Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I was born Elizabeth Tudor, the second daughter born of King Henry VIII, and the only surviving child of Anne Boleyn. She was born at Greenwich Palace, the same place her father and half siblings were born.

When Elizabeth was a young child of three, her mother was executed for being a witch, committing adultery, and for conspiring against the King. When her father Henry VIII remarried, he claimed Elizabeth and her half sister, Mary, were illegitimate and could make no claim to the throne.

Soon after marrying her, Henry's new wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to Elizabeth's half brother Prince Edward and he became heir to the throne. It wasn't until Henry married his last wife Catherine Parr, that he declared Mary and Elizabeth were in line to the throne after Prince Edward. This, however, did not change the fact they were viewed as Henry's illegitimate children.

After the death of her sister, Queen Mary, a coronation was held for Elizabeth on January 15, 1559. Because Elizabeth was declared illegitimate by her father, the senior bishops at the time declined to coronate her. Owen Oglethorpe, the Bishop of Carlisle, took the responsibility of crowning Elizabeth I Queen of England and Ireland.

The 45 years that she spent on the throne were known as the "Golden Age of Elizabeth" or the "Elizabethan era." Many grand things took place in this time, such as; the writings of William Shakespeare and the colonization of North America. In fact, Virginia, one of the first American colonies, was named so after Elizabeth I; who was also known as the "Virgin Queen."

Queen Elizabeth was seen as a level headed ruler and it was even known that her favorite motto was "video et taceo", which means, "I see and keep silent."

The people of England embraced her. However, the people of Ireland felt somewhat ignored and were unhappy with English traditions and religion being forced on them.

Elizabeth felt that her first order as Queen would be to settle the religion confusion throughout England. Being Protestant, she (with the help of her advisor) passed the "Act of Uniformity." This Act ended Communion with the Catholic Church and required that all churches use the Book of Common Prayer (a Protestant book) during services.

When Elizabeth's father was making changes in the Church during his reign, he made himself the "Head of Church." However, being a woman, the church officials did not think it proper for Elizabeth to gain this title. Instead, she became the "Supreme Governor of the Church."

In 1559, Elizabeth also passed the Act of Supremacy, which stated that all public officials were to take an oath which acknowledged the "Sovereign's control over the Church." Any one who broke this oath would be punished.

As mentioned earlier, Elizabeth was known as the Virgin Queen. This is because she chose to never marry for unknown reasons. Some believe she was in love with a man (Robert Dudley, 1^st Earl of Leicester) and could not have him, so chose to have no one. Most believe, however, that she did not wish to relinquish any of the power she had as Queen Regent. If she were to marry she would lose all the power and money left to her by her father. Instead of being able to rule her country, she would have been forced to be a submissive wife and "quiet queen."

There was some speculation as to whether she was truly a virgin queen. There were rumors of a relationship in her earlier life with a man named Lord Thomas Seymour. However, due to the apparent strength of her faith, these claims are not shared by most.

It is believed that, had Elizabeth been proven to not be a virgin, all power and status she held would have crumbled. Where it was common for a king to have mistresses, for a queen to do so would have meant her end.

Religion and virginity were not Queen Elizabeth's only problems, however. Her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scotland and wife of King Francis II of France, was more than a mere annoyance to Elizabeth I.

With assistance from her mother, Queen Mary received aid from French troops against the aggression of the English. Queen Elizabeth, however, presented the Treaty of Edinburgh, which Queen Mary's representatives signed. The signing of this treaty ended the French aid previously acquired by Scotland.

Later when the Catholics and Huguenots went to war (known as the French Wars of Religion), Elizabeth gave aid to the Huguenots in secret. Finally in 1564, she made peace with France and gave up her claims Calais.

In 1562, Elizabeth suffered from smallpox, but shortly recovered. The parliament (who were worried a civil war would break out at her death) pleaded with Elizabeth to marry or else name a successor. Her answer was to prorogue the Parliament instead. The only time Parliament was ever used by Elizabeth again was to raise taxes.

The last surviving heir to Elizabeth's throne died in 1568. Her name was Catherine Grey. She had two sons, but they were illegitimate and were seen as unfit to be heir to the throne.

Elizabeth's cousin Mary Queen of Scotland was the only other option to be successor to Elizabeth. Mary, however, had been arrested in Scotland. When Mary's husband Henry Stuart was killed, a man named James Hepburn was suspected to be the murderer. When later Mary married James Hepburn they then suspected she may have been involved as well in her husband's death. She later escaped the Scottish prison and fled to England where she was captured again and held in England.

Elizabeth did not know what to do with Mary when she was captured. She could either; turn her in to Scotland, give her to France, keep her imprisoned in England or make her line successors to the English throne In the end, Elizabeth I chose to keep her captive in England under the custody of George Talbot, 6t Earl of Shrewsbury. Many years later she was tried and sentenced to be beheaded. Her execution; however, was grotesquely done.

The first time the ax came down on her it was misaimed and hit her in the head. Unfortunately, she remained conscious. On the second try the executioner missed again and struck her shoulder and still she was alive and aware. Finally, the third blow struck her neck, but the ax did not go all the way through and the executioner had to "saw" the rest of the way.

Twenty-one years before Mary's death, the Northern Rebellion in 1569 led Pope Pius V to excommunicate Elizabeth and declared her deposed in a "papal bull. After the "Bull of Deposition" was issued in 1570, Elizabeth no longer held on to religious tolerance. Her "religious enemies" were persecuted for conspiring to remove Elizabeth from her throne.

After Queen Mary's execution, King Philip II of Spain launched an attack on England. His attempts were fruitless and he was defeated by Queen Elizabeth's army.

Queen Elizabeth I spent her years fighting off rebellions and trying to create peace for her people. On March 24, 1603 Elizabeth I, Queen of England, Ireland and France died after a long illness, made worse by depression of losing friends.

Elizabeth's successor was to be James VI of Scotland and a few hours after her death he was handed the coronation ring and proclaimed King James I.