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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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