Reign of Elizabeth Tudor
Tolerance of religions, independence of the British Isles from the Pope, triumph over the great Spanish flotilla and the time of spiritual and political flowering of England. This is just part of what Elizabeth Tudor did. There's only politics here.
Accession to the throne
Elizabeth I is the daughter of Henry VIII by his second of eight wives. She is in line for the throne after her half-brother Edward and older sister Mary. The first died in adolescence, the second never gave birth to children.
Mary Tudor, better known as Bloody Mary, did not get along very well with her younger sister.
Firstly, for the sake of Elizabeth’s mother, Henry separated from her mother Catherine of Aragon, bypassing all the tenets of the Roman Church.
Secondly, Mary is a Catholic, Elizabeth is a Protestant.
Thirdly, the older sister suspected the younger sister of treason, helping the rebellion, and even put her in the Tower of London. True, at the end of her life, Mary softened towards Elizabeth, invited her to live at court and declared her heir to the throne when she realized that she would not have her own children.
So, according to one version, the future queen learned about her sister’s death while out for a walk. She fell to her knees and was delighted. However, like the residents of London, who lit fires and set tables for a feast.
True, the situation inside and outside the country was bleak. England is in poverty, the nobility has become unruly, the army is weak, prices are high due to drought, there is a war with Scotland in the north of the island, France is approaching from the south.
On November 17, 1558, Mary died, and three days later Elizabeth convened her first council. There, she appointed William Cecil, an old friend who had previously been her accountant, as her secretary. For the next forty years they would rule hand in hand. Appointing Cecil as her secretary, she told him:
“I charge you to be a member of my Privy Council and be content to do your best for me and my kingdom. My opinion of you is that you will not be bribed with any gifts and will be loyal to the state; and that, without regard to my personal will, you will give me such advice as you consider best, and if you learn anything that needs to be kept secret, you must show it only to me. And assure yourself that I will not fail to maintain silence, and therefore I hereby instruct you.”
The coronation was scheduled for January 15, 1559, 2 months after the death of Bloody Mary. This date was recommended by Elizabeth's astronomer, whose advice she always listened to.
Domestic policy
England was constantly shaken by the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Some rulers patronized the former, others the latter. Elizabeth was a Protestant. But she continued her father’s work in relation to the Roman Church - England is no longer a Catholic country. However, the Queen was tolerant of Catholics and allowed people to choose their own faith. No persecution followed. For Elizabeth, religion is everyone’s personal matter. Perhaps her tolerance saved England from the religious wars that, for example, tore apart France in the XNUMXth century.
The Queen liked art. Several country houses were built under her, in which exhibitions and concerts were held. Elizabeth patronized Shakespeare and attended his production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was especially friends with the composers William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, whom she invited to her palace.
There was also an uprising and struggle for the throne. He was claimed by the great-granddaughter of Henry VII, Mary Stuart. She also had rights to the French throne, so she did not go to England for the time being. But due to the civil war that began in Scotland in 1568, Mary Stuart was forced to renounce the throne and fled to England. Here she was also not welcome; they suspected Maria of preparing for a coup d'etat. Elizabeth put her in the Tower of London, where Stewart sat for 18 years, after which she was beheaded in February 1587.
Mary Stuart
Foreign policy
Henry VIII actively developed the fleet, dreaming of making England the greatest maritime power. Elizabeth I continued her father's work. Its goal is to weaken Spain’s hegemony at sea, open up access to new continents, and establish colonies.
And she succeeded. Not without the help of pirates. One of them was Francis Drake, who became the ship's captain at age 18. The man sailed between England, Africa and South America, trading slaves, transporting gold and silver, spices and much more. Soon he began to attack Spanish colonies and ships. All this with the tacit consent and sponsorship of the English crown.
Soon Drake had an entire fleet at his disposal and founded colonies in North America. Spain did not like the fact that the British were attacking their merchant ships and robbing their colonies, spreading across North America, and abandoning Catholicism. In 1585, war broke out between the countries.
The Spanish fleet was considered invincible. In 1588, the Spaniards sent about 120 ships to England. A couple of weeks of fighting, and the Spanish fleet retreats, having lost almost half of its ships. Less than 10 were destroyed in the naval battle. The rest drowned for various reasons - breakdowns, storms, crew illness, harsh northern climate.
This victory of the British was a real sensation at that time, because they defeated the main hegemon. No one could compare with Spain in the strength of the fleet. It was from then on that England began to develop as a great maritime power, which would peak in the XNUMXth century.
Anglo-Spanish naval battle
In fact, except for the war at sea with Spain and the eternal conflict with Scotland, everything was calm in foreign policy. Interests did not coincide with France and the Pope. But nothing serious came of this during the queen’s lifetime.
Elizabeth I died on March 24, 1603 at the age of 69, leaving no heirs from the Tudor dynasty. The throne will be taken by James I, the son of Mary Stuart. Contemporaries noted that Elizabeth was tormented by her conscience towards him for the imprisonment and death of his mother. Therefore, before her death, she decided to appoint Jacob as her heir.
This marked the end of the short reign of the Tudor dynasty.
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