her country through

religious and political diplomacy and action as well as promoting

culture and the arts which would make her the major contributor

of the Renaissance and Reformation eras.

What would give her the advantage over her male

counterparts? She would be educated as a true Renaissance

noblewoman. Her lifelong companion, Kat Ashley, would see that

Elizabeth was instructed “in astronomy, geography, history,

mathematics, French, and other languages.”3 Her first official http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizabio.htm.2 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J. (2010). Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, pg. 323.3 Bingham, J. (2012). The Tudors: The Kings and Queens of England's Golden Age. New York: Metro Books, pg. 146.

5

tutor was Cambridge scholar William Grindal who “introduced

Elizabeth to Greek and Latin literature, giving her a lifelong

passion for the classics.” Her next tutor in 1548 would be “the

Protestant humanist Roger Ascham” who would teach her about

“classical studies, theology, French, and Italian.” He would brag

on how Elizabeth was “the brightest star” compared with the other

young noblewomen of her era, and “her mind was free of the usual

‘womanly weakness,’ being instead ‘endued with a masculine power

of application.’”4 She would be fluent in Latin, French, and

Italian and a smattering of other languages as well. All of her

education meant Elizabeth was a rare jewel for England: highly

educated in languages, humanism, and all the other Renaissance

gifts. This would give her a basic background to meet the

challenges of the future.

Her first political trial would be after her father died,

and her brother Edward VI ascended the throne. She was sent to

live with Henry VIII’s last wife Catherine Parr and her ambitious

new husband Lord Thomas Seymour, brother of the Lord Protector,

4 Ibid, pg. 147; 153 and Greenblatt, S. (2012). The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Sixteenth Century/The Early Seventeenth Century. Vol. B (9th ed.). New York: W.W.Norton, pg. 749.

6

Somerset. Thomas would pay “indelicate attentions to Elizabeth.”

When Catherine, then pregnant, realized the danger to Elizabeth,

she sent her away, but when Seymour was arrested for “other

misbehavior,” the sordid details of the whole messy affair would

be brought under public speculation. This would be Elizabeth’s

“first lessons in the arts of self-defense.”5 Her first

experience in dalliance-gone-awry would have a major impact on

her life. She had felt the first shiver of danger to not only her

life, but also her place in the succession to England’s throne –

and that would be something she was unwilling to risk for a mere

man.

When her sister Mary arose to the throne after their

brother’s death, Elizabeth was careful to always show herself to

be a loyal subject to Catholic Mary I. “She would not renounce

her Protestantism until Catholicism had been made the law of the

land, but she followed Gardiner’s advice to her father when he

said it was better that he should make the law his will than try

to make his will the law.” The Princess would be unable to avoid

5 The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). (2006, August 10). The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Retrieved September 25, 2014, from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizabio.htm.

7

the plots that would spring up around her without her knowledge

or consent, however. Protestants would be persistent in

attempting to replace “Bloody Mary” with her Protestant sister,

Elizabeth.

Elizabeth would be “sent to the Tower in March 1544” after

the incident called Wyatt’s Rebellion. She would steadfastly deny

any knowledge or involvement with the affair. Later she was

“transferred to Sir Henry Bedingford’s charge at Woodstock.”6

While there she would carve into her window these lines:

Much suspected of me,Nothing proved can be,

Quoth Elizabeth, prisoner.7

This couplet tells us much of the young woman’s fortitude in the

face of adversity. She had courage, and had faith in her belief

that she was destined to one day rule England. By “Christmas…

Elizabeth was once more received at Court” by her sister. She

would move to Hatfield “in the autumn of 1555…where she spent

most of the rest of Mary’s reign, enjoying the lessons of

6 Ibid.7 Elizabeth I Poem: Written with a Diamond on her Window at Woodstock. (2006, December 4). Elizabeth I Poem: Written with a Diamond on her Window at Woodstock. Retrieved September 25, 2014, from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizawoodstock2.htm.

8

Ascham.”8 Elizabeth would succeed Mary I in November 17, 1558.9

The “Golden Age” had begun.

