INTRODUCTION TO ELIZABETH I
Fact File
- Born: September 7, 1533
- Ruled:1558-1603
- Died: March 24, 1603
- Legal heir: James VI of Scotland
- Mother: Anne Boleyn (beheaded)
- Final Tudor monarch
- Elizabeth was announced illegitimate after her mother’s beheading
Her Early Years
- Sent to Hatfield House, N. London (with Mary I)
- Was courteous towards her brother when he was King
Sat below him at the table
Always curtsied when he approached
- Educated by a private tutor on how to rule a country
Under Mary’s Rule
- Elizabeth was seen as a threat by Mary because she was Protestant
- Mary had her arrested and sent to the Tower of London
- Elizabeth kept a low profile until Mary’s death in 1558
November 17, 1558: Elizabeth is crowned Queen (she immediately called Parliament)
ENGLAND’S FOREIGN SITUATION IN 1558
War with France
- 1557: Philip II brought England into it
- France = largely Catholic
- Negotiations over Calais would have been easier for Elizabeth if England was
Catholic
Loss of Calais
- January 1558
- Given back by Philip during the Peace Treaty at the end of the Habsburg-Valois war
Cateau-Cambresis: Treaty of reconciliation between France and Spain, resulting in
England’s loss of Calais
- April 1559
- France were going to keep Calais for 8 years, and would return it if England hadn’t
done anything to forfeit it by then
Alliance with Spain
- Strategic Dynasty Policy: How the Habsburgs exerted their power over Europe
- Philip was ready to propose to Elizabeth to maintain the Anglo-Spanish alliance
Wanted her to be Catholic
But saw preventing England from involvement with the Franco-Scottish alliance
the main priority
- Philip was willing to protect England even if it was Protestant