Elizabeth I

Queen of England (r. 1558-1603)

• Born: September 7, 1533
• Birthplace: Greenwich, England
• Died: March 24, 1603
• Place of death: Richmond, Surrey, England

The last of the five Tudor monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I earned the respect of her associates and the love of her subjects while ruling England longer and more capably than most kings of her time.

Early Life

The second child of King Henry VIII , Elizabeth was born in Greenwich. Before she was three years old, her father nullified his marriage to her mother, Anne Boleyn, whom he then had tried for adultery and conspiracy, convicted, and beheaded. Like her older half sister Mary before her, Elizabeth was declared to be illegitimate, and Henry immediately married Jane Seymour . A statute of 1544, while not reversing the earlier decree, nevertheless placed Elizabeth third in line to the throne after Edward, born to Henry and Jane in 1537, and Mary, daughter of Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Elizabeth’s education commenced under several eminent Cambridge scholars, one of whom, Roger Ascham, wrote a distinguished educational treatise called The Schoolmaster (1570). She proved an apt student, studying Greek and Latin and attaining fluency in French and Italian. Languages were the key to familiarity not only with literature but also with the New Testament and the scholarship of Europe. Because of her linguistic aptitude, Elizabeth would not later have to rely on translators, as did many sovereigns, when dealing with foreign ambassadors.

Elizabeth learned other practical lessons during the years from 1547, when her father died, until 1558, when she succeeded. While she lived with Catherine Parr, Henry’s last wife and the closest approach to a mother she would ever know, Catherine’s marriage to the promiscuous Thomas Seymour taught her the importance of being on her guard, for Seymour made advances to the now attractive teenager. Her subsequent determination not to allow men to manipulate her became an important factor in her forty-five-year reign. Political events tested her mettle early. Seymour fell under suspicion of treason against his brother Edward, lord protector of Edward, the boy king, and Elizabeth was sharply questioned about possible complicity. The fifteen-year-old princess responded shrewdly and prudently, and though Seymour was executed, she was permitted to live quietly until Edward’s death in 1553.

Those who saw Elizabeth take part in her sister’s coronation ceremony saw a young woman somewhat taller than average, with reddish-gold hair and light skin. Although her portrait was often painted, the stylized likenesses of Renaissance royalty often prove unreliable, and even eyewitnesses disagreed considerably about the details of her physical appearance, but everyone credited her with beautiful hands. While not a particularly religious person, Elizabeth deplored Mary’s Roman Catholicism and, like many English patriots, was apprehensive about Mary’s decision to marry the Catholic prince Philip (Philip II) of Spain. Again, in Mary’s reign, Elizabeth was suspected of treason, this time in connection with Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger’s plan to depose Mary in favor of her, for presumably Elizabeth would marry an Englishman and a Protestant and thus avert the danger of the crown passing to an offspring of Philip and Mary. Though imprisoned in the Tower of London for a time, Elizabeth again dodged the extreme penalty; she emerged understanding thoroughly, however, the danger of even the appearance of treason.

Eventually, Philip, seeing his wife childless and ill and viewing Elizabeth as preferable to such a claimant as Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots ), wife of the French dauphin, became the protector of the future queen. This precarious period in the princess’s life ended on November 17, 1558, when the unpopular Mary died and Elizabeth, at the age of twenty-five, became the third of Henry VIII’s children to wear the English crown.

Life’s Work

Elizabeth understood the presumably modern art of public relations, and from her coronation onward she worked to gain the admiration of her subjects. She also surrounded herself with able advisers, the most faithful of whom was William Cecil (from 1571, known as Lord Burghley), and he served her well for forty years. The domestic question whom would she marry? early became a question of foreign relations also, for the most ambitious bachelors of Western Europe recognized her as the greatest available “prize.” The archduke Charles of Austria offered a politically advantageous match, but both Elizabeth and her subjects shied away from his Roman Catholicism. Elizabeth appeared to prefer one of her own subjects, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, eligible in 1560 after the death of his wife Amy Robsart, but the mystery surrounding her fatal fall down a flight of stairs cast a shadow over his name. There was no lack of other suitors, and all England expected Elizabeth to avert the disorder likely at the death of an unmarried and childless queen, but the strong-willed sovereign did not intend to yield an iota of her sovereignty to any man, and the sort of person who would content himself with being a mere consort probably appealed little to her imagination. Throughout the early years of her reign, she kept everyone guessing about her marriage plans, but she made no commitments.

Mary, Queen of Scots, whose grandmother Henry VIII’s sister had married the Scottish king James IV, posed one threat to England’s security, particularly after her first husband became King Francis II of France in 1559, for France was England’s traditional enemy. To neutralize the French threat, Elizabeth encouraged Scottish fears of foreign authority, even suggesting the possibility of her own marriage to the earl of Arran, whose family ranked high in the Scottish succession. When Francis died in 1560, however, Mary’s influence declined, and her subsequent marriage to her kinsman, the unstable Lord Darnley (Henry Stewart), led to her undoing. Eventually, she was deposed, Darnley died, and for many years Mary languished, a virtual prisoner of Elizabeth in England. For nearly two decades, Elizabeth allowed no harm to come to her Scottish cousin, but neither did she intend to allow conspirators to build on Mary’s claim to the English throne.

