Queen elizabeth i brief biography of william

After Grindal died inElizabeth received her education under her brother Edward's tutor, Roger Aschama sympathetic teacher who believed that learning should be engaging. The Venetian ambassador stated in that she "possessed [these] languages so thoroughly that each appeared to be her native tongue". The couple took Elizabeth into their household at Chelsea.

There Elizabeth experienced an emotional crisis that some historians believe affected her for the rest of her life. Elizabeth rose early and surrounded herself with maids to avoid his unwelcome morning visits. Parr, rather than confront her husband over his inappropriate activities, joined in. Twice she accompanied him in tickling Elizabeth, and once held her while he cut her black gown "into a thousand pieces".

Thomas Seymour nevertheless continued scheming to control the royal family and tried to have himself appointed the governor of the King's person. She tried to convince Elizabeth to write to Seymour and "comfort him in his sorrow", [ 30 ] but Elizabeth claimed that Thomas was not so saddened by her stepmother's death as to need comfort.

Elizabeth, living at Hatfield Housewould admit nothing. Her stubbornness exasperated her interrogator, Robert Tyrwhittwho reported, "I do see it in her face that she is guilty". Edward VI died on 6 Julyaged Jane was proclaimed queen by the privy councilbut her support quickly crumbled, and she was deposed after nine days. On 3 AugustMary rode triumphantly into London, with Elizabeth at her side.

Mary, a devout Catholicwas determined to crush the Protestant faith in which Elizabeth had been educated, and she ordered that everyone attend Catholic Mass; Elizabeth had to outwardly conform. Mary's initial popularity ebbed away in when she announced plans to marry Philip of Spainthe son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and an active Catholic.

In January and FebruaryWyatt's rebellion broke out; it was soon suppressed. Elizabeth fervently protested her queen elizabeth i brief biography of william. Mary's closest confidant, Emperor Charles's ambassador Simon Renardargued that her throne would never be safe while Elizabeth lived; and Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardinerworked to have Elizabeth put on trial.

Instead, on 22 May, Elizabeth was moved from the Tower to Woodstock Palacewhere she was to spend almost a year under house arrest in the charge of Henry Bedingfeld. Crowds cheered her all along the way. On 17 AprilElizabeth was recalled to court to attend the final stages of Mary's apparent pregnancy. If Mary and her child died, Elizabeth would become queen, but if Mary gave birth to a healthy child, Elizabeth's chances of becoming queen would recede sharply.

When it became clear that Mary was not pregnant, no one believed any longer that she could have a child. King Philip, who ascended the Spanish throne inacknowledged the new political reality and cultivated his sister-in-law. She was a better ally than the chief alternative, Mary, Queen of Scotswho had grown up in France and was betrothed to Francis, Dauphin of France.

By OctoberElizabeth was already making plans for her government. Mary recognised Elizabeth as her heir on 6 November[ 44 ] and Elizabeth became queen when Mary died on 17 November. Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25, and declared her intentions to her council and other peers who had come to Hatfield to swear allegiance. The speech contains the first record of her adoption of the medieval political theology of the sovereign's "two bodies": the body natural and the body politic : [ 46 ].

My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me makes me amazed, and yet, considering I am God's creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me.

And as I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body politic to govern, so shall I desire you all I mean to direct all my actions by good advice and counsel. As her triumphal progress wound through the city on the eve of the coronation ceremonyshe was welcomed wholeheartedly by the citizens and greeted by orations and pageants, most with a strong Protestant flavour.

Elizabeth's open and gracious responses endeared her to the spectators, who were "wonderfully ravished". She was then presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of organs, fifes, trumpets, drums, and bells. Elizabeth's personal religious convictions have been much debated by scholars. She was a Protestant, but kept Catholic symbols such as the crucifixand downplayed the role of sermons in defiance of a key Protestant belief.

Elizabeth and her advisers perceived the threat of a Catholic crusade against heretical England. The Queen therefore sought a Protestant solution that would not offend Catholics too greatly while addressing the desires of English Protestants, but she would not tolerate the Puritanswho were pushing for far-reaching reforms. The House of Commons backed the proposals strongly, but the bill of supremacy met opposition in the House of Lordsparticularly from the bishops.

Elizabeth was fortunate that many bishoprics were vacant at the time, including the Archbishopric of Canterbury. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was forced to accept the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England rather than the more contentious title of Supreme Headwhich many thought unacceptable for a woman to bear. The new Act of Supremacy became law on 8 May All public officials were forced to swear an oath of loyalty to the monarch as the supreme governor or risk disqualification from office; the heresy laws were repealed, to avoid a repeat of the persecution of dissenters by Mary.

