1533 - 1603 (69 years)
Has more than 100 ancestors and one descendant in this family tree.
1533 - 1603 (69 years)
Birth |
7 Sep 1533 |
Greenwich, London, England |
Died |
24 Mar 1603 |
Richmond |
|
Father |
King Henry VIII Tudor, b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich, London, England |
Mother |
Anna Boleyn, b. Abt 1500, Blickling, Norfolk, England |
Married |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
|
Family |
Earl Robert Dudley, b. 24 Jun 1533 |
Children |
| 1. Arthur Dudley, b. Abt 1571-1572 |
|
|
1533 - 1588 (55 years)
Birth |
24 Jun 1533 |
Died |
4 Sep 1588 |
Cornbury |
Buried |
St.Mary's church, Warwic |
|
Father |
Duke John Dudley, b. 1501, Warwickshire, England |
Mother |
Duchess Jane Guildford, b. 1504 |
Married |
Abt 1522 |
|
Family 1 |
Amy Robsart, b. Abt 1532, Stansfield |
Married |
4 Jun 1550 |
|
Family 2 |
Queen Elisabeth I Tudor, b. 7 Sep 1533, Greenwich, London, England |
Children |
| 1. Arthur Dudley, b. Abt 1571-1572 |
|
|
Family 3 |
Douglas Howard, b. Abt 1535 |
Married |
1573 |
Children |
| 1. William Dudley |
+ | 2. Duke Robert Dudley, b. 1572 |
| 3. Douglas Dudley, b. Abt 1576 |
|
|
Family 4 |
Lettice Knollys, b. Abt 1542, Leicestershire, England |
Married |
21 Sep 1578 |
Children |
| 1. Baron Robert Dudley, b. Abt 1580 |
+ | 2. Thomas Dudley, b. Abt 1586, Darking, Surrey, England |
|
|
1534 - Yes, date unknown
Birth |
Jul 1534 |
Died |
Yes, date unknown |
|
Father |
King Henry VIII Tudor, b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich, London, England |
Mother |
Anna Boleyn, b. Abt 1500, Blickling, Norfolk, England |
Married |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
|
1535 - Yes, date unknown
Birth |
Jun 1535 |
Died |
Yes, date unknown |
|
Father |
King Henry VIII Tudor, b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich, London, England |
Mother |
Anna Boleyn, b. Abt 1500, Blickling, Norfolk, England |
Married |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
|
1536 - Yes, date unknown
Birth |
29 Jan 1536 |
Died |
Yes, date unknown |
|
Father |
King Henry VIII Tudor, b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich, London, England |
Mother |
Anna Boleyn, b. Abt 1500, Blickling, Norfolk, England |
Married |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
|
1491 - 1547 (55 years)
Birth |
28 Jun 1491 |
Greenwich, London, England |
Died |
28 Jan 1547 |
Westminster |
Buried |
16 Feb 1547 |
St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle |
|
Father |
King Henry VII Tudor, b. 28 Jan 1457, Pembroke Castle, Wales |
Mother |
Queen Elisabeth of York, b. Feb 1466 |
Married |
16 Jan 1486 |
Westminster, London, Middlesex, England |
|
Family 1 |
Catharina d' Aragón, b. 16 Dec 1485, Alcala de Henares, España |
Married |
11 Jun 1509 |
Grey Friars Church Greenwich, England |
Children |
| 1. NN Tudor, b. 30 Jun 1510 |
| 2. Henry Tudor, b. 1 Jan 1511 |
| 3. NN Tudor, b. Oct 1513 |
| 4. Henry Tudor, b. Nov 1514 |
| 5. Queen Maria I Tudor, b. 18 Feb 1516, Greenwich, London, England |
| 6. NN Tudor, b. 1517 |
| 7. NN Tudor, b. 10 Nov 1518 |
|
|
Family 2 |
Joan Dobson |
Children |
|
|
Family 3 |
Mary Boleyn, b. Abt 1499 |
Children |
+ | 1. Catherine Carey, b. 1524 |
|
|
Family 4 |
Countess Elizabeth Blount, b. 1504, Kinlet, Shropshire, England |
Married |
Abt 1518 |
Children |
| 1. Duke Henry FitzRoy, b. Jun 1519 |
|
|
Married |
Abt 1524 |
Children |
| 1. Thomas Stukely, b. 1525 |
|
|
