The Elizabethan Age

The Elizabethan Age started with the last Tudor, Elizabeth l, because his father, Henry vlll hadn’t had any
sons apart from Edward vl who had died. She was the last Tudor and after her death England received a
new dynasty, the Stuarts. She was considered the best ruler of England until today because she did
extraordinary things for the country. She was crowned in a very difficult moment, because, before her
rule, her sister, Mary Tudor, had tried to stop the Reformation and to turn again England into a catholic
country. England still remained a protestant country. Also, the economy of England was bad, and there
were still conflicts between the protestants and the chatolics.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Ambolaine, Henry VIII’s second wife, who was beheaded. Since she was
the daughter of a treador, she was marginalised a the court, by his family. When he received a son, Hvlll,
declared his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, illegitim, so that they could never request any right to the
throne. Elizabeth received a good education: she learned foreign languages, literature, etc. She was a
protestant, raised in a protestant spirit, and when she became queen she rebrought the protestantism
in England. The document by which she did this was The Document of the Elizabethan Church
Settlement, saying that The Established Church of England was and would be forever the Protestant
Church, the language in the Church was and would forever be English, The Book of Common Prayer,
which was written in English was readopted and the ideas of Calvin and L uther formed again the base of
the Protestant Church and it wouldn’t be any connection with the Vatican.

This thing brought peace, stability, order and even something more, the fact that the catholics were no
longer valued, they had no longer power in the Church, they became a minority without ecleziastical
power. The catholics did not received well this situation and they even organised svereal attacks against
Elizabeth, but they were stopped in time. In this context, Elizabeth needed to do a thing in order to put
the prostestants and the catholics together and she managed to do it, thanks to The Act of Uniformity,
saying that the English take part in a united and unified Church, The Anglican Church and that the
minorities needed to accept that this Church would never be broken. In order words, they had to accept
the unity of the Protestant Church. If the minorites would not accept this, they won’t be punished, but
they would be resumed to their belief, meaning that they are tolerated, they could parctise their religion
but without hurming the state. This thing had great consequences because it kept England out of the
confilcts and it gained peace, time, in order to prosper and to develop. It was a very good thing because
in the other parts of Europe, like France, where a part of the people still remained catholic, we have
religious wars (a sort of masacres between the catholics and the protestants). In England, this never
happened.

The important fact of the Elizabethan Age was that Elizabeth knew how to keep a good relation with the
other institutions of the country, like the Parliament and the councelers. SHe didn’t want to impose her
will by any price and she colaborated very well with the other even if the royal power and the civil
power were separated. If her propositions weren’t accepted, she asked for logical explanations, then
she would gave them up. So the important thing is that she knew how to listen to the others and thanks
to those things we could observe the beginning of the democracy in England. So, In politics she were
more moderate than her father.
Her best counceler was William Cecil. The other countries believed that there wasn’t normal to have a
queen on the throne of the country and the politicians believed that it would be very difficult to discuss
with a woman. It wasn’t like that, because she wasn’t like any other woman, she „had the soul of a man
and the body of a woman”, she put on a mask of seriosity, of chastity, and gave up all her human
features, considerenig the country more important than herself.

Referring to the foreign politics, we have 3 main points of this thing:

1. The war with Sotland;

2. The war with Spain;
3. The expeditions to America.

The war with Scotland. A great problem for England was the Scotland, with which England developped a
tradion of having wars for the supremacy in the island. In the time of Elizabeth, in Scotland was ruling a
family, the Stuarts, whose memebers were relatives of Elizabeth. The queen, Mary Stuart, was
Elizabeth’s cousin. Through Mary Stuart, who was catholic, France had a great influence in the island
(because Mary was married with a French prince). So, in order to eliminate the danger and to have the
supremacy in the isalnd, England had a war with Scoland, which was won. It seems that Mary Staurt still
continuated to act against England and Elizabeth decied to have a second war, which was won again by
England. Mary was forced to abdicate and to let her son to rule in Scotland, and she was caught and
emprisoned in the tower of London for 12 years. After 12 years, Elizabeth decied that her cousin was still
a danger and executed her. This war had three consequences:

1. England got the supremacy in the island;

2. Scotland had a new king (James vl);
3. James vl was a presbyterrian, a more inflexible and rigid protestant, who turned Scotland into a
catholic country.