Queen Elizabeth I’s first challenge would be to bring about

religious peace to her troubled kingdom. She had no desire to

“make windows into men’s souls” and she would be content “as long

as her subjects gave an outward show of conformity.” 10 Elizabeth

gave a speech in 1559 to Parliament urging them to pass her

Religious Settlement. The eloquent speech castigates the advisors

present for the parts they played in the past in helping her

sister Mary I with the Inquisition in England:

Our realm and subjects have been long wanderers, walking astray whilst they were under the tuition of Romish Pastors, who advised them to own aWolf for their head (in lieu of a careful Shepherd) whose inventions, heresies, and schisms be so numerous, that the flock of Christ have fed on poisonous shrubs for want of wholesome pastures.11

8 The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). (2006, August 10). The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Retrieved September 25, 2014, from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizabio.htm.9 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J. (2013). The Complete Illustrated History of the Kings & Queens of Britain: A Magnificent and Authoritative History of the Royalty of Britain, the Rulers, Their Consorts and Families, and the Pretenders to the Throne (2013 ed.). London: Aness Publishing Ltd, pg. 114.10 Elizabeth I. (n.d.). BBC News. Retrieved September 30, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/elizabeth_I.11 Queen Elizabeth I: Response on Religion, 1559. (2006, December 6). Queen Elizabeth I: Response on Religion, 1559.. Retrieved September 25, 2014, from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizspeechreligion.htm.

9

In April 1559, “The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity established

Elizabeth as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England,” and

implemented her cautious changes.12

In the early years of her reign she knew she had to act

gently in returning the nation’s religion to Protestantism

because “many Catholic gentry held important positions in local

governments.” She felt that if her countrymen who were Catholic

were to remain “loyal to the Queen and discreet in their worship,

she” could accept them.13 This would be the first example that

“she would not be a figurehead,” and she would hold “firmly to

the reins of power, subtly manipulating factional disputes,

conducting diplomacy, and negotiating with an often contentious

Parliament.”14 Elizabeth had no wish to see her country decimated

by religious strife. She felt that England needed unity above all

other things. “Under Elizabeth there would be no religious

persecution. She discouraged religious fanaticism of any kind,

and actively banned the preaching of contentious sermons.”15 12 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J., pg. 114.13 Elizabeth I and the Catholic Church. (n.d.). Elizabeth I and the Catholic Church. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/elizabeth_catholic_church.htm.14 Greenblatt, S. (2012). The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Sixteenth Century/The Early Seventeenth Century. Vol. B (9th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton, pg. 750.15 Bingham, J., pg. 166.

10

Tolerance would be her basic policy – as long as it did not

threaten her life, her throne, or her people. Unfortunately, two

other national powers would do just that: Mary, Queen of Scots,

and Philip II of Spain, her former brother-in-law.

Driven from her own Protestant country, Catholic Mary of

Scotland would come to England to seek protection and help from

her English cousin, Elizabeth. Mary came after she had been

imprisoned for the death of her husband, Lord Darnley (another

cousin of Mary’s and Elizabeth’s). Their infant son would became

James VI of Scotland when his mother was convicted (He would also

eventually be Elizabeth’s heir). Mary had been having an affair

with the ambitious Bothwell, and they wished to marry so they

murdered her husband in a house explosion. Convicted in Scotland

for the murder, Mary escaped with help to England in 1568. She

would be unable to stop herself from trying to usurp Elizabeth’s

throne. There were myriad problems with having Mary as a “guest”:

Mary’s arrival on English soil put Elizabeth in an awkward position. Shedid not want to outrage Scottish Protestant sensibilities by attempting to restore the convicted Catholic murderess to her throne. Elizabeth also did not want to turn Mary over to her subjects for execution; the death of a fellow sovereign would establish a dangerous precedent.16

16 Zophy, J. W. (1996). A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe: Dances Over Fire and Water. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, pg. 237.

11

Elizabeth had a review made of Mary’s crime so that she could

decide what would be the right course of action. The answer came

back “inconclusive.” Mary would remain as Elizabeth’s “guest” for

nineteen years. Time and again, Mary would be involved in plots

to take Elizabeth’s throne.

Elizabeth would write to her in 1586: “You have planned…to

take my life and ruin my kingdom…I never proceeded so harshly

against you.”17 This was right after “another Catholic

conspiracy” arose around Mary. The plot was discovered by Francis

Walsingham and his spies. The plot was “led by Anthony

Babington,” and Mary made a huge mistake – she “agreed in writing

to support the assassination of her cousin and replace her as

queen of England.” Elizabeth could no longer prevaricate. Mary

was tried and convicted. Mary would go to “the chopping block in

February 1587.”18

James VI of Scotland did nothing more than make a token

formal protest over his mother’s execution. He and Elizabeth had

17 Elizabeth I. (n.d.). The Official Website of the British Monarchy. Retrieved September 20, 2014, from http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueensofengland/thetudors/elizabethi.aspx. 18 Zophy, J. W., pg. 238.