Family 6 |
Elizabeth Stafford, b. 1479, Brecknock Castle, Brecknockshire, Wales |
|
Family 7 |
Anna Boleyn, b. Abt 1500, Blickling, Norfolk, England |
Married |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
Children |
+ | 1. Queen Elisabeth I Tudor, b. 7 Sep 1533, Greenwich, London, England |
| 2. Henry Tudor, b. Jul 1534 |
| 3. NN Tudor, b. Jun 1535 |
| 4. NN Tudor, b. 29 Jan 1536 |
|
|
Family 8 |
Johanna Seymour, b. 1506 |
Married |
30 May 1536 |
Whitehall |
Children |
| 1. King Edward VI Tudor, b. 12 Oct 1537, Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex, England |
|
|
Family 9 |
Anna von Cleve, b. 22 Sep 1515, Cleve, Rheinland, Preußen,, Deutschland |
Married |
6 Jan 1540 |
Cleve, Rheinland, Preußen,, Deutschland |
|
Family 10 |
Katharina Howard, b. 1521 |
Married |
28 Jul 1540 |
Oatlands |
|
Family 11 |
Catharina Parr, b. Abt 1512, Kendal Castle, Westmorland, England |
Married |
12 Jul 1543 |
Hampton Court, London, Middlesex, England |
|
Abt 1500 - 1536 (36 years)
Birth |
Abt 1500 |
Blickling, Norfolk, England |
Died |
19 May 1536 |
Tower Hill, London, Middlesex, England |
Buried |
19 May 1536 |
St. Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, Middlesex, England |
|
Father |
Earl Thomas Bullen, b. 1477 |
Mother |
Elizabeth Howard, b. Abt 1476, Norfolk Island, Australia |
|
Family 1 |
NN of Ormonde |
Married |
Abt 1521 |
Divorced |
Abt 1522 |
|
Family 2 |
Count Henry Percy, b. 1502 |
Married |
Abt 1522 |
|
Family 3 |
Thomas Wyatt |
Married |
Abt 1523 |
|
Family 4 |
King Henry VIII Tudor, b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich, London, England |
Married |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
Children |
+ | 1. Queen Elisabeth I Tudor, b. 7 Sep 1533, Greenwich, London, England |
| 2. Henry Tudor, b. Jul 1534 |
| 3. NN Tudor, b. Jun 1535 |
| 4. NN Tudor, b. 29 Jan 1536 |
|
|
1533 - 1588 (55 years)
Birth |
24 Jun 1533 |
Died |
4 Sep 1588 |
Cornbury |
Buried |
St.Mary's church, Warwic |
|
Father |
Duke John Dudley, b. 1501, Warwickshire, England |
Mother |
Duchess Jane Guildford, b. 1504 |
Married |
Abt 1522 |
|
Family 1 |
Amy Robsart, b. Abt 1532, Stansfield |
Married |
4 Jun 1550 |
|
Family 2 |
Queen Elisabeth I Tudor, b. 7 Sep 1533, Greenwich, London, England |
Children |
| 1. Arthur Dudley, b. Abt 1571-1572 |
|
|
Family 3 |
Douglas Howard, b. Abt 1535 |
Married |
1573 |
Children |
| 1. William Dudley |
+ | 2. Duke Robert Dudley, b. 1572 |
| 3. Douglas Dudley, b. Abt 1576 |
|
|
Family 4 |
Lettice Knollys, b. Abt 1542, Leicestershire, England |
Married |
21 Sep 1578 |
Children |
| 1. Baron Robert Dudley, b. Abt 1580 |
+ | 2. Thomas Dudley, b. Abt 1586, Darking, Surrey, England |
|
|
Abt 1572 - Yes, date unknown
Birth |
Abt 1571-1572 |
Died |
Yes, date unknown |
|
Father |
Earl Robert Dudley, b. 24 Jun 1533 |
Mother |
Queen Elisabeth I Tudor, b. 7 Sep 1533, Greenwich, London, England |
|
-
Name |
Elisabeth I Tudor |
- 'The Virgin Queen'
or
'Gloriana'
or
'Good Queen Bess'
|
Prefix |
Queen |
Birth |
7 Sep 1533 |
Greenwich, London, England |
Gender |
Female |
Death |
24 Mar 1603 |
Richmond |
Siblings |
3 Siblings |
+ | 1. Queen Elisabeth I Tudor, b. 7 Sep 1533, Greenwich, London, England d. 24 Mar 1603, Richmond (Age 69 years) ▻ Earl Robert Dudley | | 2. Henry Tudor, b. Jul 1534 d. Yes, date unknown | | 3. NN Tudor, b. Jun 1535 d. Yes, date unknown | | 4. NN Tudor, b. 29 Jan 1536 d. Yes, date unknown | |
Person ID |
I5941 |
