Queen Elizabeth: Golden Age

Elizabeths Golden Age Elizabeth was Queen of England from 1558-1603. During that time England was a strong boorish and she was a successful queen. Many people thought Elizabeth would non coda long with away a powerful husband scarce they were proved wrong. In fact Elizabeth was actually clever in not choosing a husband. She didnt choose a husband beca exercise she didnt want anybody taking everywhere her good deal. in that location were four men that she could pass on hook up with scarcely express no to. The existence-class human was Philip of Spain. Philip of Spain had married Elizabeths sister bloody shame and was expecting Elizabeth to say yes to his proposal.Elizabeth turned him down though because she didnt want to get married the same man as her sister and in any case Philip was a dear(p) Catholic. The English didnt like foreigners and hated Catholic ones even much. There had been a rebellion when bloody shame had married Philip. This was another reason whe refore Elizabeth decided not to marry Philip. Another man whom Elizabeth could call for married was Charles of Austria. She decided against him as well though because she thought that he would use England to fight his own wars and she didnt want England to get caught up in other countries squabbles.Elizabeth could have in any case married a wealthy overlord from a powerful English family only when decided against him too as if she had married him because the other noblemen could have got jealous and started a rebellion. She was also clever in not marrying a nobleman because if she kept them any guessing then they would all remain loyal as they would all think that they had a chance to get some wealth and power. The withstand man of which she turned down was Robert Dudley who was a good looking man and whose wife had just passed away. Elizabeth turned him down too though as she thought that he might take the chance to steal her throne away from her.Even though Elizabeth was v ery clever in not choosing a husband that would take over all her power, some sexist historians go away argue that although Elizabeth didnt have a husband she had excellent young-begetting(prenominal) advisors who helped and supported her doneout her reign. One of these men was William Cecil or nobleman Burghley. During his time, William Cecil helped Elizabeth through her reign and was always there for her. He served her as secretary, served her as situation of Lord Treasurer and together with the help of Sir Francis Walsingham devised an intricate spy meshing that helped uncover the Babington Plot.He was also instrumental in having Mary Queen of Scots penalize and even when he had lost his hearing at the years of seventy, continued to serve Elizabeth who looked upon him as a father figure. He carried on serving Elizabeth all the way until his death in 1598. One of her superior challenges was to hold England together despite the religious divisions amongst her people. Eliz abeth did this by setting a centre of attention road. Elizabeth wanted England to have peace and not be divided over religion. She tried to find ways which both the Catholic and Protestant sides would accept and be happy.She made Protestantism the official religion in England. She did not call herself the Head of the Church of England, instead she was known as the domineering Governor of the English Church. To please the Protestants she made all churches use the invocation have got in English that Edward had used and allowed the priests once again to marry. To please the Catholics she made some changes to some words in the prayer book and also let priests were special vestments. She did not give way to extremists though and would punish them. Even though she would punish Protestants and Catholics she would always punish Catholics more severely.If a protestant extremist wrote a book saying anything enceinte or wrong about Elizabeths decisions to divide the country peacefully w ould have their committal to writing hand chopped off to stop them writing any more books. But if a Catholic extremist was caught onerous to convert someone to Catholicism then they would be arrested, tortured and then eventually hanged. Elizabeths treatment of the extremists may have tallymed horrible but it got the message across and England ended up much better than it had started off. Elizabeth dealt with antagonist from inside the country effectively.She didnt only deal with extremists but also dealt with Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary returned to Scotland after her first husbands death. She married again to her first cousin, Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley) four years later but their union was unhappy and in February 1567 there was a big effusion at their house and Darnley was found dead in the garden, apparently strangled. She in short married James Hepburn who was actually the main murder suspect for Lord Darnleys murder. But in brief after, following an uprising against the co uple, Mary was detain in a castle.After an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim the throne, Mary fled to England to strain protection from her first cousin, once removed, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had Mary arrested though as soon as she was in the country. This was because of the threat that Mary presented, who had previously claimed the throne to be her own. Mary spent nineteen years in custody, guarded in castles and manor houses across England until she was tried and executed by Elizabeth for her involvement in the Babington plot, a plot to assassinate Elizabeth.Elizabeths treatment of Mary not just helped stop the Babington plot but helped Elizabeths control of England too. This is because Elizabeth had executed one of the head Catholics which make the others think again and had also helped her since Mary would have been the next in line to the throne after Elizabeth. A successful ruler needs to keep her country safe. Elizabeth did this by defeating the Spanish Armada. Philip of Spain t hought Elizabeth as an illegitimate ruler of England. Elizabeth had also helped the Dutch in the Dutch revolt against Spain.As retaliation, Philip sent out a fleet of ships, Armada, to fill and conquer England. The fleet set out with 22 warships and an intention of sail through the English Channel. Philips plan was going well and the Armada had reached its first goal, to anchor at the coastal border area between France and the Spanish Netherlands. While awaiting communications from the army that would invade the South East of England, it was dictated from its anchorage by an English fire ship attack. England had already discomfited many of the Spanish ships so the Spanish fleet decided reorganize and withdraw north.A return voyage to Spain was plotted and the fleet sailed into the Atlantic, past Ireland but severe storms disrupted the fleets course. More than 24 vessels were wreck insuring that England had victory. There was one thing that got the Englishmen ready and motivated and that was Elizabeths vernacular. During her speech she said I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and instinct of a King, and a Kind of England too Throughout her reign Elizabeth proverb the importance of maintaining an image.She got artists to paint portraits of her throughout her life. But she didnt just have normal portraits painted, she had them painted with significant things in. An example of this is that she would be wearing very expensive clothes to show she had wealth. During her paintings she could also have a sacred scripture in her hand to show that she held power over the religions, she could have a map in her hand to show that she ruled over the world and in one of her portraits she had Elizabeth Regina (Elizabeth Queen) written behind her.She is also clever in one of these photos as if you look at the top of the portrait you see the Spanish Armada sailing out to invade England on the left, Elizabeth herself is in the middle a nd then you have the wrecks of the Spanish Armada on the right. If we look for one item-by-item thing that made Elizabeth successful it must be her intelligence. I have chosen this because she was clever in not choosing a husband, she sorted out the religious divisions, she defeated an Armada with a single speech and also well-kept a perfect image throughout. This is why, even today, her reign is known as The Golden Age. By Joe Tapper.