Elizabeth I
Queen of England; Queen of Ireland
Years: 1533 - 1603
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) is Queen regnant of England and Queen regnant of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death.
Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth is the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
The daughter of Henry VIII, she is born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, is executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth is declared illegitimate.
Her brother, Edward VI, bequeaths the crown to Lady Jane Grey, cutting his sisters out of the succession.
His will is set aside, and in 1558 Elizabeth succeeds the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she has been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.
Elizabeth sets out to rule by good counsel, and she depends heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by William Cecil, Baron Burghley.
One of her first moves as queen is to support the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she becomse the Supreme Governor.
This Elizabethan Religious Settlement holds firm throughout her reign and later evolves into today's Church of England.
It is expected that Elizabeth will marry, but despite several petitions from parliament and numerous courtships, she never does.
The reasons for this outcome have been much debated.
As she grows older, Elizabeth becomes famous for her virginity, and a cult grows up around her which is celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.
In government, Elizabeth is more moderate than her father and siblings.
One of her mottoes is "video et taceo" ("I see, and say nothing").
This strategy, viewed with impatience by her counselors, often saves her from political and marital misalliances.
Though Elizabeth is cautious in foreign affairs and only half-heartedly supports a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France and Ireland, the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associates her name forever with what is popularly viewed as one of the greatest victories in English history.
Within 20 years of her death, she is celebrated as the ruler of a golden age, an image that retains its hold on the English people.
Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Sir Francis Drake.
Some historians are more reserved in their assessment.
They depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, who enjoyed more than her share of luck.
Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity to the point where many of her subjects were relieved at her death.
Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor, in an age when government was ramshackle and limited and when monarchs in neighboring countries faced internal problems that jeopardized their thrones.
Such was the case with Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, whom she imprisoned in 1568 and eventually had executed in 1587.
After the short reigns of Elizabeth's brother and sister, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.