Geneagraphie |
Links To |
This person is also Elizabeth I of England at Wikipedia |
Last Modified |
20 Apr 2002 |
Father |
King Henry VIII Tudor, b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich, London, England d. 28 Jan 1547, Westminster (Age 55 years) |
Mother |
Anna Boleyn, b. Abt 1500, Blickling, Norfolk, England d. 19 May 1536, Tower Hill, London, Middlesex, England (Age 36 years) |
Marriage |
Abt 25 Jan 1533 |
Family ID |
F2611 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
-
-
Photos |
![Elisabeth I Tudor Elisabeth I Tudor](photos/5941_th.jpg) | Elisabeth I Tudor Painted by an unknown artist Now at Hampton Court Palace Royal Collection © Her Majesty the Queen |
-
Notes |
- Mar 18, 1554 Princess Elizabeth is sent to the Tower for suspicion of complicity in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion.
May 19, 1554 Princess Elizabeth transfers from the Tower of London to Woodstock.
Jan 13, 1559 Elizabeth crowned Queen of England
Apr 2, 1559 Peace treaty signed at Cambrasis between England and France. Calais is to remain in French hands for eight years and then be restored to England under a penalty of 500,000 crowns
Jun 24, 1559 The Elizabethan Prayer Book is first used.
Dec 15, 1560 Sir Thomas Parry, cofferer to Queen Elizabeth, dies.
Sep. 20, 1561 Treaty signed at Hampton Court pledging Elizabeth's support of the persecuted French Huguenots.
1561 English navigator John Hawkins hijacks Portuguese slave ship, trading the slaves in Brazil for ginger, pearls and sugar beginning England's participation in the slave trade
Jul 15, 1562 Elizabeth cancels a scheduled meeting with Mary, Queen of Scots because of Mary’s continued attacks on French Protestants.
1563 Mary Queen of Scots sends her secretary to Elizabeth claiming the right of succession Anglican Church (Church of England) established by adoption of Thomas Cranmer's 39 articles
Sir John Hawkins brings the potato to England ( it could have been a sweet potato)
1564 Elizabeth takes a share of John Hawkins' 2nd slave run and loans him one of her ships
1565 London Royal Exchange founded Royal College of Physicians given authority to dissect human cadavers
John Hawkins introduces tobacco to England
1568 Sir John Hawkins is ambushed at sea by the Spanish around the West Indies. He looses 2 ships which precipitates an undeclared state of war
English explorer David Ingram travels from the Gulf of Mexico north to Canada
1569 English earls near the Scottish border rebel against Elizabeth but are easily suppressed
Oct 1, 1569 Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk is imprisoned in the Tower for attempting to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.
Jan 2, 1571 Marriage negotiations are open between Elizabeth and Henry, Duke of Anjou.
Feb 25, 1571 Sir William Cecil is created Lord Burghley.
Sir Francis Drake puts to sea to attempt to capture Spanish galleons carrying silver
Apr 23, 1572 Queen Elizabeth knights Walter Devereux, Earl of Hereford, for his defeat of the Catholic earls of the north who rose in revoly in 1571.
Aug 22, 1572 Thomas Percy, seventh Earl of Northumberland, is executed at York for treason.
1573 Sir Francis Drake captures largest haul in history - a shipment of silver from Potosi mines destined for Spain
Dec 21, 1573 Sir Francis Walsingham appointed Principal Secretary of State
May 17, 1575 Mathew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies.