The war with Spain. This was a more complicated war, between a catholic and a protestant country.
Before Elizabeth, the queen was Mary Tudor, half Spanish and catholic and through her, Spain received
a great influence in England. With Elizabeth, they lost this influence and they did not want to accpet this
thing. Also, there was a war for the supremacy on the sea. Spain became more powerful because
America was discovered and they took advantage of the resources brought form there; Spain became
like an empire and had the wish to conquer another terriotries and to punish England (they had the
support of the Vatican too). Spain was also determined to have a war becuase of the fact that the
English had a great Royal Navy, which could challenge them for the supremacy on the sea. The Royal
Navy had two parts, a commercial one and a military one (the sailors were trated on the model of the
English army: they received salaries, they were hired with a contract). The Royal Navy had 2 great
commanders: Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. Spain had also a great and powerful fleet, the
Invincible Armada, containing 750 ships.

Another cause of the war was that England wanted to have the supremacy on the sea, they realised
their great power. Also, it seems that the Royal Navy destroyed several Spanish ships in the harbour of
Cadiz so in a certain way, the Spanish had wright to declare the war and they did this.
Economically speaking, England was still a poor country and didn’t have the necessary resources to
support such a great war. They expected a sort of sea attack, then an invasion with soldiers, so the army
gathered on the coast, waiting, and even Elizabeth was there, with her sword, ready to fight. 750 were
sailing to England, when, a great storm occured on the English Channel and sank almost the entire
Spanish fleet. The Royal Navy destroyed the rest of the Invicible Armada and England became the queen
of the sea because Spain weren’t able to counter it again.

The expeditions to America. Even if it won the war, England would pass through a difficult period of
time. In order to support the war with Spain, the queen and the Parliament had risen the taxes, people
became very poor and the standard of leaving fell. They had also a horrible harvest during that year.

In order to find new resources, England decided to have expeditions to America, India and other
territories. The man who ruled the expedition to America was Sir Francis Drake, he reached there, took
the resources and created the first English territory in America, from where the entire English
population would spread. So the first colony was Virginia (a tribute for the queen, who was virgin), today
it contains only West Virginia. England needed more resources and started East India Company, a trade
company that realised the thing that Columbus wanted. It found a passage on sea to India, they started
their businesses there and brought resources for England. Later on, India would become another English
colony.

These things had also another consequences: through their expeditons, the English had enlarged their
horizons, met new civilisations and develepped their culture. This made them want to travel even more
and this was possible in the context of the Reformation, that encouraged the culture. The queen herself
encouraged the culture, she knew 6 foreign languages, she supported the writers, the theaters and she
multiplicated the schools and the faculties.

In her las years, she became like her father: she suspected anyone, she had a lack of trust in people and
she even had conflicts with the Parliament and the councelres. There were even several episodes of
absolutism. Before her death, since she hadn’t any son, she had to choose a new successor. She chose
her nephew, her closest relative, James vl and he accepted. William Cecil instructed him.

Elizabeth died in 1603 and her coffin was carried through the entire London. She dropped by The White
Hall Palace= the house of the Parliament. She was burried the Westminster Abbey, next to his sister,
Mary Tudor.

So, with the Elizabethan Age we have a golden age of culture, of florishment, of developpement. She
imposed a balance, made the English Church stable and powerful, she put an end to the bad economy of
the country, the English gained confidence. She put the base of the democracy. She was loved because
she loved her people. We have the end of a dynasty, the Tudors and the beginning of a new one, the
Stuarts.