ELISABETH I

Indrumator:Profesor Badau Ramona

Propunator: Mucea Larisa Maria clasa a XII-a SNE

An scolar:2012-2013

Colegiul National ‘’Avram Iancu ‘’CampeniLucrare de atestare a competentelor lingvisice

FOREWORD I have chosen Queen Elisabeth I as the subject because I believe she is the most representative personality in the British history. Elizabeth was the longest-reigning English monarch in nearly two centuries and the first woman to successfully occupy the English throne. The reign of Queen Elisabeth I was an important age in the history of England. Called Glorianna and Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth enjoyed enormous popularity during her life and became an even greater legend after her death. I have structured my paper in 4 chapters and I have developed in some of them in subsections.

In the first chapter named ELISABETH I – CHILDHOOD I presented the queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603), daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn. This chapter is structurated in two subsections: .THE BIRTH OF A PRINCESS in the which I have presented Elisabeth I which born at Greenwich Palace in London on September 7, 1533.Her parents, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, wanted a son as heir and were not pleased with the birth of a daughter. In the second subsection: THE EARLY YEARS I have described the childhood of Elisabeth who was later placed under the protection of Catherine Parr, Henry’s sixth wife,. .Elizabeth’s experiences as a child and young adult helped her develop keen political instincts that allowed her to skillfully balance aristocratic factions and court favorites during her long reign.

The second chapter named POWER AND GOVERNMENT presents the difficulties Elizabeth experienced governing the English state were enhanced by prejudices against women rulers. In the subsection THE ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT I have described the queen who presented herself in the traditional images of the monarchy, such as carrying the sword of state, commissioning a portrait showing her bestriding the counties of England, and even appearing in armor.

The subsection ENGLAND DURING ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT presents the Elizabethan government that faced several challenges because of population growth. This caused the standard of living to drop and vagrancy became a problem in all areas of life. The most drastic economic change that effected the sixteenth century was a noticeable rise in prices.In the third chapter: ELISABETHAN RELIGION Elizabeth’s accession marked the final change in the nation’s official religion. Her father and half-brother established Protestantism in England, but her half-sister, Mary, attempted forcibly to restore Catholicism. The subsection QUEEN ELISABETH AND THE CHURCH I have presented the queen who inherited a highly charged religious situation, which she handled with great skill. Elizabeth had to contend with opposition from both Catholics and radical Protestants.The second subsection : ENGLAND DURING ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT presents England under Elizabeth ,which again broke with the pope, Catholic services were forbidden, priests were allowed to marry, and relics and decorations were removed from. In chapter four: ROBERT DUDLEY,I have presented her childhood sweetheart and perhaps her lover, turned her head so powerfully with his passion and his good looks, that she put her throne and herself in jeopardy for him, in the first years of her reign. Only when it became apparent even to a young woman passionately in love, that the affair would cause a rebellion, did she step back, and it was then that she swore she would marry no-one.Of course, no-one believed her.. But who would make the offer which would tempt a woman who needed support but would not sacrifice her independence, a woman who wanted to be loved as a woman but must be acknowledged as a Queen?

I

CHAPTER I

ELISABETH I CHILDHOOD 1. THE BIRTH OF A PRINCESS

King Henry VIII was thus desperate to father a son to succeed him, but while he had many children with Catherine of  Aragon, only one survived infancy: a daughter, Princess Mary.   It was clear to Henry that he would never have a son by Catherine and this troubled Henry considerably. he had fallen deeply in love with the young and dazzling Anne Boleyn and wanted to make her his bride . In the January of 1533 he married Anne Boleyn, who was already expecting his child. Both Henry and Anne believed with their whole heart that the child she was expecting was a boy but the baby born proved to be a girl.  However, Elizabeth was given a magnificent Christening at Greenwich when she was only three days old. When Catherine of Aragon died, possibly of cancer, Henry was free to dispose of Anne without facing petitions to have him take Catherine back. Anne's days were numbered.  She was accused (probably falsely) of witchcraft, adultery, and incest, and was arrested and taken to the Tower of London.  She was put on trial and found guilty on all accounts, and condemned to death

2. THE EARLY YEARS After the disgrace and execution of her mother, Elizabeth's life was

never to be quite the same again.  . Henry had married again, this time to Jane Seymour who died a few days after giving birth to Henry's longed for son, Prince Edward. Like Elizabeth, Edward too had to grow up motherless, and from an early age, the two children formed a close bond. 