Jul 22, 1575 Two Dutch Anabaptists are burned at the stake at Smithfield by order of Queen Elizabeth.
Nov 14, 1575 Queen Elizabeth refuses to accept the sovereignty of the Netherlands, which William the Silent of Orange, in desperation at the course of war, had agreed to have offered to her.
May 9, 1576 The Earl of Essex is reappointed "Earl Marshal of Ireland".
Sep 22, 1576 The Earl of Essex dies.
1577 Sir Francis Drake leaves with a fleet of ships to sail down the coast of Africa to South America
1578 Francis Drake sails through the Strait of Magellan loosing 4 of his ships. He ravages the coasts of Chile and Peru
Elizabeth grants a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to inhabit and possess all remote and heathen lands. He begins to search for the Northwest Passage
Mar 10, 1578 Queen Elizabeth pays a subsidy of 20,000 pounds to John Casimir of the Palatinate to aid the Dutch.
Jun 11, 1578 Queen Elizabeth grants a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to explore and colonize the New World.
Sep 26, 1578 Sir Humphrey Gilbert sets sails from Dartmouth to the New World. The attempt soon fails due to lack of equipment and lack of discipline among his crew.
Jun 17, 1579 Sir Francis Drake puts in for repairs north of present day San Francisco and proclaims England’s sovereignty over New Albion (California).
Aug 17, 1579 Francis, Duke of Anjou, visits Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich with the intent to marry her.
Oct 7, 1579 The Privy Council fails to give Queen Elizabeth the support she expects in the proceedings of a marriage treaty with the Duke of Anjou.
Jan 9, 1580 John Smith, early settler of the Jamestown colony in Virginia, is baptized at Willoughby-By-Alford, Lincolnshire.
Sep 19, 1580 Katherine Brandon Bertie, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk and cousin to Queen Elizabeth, dies.
Sep 26, 1580 Sir Francis Drake returns to England after being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world
1581 Sir Francis Drake takes the richest prize ever captured on the high seas - gold, silver, gems worth as much as the crown's total revenue for one year. Spain protests and wants restitution. Elizabeth keeps the booty
Mar 18, 1581 Parliament passes a severe legislation against Roman Catholics, to retain their obedience to the Queen, with fines of 100 marks for hearing Mass and 20 pounds per month for recusancy.
May 4, 1581 Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
Nov 7, 1581 The marriage treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou is signed.
Dec 24, 1582 The London Bridge Waterworks begins piping water into private homes for the first time.
Jun 11, 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert departs England with five ships for the New World.
Jun 18, 1583 The first known life insurance policy is made in England on the life of William Gibbons for one year at eight percent premium.
Jul 6, 1583 Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies.
Aug 3, 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert arrives at Newfoundlands and claims it in the name of the Crown.
Sep 9, 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert drowns at sea enroute back to England.
England and Turkey establish trade
Mar 25, 1584 Walter Raleigh, who accompanied Sir Humphrey Gilbert on his voyage to the New World, renews Gilbert’s patent to explore and settle in North America.
Jun 4, 1584 Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Sir Walter Raleigh
Jun 15, 1584 Francis, Duke of Anjou, dies at Chateau-Thiery.
1585 Treaty of Nonesuch allies England with the Protestant United Provinces breaking with Spain Sir Francis Drake sails for the West Indies with 30 ships to attack Spanish interests
Jun 29, 1585 Queen Elizabeth declines offers by the Dutch commission for soverignty of the Low Countries.
Jul 27, 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh sends new expedition to Virginia under his cousin Sir Richard Greenville and Sir Ralph Lane
Chesapeake Bay discovered by Sir Ralph Lane
Davis Strait discovered by John Davis while trying to find the Northwest Passage
Aug 14, 1585 Queen Elizabeth issues a declaration taking the Netherlands under her protection.
Dec 8, 1585 Robert Dudley sets sail with an English army to fight the Spanish forces who are occupying the Netherlands.