At the same time, a new Act of Uniformity was passed, which made attendance at church and the use of the Book of Common Prayer an adapted version of the prayer book compulsory, though the penalties for recusancyor failure to attend and conform, were not extreme. From the start of Elizabeth's reign it was expected that she would marry, and the question arose to whom.

Although she received many offers, she never married and remained childless; the reasons for this are not clear. Historians have speculated that Thomas Seymour had put her off sexual relationships. Her last courtship was with Francis, Duke of Anjou22 years her junior. While risking possible loss of power like her sister, who played into the hands of King Philip II of Spain, marriage offered the chance of an heir.

In the spring ofit became evident that Elizabeth was in love with her childhood friend Robert Dudley. However, William CecilNicholas Throckmortonand some conservative peers made their disapproval unmistakably clear. Among other marriage candidates being considered for the queen, Robert Dudley continued to be regarded as a possible candidate for nearly another decade.

Inhe finally married Lettice Knollysto whom the queen reacted with repeated scenes of displeasure and lifelong hatred. After Elizabeth's own death, a note from him was found among her most personal belongings, marked "his last letter" in her handwriting. Marriage negotiations constituted a key element in Elizabeth's foreign policy. Byrelations with the Habsburgs had deteriorated.

InElizabeth told an imperial envoy: "If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married". Members urged the Queen to marry or nominate an heir, to prevent a civil war upon her death. She refused to do either. In April she prorogued the Parliament, which did not reconvene until she needed its support to raise taxes in I will never break the word of a prince spoken in public place, for my honour's sake.

And therefore I say again, I will marry as soon as I can conveniently, if God take not him away with whom I mind to marry, or myself, or else some other great let [obstruction] [ 88 ] happen. Bysenior figures in the government privately accepted that Elizabeth would never marry or name a successor. William Cecil was already seeking solutions to the succession problem.

Elizabeth's unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity related to that of the Virgin Mary. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin, a goddess, or both, not as a normal woman. Inshe spoke of "all my husbands, my good people". This claim of virginity was not universally accepted. Catholics accused Elizabeth of engaging in "filthy lust" that symbolically defiled the nation along with her body.

A central issue, when it comes to the question of Elizabeth's virginity, was whether the Queen ever consummated her love affair with Robert Dudley. Inshe had Dudley's bedchambers moved next to her own apartments. Inshe was mysteriously bedridden with an illness that caused her body to swell.

Queen elizabeth i brief biography of william

Ina young man calling himself Arthur Dudley was arrested on the coast of Spain under suspicion of being a spy. Elizabeth's first policy toward Scotland was to oppose the French presence there. Mary boasted being "the nearest kinswoman she hath". InElizabeth proposed her own suitor, Robert Dudley, as a husband for Mary, without asking either of the two people concerned.

Both proved unenthusiastic, [ ] and inMary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnleywho carried his own claim to the English throne. The marriage was the first of a series of errors of judgement by Mary that handed the victory to the Scottish Protestants and to Elizabeth. Darnley quickly became unpopular and was murdered in February by conspirators almost certainly led by James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.

Shortly afterwards, on 15 MayMary married Bothwell, arousing suspicions that she had been party to the murder of her husband. Elizabeth confronted Mary about the marriage, writing to her:. How could a worse choice be made for your honour than in such haste to marry such a subject, who besides other and notorious lacks, public fame has charged with the murder of your late husband, besides the touching of yourself also in some part, though we trust in that behalf falsely.

These events led rapidly to Mary's defeat and imprisonment in Lochleven Castle. The Scottish lords forced her to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James VI. James was taken to Stirling Castle to be raised as a Protestant. Mary escaped in but after a defeat at Langside sailed to England, where she had once been assured of support from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's first instinct was to restore her fellow monarch, but she and her council instead chose to play safe. Rather than risk returning Mary to Scotland with an English army or sending her to France and the Catholic enemies of England, they detained her in England, where she was imprisoned for the next nineteen years. Mary was soon the focus for rebellion.

In there was a major Catholic rising in the North ; the goal was to free Mary, marry her to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolkand put her on the English throne. Regnans in Excelsis gave English Catholics a strong incentive to look to Mary as the legitimate sovereign of England. Mary may not have been told of every Catholic plot to put her on the English throne, but from the Ridolfi Plot of which caused Mary's suitor, the Duke of Norfolk, to lose his head to the Babington Plot ofElizabeth's spymaster Francis Walsingham and the royal council keenly assembled a case against her.