For the first decade of her reign, with much of the European continent in turmoil, Elizabeth kept England at peace, but in 1569 she was forced to put down a rebellion in the north fomented by Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, whose ambitions spurred him to seek marriage to the deposed Mary, Queen of Scots. The rebellion was speedily checked, and Elizabeth merely placed Norfolk under house arrest until she learned that he was plotting with foreign agents to overthrow her directly. Meanwhile, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth, who had never considered herself a Roman Catholic anyway, but this action, focusing Catholic enmity on her, created a dangerous atmosphere at a time when English cordiality toward Catholic Spain was steadily lessening. Therefore, Elizabeth, while continuing to spare Mary, allowed Norfolk, the only duke in her kingdom, to be tried, convicted, and executed early in 1572.

At this time, another problem was developing in the Netherlands in the form of a provincial rebellion against Spanish authority. An increased Spanish presence just across the English Channel or the possible alternative of a French buildup in response to Dutch pleas for assistance could spell trouble for England. Remaining officially neutral, Elizabeth encouraged support by volunteers and through private subscriptions; eventually, she made large loans to the rebels out of her treasury, though not in amounts sufficient to turn the tide against Spain decisively. She hoped that the Netherlands could unite under the Protestant William the Silent , but in vain. When, finally, in 1585 she committed troops to the struggle, she chose her old favorite Leicester as commander. He also shared political authority with a provincial council, but his blunders led to serious divisions among the provinces on the eve of the Spanish Armada’s attack on England, a crisis brought on in large measure by Sir Francis Drake’s harassment of Spain’s American colonies.

While England’s lighter, more maneuverable fleet took advantage of westerly winds that helped drive the Armada away from England’s southern coast toward France, Elizabeth visited her army at Tilbury near the mouth of the Thames and showered encouragement and eloquence on her soldiers. Skillfully, she braced them for the land battle that fortunately never erupted. Instead, what was left of the badly battered Spanish fleet limped back to Spain, and the greatest external threat of her reign ended in increased prestige for the nautical and military skill of England.

During the earlier years of the Netherlands venture, Elizabeth still gave the appearance of considering marriage offers. As late as 1581, Francis of Valois, duke of Alençon, was pursuing her, but Elizabeth, while willing to use him to preserve a truce with the French ruler, Henry III, firmly rejected his offer. By this time, it appeared that the queen, now in her late forties, would probably never marry and almost certainly never bear children, but events of the next few years clarified the succession. James VI, son of the deposed Mary, was demonstrating ability on the Scottish throne, and though he flirted with Roman Catholicism as Elizabeth did with her suitors for diplomatic leverage his religious views and sense of the place of religion did not differ greatly from Elizabeth’s own. She drew closer to James, and when yet another conspiracy, led by Anthony Babington, implicated James’s mother and caused Elizabeth to execute her in 1587, James merely protested formally. Not until she lay on her deathbed did the cautious Elizabeth confirm the fact, but England now understood that the crown would pass peacefully to James.

The foreign operations had imposed a heavy financial burden on Elizabeth. Meanwhile, poor harvests and adverse trade conditions impoverished the realm, and the surge of euphoria occasioned by the repulsion of the Spanish naval threat faded as the century waned. By the final years of Elizabeth’s long rule, many agreed with Hamlet: “the time is out of joint.” Another of the queen’s onetime favorites, Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, mounted a rebellion in 1601, and again she felt obliged to respond with the death penalty. Until her seventieth year, Elizabeth enjoyed robust health; only at the beginning of 1603 did she succumb to what may have been a severe bronchial illness. She continued her duties until her worried councillors persuaded her to take to her bed on March 21. Early in the morning of the third day following, she died quietly.

Significance

Many students of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign have found her to have been shrewd and resourceful, able to keep opponents guessing and off balance while she guided her ship of state through perilous seas. To others, she has seemed procrastinating and indecisive, unable to carry out her policies efficiently. Her subjects expected her to rule firmly and to provide for her successor, but in the case of a queen, one of these goals would easily preclude the other.

If she married to produce an heir or designated a successor, her authority would diminish. If she named an ambitious person without the patience to await her death, she might well endanger both her life and domestic tranquillity. She did well to allow James to emerge gradually as her candidate without officially nominating him. By playing off her suitors against one another, she kept England free from the very real possibility of foreign political and religious domination. Throughout her reign, she bargained adroitly with foreign powers without committing herself to unmanageable situations.