1586 Sir Francis Drake attacks San Domingo forcing the Governor to pay ransom
Sir Francis Walsingham discovers plot to assassinate Elizabeth and free Mary Queen of Scots led by Anthony Babbington
Jul 1, 1586 Queen Elizabeth and James VI of Scotland form a league of amity with the Treaty of Berwick
Oct. 25, 1586 Mary Queen of Scots is convicted of involvement in the Babbington plot
Sir Francis Drake picks up Ralph Lane and other Roanoke settlers and sets sail for England
Sir Richard Granville captures Spanish ship and pillages the Azores on his return to England to organize defenses against a Spanish Invasion
Navigator Thomas Cavendish begins 2 year voyage around the world - making him the 3rd man to do it
Feb. 8, 1587 Mary Queen of Scots beheaded
Apr 19, 1587 Philip II of Spain's invasion fleet preparation is interrupted by Sir Francis Drake's invasion of Port of Cadiz
Jul 22, 1587 John White leads an expedition to the English Roanoke Colony.
Aug 13, 1587 Manteo, an Indian residing at the Roanoke colony, is baptized into the Church of England and invested with the power as Lord of Roanoke.
Aug. 18, 1587 Virginia Dare born in Roanoke colony making her the first English child born in North America
Sir Francis Drake captures Spanish treasure ship Sao Felipe
Eggplant introduced into England
1588 Spanish Armada of 132 ships sails for England. England's navy consists of 34 ships and 163 armed merchant vessels
July 31, 1588 The navies of Spain and England engage
Aug. 8, 1588 Spanish Armada defeated by English and a great storm. This victory opens the world to English colonization
English merchants found the Guinea Company to traffic in slaves from Africa's Guinea coast
1589 First knitting machine invented by clergyman William Lee. Elizabeth refuses to grant a patent, so the machines are set up in Rouen
England imports wood from Norway because of extensive deforestation
Apr 6, 1590 Sir Francis Walsingham dies.
Aug 17, 1590 John White returns to Roanoke after being delayed by war with Spain to find that the colony has vanished
Apr 10, 1591 James Lancaster leaves Plymouth on his first voyage to the East Indies.
Apr 17, 1591 Queen Elizabeth sends Sir John Norris with 3000 men to aid King Henry IV of France.
Sep 5, 1591 Sir Richard Grenville dies.
1593 Elizabeth tells Parliament that she has the right to assent or dissent from anything they do.
Statutes are pending that will impose stiff penalties on people who refuse to attend Church of England services and make it a crime to attend Catholic services.
Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins trys to voyage around the world - unsuccessfully. He reports 10,000 have died of scurvy in the British Navy Coal Mining is boosted by wood shortage
1594 Sir Richard Hawkins rounds Cape Horn, plunders Spanish ports and is taken prisoner. He is not ransomed until 1602
1595 Irish Catholic leader Hugh O.Neill, earl of Tyrone captures Irish castles and approaches Spain's Philip II for help against England. Elizabeth proclaims him a traitor. Spanish forces land in Cornwall and burn the towns of Penzance and Mousehole
Sir Walter Raleigh sails to explore the Orinoco River of South America
Nov 12, 1595 Sir John Hawkins, English navigator, dies off the coast of Puerto Rico.
1596 English fleet under the earl of Essex, Lord Howard of Effingham and Francis Vere captures Cadiz
Jan 28, 1596 Sir Francis Drake dies of the plague while at sea
The Water Closet is invented by poet Sir John Harington but has few buyers
Aug 19, 1596 Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of James VI of Scotland, born at Dumferline.
1597 Philip II sends a 2nd armada against England. A storm scatters his ships.
The Tomato is introduced into England as an ornamental plant
Elizabeth makes Robert Devereux, earl of Essex the earl marshal of England
The blackness of Elizabeth's teeth is noticed by a German traveler who attributes them to her excessive consumption of sugar.
1598 Irish rebel forces defeat the English at the Battle of Yellow Ford
1599 English Geographer Richard Hakluyt publishes a recognizable map of North America
1600 The East India Co. is chartered in London challenging Dutch control of the spice trade
Tobacco is sold in London for its weight in silver shillings
1601 England enacts a law similar to Scotland's Poor Law for the relief of the needy
Captain James Lancaster of the East India Co. gives his crew lemon and orange juice. His 200 men are the only crew not decimated by scurvy.