12

signed the Treaty of Berwick in 1586 that “created a bond between

England and Scotland and pledged mutual help against invasion.”19

James had hopes of succeeding Elizabeth so he would not act

aggressively towards her over the death of the woman he perceived

to be the slayer of his father. As for Elizabeth’s Catholic

subjects, this plot “only served to further discredit the Church

of Rome and its loyal adherents.”20 Mary’s execution was seen as

justified in England and only strengthened the people’s loyalty

for their Queen and filled them with a sense of nationalism.

Elizabeth’s major contender on the world stage was Philip II

of Spain – her ex-brother-in-law. After Mary’s death and

Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, Philip had pursued her hand

in marriage. Elizabeth did what she does best: she prevaricated

and then politely refused. She could not possibly marry a

Catholic, and she pointed out that she could not marry her former

brother-in-law. The irony in the situation echoed back to her

father’s having married his deceased brother’s former wife,

Catherine of Aragon. Philip wanted to bring England back to

19 Cawthorne, N. (2010). The kings & Queens of England: From the Saxon Kings to the House of Windsor. New York: Metro Books, pg. 123.20 Zophy, J. W., pg. 233.

13

Catholicism and used his past marriage to Mary I to justify his

right to Elizabeth’s throne. With the death of the Catholic Mary,

Queen of Scots, Philip decided that time had come to act. He

would launch his “Armada” in 1588 against England. It was “the

largest fleet the world had ever seen.”21

Elizabeth would ride to Tilbury to meet her troops and rally

them with her presence and fortitude. The speech was given on

August 9, 1958, and Elizabeth would tell her beloved soldiers: “…

being resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to live and

die amongst you all, to lay down for my God and my kingdom and

for my people mine honor and my blood even in the dust…I know I

have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the

heart and stomach of a king, and king of England too”22 Before

the Armada could leave port, Sir Francis Drake had sailed “into

Cadiz harbor” and set “fire to some of the Spanish galleons

anchored there.” This would be called as the “singeing of the

King of Spain’s beard.” The rest “of the Armada reached the

English Channel, where” they were “destroyed, partly by superior

21 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J., pg. 345. 22 Greenblatt, S., pg. 762-763.

14

English tactics and partly by a huge storm promptly dubbed (by

the victor’s, at least) the ‘Protestant Wind.’”23

The defeat of the Spanish Armada would be Elizabeth I’s most

glorious military triumph. When King Henry III of France heard of

the victory, he said that Elizabeth’s “victory ‘would compare

with the greatest feats of the most illustrious men of past

times,’ and Pope Sixtus’ response was even admiring, “claiming

that ‘she certainly is a great queen, and were she only a

Catholic she would be our dearly beloved daughter! She is only a

woman, only mistress of half an island, and she makes herself

feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all!’”24 Elizabeth

had earned the admiration of her peers despite being a single,

unmarried woman. The defeat of the Armada would be a pivotal

moment for Elizabeth I and England. It would safeguard her

“religious settlement,” boost “the reputation of the English

fleet,” and consolidate “the growing self-confidence of the

English. The victory also marked a shift in power from Catholic

southern Europe to Protestant northern countries.”25 Gloriana had

23 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J., pg. 345. 24 Bingham, J., pg. 188.25 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J. pg. 123.

15

insured her place in history as a major Renaissance and

Reformation leader in politics and religion. She had proven

herself a formidable foe and protected her beloved England.

During what is now called the Elizabethan period there was

“a great flourishing of the arts, actively encouraged by the

queen and her courtiers.”26 Elizabeth’s excellent Renaissance

education by Grendal and Ascham had prepared her to be a lover of

the current culture. It has been said that “by the end of the

sixteenth century, under the influence of humanism, a brilliant

cultural life had developed in Elizabethan England” which was

named “after the queen who ruled her country for almost a century

from 1558 to 1603.”27 England was undoubtedly “one of the

greatest centers of cultural achievement in Northern Renaissance

times.”28 Her reign would see great English participators in

astronomy and the sciences, music, painting, and literature –

including poetry and drama.