No doubt, Elizabeth sometimes relied too heavily on her favorite strategies, but most often they were well adapted to the needs of the relatively small and poor nation she ruled. Her prudent management kept the cost of government within the capacities and tolerance of her subjects. Under her, England became what it would remain for centuries: a recognized naval power. At a time of serious religious conflict, she pursued a policy remarkably tolerant and unprovocative. A nation that had endured the last unreasoning years of Henry VIII, internecine power struggles under the Edwardian regency, and a few bloody years under the erratic Mary and her Spanish husband, had gained confidence and security.

While not generally extravagant, Elizabeth understood the social and psychological value of magnificent progresses and dignified receptions. She captured the imagination of poets such as Edmund Spenser and Sir Walter Ralegh, who helped spread her fame beyond the range of those who actually saw her. She was Spenser’s Faerie Queene in one of that character’s guises, the Gloriana who summed up the glory of England. Indeed, Elizabeth appreciated poetry and the arts generally and wrote competent poetry herself. During the second half of her reign, English literature reached an unprecedented peak. Her subjects responded enthusiastically to her preference for the arts including the art of peace and to her genuine love for them. The affection of the English for their monarch still alive in the time of the second Elizabeth owes much to the precedent of the first.

She was the first of only two English queens to give her name to a considerable wedge of history, but whereas Victoria merely symbolized an age created by others, Elizabeth stands as both symbol and substance of hers. The policies of England in the latter half of the sixteenth century, when the nation rose to prominence in Europe, were her policies. The wisdom of most of those policies was her wisdom and that of councillors she appointed. Altogether she is one of history’s most remarkable women.

Bibliography

Camden, William. The Historie of the Most Renowned and Victorious Princesse Elizabeth Late Queene of England. London: B. Fisher, 1630. Rev. ed. Edited by Wallace T. MacCaffrey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. These selections from the annals of a scholar from Elizabethan times represent the earliest authoritative study of her reign. Camden wrote in Latin; this version, the work of an anonymous seventeenth century translator, conveys Camden’s commitment to a plain, factual record. Though lacking in color and narrative skill, Camden gives the modern reader a sense of the way Elizabeth’s reign looked to a learned contemporary.

Doran, Susan. Queen Elizabeth I. New York: New York University Press, 2003. Portrays Elizabeth as a flawed but brilliant manipulator who used this ability to protect her country and to steer it safely through a host of dangers. Includes illustrations, map, bibliographic references, index.

Doran, Susan, and Thomas S. Freeman, eds. The Myth of Elizabeth. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Anthology of essays examining the body of myth surrounding Elizabeth, including her contemporary portrayal as the “Virgin Queen,” her importance in the Jacobean imagination, and film portrayals of Elizabeth. Includes illustrations, bibliographic references, and index.

Dunn, Jane. Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Study of the rivalry and political intrigue between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, attempting to portray the private emotions behind their public acts. Includes photographic plates, illustrations, bibliographic references, index.

Erickson, Carolly. The First Elizabeth. New York: Summit Books, 1983. Erickson counters the traditional emphasis on the “Virgin Queen” by stressing her use of her sexual power to attain her ends. This biography presents a heavily psychological interpretation of its subject.

Jenkins, Elizabeth. Elizabeth the Great. New York: Coward-McCann, 1959. Relying on previously published sources, this popular and critical biography continues to deserve praise as a perceptive and readable interpretation of Elizabeth’s character. As her title suggests, Jenkins emphasizes the positive elements contributing to Elizabeth’s eminence.

Johnson, Paul. Elizabeth I. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. Johnson depicts court life clearly but is less convincing on some aspects of the background of the age, particularly Puritanism. The informing theme of his study is the relationship between Elizabeth’s exercise of her secular power and the political implications of the religious authority that she inherited from her predecessors.

Levin, Carole, Jo Eldridge Carney, and Debra Barrett-Graves, eds. Elizabeth I: Always Her Own Free Woman. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2003. Anthology of essays by scholars of literature, history, and culture, examining the relationship of Elizabeth with her court, her advisers, and the wider English culture. Includes illustrations, bibliographic references, and an index.

MacCaffrey, Wallace T. The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1968. This specialized study should interest readers seeking a detailed understanding of the first fifteen years of Elizabeth’s rule, or what the author calls its “testing time.” This work makes extensive use of state papers and documents from the Public Record Office in London.

Neale, J. E. Queen Elizabeth I: A Biography. London: Jonathan Cape, 1934. Reprint. New York: Doubleday, 1957. The great pioneer among modern biographers of Elizabeth, Neale is a master of unpretentious narrative history. Though undocumented, this classic biography has earned the respect of all Elizabethan researchers. Time has not dimmed its appeal.

Read, Conyers. Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960. The second volume of a life mostly of Elizabeth’s ablest adviser, this book, covering the years 1570 to 1598, explores in meticulous detail the working relationship between the two. Read is one of the greatest of modern Elizabethan scholars.

Williams, Neville. Elizabeth the First: Queen of England. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1968. A senior official of the Public Record Office, Williams predictably draws extensively on the documents thereof. He presents a particularly good picture of Elizabeth’s domestic life. An objective, competently written, but sometimes stodgy biography.