The golden age of Elizabeth

Elizabeth's coffin was carried downriver at night to Whitehall, on a barge lit with torches. At her funeral on 28 April, the coffin was taken to Westminster Abbey on a hearse drawn by four horses hung with black velvet. In the words of the chronicler John Stow:

Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man.

Elizabeth was interred in Westminster Abbey in a tomb she shares with her half-sister, Mary. The Latin inscription on their tomb, "Regno consortes & urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis", translates to "Consorts in realm and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection".

Legacy and memory

Elizabeth was lamented by many of her subjects, but others were relieved at her death. Expectations of King James started high but then declined, so by the 1620s there was a nostalgic revival of the cult of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was praised as a heroine of the Protestant cause and the ruler of a golden age. James was depicted as a Catholic sympathiser, presiding over a corrupt court. The triumphalist image that Elizabeth had cultivated towards the end of her reign, against a background of factionalism and military and economic difficulties, was taken at face value and her reputation inflated. Godfrey Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, recalled: "When we had experience of a Scottish government, the Queen did seem to revive. Then was her memory much magnified." Elizabeth's reign became idealised as a time when crown, church and parliament had worked in constitutional balance.

The picture of Elizabeth painted by her Protestant admirers of the early 17th century has proved lasting and influential. Her memory was also revived during the Napoleonic Wars, when the nation again found itself on the brink of invasion. In the Victorian era, the Elizabethan legend was adapted to the imperial ideology of the day, and in the mid-20th century, Elizabeth was a romantic symbol of the national resistance to foreign threat. Historians of that period, such as J. E. Neale (1934) and A. L. Rowse (1950), interpreted Elizabeth's reign as a golden age of progress. Neale and Rowse also idealised the Queen personally: she always did everything right; her more unpleasant traits were ignored or explained as signs of stress.

Recent historians, however, have taken a more complicated view of Elizabeth. Her reign is famous for the defeat of the Armada, and for successful raids against the Spanish, such as those on Cádiz in 1587 and 1596, but some historians point to military failures on land and at sea. In Ireland, Elizabeth's forces ultimately prevailed, but their tactics stain her record. Rather than as a brave defender of the Protestant nations against Spain and the Habsburgs, she is more often regarded as cautious in her foreign policies. She offered very limited aid to foreign Protestants and failed to provide her commanders with the funds to make a difference abroad.

Elizabeth established an English church that helped shape a national identity and remains in place today. Those who praised her later as a Protestant heroine overlooked her refusal to drop all practices of Catholic origin from the Church of England. Historians note that in her day, strict Protestants regarded the Acts of Settlement and Uniformity of 1559 as a compromise. In fact, Elizabeth believed that faith was personal and did not wish, as Francis Bacon put it, to "make windows into men's hearts and secret thoughts".

Though Elizabeth followed a largely defensive foreign policy, her reign raised England's status abroad. "She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island," marvelled Pope Sixtus V, "and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all".Under Elizabeth, the nation gained a new self-confidence and sense of sovereignty, as Christendom fragmented. Elizabeth was the first Tudor to recognise that a monarch ruled by popular consent. She therefore always worked with parliament and advisers she could trust to tell her the truth—a style of government that her Stuart successors failed to follow. Some historians have called her lucky; she believed that God was protecting her. Priding herself on being "mere English", Elizabeth trusted in God, honest advice, and the love of her subjects for the success of her rule. In a prayer, she offered thanks to God that:

[At a time] when wars and seditions with grievous persecutions have vexed almost all kings and countries round about me, my reign hath been peacable, and my realm a receptacle to thy afflicted Church. The love of my people hath appeared firm, and the devices of my enemies frustrate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

I wrote about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.

The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so.  Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.

Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
2. http://www.elizabethi.org/us/biography.html
3. http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/queenofscots/
4. http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/eliz1.html
5. http://tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/