Astronomy was a basic part of the life of a sovereign, and

“Elizabeth consulted Dr. John Dee on the most auspicious date”

26 Bingham, J., pg. 195.27 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J., pg. 323-324.28 Ibid, pg. 323.

16

for her coronation. “Drawing on his extensive knowledge of

astrology, he settled on Sunday 15 January.” He would be

Elizabeth’s and her court’s astrologist and scientific advisor as

well as helping “her captains to plan their voyages of discovery,

and [he] was a passionate advocate for the establishment of

English colonies in the New World.” As he aged, he would face

“personal ruin and sought support from Elizabeth, who made him

Warden of Christ’s College in Manchester.”29 Elizabeth depended

on the science of her day for planning all her great events, and

would remain Dee’s faithful friend for the rest of his life. Also

in England William Gilbert would find “that the earth was a large

magnet” and the earth’s pole “points approximately north.” He

would be the founder of the idea of “magnetism.” The logarithm

would also be developed by an Englishman, John Napier. This

“practical mathematical tool” would “greatly” reduce “the time

and effort needed to solve difficult equations.”30 England

contributed important ideas to the Renaissance in science during

the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

29 Ibid, pg. 158. 30 Ibid, pg. 334.

17

Elizabeth would also reward “the musical genius of the great

sacred composers Thomas Tallis…and William Byrd…by granting them,

a monopoly license to print and sell music in England in 1575.”

31 Tallis “spent more than forty years of his life as an organist

of the Chapel Royal at the English court.” While he officially

composed “works for formal Protestant occasions, he also wrote

Latin motifs and Catholic masses.”32 One of his pupils was

William Byrd who is hailed as the “foremost English composer of

the Elizabethan age.” Byrd “wrote music for the virginal, several

secular instrumental and voice pieces…as well as music for the

Catholic and Protestant church, including three Latin masses.” 33

His most famous composition is “a particularly beautiful elegy

for voice and strings, Ye Sacred Muses, inspired by the death of

Tallis.”34 One of the most popular composers for the common

people was Thomas Morley. They were madrigals which “are

lighthearted in tone and fast moving, using refrains such as ‘Fa-

la-la’…written for amateur singers who chose to make music for

their own pleasure, it demanded little technical skills.” His

31 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J., pg. 129.32 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J., pg. 348.33 Ibid, pg. 605.34 Ibid, pg. 348.

18

music is considered “the perfect illustration of one of the chief

aspects of Renaissance music especially that aimed at domestic

consumption.”35 All courts had musicians for entertainment, and

Elizabeth was notorious for loving music and dancing. She felt

that a light diet and dancing kept her youthful.

Nicholas Hilliard would be considered “the pre-eminent

portrait artist of” his era. “He worked mainly in miniature – an

art known to Elizabethans as ‘limning’ – and was also a jeweler

and goldsmith. In 1572 he was appointed the queen’s official

limner.” Among his accomplishments would be designing her “second

great seal” in 1584.36 He would paint the famous portrait Ermine

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I in 1585. In the painting there is “an

ermine on the queen’s sleeve” which symbolizes “virginity.” The

whole painting is “a symbol of her majesty, not intended to show

her actual appearance.”37 Halliard is considered by some to be

“the only English painter of note during the sixteenth century,”

and the opinion is given that “when Hilliard turned to larger

works, specifically to portraits of Queen Elizabeth, he was

35 Ibid, pg. 349.36 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J., pg. 129.37 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J., pg. 345.

19

inevitably inhibited by his monarch’s demand for a painting that

would look regal and imposing rather than realistic.”38 In

Elizabeth’s defense, however, that is the look that she spent a

lifetime creating; it was as much political as it was vain. She

had created an image for her subjects and for the entire

international community of the Virgin Queen in which she was

capable and undefeated.

An additional painting of Hilliard’s which does not have

Elizabeth as the subject is a miniature named A Young Man, ca.