By lateshe had been persuaded to sanction Mary's trial and execution on the evidence of letters written during the Babington Plot. The sincerity of Elizabeth's remorse and whether or not she wanted to queen elizabeth i brief biography of william the warrant have been called into question both by her contemporaries and later historians. Elizabeth's foreign policy was largely defensive.

The exception was the English occupation of Le Havre from October to Junewhich ended in failure when Elizabeth's Huguenot allies joined with the Catholics to retake the port. An element of piracy and self-enrichment drove Elizabethan seafarers, over whom the Queen had little control. After the occupation and loss of Le Havre in —, Elizabeth avoided military expeditions on the continent untilwhen she sent an English army to aid the Protestant Dutch rebels against Philip II.

It also extended Spanish influence along the channel coast of France, where the Catholic League was strong, and exposed England to invasion. The outcome was the Treaty of Nonsuch of Augustin which Elizabeth promised military support to the Dutch. The expedition was led by Elizabeth's former suitor, the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth from the start did not really back this course of action.

Her strategy, to support the Dutch on the surface with an English army, while beginning secret peace talks with Spain within days of Leicester's arrival in Holland, [ ] had necessarily to be at odds with Leicester's, who had set up a protectorate and was expected by the Dutch to fight an active campaign. Elizabeth, on the other hand, wanted him "to avoid at all costs any decisive action with the enemy".

Elizabeth saw this as a Dutch ploy to force her to accept sovereignty over the Netherlands, [ ] which so far she had always declined. She wrote to Leicester:. We could never have imagined had we not seen it fall out in experience that a man raised up by ourself and extraordinarily favoured by us, above any other subject of this land, would have in so contemptible a sort broken our commandment in a cause that so greatly touches us in honour And therefore our express pleasure and commandment is that, all delays and excuses laid apart, you do presently upon the duty of your allegiance obey and fulfill whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name.

In the hopes of reuniting their two countries once more, Phillip offered to wed Elizabeth at one time. She refused. She used her availability as a means to political ends, but she never agreed to marriage. Elizabeth herself seemed to have some interest in a member of her court, Robert Dudley. Their relationship was the subject of much gossip and speculation; both parties came under suspicion of the mysterious death of Dudley's wife.

Elizabeth died on March 24,at Richmond Palace in Surrey. Because Elizabeth I had no children, with her death came the end of the house of Tudor — a royal family that had ruled England since the late s. The son of her former rival and cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded her on the throne as James I. Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn. Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary Tudor. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Prince Harry. Charli XCX. Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. Elton John. Ralph Fiennes. Daniel Day-Lewis. Maggie Smith. Alan Cumming. Olivia Colman. Watch Next. McGeary, Johanna. This article gives a short, to-the-point biography of Queen Elizabeth I.

It also focuses on Elizabeth's refusal to marry due to the fact that she did not want to give up power. The article states that as a ruler Elizabeth faced many issues such as the financial situation of England and the Catholic threat. This article is very brief but is also very descriptive of Elizabeth's life. It is recommended for those who already have knowledge about Queen Elizabeth I.

Woodward, Jennifer. Nov This article focuses on the funeral of Queen Elizabeth I. She immediately set out to establish Protestantism as the official religion of England and worked towards restoring stability and prosperity to the country. Elizabeth's reign was not without its challenges. She faced threats from foreign powers, including the Spanish Armada, as well as rebellions at home.

However, she proved to be a strong and capable leader, navigating through these challenges and solidifying her position as one of England's greatest monarchs. Despite the many obstacles she had to overcome, Queen Elizabeth I's rise to power is a testament to her determination and resilience. Her legacy continues to inspire and fascinate people to this day.

In conclusion, Queen Elizabeth I 's legacy as a powerful female ruler, cultural icon, and influential figure in world history continues to inspire and captivate people today. From her royal childhood to her rise to power and major accomplishmentsthere is no doubt that she will always be remembered as one of the greatest leaders in history.

Grace Thompson is a dedicated historian and writer, contributing extensively to the field of world history. Her work covers a wide range of topics, including ancient civilizations, cultural histories, and significant global events like the World Wars. Known for her meticulous research and clear, engaging writing style, Grace makes complex historical subjects accessible to readers.

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