Henry had ulcer on his leg that troubled him immensely and his enormous weight hindered his mobility considerably. He died on 28 January 1547. Elizabeth was with her brother, Edward, at the royal Palace of Enfield (London) when they were told of their father's death, Both were now orphans. Elizabeth was thirteen years of age, and Edward was King of England at the age of only nine.

In these troubled years, Elizabeth's relationship with her brother suffered. Following the disgrace and death of his brother, Thomas,  Edward Seymour was replaced as Protector by John Dudley,  Earl of Warwick, soon to be the Duke of Northumberland. He was the father of Elizabeth's childhood friend,  Robert Dudley, and they may have seen each other a number of times during the Duke's government

Elisabeth I at the age of 15

CHAPTER II

POWER AND GOVERNMENT 1.THE ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENT

The England of Elizabeth I was a very structured place, and had a rather complicated system of government. First there were the national bodies of government such as the Privy Council and Parliament, then the regional bodies such as the Council of the Marches and the North, and then county and community bodies. National, or rather Central, government, consisted of: Monarch, Privy Council, Parliament .

The main function of Parliament was to pass laws and grant the Queen money when she needed it. However, the Queen could make laws without Parliament's consent, in what were called ROYAL PROCLAMATIONS, if she wanted, and so if for some reason she and the Privy Council could not get Parliament to pass certain measures, they could resort to proclamations. Tudor monarchs tended only to summon Parliament for major governmental reforms or for money, and money was the main reason that Elizabeth summoned hers. Parliament did not have anywhere near as much of the power it has today, and there was no Prime minister or any political parties. It was up to the Queen when a Parliament was called, and over the course of her long reign, she only had ten Parliaments

Queen Elizabeth seated at the head of Parliament

Elizabethan Sixpence Coin

2. ENGLAND DURING ELIZABETHAN GOVERNMENTThe Elizabethan government faced several challenges because of

population growth. The number of the poor grew simply because people were living longer and infant mortality rates dropped. This caused the standard of living to drop and vagrancy became a problem in all areas of life. The most drastic economic change that effected the sixteenth century was a noticeable rise in prices..

One thing Elizabeth did do was to restore the purity of the coinage, and restored confidence both in the economy and in the monarchy. With the monarch's image on a coin assured people of its worth. Before Elizabeth, her father, brother, and sister all mixed base metal into the coins in order to make their money go further. This caused inflation and severe lack of faith in England’s' monetary system. Elizabeth effectively expanded royal government by increasing the role of sheriffs in the counties and by relying upon justices of the peace to perform the basic administrative work of local government. Thousands of gentlemen served in this capacity, each an official, if unpaid, member of the regime. Meeting in quarter sessions justices enforced everything from the Poor Laws to statutes against theft .

1. QUEEN ELISABETH I AND THE QUEENWhen Elizabeth became Queen in the November of 1558, it was

widely believed that she would restore the Protestant faith in England. Although Elizabeth had adhered to the Catholic faith during her sister's reign, she had been raised a Protestant, and was committed to that faith. Elizabeth's religious views were remarkably tolerant for the age in which she lived. She believed sincerely in her own faith, but she also believed in religious toleration, and that Catholics and Protestants were both part of the same faith. "There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith" she exclaimed later in her reign, "all else is a dispute over trifles." She also declared that she had "no desire to make windows into men's souls".

Throughout her reign, Elizabeth's main concern was the peace and stability of the realm, and religious persecution was only adopted when certain religious groups threatened this peace.  Elizabeth wanted a Church that would appeal to both Catholics and Protestants, and did not want to move the Church in a more Protestant direction, thus making it more difficult for Catholics to accept the Church than it was already.

2. THE ELISABETHAN RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT

Like her father, Elizabeth was a Protestant. When she first became Queen, one of the first things it was necessary for her to do, was restore the Protestant Church of England. Events that led to the restoration of the Church of England is known as  "The Elizabeth Religious Settlement". It was comprised of two Acts:

THE ACT OF SUPREMACY It was this act that gave Elizabeth ultimate control of the Church of England. In the reign of her father and brother, the monarch had been "Head of the Church in England", but under Elizabeth, this was modified to "Supreme Governor of the Church in England". 

THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY This was the crux of the Elizabethan Church, establishing a set form of worship. The Prayer books of Edward VI were fused into one, and were to be used in every church in the land. Church attendance on Sundays and holy days was made compulsory, with a twelve pence fine to be collected if people did not attend, the money to be given to the poor.  The wording of the Communion was to be vague so that Protestants and Catholics could both participate

THE ACT OF SUPREMACY THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY

CHAPTER IV

ROBERT DUDLEYRobert Dudley was the son of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Duke

of Northumberland, and Protector of England during the reign of Edward VI. Robert first met Elizabeth when he was eight years old, perhaps when they were both pupils in the royal classroom. They became good friends, and their friendship lasted throughout their lives. With the accession of Elizabeth to the throne in 1558, his fortunes changed. He was made Master of the Queen's horse, a prestigious position that required much personal attendance on the Queen, as well as organizing her public appearances, progresses, and her personal entertainment. With the accession of Elizabeth to the throne in 1558, his fortunes changed. He was made Master of the Queen's horse, a prestigious position that required much personal attendance on the Queen, as well as organizing her public appearances, progresses, and her personal entertainment.

In 1550, Robert married Amy Robsart, the daughter of a Norfolk squire. Traditionally, their marriage has been seen as a love match, but a clause in the marriage treaty suggests that it may have been for less romantic reasons. The insuperable bar to their marriage lay in the circumstances of his wife's death. She was found dead of a broken neck at the bottom of a stair case, and many pointed the finger at Robert. For a long time people had been saying he meant to kill her so that he would be free to marry the Queen

If the Queen would married him, people would have believed the gossip, even that Elizabeth herself had been involved. Also, as Robert was hated only because of his monopoly of royal favour, promoting him to prince consort may have provoked a rebellion against the Queen. However, for some years, it seems that both entertained the possibility of marriage, and Robert in particular continued to hope for it for many years. He did not remarry until 1578 when it seemed certain that the Queen would not marry him. In 1575, during the glorious entertainments at Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, Robert made his last proposal of marriage to the Queen. As she had done in the past, she refused him.

In 1578, he married the Queen's cousin, Lettice Devereux, Countess of Essex. He may well have been in love with her, as she was certainly a very vivacious, attractive woman, but in all probability he married her because she was pregnant, and was pressurized into making an honest woman of her by her influential family. She gave birth to a son ,who she named Robert. However, the child was not healthy and died in 1584. Robert was devastated. He had idolised his little son, and with his death, died his dream of perpetuating his dynasty.

He died at his house in Oxfordshire on the 4th September, 1588. Elizabeth was devastated at the loss of her old friend and companion, and reputedly locked herself in her apartment for hours, if not days. She treasured the letter he had sent her only days before his death, and wrote on it "His Last letter". She put it in her treasure box, and it was still there when she died 15 years later.

CONCLUSIONSElizabeth Tudor is undoubtedly one of the most famous English monarchs. Her life and reign have inspired many biographies, histories, novels, and dramatic works. In order to study the factors exerting an influence on the perception of Elizabeth by her contemporaries, it is necessary to look at the development and changes in her reputation from the moment of her birth to her death. Elizabeth's early reputation is far from clear, and it has not been sufficiently examined in relation to the reputation of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn's reputation in the last years of her life, is itself ambiguous. Certainly she was detested in Catholic Europe, but it is unclear how she was perceived in England. This perception is of paramount significance in understanding the nature of Elizabeth's early reputation. In Catholic Europe, Elizabeth, simply by being Anne's daughter, was abhorred as "the concubine's little bastard", The history of the reputation of Queen Elizabeth as a woman and a monarch, both during her life and after, thus has the potential to yield a wealth of information about this enigmatic, controversial historical figure, her age, and succeeding generations.To understand Elizabeth's "popularity" and "success", it is perhaps necessary to place her in cultural context. On reflection, it perhaps matters little if we in the twentieth century consider Elizabeth to have been a successful monarch or not - that perhaps says more about modern understandings of political success - but only the way she was viewed in her own lifetime, by her own people, who shared her cultural existence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. The reign of Elizabeth 1558-1603  - J.B. Black 2. Monarchy and Matrimony: The Courtships of Elizabeth I - Susan Doran

3. Elizabeth and Leicester - Elizabeth Jenkins

4.English dictionary published by Teora 5.www.wikipedia.com 6.www.british history.com