1600. It is a “tiny painting from a playing card approximately

two inches square,” and it “represents the ‘other side’ of

Elizabethan love poetry: passion replaces languor. The image of

the lover tormented by the ‘fire’ of his mistress’s eyes or the

hellish inner torment of desire was common.” Around the young

man’s neck is a “locket” which he holds and “presumably contains

another miniature: a portrait of his beloved.”39

There certainly were other talented English painters. In the

Stapleton Collection at the Bridgeman Art Library is Robert

38 Ibid, pg. 346.39 Greenblatt, S., pg. C6.

20

Peake’s Elizabeth I in Procession, ca. 1600. The description of the

painting is informative about Elizabeth:

Carried on a litter like an image of the virgin in the religious processions of previous centuries, the gorgeously arrayed Queen Elizabeth is shown…as a time-defying icon of purity and power. When the painting was executed, the queen was sixty-seven years old. Until the end of her life she continued her custom of going on ‘Progresses’ through the realm: surrounded by her courtiers and ladies in waiting, she would venture forth to show herself to her people…40

In this one, as in Halliard’s, the Queen is depicted as “larger

than life.” The persona that Elizabeth created helped to keep her

subjects happy and her country safe. Gloriana would use whatever

means were at her disposal to accomplish those goals – and, if it

made her look “regal and majestic” that was a bonus. Not all

paintings in England were about Elizabeth, of course. John White’s

watercolor named The Wife and Daughter of a Chief, ca. 1585 accompanied

“Thomas Hariot’s Brief and True Report of the New-found Land of Virginia”

which chronicles the “Algonkian life as seen by the English

voyagers.”41 The painting depicts a natively dressed American

Indian woman and child. The child is holding an Elizabethan doll

decked out in high necked, belled dress. Gifts such as this were

often given to the natives as tokens of friendship.

40 Ibid, pg. C6.41 Ibid, pg. C3.

21

In Elizabethan England a Renaissance inside the Renaissance

era occurred, and “William Shakespeare is usually considered to

be the greatest writer using the English language, and his work

was of fundamental importance in establishing English as a

literary vehicle.” Elizabeth herself was a huge admirer “of

dramas and pageants, and many plays had their preview at her

court, including Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in 1601.”42 This was not

Shakespeare’s first play, however, that the Queen would enjoy.

Elizabeth liked his “History of Henry IV, with the Humorous Conceits of Sir John

Falstaff in 1597” so much “that she asked for a new play showing

Falstaff ‘in love.’” Shakespeare would write The Merry Wives of

Windsor for her in response to her wishes. It was “first played

in 1600.”43 She would prove a champion to “the actor’s companies

in their struggle against the Puritans who wished to close their

playhouses down, and even founded her own acting company, known

as the Queen’s Men.”44 Elizabeth’s love of pageantry and keen wit

would see her supporting all the literary arts, but drama

indubitably had a special appeal to her.

42 Bingham, J., pg. 196.43 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J. pg. 129.44 Bingham, J., pg. 196.

22

Also during Elizabeth I’s reign, there “featured such

incredible literary talents as the bold dramatist Christopher

Marlowe, the poet Edmund Spenser, the poet’s Sir Philip Sidney,

and his sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke, among many others.”45

Marlowe’s works are said to have had the potential to rival

Shakespeare’s if he had not died early in a tavern brawl. His

“works include the monumental two-part Tamburlaine, a vast tragic

drama that explores the limits of human power; exuberant erotic

verse like his Hero and Leander; and his greatest masterpiece, Dr.

Faustus.”46 The poet “Spenser wrote one of the best known poems of

the Tudor age as an elaborate compliment to his monarch. The Faerie

Queen is a verse epic in six books…At the head of the poem is

Gloriana, the Faerie Queen, a poetic embodiment of Queen

Elizabeth.” The poets of Elizabethan England “were always welcome

at court,” and not only Spenser, but the two Sidney siblings were

close to Elizabeth.47 Mary Sidney was especially close to the

Queen, and Mary “impressed” Elizabeth “with her fluency in

languages and her skills in music and embroidery. Like the queen,

45 Zophy, J. W., pg. 141.46 Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J., pg. 350.47Bingham, J., pg. 196.

23

Mary dispensed patronage to other poets, including several

women.”48

Elizabeth herself was a prolific writer, and we have copies

of some of her “carefully crafted letters and speeches...a number

of prayers; prose and verse translations, including works of

Horace, Seneca, Plutarch, Boethius Calvin, and the French

Protestant Queen Margaret of Navarre; and a few original poems.”

Her poetry seems to be about “actual events in her life,” and

they show us “an exceptionally agile, poised, and self-conscious

writer, a gifted role-player fully in control of the rhetorical

as well as political situation in which she found herself.”49 Her

speeches are eloquent and moving. She was obviously an

accomplished writer and public speaker. Elizabeth’s appeals to

Parliament, to the soldiers at Tilbury, and to other government

functionaries and diplomats were most effective in getting her

the results that she wanted.