William Parry of the Persian expedition introduces coffee into England
1602 English mariner Bartholomew Gosnold explores New England
Young Bess
Elizabeth's life was troubled from the moment she was born. Henry VIII had changed the course of his country's history in order to marry Anne Boleyn, hoping that she would bear him the strong and healthy son that Catherine of Aragon never did. But, on September 7, 1533 in Greenwich Palace, she bore Elizabeth instead. Anne did eventually conceive a son, but he was stillborn. By that point, Henry had begun to grow tired of Anne and began to plot her downfall. Most, if not all, historians agree that Henry's charges of incest against Anne were false, but they were all he needed to sign her execution warrant. She was beheaded on the Tower Green in May, 1536, before Elizabeth was even three years old. Elizabeth was sent away from Court, as she was a reminder to Henry of Anne. Henry has remarried and was eagerly awaiting the son he hoped Jane Seymour was carrying. As it turned out, she was indeed to bear Henry a son, Edward (future Edward VI). Jane died shortly after Edward was born. Elizabeth's last stepmother was Katherine Parr, the sixth queen to Henry VIII. She had hoped to marry Thomas Seymour (brother to the late Queen Jane), but she caught Henry's eye. She brought both Elizabeth and her half-sister Mary back to court. When Henry died, she became the Dowager Queen and took her household from Court. Because of the young age of
Edward VI, Edward Seymour (another brother of Jane's and therefore the young King's uncle) became Lord Protector of England. Elizabeth went to live with Queen Dowager Katherine, but left her household after an incident with the Lord Admiral, Thomas Seymour, who was now Katherine's husband. Just what occurred between these two will never be known for sure, but rumors at the time suggested that Katherine had caught them kissing or perhaps even in bed together. Katherine was pregnant at the time of the incident. She later gave birth to a daughter. Katherine died not too long afterwards. This left Thomas Seymour as an eligible bachelor once again. Later, he was arrested for an attempted kidnapping of King Edward and for plotting to marry himself to Elizabeth, who was an heir to the throne.
Young Edward had never been a strong child and eventfully contracted what was then called consumption. It is most likely that he had tuberculosis, from contemporary accounts. When it looked inevitable the the teenager would die without an heir of his own body, the struggle for the crown began. And so began an even more dangerous time in the life of the Princess Elizabeth...
The Dangerous Years
Because the Princess Elizabeth was a daughter of the later King Henry, she was in line to the throne (despite several attempts to remove her from the chain, she was in Henry's will as an heir) and was therefore a most sought after bride. During the reign of her young brother Edward VI, Thomas Seymour asked for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, which she refused. From this incident, both Thomas and Elizabeth were suspected of plotting against the king. Elizabeth was questioned, but was never charged. Seymour however, after an attempt to kidnap the boy king, was arrested and eventually executed for treason. Elizabeth was reported to have said, upon hearing of the Lord Admiral's death: "Today died a man of much wit, and very little judgment." Reports of the young King's declining health spurred on those who did not want the crown to fall to the Catholic Mary. It was during this time that Guilford Dudley married Lady Jane Grey, who was a descendant of Henry VIII's sister Mary, and was therefore also an heir to the throne. When Edward died in 1553, Jane was proclaimed Queen by her father and father-in-law, who rallied armies to support her. However, many more supported the rightful heir: Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Nine days after Jane was proclaimed Queen, Mary rode into London with Elizabeth. Jane Grey and her husband Guilford were imprisoned in the Tower. Shortly after becoming Queen, Mary was wed to Prince Philip of Spain, which made the Catholic Queen even more unpopular. The persecuted Protestants saw Elizabeth as their savior, since she was seen as an icon of "the new faith". After all, it was to marry her mother Anne Boleyn that Henry instituted the break with Rome. Because of this, several rebellions and uprisings were made in Elizabeth's name, although she herself probably had little or no knowledge of them. However, Mary sensed the danger from her younger sister, and imprisoned her in the Tower. The story of Elizabeth's entry into the Tower is an interesting one. She was deathly (pun intended) afraid of the Tower, probably thinking of her mother's fate in that place, and when she was told she would be entering through Traitor's Gate, she refused to move. She had been secreted to the Tower in the dark so as not to raise the sympathy of supporters. That night was cold and rainy, and the Princess Elizabeth sat, soaking wet, on the stairs from the river to the gate. After her governess finally persuaded Elizabeth to enter, she did so and became yet another famous prisoner of the Tower of London. When it appeared that Mary had become pregnant, Elizabeth was no longer seen as a significant threat, and the aging Queen let her return to Hatfield House, under semi- house arrest. May Tudor was nearly 40 years old when the news of her "pregnancy" came. After a few months, her belly began to swell, but no baby was ever forthcoming. Some modern historians think that she had a large ovarian cyst, and this is also what lead to her failing health and eventual death in November 1558. News of Mary's death on November 17, 1558 reached Elizabeth at Hatfield House. Elizabeth had survived and was finally Queen of England.
