Elizabeth I
Last of the Tudor Line
1533 -1603

Elizabeth, queen of England, and the last sovereign of the house of
Tudor, was born at Greenwich, September 7, 1533. She was a
daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Her childhood was passed
in comparative quietness, and people who favored reformed religion
educated her. She learned the Latin, Greek, French, and Italian
languages with ease.

In 1554, Elizabeth was confined in the Tower by order of Queen Mary,
who believed her to be implicated in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion
against the queen, and regarded her with jealousy because she was the
favorite with the Protestant party. She narrowly escaped death, for
some of the bishops and courtiers advised Mary to order her execution.
After she had passed several months in the Tower, she was removed to
Woodstock and appeased Mary by professing to be a Roman Catholic
(Jackson, Women Who Ruled, p. 63).

On the death of Queen Mary, on November 17, 1558, Elizabeth
ascended the throne, and the majority of the people rejoiced at her
accession. She appointed William Cecil secretary of state, and
Nicholas Bacon keeper of the great seal. She retained several Roman
Catholics in her privy council, but she refused to hear mass in the royal
chapel.

The Protestants were the majority in the Parliament, which met in
1559, and they abolished the mass, adopted the Thirty-Nine Articles as
the religion of the State, and recognized the queen as the head of the
Church. She declined an offer of marriage made to her by Philip of
Spain. Her foreign policy was that of peace. She waged no war for
conquest, but to promote the stability of her throne she aided the
Protestant insurgents in Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, with
money and troops.

In 1563, the Parliament, anxious that she should have an heir,
entreated her to marry, but she returned an evasive answer, and would
neither accept the hand of any of her suitors nor decide in favor of any
claimant of the throne.

Mary, Queen of Scots, fleeing from her rebellious subjects, took
refuge in England in 1568 and was detained as a prisoner by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth regarded Mary as a dangerous rival, because the English
Catholics wished to raise her to the throne of England, and formed
several plots and conspiracies to make that happen. Elizabeth had
Mary beheaded on February 8, 1587. This was the darkest stain on the
memory of Elizabeth.

Her reign was one of the most prosperous and glorious in English
history. The Elizabethan age was almost unequaled in literature, and
was illustrated by the genius of Shakespeare, Spenser, Bacon, Sidney,
and Raleigh. Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603 and was succeeded by
James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England.

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Excerpt from History's Women - The Unsung Heroines written by
Patricia Chadwick. It is available in both print and ebook formats at
www.HistorysWomen.com. Stop by and pick up your copy today.


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