ENGLAND 1485-1587

England 1485-1587

England 1485-1587

Introduction

Elizabeth I Tudor (Greenwich, 7 September 1533 - London, 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and ' Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess (and also, in a demeaning way, the queen bitch), Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the dynasty, Tudor and succeeded to the half-sister, Mary Tudor, who died the same year that Elizabeth was released from prison, which had been submitted to ensure that seized power in 1558, when Mary found herself without heirs.

Her reign was long and marked by many important events. Its policy of full support for the Church of England, after attempts by the Catholic restoration of Mary Tudor, provoked strong religious tensions in the kingdom, and there were several attempts of plots against her, which was also, involved her cousin Mary Stuart that she had him executed. Involved several times in the religious conflicts of his time, came out victorious from the war against Spain, always during his reign were laid the foundations for future commercial and maritime power of the nation and began the colonization of North America. Her time, called the Elizabethan age, was also a period of extraordinary artistic and cultural flowering: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, and Francis Bacon are just some of the writers and thinkers who lived during his reign (Camden, 1970).

Discussion

Indeed the Pilgrimage of Grace can be seen as a turning point in the change of political stability in Tudor England however the key turning point in my opinion appears to be the reign of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was simply not prepared to accept the notion that religious turmoil was seemingly the norm for England and hence created somewhat of a tranquil state. Dickens even goes as far as arguing "for a dying, peripheral faith in the first two decades of Elizabeth's reign" implying that Elizabeth was in fact so dominating she was able to end much of the religious conflict left over by her extreme catholic sister Queen Mary.

Firstly Elizabeth being the Last Tudor, so definitely a turning point as the end of her reign ended the Tudor dynasty. She politically stabilized the country especially considering religious matters and this appeared to be the key turning point. On 17th November 1558, Elizabeth ascended the throne, enjoying popularity far greater than his sister.

Elizabeth also reduced Spanish influence on England. Although Philip II had helped ending the Italian Wars with the peace of Cateau Cambrésis, Elizabeth remained independent in its diplomacy and rejected the marriage proposal of the brother in law. He adopted the principle of '"England for England", the principle in his other kingdom,' Ireland, did not benefit ever. The imposition of English manners and the Queen's religious policies were widely unpopular among the Irish (Clapham, 1951).

Elizabeth I was able to give England the conditions of internal peace and economic development that required to occupy a privileged place ...