Queen At Last
When Elizabeth took the throne, she was immediately descended upon by suitors. However, as we all know, she never married. One of the most obvious questions would be "why?". Some theorize that because of the way her father treated his wives, Elizabeth was disgusted by the idea of marriage. The more romantic feel it was because she couldn't marry the man that she really loved, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. When Elizabeth became Queen, Dudley was married, and then his wife died under mysterious circumstances a few years later. Although Robert Dudley was cleared of any wrong-doing in the matter, Elizabeth could not marry him because of the scandal that would no doubt arise. Or perhaps it was a combination of both. Regardless of the reason, Elizabeth never married, but managed to successfully play her suitors off of one another for about 25 years, gaining alliances and wealth from gifts on the possibility of marriage. The one serious contender for her hand was the Duke of Alençon of France, but negotiations failed eventually.
Gloriana
The later years of Elizabeth's reign are sometimes referred to as a Golden Age. During this time, England and Elizabeth faced several major trials. First, Elizabeth had to deal with the growing threat of Mary Queen of Scots, who ad a strong and legitimate claim to the throne of England. When Mary fled her country in the 1560s, she was taken into house arrest in England, where she had expected the protection of her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth however knew Mary was a threat. Eventually, a plot serious enough arose in Mary's name, and Elizabeth sign her death warrant as wished by parliament. Mary was executed in 1587, on February 8th, at Fortheringhay. Also, the greatest military threat some a year later, when the Armada from Spain sailed toward the tiny island nation. England prevailed and was on its way towards becoming the supreme naval power that it was in the 1600 and 1700s. This was also near the time that Robert Dudley died. Elizabeth kept the last letter he sent her in her desk, with "His Last Letter" written on it. Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603 and was succeeded by James I (James VI of Scotland), the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Minister William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley.
She was declared illegitimate after her mother's execution. Parliament reestablished her in succession in 1544. Imprisoned as rallying point for discontented Protestants, she regained freedom by outward conformity to Catholicism. On her succession England's low fortunes included religious strife, a huge government debt, and failure in wars with France.
Her reign took England through one of its greatest periods. It produced such men as Shakespeare, Spenser, Francis Bacon, and Walter Raleigh. It saw the country united to become a first-rate European power with a great navy. It saw commerce and industry propser and colonization begin. Her Tudor concept of strong rule and need for popular support helped her select excellent counsellors. She reestablished Anglicanism and measures against Catholics grew harsher. Important measures enacted included stablization of labor conditions, currency reforms, poor laws, and acts to encourage agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing. Elizabeth began a policy of peace and her series of diplomatic maneuvers eventually defeated Spain and stalemated France. Treaty of Edinburgh (1560) started policy of supporting Protestant lords against Catholics. After abdication of Mary Queen of Scots from Scottish throne, Elizabeth gave her refuge, kept her prisoner, and executed her only after plots to seat Mary on English throne [there are other points of view on this subject.] By marriage negotiations with Francis, duke of Alençon and Anjou, she secured (1572) defence alliance against Spain and, later, French aid for the Dutch against Spain, who now emerged as England's main enemy. Philip II of Spain, whose offer of marriage Elizabeth had refused in 1559, planned Spanish Armada expedition as reprisal against English raids on Spanish shipping. Defeat of Armada broke power of Sain. Vain, fickle in bestowing favors, prejudiced, vacillating, and parsimonious, she was also highly aware of responsibility of rule and immensely courageous.
--Columbia-Viking desk encyclopedia, 1953
|
|
|
|