Queen Elizabeth I of England would die at Richmond Palace in

Surrey on March 24, 1603.50 The Golden Age came to an end. James

48 Zophy, J. W., pg. 141.49 Greenblatt, S., pg. 750.50 Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J., pg. 114.

24

IV of Scotland would ascend the throne of England as James I. It

was an end of an era. Hailed as “the most powerful woman of her

time,” she told her “Parliament in 1601 after forty-three years

as queen that ‘to wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them

that see it, than it is a pleasure to them that bear it.”51 She

gave everything she had – personal life, intelligence, probably

even her health – to England and its people. Elizabeth “set her

mark indelibly on the age that has come to bear her name. Endowed

with intelligence, courage, cunning, and a talent for self-

display, she managed to survive and flourish in a world that

would easily have crushed a weaker person.”52

Elizabeth had grown from infancy to young adulthood in a

world full of fear and treachery. The people who should have

protected her were too busy with their own lives to pay much

attention to a precocious child. She knew that she had

disappointed her father by being a girl, but she used her

intelligence and courage to become a greater ruler than even he

had been. Elizabeth’s reign was filled with religious and

51 Herman, E. (2006). Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics. New York: W. Morrow, pg. 295.52 Greenblatt, S., pg. 749.

25

political peace (compared to other nations of her time), and the

flowering of the Renaissance culture and arts. Her patronage of

the arts made England not just a military power, but a civilized

power. Elizabeth made her little island culture an international

supremacy to be reckoned with, and a learned people as well who

would be able to take advantage of the life she gave them.

Queen Elizabeth I was the major contributor to the

Renaissance: she gave the world the Reformation and showed in

could be done peacefully; she gave England international

supremacy; she gave her people culture and sponsored the greatest

dramatist the world has ever known – and that act alone would

make the English language a contending world linguistic

authority. In short,

For almost 45 years, she had given her country peace and stability. She had strengthened the Church of England, establishing her kingdom as a Protestant country, but one where Catholics could also be tolerated. During Elizabeth’s reign, England became an important maritime power andthe seeds of international trade were sown. There was also an extraordinary flowering of literature and the arts. More than almost anyother monarch, Elizabeth shaped the English identity, instilling a senseof national pride in her people and becoming a living embodiment of the English fighting spirit.53

53 Bingham, J., pg. 205.

26

Works Cited

Bingham, J. (2012). The Tudors: The Kings and Queens of England's Golden Age.

New York: Metro Books.

Cawthorne, N. (2010). The kings & Queens of England: From the Saxon Kings to

the House of Windsor. New York: Metro Books.

Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J. (2010). Culture and Values: A Survey of the

Humanities (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Elizabeth I. (n.d.). BBC News. Retrieved September 30, 2014.

Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/elizabeth_I.

Elizabeth I. (n.d.). The Official Website of the British Monarchy. Retrieved

September 20, 2014, from

http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueenso

fengland/thetudors/elizabethi.aspx.

Elizabeth I and the Catholic Church. (n.d.). Elizabeth I and the

Catholic Church. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/elizabeth_catholic_chur

ch.htm.

27

Elizabeth I Poem: Written with a Diamond on her Window at

Woodstock. (2006, December 4). Elizabeth I Poem: Written with a

Diamond on her Window at Woodstock. Retrieved September 25, 2014,

from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizawoodstock2.htm.

Greenblatt, S. (2012). The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The

Sixteenth Century/The Early Seventeenth Century. Vol. B (9th ed.). New

York: W.W. Norton.

Herman, E. (2006). Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and

Passionate Politics. New York: W. Morrow.

Phillips, C., & Haywood, D. J. (2013). The Complete Illustrated History of

the Kings & Queens of Britain: A Magnificent and Authoritative History of the

Royalty of Britain, the Rulers, Their Consorts and Families, and the Pretenders to

the Throne (2013 ed.). London: Aness Publishing Ltd.

The Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). (2006, August 10). The

Life of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Retrieved September 25, 2014,

from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizabio.htm.

Queen Elizabeth I: Response on Religion, 1559.. (2006, December

6). Queen Elizabeth I: Response on Religion, 1559. Retrieved

September 25, 2014, from

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizspeechreligion.htm.

28

Zophy, J. W. (1996). A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe:

Dances Over Fire and Water. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice

Hall.