Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was queen
regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes
called "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" or "Good Queen
Bess", Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The
daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn,
was executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared
illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey,
cutting his two half-sisters, Elizabeth and the Catholic Mary, out of the
succession in spite of statute law to the contrary. His will was set aside,
Mary became queen, and Lady Jane Grey was executed. In 1558, Elizabeth
succeeded her half-sister, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for
nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.
Elizabeth set out to rule by good counsel, and she depended
heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by William Cecil, Baron Burghley.
One of her first moves as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant
church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious
Settlement later evolved into today's Church of England. It was expected that
Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir so as to continue the Tudor line. She
never did, however, despite numerous courtships. As she grew older, Elizabeth
became famous for her virginity, and a cult grew up around her which was
celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.
In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father
and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was "video et taceo"
("I see, and say nothing"). In religion she was relatively tolerant,
avoiding systematic persecution. After 1570, when the pope declared her
illegitimate and released her subjects from obedience to her, several
conspiracies threatened her life. All plots were defeated, however, with the
help of her ministers' secret service. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign
affairs, moving between the major powers of France and Spain. She only
half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military
campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. In the mid-1580s, war with
Spain could no longer be avoided, and when Spain finally decided to attempt to
conquer England in 1588, the failure of the Spanish Armada associated her with
one of the greatest victories in English history.
